Guaje Canyon trip report

[jstncse]

For the web wheelers enjoyment.

Guaje Reservoir was the water supply for Las Alamos probably before most of us were born. The loop trail is about 15 miles long and I would rate it as moderate with a chance for body damage but certainly doable by the typical IH8MUD user. The 2 mile run to the reservoir is more difficult with several off camber climbs and constantly changing canyon floor, we left the Bronco behind when we started this portion. I would think the minimum requirements for it would be 33's, a locker and a chainsaw, although I used both lockers in several places.

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2822661&code=fa5e18bfe6e3a39df1cd413409ee799f




On to the pictures

 

[alia176]

Very nice!

 

[BionicCruiser]

the waterfall obstacle looks daunting! awesome looking trail.

 

[jstncse]

Rumor has it that a buggy went up the side of the hill and around to the top of that waterfall. I have my doubts.

More pics,

 

[Pyro-boy]

This Canyon has changed so much in the last 13 years. Get photos! Looks like a fun day!

Vince

 

[BionicCruiser]

based on that last pic, I have serious doubts too.

 

[jstncse]

I guess the first fire back in 2001 caused some pretty severe flooding in the canyon every time it rains. Adam was saying that before the first fire it was more like a park with grass growing and 4 wheel drive wasn't hardly needed, since then the flooding has completely change all of it

This Canyon has changed so much in the last 13 years. Get photos! Looks like a fun day!

Vince

 

[SteveLCetc]

Before the fire 4wd wasn't required. Since then it changes with every heavy rain.

 

[krazykat69]

Before the fire 4wd wasn't required. Since then it changes with every heavy rain.

Have you run that road lately? Is it still open to 4x4's? I rode bikes down through there before the Los Alamos fire and it was green and a fast downhill ride. nothing like those pics.
Would be a trail I would want to check out now days.

 

[Quantumkiwi]

Have you run that road lately? Is it still open to 4x4's? I rode bikes down through there before the Los Alamos fire and it was green and a fast downhill ride. nothing like those pics.
Would be a trail I would want to check out now days.

I've run it lately. I would discourage anyone else from driving though there. There is no road anymore, and the bottom of the canyon is really trying to stabilize the riverbed and recover from the fire. Driving down there does that process no favors.

The gate on the bottom end is closed, but you can drive around it. Again, not really something I'd recommend to the internet at large.

Its no longer green, and there's only a few spots with shade. You can also no longer drive up to the reservoir, but will have to hike the last 1/2 mile or so.
Plenty of downed trees, and the spots where you cross the stream get steeper and gnarlier each time it rains.

If you still want to run it, I'll be more than happy to take a group of less than 5 through sometime this summer. Just let me know. It'll take a full day.

 

[krazykat69]

I've run it lately. I would discourage anyone else from driving though there. There is no road anymore, and the bottom of the canyon is really trying to stabilize the riverbed and recover from the fire. Driving down there does that process no favors.

The gate on the bottom end is closed, but you can drive around it. Again, not really something I'd recommend to the internet at large.

Its no longer green, and there's only a few spots with shade. You can also no longer drive up to the reservoir, but will have to hike the last 1/2 mile or so.
Plenty of downed trees, and the spots where you cross the stream get steeper and gnarlier each time it rains.

If you still want to run it, I'll be more than happy to take a group of less than 5 through sometime this summer. Just let me know. It'll take a full day.

Thanks for the update on this trail. It makes sense to me to not drive this trail. That area needs recovery and if there is a gate to close this road off, it should be respected. Is it on the MVUM? I see several FR's open north of Los Alamos. Not sure if any of those FR's include Guaje canyon. FR 803?
We lost so many good FR's from that fire. Bland Canyon, Cochiti Canyon, Del Norte Canyon, never to be driven again. Too much dead fall. That fire reinforced my general distrust of "Prescribed Burns". IMHO.

 

[Quantumkiwi]

Thanks for the update on this trail. It makes sense to me to not drive this trail. That area needs recovery and if there is a gate to close this road off, it should be respected. Is it on the MVUM? I see several FR's open north of Los Alamos. Not sure if any of those FR's include Guaje canyon. FR 803?

Guaje is no longer on the USFS maps as a trail let alone on the MVUM as a road.
FR 803 is the Cemetery Trail, its a good run out to the bottom of Guaje and back, once there its an easy (~5 miles) hike up canyon to the old dam. Not super hard, but not an AWD road.
The stuff north of Guaje would make for a good day trip. Some cool canyons out there and usually not super busy since you can only access them from LA.
Some of the MVUM stuff is no longer accurate though, there's a few roads there that just aren't easily passable in the bottom of canyons and stuff.

 

[4Cruisers]

Thanks for the update on this trail. It makes sense to me to not drive this trail. That area needs recovery and if there is a gate to close this road off, it should be respected. Is it on the MVUM? I see several FR's open north of Los Alamos. Not sure if any of those FR's include Guaje canyon. FR 803?
We lost so many good FR's from that fire. Bland Canyon, Cochiti Canyon, Del Norte Canyon, never to be driven again. Too much dead fall. That fire reinforced my general distrust of "Prescribed Burns". IMHO.

Bland, Cochiti, Del Norte, and other canyons in the area were burned by the 2011 Las Conchas Fire, which was caused by a downed power line near Las Conchas picnic area off NM 4. By that time, roads down Medio Dia and other canyons were already closed. Back in the late '80s or early '90s I was able to drive my stock '84 FJ60 to within a half mile of the upper end of Bland, from the FR at the head of Peralta Canyon.

Back in high school, a friend and I drove his Mustang up Guaje Canyon to within a mile of Guaje Reservoir. A lot different now.

 

[krazykat69]

Bland, Cochiti, Del Norte, and other canyons in the area were burned by the 2011 Las Conchas Fire, which was caused by a downed power line near Las Conchas picnic area off NM 4. By that time, roads down Medio Dia and other canyons were already closed. Back in the late '80s or early '90s I was able to drive my stock '84 FJ60 to within a half mile of the upper end of Bland, from the FR at the head of Peralta Canyon.

Back in high school, a friend and I drove his Mustang up Guaje Canyon to within a mile of Guaje Reservoir. A lot different now.

Thanks for the clarification. I thought I might have been thinking of two different forest fires. The out of control prescribed burn was the one that burned through Los Alamos and took out Guaje Canyon. This was my favorite play areas and camping areas , Bland, Cochiti, Del Norte, and Media Dia. All burned out now. Used to be many miles of motorcycle and mtb single tracks through that area, all well maintained by responsible users. I helped a local bike shop, Two Wheel Drive , repair and build up parts of one trail coming out of Cochiti canyon. so they could have MTB races through that area, almost all on single track. Several of us would clear dead fall off all those trails every spring.
I had used that same upper Peralta FR to get into upper Bland Canyon, also. There were several old mines and structures in Peralta canyon too, that we MTB'ed to every year.
Anyway, maybe Quantumkiwi might show us around those roads north of LA someday. I would drive up there for that exploration.

 

[4Cruisers]

The ruins at Albemarle in Colle Canyon west of Bland Canyon are pretty neat. Many years ago we drove the FJ60 to the top of the mesa above Bland where there was a road cut to start the descent into Colle Canyon. The road was almost still drivable all of the way to Albemarle. A few days ago I was reading a 1898 Bland newspaper article (online in the UNM Digital Collections) describing a wagon accident at the top of that very same cut. One thing I'm trying to research is the old stage route that went from Thornton (now the Kewa Pueblo Rail Runner station), through Pena Blanca, to Bland, and on to the resort at Sulphur Springs above La Cueva. Maybe the Forest Service has some historical information on the exact route up and over into the East Fork drainage.

 

[krazykat69]

The ruins at Albemarle in Colle Canyon west of Bland Canyon are pretty neat. Many years ago we drove the FJ60 to the top of the mesa above Bland where there was a road cut to start the descent into Colle Canyon. The road was almost still drivable all of the way to Albemarle. A few days ago I was reading a 1898 Bland newspaper arcticle (online in the UNM Digital Collections) describing a wagon accident at the top of that very same cut. One thing I'm trying to research is the old stage route that went from Thornton (now the Kewa Pueblo Rail Runner station), through Pena Blanca, to Bland, and on to the resort at Sulphur Springs above La Cueva. Maybe the Forest Service has some historical information on the exact route up and over into the East Fork drainage.

Cool to talk with someone who explored these areas. One of the first MTB rides I did after moving to ABQ area, early 80's was Two Wheel Drive bike ride from Bland canyon locked gate over the hill to the west into Albemarle in Colle canyon. We rode through ruins and south down Colle canyon to an old wooden bridge across a deep part of the canyon. Some of us decided to walk our bikes across the main timbers of the bridge, and then rode south until Colle canyon turns into a narrow slot canyon near its mouth. We then rode back up Colle and crossed that scary bridge and back to our vehicles. After I had walked across that bridge a second time and felt it flexing, I thought I was more lucky than smart that day. There were large parts of the bridge already in the bottom of the canyon.
Years later , a friend and I hiked from the mouth of Colle canyon up to the bridge, but it had collapsed into the canyon. Lots of history in Jemez Mts.
Check out history of Santa Fe Northwestern Railway, and find out that railroads went into much of the FR's in the FR 376 areas, the Gilman tunnels, and many of the FR's off this were railroad grades for timber operations in the 1880's.
I don't know of any info about the stagecoach routes .