Sandoval County Highpoint Trip Report

Redondo Peak - Enhanced Access

Date: September 29, 2013
Author: Dave Covill

Beckie and I approached from the east via Los Alamos and Bandelier Nat Monumnent. We had no intentions of climbing, just visiting. We arrived at the Visitor Center, amidst many large trucks full of cattle, with many vaqueros herding them around. We walked in, and paused behind a woman in her 60's discussing something new and important with one of the four ranger ladies behind the counter.

This woman was dressed for hiking, and was in the process of paying $10 on VISA to hike. I listened, and she was distraught that "All the city folks would be coming in, getting lost, messing up the place...". This of course aroused my curiosity. Huh?!? They proceeded to discuss some new "news event", then she left.

I wanted to tell her I was a city boy, fresh back from interesting climbs in Alaska, and what had she done of note lately, but I kept my mouth shut...

I asked her to repeat her statement, and she patiently related to me that

THERE WILL SOON BE OPEN ACCESS TO THE VALLES CALDERA
NATIONAL PRESERVE, INCLUDING REDONDO PEAK.

Sorry to shout, thought I needed to emphasize....

In a nutshell, the family owing this land sold it for about $100 million to the feds a while back. They insisted on two things - public access for all, and that it be maintained as a working cattle ranch. Well, the Nature Conservancy folks got their fingers in it, access was tight - albeit occasionally folks could fish or walk in the meadows. Much local frustration.

Last Thursday, Sep 24th, they had a meeting. Apparently the head of Bandelier National Monument is also part of the Valles Caldera board. He proposed that there be Open Access starting after hunting season December 3. This measure passed with unanimous voting.

There is a little bit of hair on it. They have several nice gravel roads in there. They will have a shuttle system, and this shuttle will drop you off anywhere you like, i.e. on the north or east side of Redondo. You can then walk old roads to the top, or cut cross country to reach it. Whatever pleases you.

I scanned 2 purchased maps - a fine detail old logging road map and a shuttle route stop map. Please peruse them and the local newspaper's coverage of the big news. I think it will cost a visitor $10, although that is still to be determined.

It may not be very easy in the winter with snow. I will return with Beckie next summer and climb Redondo, then go back to Caballo Mountain in Los Alamos the same weekend, perhaps breaking up the two hikes with a visit to Alejandro out by Mt Taylor.

Final Thoughts

Ours is a DYNAMIC hobby. Things change all the time. Sometimes they change for the worse, sometimes for the better. We patiently (most of us...) waited for access to Nevada's Mount Grant, and it happened. It is finally happening now at Redondo Peak. No, this isn't a nasty situation like some other county highpoints in New Mexico and California, but it still was quasi-illegal to climb Redondo until now.

This tells us a couple of things. One is that you can never accept "close enough is good". You either have to get to the highpoint, or wait. Secondly, we must be patient and wait for good things to happen at some places.