Hard Work Pays Off On Bandelier’s Frijoles Canyon Trail

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on September 19, 2017
- 12:25 pm

Trail volunteers using a 2-person crosscut saw to remove a fallen tree from the trail. Courtesy/NPS

Volunteers who just finished making stonework to support trail. Courtesy/NPS

BANDELIER News:

One of Bandelier National Monument’s most scenic and popular trails, the Frijoles Canyon Trail between Upper Crossing and Alcove House, can now be hiked without having to climb over the huge logjams and other barriers caused by the floods following the 2011 Las Conchas Fire.

For several years volunteer crews have been gradually working their way up the canyon, making spaces in the debris piles, removing hundreds of fallen trees, and re-establishing the trail tread. In places a new trail alignment had to be located and approved. Then this year, efforts included not only the Bandelier staff and local volunteers, but also the Rocky Mountain and YMCA Youth Corps.

With everyone’s hard work, there is again a real trail for the entire five-mile distance, and the effects of the floods are impressive parts of the landscape rather than obstacles.

Since the trail goes through part of Bandelier’s designated Wilderness, the recovery efforts had to be done with non-mechanized/motorized tools. Crew members worked enthusiastically by hand with old-fashioned two-person crosscut saws, as well as shovels, picks, axes, loppers, and pruning saws, to clear a path through two-story logjams and past car-sized boulders. Parts of the trail required them to build rock and log retaining walls to keep the tread in place.

Visitors are invited to take a hike along part or all of the trail, enjoying the results of all the hard work. The setting is impressive, with the trail following the bottom of the 400-foot-deep canyon which in some places is only 25 feet wide. Although the creek’s course is no longer lush and green as it was before the fire, some trees and flowers have begun to grow back. And although Frijoles Creek is small, and its bed was greatly changed by the flooding, it continues to provide a welcome oasis as it has for hundreds of years. According to Superintendent Jason Lott, “It’s one of my favorite hikes in the park. I always see something new, and the creek and the canyon walls are beautiful surroundings.”

From Upper Crossing to Alcove House, the trail is about five miles long. It can be accessed from the Visitor Center or from Ponderosa Campground. From Ponderosa Campground, visitors descend the Ponderosa Trail for 1.5 miles to the bottom of Frijoles Canyon, where it joins the Frijoles Trail at Upper Crossing. From the Visitor Center, visitors make their way approximately one mile to Alcove House, and then continue on the Frijoles Trail as far as they choose. Although monsoon season is nearly over, visitors should check weather forecasts to avoid choosing a day with thunderstorms. And as always, hikers should also remember to have a hat, good shoes, sunscreen, and plenty of drinking water.

For more trail information, or other questions about Bandelier, contact the park Visitor Center at 505.672.3861 x 517. Bandelier also has a website, www.nps.gov/band, and a Facebook page, BandelierNPS.