Hike Details
Location: Sandoval County, New Mexico
Distance: 4.6 miles (out and back)
Elevation gain: Approximately 1200 feet
Summit elevation: 10,199 feet

I have set myself the goal for the next 12 months to do more small adventures including a trip of some kind – day trips count! – to some try something new. While I am planning to kick this off in August 2026, to celebrate my birthday (and to try to escape some of the worst of the heat at the house), my DH and I drove up into the Jemez Mountains to hike the Cerro Grande Trail.

The trail skirts the border of the Valles Caldera National Preserve and Bandelier National Monument. Most summers the meadows and mixed conifer forest are literally ablaze with wildflowers. While there were quite a few flowers, it’s been so dry with limited snow this winter and almost no rain so far this summer season, so you had to look for them.

We set off to hike the uphill portion of the trail while it was still relatively cool out around 8:30 a.m. We had the trail virtually to ourselves, but did proceed cautiously after seeing a black bear heading uphill, away from the trail.

After stopping to watch her progress, we realized she had a cub with her, so were glad they were obviously on their way to somewhere else.

As we continued up the slope, we saw tons of Pinewoods Geraniums, Western Wallflowers and Nodding Onions (left to right). We also saw several Common Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrels, which I hadn’t seen before and heard the rattling call of a Clark’s Nutcracker up in the trees.

We made it to the peak which gave us amazing views of the caldera just off to the west of us. You can still see evidence of the dead or downed trees from the massive Cerro Grande fire several years ago. The grass has obviously recovered and we were happy to see there were young ponderosa growing up along the tree line and along the trail as we walked.

On the way back down the trail to the car, we spotted a male elk casually wandering through the dappled shade, grazing and occasionally listening to something we couldn’t hear. He has his fall antlers so autumn is just around the corner!

A truly amazing hike and one we’ll add to the list for a return visit in the late spring next year when hopefully the flowers will be more abundant.