Have you ever had a burning desire to explore an area simply to satisfy your curiosity about what’s there, and furthermore, to see if you can do it? I often enjoy walking along American Springs Road, FR 181, in the Jemez Mountains, west of Los Alamos, New Mexico. I would see this ridge, east of where the road crosses Water Canyon, and as I swung around on FR 181, I’d study it and wonder how hard it would be to walk up it.
On April 9, 2006, I even plotted a series of waypoints that started at the twin water tanks on West Jemez Road, the bottom terminus of FR 181, and ended on top of Cerro Grande, and would include going up this ridge. I deemed it a "dream hike" because it seemed a daunting task to walk the route, burned severely in places by the Cerro Grande fire, and burdened with much downfall, all at once without a car shuttle, but over time, I have managed to do most of the route, doing a piece here and there, except for going up this ridge. Had I known how crisscrossed it was with gambel oak, New Mexico locust, and man-swallowing gaps between huge rocks, especially the latter, I might not have gone at all. If so, I would have missed a good trip. There were times, though, when faced with yet more rocks to precariously teeter over, and a thick tangle of vegetation to bull my way through, that I hoped for an easier way.
I carried my camera the whole time but didn’t take it out even once, preferring to shelter it in its bombproof carrying bag, so the photos below were taken a few days later and only show a distant view of the ridge but leave out all the really exciting business. Besides, I was too busy getting torn up on locust bushes, bruised on rocks, and eyes poked out by oak branches to stop and pull out my camera. I regret now not taking any photos at all during the actual event. It even rained a few drops but I "rode" that out underneath the canopy of a conifer and used it as an opportunity for lunch. I smelled smoke throughout the day from the prescribed fire in the Bandelier National Monument Upper Frijoles Unit that was winding down.
The ridge seemed endless even though my Garmin eTrex only clocked it as half a mile. I finally got out of the quagmire of rocks and vegetation that wanted to murder me and went uphill to the northwestern end-point of the ridge that had great views to the east-northeast of Valle Canyon and the ridge just east of it. It had all been burnt badly in the 2000 Cerro Grande fire but was beautiful country, even more so in its starkness.
I stood on the ridge and plotted future expeditions--perhaps going up from Valle Canyon to the pass between the Valle Canyon and Water Canyon drainages, just to the northwest. The pass is covered with autumn-blond slender-wheatgrass, planted after the Cerro Grande fire, and the fallen forest lies in the golden grass. There’s something fascinating about walking through the burned area because everything is open and I feel like I’m seeing the lay of the land for the very first time.
I decided not to go down to FR 181 the way I had always planned to when I was just walking by in ignorance on the road down below. My original plan was to go down a continuation of the ridge, that trended southward at a right angle to Giant Raccoon Ridge, to the easy, unencumbered walking of FR 181. A modicum of common sense now overtook me and I happily bypassed that adventure--becoming even happier later on when I could clearly see how rough and rocky the continuation of the ridge was! Instead, I went down to the saddle between Valle Canyon and Water Canyon to work my way down to FR 181.
There was a lot of deadfall to get around as the area was part of the Cerro Grande disaster. I saw wattles that volunteers had put in place to slow down the flow of water into the Water Canyon drainage and to help stem erosion. The slender-wheatgrass that covered the pass was extensively planted after the fire to keep the soil from washing away. The pass had an inviting meadow to explore above Valle Canyon but I knew I had to make haste to get back to my vehicle before dark. Very soon, the terrain turned ugly and uninviting again with a profundity of oak and locust. In truth, I think a hillside of bronze oak is beautiful--if I don’t have to walk through it--and locust flowers taste delicious but their thorns are brutal! Working my way downhill through this and keeping from tripping over the stout fallen trees took a lot of time. I was ecstatic when I eventually got to the area of green, living ponderosas and the safety of FR 181!
Here’s the sections of the “dream hike” route (map below) that I have completed:
From FR 181, going up a branch of Water Canyon, then following a ridge up to a meadow, plainly visible from FR 181, below an eastern arm of Cerro Grande. It involved lots of dead and down trees, one that I tripped over spectacularly, and since it was spring, a profusion of ticks, and thus, it’s named Tick Meadow.
Then, the upper section was done from on top of Cerro Grande by going down the side of the very steep eastern arm, toward but not quite to Tick Meadow--I count it as good enough!
Connecting Giant Raccoon Ridge with West Jemez Road involved two very pleasant hikes, even though either one would have done the job. The first was going up FR 181 from the twin water tanks on West Jemez Road, NM-501, all the way to the bottom of Giant Raccoon Ridge. The second started at the same place but followed a FR 181 Shortcut that goes up to cross the Perimeter Trail (the trail that goes east-west between FR 181 and Pajarito Canyon Trailhead) and then runs alongside the west Valle Canyon rim to Giant Raccoon Ridge.
Then, this latest stint on top of Giant Raccoon Ridge almost completes the journey. The only section left to do is going up from Valle Canyon to the pass between the Valle Canyon and Water Canyon drainages, beneath Giant Raccoon Ridge, and exploring a bit northwest of there.
To be completely honest, I didn’t set out wanting to do the “dream hike” route in sections but only realized last week that that is what I’ve done and the end result is very pleasing.
What's a "dream hike"? It's a list I made of explores that I want to do in the Los Alamos area, especially in the burnt area. I've done some and others remain only dreams.
Why am I calling it Giant Raccoon Ridge? I kept seeing large, amorphous, seed-filled piles of scat and told myself it wasn’t a bear--only a giant raccoon--that seemed less scary! Whatever it was, it really loved that ridge as the scat made a constant trail across it. Too bad the animal wasn’t tall enough to open the shrubby tangle up for humans to navigate through! Ah, but then, where would the adventure have been?
This also shows the saddle. Enlarge the photo and look above the concave arc of green trees on the left middle. The golden grass pass above Valle Canyon is not at all visible. It takes some doing to get to it from FR 181. The best way to approach it would be from Valle Canyon. If you look at the far left horizon, that's the south side of Pajarito Mountain. The photo is a bit misleading as part of what you're seeing in the background is the bare, burnt ridge that rises east above Valle Canyon and, at this angle, towers above Giant Raccoon Ridge which is to the west of Valle Canyon.
This is the map I made of the “dream hike” route from West Jemez Road to Cerro Grande peak that I so much wanted to do. Even though this jpg version of the map was made on 11/16/07, I first made the original tpo file on 4/9/06, so it only took a 1 1/2 years to mostly complete the “dream hike”! There is still that one small section to do above Valle Canyon!
