Valles Caldera Rim Trip Report
West Rim
Battleship Rock OVERLOOK
Date: Monday, May 18, 2009 Purpose: determine feasibility of trails on the rim from Forest Road 607 off FR376 south of State Road 126 Participants: Dorothy Hoard, Yvonne Delamater. Equipment: Garmin Global Positioning System Model GPS 12; digital camera Olympus Camedia C-3000; notebooks. Methodology: In 2008, we had systematically come down the west rim from State Road 126, but were thunderstormed out before hiking the last mesa to the southwest point. Today we parked on FR 607 and walked up onto the high mesa overlooking Battleship Rock where rim meets mesa top. Conclusion: The wall of San Antonio Canyon is a cliff at the rim. There are good views of the southwestern section of the caldera but none of the valles are visible. Small side branches of Virgin Canyon head up right to the rim; they are easy to cross. The last mesa—southernmost on the rim— is level and walking is easy. The rim was fringed with trees and oak brush, but there are many nice viewpoints. A rocky point juts out where the rim ascends onto the mesa. The view from this point is the best on the entire west rim. This area was burned, probably in the 1970s. The entire area is covered with dog-hair aspen. We did not encounter any fences.
The draw with stock tank piping. We parked on FR607, which has some steep, rutted spots to get this far.
Trip Report: We parked on Forest Road 607 off of FR376. This was the Monday before the Memorial Day weekend. There were several parties in the informal camping places along the route, including a large trailer on FR607 on the flat before the road enters Virgin Canyon. I parked near the draw with the trail to the stock tank that we found on the October 2008 trip. The road was quite rutted and I regretted coming as far as the Wildcat Canyon access. However, the little Honda CR-V handled it quite well. We walked up the little draw to the stock tank. The trail is rocky but clear of deadfall. It has some piping coming down from the stock tank. From the tank, we climbed up to the south edge of this mesa. I expected to find a road, but we did not. We crossed a trail, but by that time we were very near the mesa south edge where I wanted to go.
The rim crosses the head of Virgin Canyon. Redondo Peak beyond.
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We went to the point where the rim crossed the head of this finger of Virgin Canyon. The rim is a fairly broad little shoulder and easy to descend on game trails. In the canyon we crossed a road that had recently been driven upon. We ascended the final mesa on game trails. It was a short and easy walk.
West Rim
Our destination mesa that overlooks Battleship Rock.
The rim is near the edge of San Antonio Canyon. There are trees, including southwestern white pines and ponderosas, and oak brush. The canyon is cliffy here but trees grow up from below the edge. There are good view points, but not everywhere. Aspen groves grow on the level mesa. We followed the mesa edge south to a point protruding out over San Antonio/San Diego Canyon. This is where the rim reaches the mesa top. The view of the southwest corner of the caldera is very fine.
The view from the southwestern corner of the Valles Caldera makes it all worthwhile. Battleship Rock in the canyon below., left-center
From the rim point, the view sweeps down Canon de San Diego and Jemez Springs. This mesa has a narrow extension to the south that has a 200foot sheer cliff on its east side and is quite spectacular. We did not go out on that part of the mesa. The draw beneath it drains into the Jemez River outside the caldera. We returned on a straight line off the mesa back into the canyon and struck the road, which we followed. It went over to the stock tank, passing very close to FR607. But we were separated by a respectable cliffy slope with lots of deadfall so we just followed the road to the stock tank and back down the draw with the piping. The drive out was a white-knuckle one but at least the road is easier to see going uphill. It started as a clear day but by the time we came out it had clouded up and we had a few drops of rain. Informant: Dorothy Hoard
Brush and lightning strikes characterize the rim on this mesa.
View from the southwest point on the rim of t the caldera: Redondo Peak on left through Los Griegos on the rim to Cerro Pinon on right. 2
West Rim
The cliffs above Battleship Rock are a prominent landmark in the Jemez Mountains.
Canon San Diego with Jemez Springs sprawled along its length. Jemez Pueblo is in the red rocks at top of photo.
May 18, 2009, Battleship Rock overlook: rim = red, State Road 4 = purple, our route = bright green. 3
