Valles Caldera West Rim

Forest Road 376, Wildcat Canyon Area

 

Introduction: The Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) owns the west rim of the Valles Caldera and manages it for multiple use: grazing, hunting, logging, motorized vehicle routes, and unstructured recreation.  Much of the west rim truly is a rim—a sharp, 500-foot scarp above the canyon of the Rio San Antonio.  A major forest resource road, Forest Road 376 (FR376), descends from State Road 126 (SR126) south to the Gilman Tunnels and Jemez Pueblo.  It is a fair-weather road suitable for passenger cars (not plowed in winter). FR604 and FR607 branch toward the rim.  The canyon wall is mostly cliff-like and offers some very fine views.  However, the southwest quadrant of the caldera does not look much like a bowl-shaped structure. Massive Redondo Peak dominates the view and hides the view of the iconic valles.  The south rim is well defined but not distinctive from this angle.  However, there is a certain amount of pleasure in seeing one’s progress around the rim and looking back to places you have been.

 

Owner: Santa Fe National Forest, Jemez District:

 

Description: The boxes on the main map of the Valles Caldera on this website are numbered counter clockwise.  I’ve tried to describe each section within its box accordingly.  This section I must describe from north to south.  We have not heard of a route from Battleship Rock up to the west rim of the caldera along the rim-line itself.  Just looking at the canyon wall, finding a route seems a formidable endeavor. At this time, you must come in from the north off SR126 to access this west rim.

 

State Road 126 climbs the wall of the caldera as it heads west from La Cueva toward Cuba.  However, the actual caldera rim crosses SR126 at its junction with FR376 below the high point of the paved road. A well-built gravel road, FR376 proceeds south from this junction; it follows Lake Fork Canyon to its southern terminus in the lower Jemez Mountains.  However, at the upper end, several roads branch toward the rim.  Many informal camping spots line the road and its side-branches.  These are well-used during hunting season and on holiday weekends.  Many campsites are suitable for large recreational vehicles.

 

Near the junction with SR126, a side road branches off FR376 to a camping complex directly on the rim of the caldera.  Here are nice views looking down on the community of La Cueva and in-your-face views of Redondo Peak.  South of this area is a higher bluff that has no trails or roads, but does have an allotment fence along the rim.  There are few evergreen trees.  The area burned in the 1970s and is now covered with stands of dog-hair aspen.  However, views are good along this highland and become rather spectacular approaching a small side canyon filled with tent rocks.  FR604 comes up from FR376 at this point and makes a turn directly at the rim above the tent rocks 

 

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  La Cueva and Redondo Peak from the rim.                       View of tent rocks from the rim. Note FR604, center.

 

 

 

 

South of the tent rocks, FR604 climbs onto the next mesa.  Various logging roads wander across the aspen-covered mesa, but the rim is blocked by fences all the way to Wildcat Canyon.  FR607 branches off FR604 and descends into a small canyon; it eventually provides access to Virgin Mesa.  Both roads require a high clearance and FR607 really needs 4-wheel drive.  The rim runs parallel to FR607 and a hunting road heads up a broad swale to Wildcat Canyon at the rim.  Farther south, a road does come up from La Cueva to service a solar-powered tower, but it is behind a fence that effectively cuts off access to the rim itself.

 

Fences are numerous and in good repair on the west rim.

 

South of the solar panel tower, vegetation near the rim becomes sparse and the country opens up for a pleasant walk. As Redondo Peak recedes to the northeast, the southwestern quadrant of the caldera begins to look more like a bowl shaped structure.  San Antonio Canyon is an impressive sight that soon merges into Cañon de San Diego, truly a massive gash in the mesas of the southern Jemez Mountains.  The rim crosses the canyon at Battleship Rock at the confluence of the Rio San Antonio and the West Fork of the Jemez River. From the west rim here, Battleship Rock comes into view as a tiny, far away slab of rock in dense evergreen forest.  The west wall of the canyon below is steep and formidable.

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Redondo Peak blocks views of the valles.                          Battleship Rock seems tiny in the forest above State Road 4.

 

The south rim of the caldera is better discernable farther south along the west rim.  Los Griegos is the prominent ridge on the south rim; behind its right shoulder is the high point in the Jemez south of the caldera, Cerro Pelado, site of a Forest Service fire lookout.  Las Conchas Peak is the sharp little point to the left of Griegos.  Next comes Rabbit Mountain and Rabbit Ridge before intervening hills block the view.  The head of Cat Mesa, the level mesa above Battleship Rock and the canyon of the West Fork, is on the rim.  Barely visible above Cat Mesa is Cerro del Pino far to the south on Cat Mesa.

 

The south rim as seen from the west rim.

We arrived at the head of a tributary to Virgin Canyon that is eroding into the rim.  Beyondis a higher ridge directly above Battleship Rock.  The clouds were gathering above us, lightning flashed and thunder boomed over Redondo Peak.  We felt it prudent to leave the rim and find a way down to FR607 in the little canyon.  But the view from the high cliffs above Battleship Rock must surely be very fine.

 

   

 

      The dog-hair aspen groves of the west rim are truly striking when the leaves turn color in October .

 

 

Access: The junction of State Roads 4 and 126 is at the little village of La Cueva.  From La Cueva, State Road 126 heads west, crossing the Rio San Antonio and immediately climbing the wall of the caldera.  Its junction with Forest Road 376 is well marked about two-thirds up the climb.  FR604 is about a mile down FR376.  It is not well marked.  FR607 is about a half mile beyond FR604’s big turn at the tent rocks.  It is even more poorly marked.  Take a good Forest map.

 

Dorothy Hoard  October 2008

 

State Road 126, west rim south.  Red = rim; purple = paved road; green = our hiking route (includes some roads).