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| | Valle Grande Trail - Valles Caldera NP, NM | | | |
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Valle Grande Trail - Valles Caldera NP, NM
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| Hiking | 2.00 Miles |
393 AEG |
| | Hiking | 2.00 Miles | | | |
| 393 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Last Hike of my North Central New Mexico exploration. This is still in the National Preserve, but you leave out the main entrance and follow Hwy 4 back towards Los Alamos for a couple of miles. The parking lot for the TH is not marked as such, it's just a dirt pullout parking lot with room for a few vehicles. The Trail starts pretty much directly across the highway, but you won't see the sign until you climb up the berm and get past the highway vegetation. It's interesting, the side of the road that the parking lot is on, is actually considered part of Bandelier National Monument, but cross the road and you're in Valles Caldera National Preserve. It happens a lot along Highway 4.
As I was leaving the main entrance, there was a bit of Wild Kingdom action going on with the coyotes. Yes, at this point, there were two of them and they seemed to be travelling together. One was successful on his hunt, the other, not. It was interesting to see them hunt the Prairie Dog burrows.
The trail runs along a hillside initially before it begins to descend into the caldera itself. The hillside portion has seen some fire. Uphill of the trail is pretty burned out and downhill of the trail still has a line of trees for most of it. It was a nice hike and the views coming down into the caldera itself were pretty nice. Not views you would necessarily see from the backcountry drive. A few nice wildflowers along the way. After enjoying a break at the bottom, I ascended back up to the truck, and it was time to hit my friend's place in Santa Fe where I would spend the night and head to AZ the next day.
It was hard to leave. As much ground as I covered, there was more I didn't get to. What a beautiful part of the state this is. I will be back to see and do more. |
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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| Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty & well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, totally worn out & proclaiming, "Wow What a Ride!" |
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