Valles Caldera Rim Trip Report Pajarito Mountain REFLECTOR TRAIL
East Rim
Date: July 7, 2007 Purpose: Walk the actual rim to assess a route and acquire data on difficulty of building and maintaining a trail. This is a possible bypass around the west side of Pajarito Mountain below the ski hill that we started on April 30, but encountered too much snow. USGS Topographic Map: Valle Toledo Participants: Dorothy Hoard, William Johnson Equipment: Garmin Global Positioning System Model GPS 12; digital camera Olympus Camedia C-3000; notebooks. Methodology: I obtained a permit to enter Valles Caldera National Preserve (VCNP) land, agreeing to give two weeks notice for proposed field trips, to write a final report, and to keep a time list for their volunteer log. This trip is all on the VCNP rim and is covered under the permit. Conclusions: This is part of a route between rim access points at the Cerro Grande Trailhead and Camp May. Snow prevented us from completing this reconnaissance in April. Billy and I followed the reflector trail until it came out on the southwest shoulder of Pajarito Mountain. We could see Valle Pass but did not go down to it. A trail is certainly feasible around Pajarito Mountain. Description: We proceeded up the rim from Camp May Saddle to the Ma Bell telephone cut and the rock pile where the trail contours and found the reflectors, then proceed on to the spot with multiple reflectors were we stopped before. The trail continued on, filled with fallen aspens, so was neither easy nor pleasant, but was fairly level, with only a slight uphill pitch. The forest is very thick on the side of the mountain and we had no views into the Valle Grande.
Trip Report: Introduction: On April 30, Yvonne Delamater, Ed Jacobson, and I found the trail contouring around the west side of Pajarito Mountain, all on the VCNP. The trail is marked with bicycle reflector nailed to the trees. Ken Kutac had flagged the trail for us also. We could not complete the trip because the snow became too deep on the steep slope.
Reflector (left) and Kutac flagging (right) along Reflector Trail.
My grandson, Billy Johnson agreed to accompany me to finish the job on July 7. We would start early and get down in time to have lunch at the High Mountain Cafe and then an ice cream cone at Baskin-Robbins. (Billy has his price.)
1
Parts of the Reflector Trail are quite good....
East Rim
...and parts are quite bad.
The trail comes out of the woods at an obscure place.
A fallen reflector. Reflectors are white , red, and colorless.
A view of Valle Toledo and the north rim.
We eventually came out onto the grassland. The reflectors stopped beforehand, so there is no way to find this trail from the south slope of the mountain. The forest does not stop abruptly so we wandered among the trees until we had a nice view of the valle and of Valle Pass below. I had been down the slope before; it is steep, rocky, and nasty, so we didn’t go this time. We climbed up Pajarito Mountain and came out at the top of Rim Run, which we walked down and made our way back to the ski lodge for lunch. Informant: Dorothy Hoard. Time - 9:00 to 2:00.
Views of the Valle Grande are restricted at first... 2
East Rim
... but the valle eventually emerges in all its glory.
Looking down at Valle Pass between Pajarito Mountain and Cerro Grande.
Pajarito Mountain Reflector Trail: Rim = red, Camp May Road = purple, our route = bright green.
3
