Cuesta Colorada

Falls Trail Tour - Stop 13

~6 min drive

<p>Are you starting to notice some new plants? Leaving behind the towering ponderosas and scrubby oaks, you are now passing broad-leaved yucca (<i>Yucca baccata</i>), mormon tea (<i>Ephedra viridis</i>), and walkingstick cholla (<i>Opuntia imbricate</i>). The environment here…

Soda Springs

~4 min drive

Moderate 8-mile hike to natural springs with 709 ft elevation gain.

Falls Trail Tour - Stop 15

~6 min drive

<p>See if you can spot where Frijoles Creek joins the Rio Grande. In 2011 the massive Las Conchas wildfire heavily burned the upper reaches of this canyon. In the years that followed, several huge floods changed the landscape of Frijoles Canyon. The creek normally flows around…

Falls Trail Tour - Stop 14

~6 min drive

<p>Across the canyon, you can see layered volcanic rock. These are sediments from an ancient maar volcano. A maar volcano is one that erupts through water, such as an underground aquifer. When underground water is suddenly heated, it expands into a significant volume of steam.…

Falls Trail Tour - Stop 16

~6 min drive

<p>Upper Falls was created by magma that cooled in the throat of the volcano as the eruptions ceased. This durable stone was resistant to erosion and withstood the downcutting of Frijoles Creek. This waterfall is approximately 80 feet tall. <br /> <br /> Upper Falls is the fin…

Falls Trail Tour - Stop 12

~6 min drive

<p>This is a boundary of the Bandelier Wilderness. This area was designated as a wilderness in 1976 under the Wilderness Act of 1964. Wilderness areas are given the highest form of protection the government can give to a public land to protect them for future generations.</p>

Falls Trail Tour - Stop 11

~7 min drive

<p>Look at the northeast wall of the canyon. Can you notice the boundary between basalt and tuff? This line represents one wall of the old Rio Grande waterway. Before the eruption of the Jemez Volcano, the big river flowed here. Its channel was changed and pushed southward by…

Falls Trail Tour - Stop 10

~7 min drive

<p>Abert’s squirrels, with their tufted ears and long white tails, are one common inhabitant here. Abert’s squirrels live near ponderosa pines, which provide an important food source for the squirrels. They will turn the cones slowly, much as you may rotate an ear of corn as y…

Falls Trail Tour - Stop 8

~7 min drive

<p><i>Note: Post 8 is currently lying down on the trail, so look carefully!</i><br /> <br /> Look at the small group of oaks here. Several species of oaks can be found not only in riparian areas like this one, but also in the piñon-juniper woodland and mixed conifer forests of…

Falls Trail Tour - Stop 7

~7 min drive

<p><em>Note: There is no post currently for Stop 7, so just find a nice shady stop to pause!</em><br /> <br /> In the canyon, water-loving plants like narrowleaf cottonwood (<i>Populus angustifolia</i>) and willow (<i>Salix spp</i>) grow in profusion. Cottonwoods get their nam…