On last Tuesday, May 1, I walked Upper Crossing Trail, starting from Ponderosa Campground, Bandelier National Monument, for the first time since it opened last November after the
Las Conchas wildfire and subsequent monsoon flooding. I had only planned to walk to the Frijoles Canyon rim and peer down at the fire damage but when I got to the rim, I inexplicably kept right on walking to the bottom.
The way down has always been steep, rocky, slippery; after the fire, it's much the same but in much better condition than I expected after last summer's robust monsoon rains. The big difference is that the trees are now upright charcoal sticks and I can too clearly see boulders that, without the tree cover, look more tenuously perched above my head than ever.
The first part of the Upper Crossing Trail from Ponderosa Campground followed an old fire road. After Las Conchas, that part of the trail has moved onto a new trail just above. The old road has burnt logs scattered over it. Eventually the trail meets up with the old road again.
Along the trail, there are now several boulder-filled side drainages that attest to the power of monsoon rains that rushed off the burnt escarpment, high above the trail. The drainages weren't so noticeable before. The boulders have been cleared off the trail.
As I hiked down into Frijoles Canyon, I could look across at the continuation of the Upper Crossing Trail; its fragile trace is so painfully visible on the hillside as it traverses several times across nearly vertical, deeply eroded drainages.
In the canyon bottom, the Rito de los Frijoles still optimistically flows through a landscape that is, at least in my lifetime, irretrievably altered by fire and flood. Before the fire, the canyon bottom was a shady, green oasis. Now, the Rito sparkles in the sunlight as it works its way through a rocky, sandy, scoured floodplain. But hopeful sprouts of greenery contrast with the deep black of tree trunks. Before, there was a wobbly, bouncy wooden bridge that crossed the Rito; now I see two stepping stones to guide me across. I saved the adventure of crossing for another day and started back.
Do I miss the landscape as it was before Las Conchas? Yes, I do, I viscerally do. Do I appreciate the elemental beauty of the new landscape before my eyes? You bet I do!!!!
Here are
photos from Bandelier Ranger Sally King's recent walk from Ponderosa Campground to the Visitor Center.
Here are more Upper Crossing photos from the Bandelier National Monument's website.
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| boulder field on side drainage to trail |
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| new trail section above old fire road |
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| continuation of Upper Crossing Trail from north rim of Frijoles Canyon |
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| severely burnt Upper Frijoles Canyon; the trail below kept luring me down |
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| once a shady, green oasis; now an elemental landscape with the hope of new growth |
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| Rito de los Frijoles heading down canyon |
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| two stone crossing |
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| charcoal black tree trunks tower above young, green sprouts |
