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State Road 4 Pass to Paso del Norte. Red= rim, purple = public road; dark green = old logging roads converted to hiking trails. Magenta = recommended route
Access: Paved State Road 4 passes the Coyote Call Trailhead in the Valle Grande. Graveled Forest Road 289 passes the Alamo Boundary Trailhead about 1.5 miles off State Road 4. Trails from both trailheads lead to Scooter Pass. The Coyote Call trail leads to the old logging road that climbs to the ridge. It is closed except in winter, when its covered with snow and the cross country skiers come.
Valles Caldera South Rim
Cerro Grande Trailhead to Paso del Norte
State Road 4 to Forest Road 268
Introduction: This set of reports of the rim of the Valles Caldera is divided into linear sections anchored at each end by public vehicular access points. This section of rim is between State Road 4 and Forest Road 268 at Paso del Norte on the south rim of the caldera. There is no trail along this section of the rim. However, the Bandelier side is open to unrestricted day hiking. Unrestricted hiking is not permitted on the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
Description: Scooter Peak anchors the south end of the Sierra de los Valles. The sierra is composed of thick, pasty volcanic flows called the Tschicoma Formation that formed the bedrock of the Jemez Mountains prior to the eruptions that created the Valles Caldera. Scooter Peak is a quintessential Tschicoma dome—a nearly symmetrical cone. At Rabbit Ridge west of Scooter Pass, the appearance of the rim changes dramatically. The ridge is an intrusion of rhyolite that formed in the half-million years between the Toledo eruption at the northwest corner of the present caldera and the Valles eruption. Rhyolite is a hard rock derived from molten magma and forms some nice cliffs near Scooter Pass. It is different from the rhyolite tuff that forms the plateaus surrounding the caldera, which formed from volcanic ash suspended in gasses.
Historic maps show that at least by the mid 1700s, the Spanish colonists used the grasslands of the Valles Caldera for grazing. Winter conditions are too severe for livestock, so herdsmen had to move their stock twice a year. The earliest documented routes are through Valle Pass on the east rim and Indios Pass on the north rim. However, after the turn of the 20th Century, Scooter Pass became an important stock route as trails and roads crept up the mountain from logging operations on the Pajarito Plateau at the eastern foot of the sierra. Maps and dates on aspen trees show that the road was in use in the 1920s and 1930s. There are remnants of the old road still remaining on the Valles side of the pass.
This section was once a part of the Baca Location No. 1, which was actually an American land grant. In 1860, the US Congress authorized the grant to the heirs of Luis Maria Cabeza de Baca as trade for their claims to an overlapping Spanish land grant for the city of Las Vegas, New Mexico. By 1908, Anglo Americans own the Baca Location and used it heavily for grazing and logging. Old logging roads lace the flat lands around Rabbit Ridge. In 1977, Congress bought the headwaters of Frijoles Canyon for Bandelier National Monument. That area in this section included everything south of the rim and east of a line marking the drainage divide from the top of Scooter Peak to the Baca boundary on the south. In 2000, when Congress purchased the Baca Location #1 to establish the Valles Caldera National Preserve, the enabling legislation gave the headwaters of Alamo Canyon to Bandelier National Monument. Bandelier opened both acquisitions to public day-use only in 2005.
The south side of the rim in Bandelier National Monument is open for public use. Old logging roads that wander throughout the level forest at the base of Rabbit Ridge make for a confusing maze. We consider, as part of a rim trail, a good abandoned logging road that climbs up Scooter Peak from Scooter Pass, although the actual rim is slightly north of it. No matter, because the little mountain is covered with dense forest.
The following description discusses the feasibility of a trail along the actual rim. We did part of the fieldwork as volunteers under limited entry with VCNP staff .
Parking is readily available at the paved pads at the Cerro Grande Trailhead on State Road 4 and at the intersection of SR4 and Forest Road 289. Scooter Peak lies directly west of the highway. There is no trail up the east side of Scooter Peak and parts of it are pretty awful for cross country hiking. We’ve flagged a nice route up the mountain, but it will be years before anything comes of it. The best way to access the peak here is to drive about 1.5 miles down Forest Road 289 to the Alamo Boundary Trailhead and hike one mile up to Scooter Pass. The logging road up Scooter Peak is a pleasant walk. There is no view from the top because the meadow is surrounded by heavy forest, but it is still a nice walk.
From Scooter Pass, there is no trail from the pass up to the east point of Rabbit Ridge. We just scramble up the 200 feet from pass to ridge. The only civilized way is to hike up a logging road from the Coyote Call Trail on SR4; unfortunately, the VCNP hasn’t opened that road yet except for winter use only when the snow is suitable for ski or snowshoe recreation. At the ridge near the end of the road, a ski trail marked with blue diamonds follows the rim to the first rock field. This route is closed in summer until studies can be done as required by the National Environmental Protection Act. It is a shame, because Rabbit Ridge is a wonderful walk. Although the rim is heavily wooded, four rock fields cascade from the ridge down into the caldera. With no trees in the way, the views into the Valle Grande are outstanding. On Bandelier’s south side of the rim is a series of little interconnected meadows, usually surrounded by aspen groves. In autumn, when the aspen turn golden, the walk is unmatchable. The rim is entirely walkable. Game trails traverse some of it; other places are filled with downfall, easily avoided by going around on the Bandelier meadows.
 
Valle Grande from a rock field on Rabbit Ridge; Bandelier’s side of the ridge with a view of the north rim of the caldera is in the far distance. San Miguel Mountains and Boundary Peak.
 
Game trails wend their way along the rim. Even without a view, the forest is lovely.
Rabbit Mountain anchors the southwest end of Rabbit Ridge. The mountain is an old volcanic vent. Now the summit is a mass of broken rock. Even so, it is worth scrambling over the boulders to the top for a grand view of almost everything.
 
Valle Grande from Rabbit Mountain. Looking westward along the caldera rim.
In the old days before the VCNP became public land, we climbed Rabbit Mountain from the south up the grassy face. The owner didn’t seem to care. It is still a good route, even though there is no trail. A little ridge with some game trails connects directly to del Norte Pass on Forest Road 286. Parts have a lot of deadfall, but there are no other impediments to a nice trail..
Dorothy Hoard, Autumn 2007
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