Wide Open: Valles Caldera
About 1.25 million years ago, a volcanic eruption created the 13-mile wide circular depression now known as the Valles Caldera. It's hard to capture how huge this area is...and how amazing it is to turn the corner from the pine forest to see this massive expanse of green.
The area was purchased as a nature preserve about 15 years ago and just came under the management of the National Park Service in October 2015. NPS management makes it a lot easier to visit. Lucky us!
Wildlife is abundant...prairie dogs greet you on arrival.
It has one of the largest eld herds in the country.
The elk are abundant...but so far away! It gives you a sense of how huge the place is.
The best clouds ever!
Our hike in the backcountry was cut short by a hail storm...but we ended up giving a ride to some other hikers on our way out of the preserve...who gave us some of the history of the place.
One of the hikers had spent his summers in the 70's working in the area as a fire fighter, when the area was a cattle ranch owned by a family in Dallas!
There are a fair number of ranch buildings on the property near the road. You may recognize them from the movie The Missing.