This page consists of 360° QuickTime Virtual Reality panoramic photos from throughout the Valles Caldera – many are from locations to which the public has rarely, if ever, been granted access during the past 149 years.
Directions: You need to have QuickTime (version 5.0 or above) installed to view these, as well as a high-speed internet connection. Click here to install QuickTime. QuickTime will automatically launch when the panorama has been downloaded.
Click on a red dot in the map below to view a panorama from that location. You’ll be sent to a description of the panorama, from which you can download the file. Or you can scroll down below the map for a list of panoramas by geographic location. Once the panorama loads, enter full-screen mode (by pressing command-F on a Mac or control-F on a PC) for the most enjoyable viewing experience. Drag the cursor in any direction to change your perspective. Press the shift key to zoom in, and the control key (command key on a Mac) to zoom out.
Redondo Peak and Vicinity:
Redondito High Road
This road (VC0301), blasted through the toweringly steep slopes of Redondito Peak by loggers, is halfway up the Peak, at 10,000 feet of elevation. Notice the felsenmeer rock outcroppings facing away from your perspective. Above the outcroppings, look above you to see the top of Redondito Peak. The vista, facing north, reveals (from left to right) Redondo Border (part of the resurgent dome), Cerro Seco (a ring fracture dome, barely visible), the North Rim, Garita Peak, the ring fracture domes of Cerro Santa Rosa and Cerro Toledo, Chicoma Peak (outside of the Caldera), the ring fracture dome of Cerro Abrigo, and the Sierra de los Valles (a portion of the east rim of the Caldera). VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Redondo Canyon Vista
This panorama is from 9,750 feet of elevation on a logging road (VC06) blasted out of the slopes of Redondo Peak. The rock behind your perspective is Redondo Peak rhyolite. From this point, turning right, you can see Redondito Peak, the top of Redondo Peak, Redondo Canyon (through which Redondo Creek flows), and the southern part of Redondo Border. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
El Cajete Crater
This beautiful three-quarter-mile long meadow near the southern base of Redondo Peak was the volcanic vent for a massive pyroclastic eruption that occurred 55,000 years ago — the El Cajete eruption. This produced a sizable layer of pumice that blanketed the Jemez Mountains. The eruption that occurred in this crater also created Battleship Rock (Martin). More recently, the Dunigans (the last private owners of the Baca Ranch) would often give an open invitation to the people of the Jemez Mountains to attend Fourth of July celebrations here at El Cajete. During the era in which the Bond family owned the Baca Ranch (1917-1959), a sheep shearing camp existed here on this crater (Martin). VIEW THIS PANORAMA, or view an aerial photo of El Cajete Crater.
San Antonio River:
Lower Valle San Antonio
This perspective is where the San Antonio River, flowing west, leaves the National Preserve. Soon after this point it heads south through the red-rock-lined San Antonio Canyon and flows by the San Antonio Hot Springs (still at the base of the west rim of the Valles Caldera, but in the Santa Fe National Forest). VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Middle Valle San Antonio
From this perspective you can see San Antonio Cabin in the distance. San Antonio Cabin was built as a cowboy cabin at the base of the ring fracture dome Cerro Seco. From Cerro Seco looking left, you can see two parts of the resurgent domes Redondo Peak and Redondito Peak; the ring fracture domes of Cerro San Luis, Cerro Santa Rosa, and Cerro Trasquilar; Cerro Toledo (part of the northwest rim); and Garita Peak (part of the north rim). Behind you is the North Rim of the Caldera. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
San Antonio Warm Springs, West Side
San Antonio Warm Springs, in this little shack, should not be confused with San Antonio Hot Springs. The warm springs are in the National Preserve, several hundred feet from the aforementioned San Antonio Cabin (not visible in this panorama). The San Antonio Hot Springs are on the Santa Fe National Forest, about five miles down the Valle San Antonio, which becomes the San Antonio Canyon. During the Bond family ownership of the ranch (1917-1959), a sheep shearing camp was located here at the Warm Springs (Martin). VIEW THIS PANORAMA
San Antonio Warm Springs, East Side
Nearby San Antonio Cabin has no electricity or phone service. However, due to these warm springs, as well as the cold springs adjacent to the cabin, it is not such a hard life for the cowboys that live there in the summer. After all, they get a warm bath at the springs when they wake up as well as when they get home from a hard day’s work herding the cattle — and they can drink natural mountain spring water from the cold springs that flow out of their faucet. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Headwaters of the San Antonio River
Scientists built these deep wells at the headwaters of the San Antonio River in the Valle Toledo soon after the town of Los Alamos was established. The scientists were attempting to gauge the feasibility of diverting the San Antonio River in a pipeline to the east, over the east rim of the Caldera, to provide Los Alamos with drinking water. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
North Rim:
Garita Peak
Garita Peak, elev. 10,000, forms part of the north rim of the Caldera, and it is also on the north boundary of the National Preserve. From this panorama you can see across the entire Valles Caldera. Visible (from left to right) is Cerros de los Posos and Sierra de los Valles (on the east rim), Cerro del Medio and Cerro Abrigo (ring-fracture domes), Rabbit Mountain (which is part of the south rim of the Caldera), Valle Grande, Sandia Peak (barely visible off in the distance), Cerros de Trasquilar and Cerro Santa Rosa (ring-fracture domes), the resurgent domes of Redondito Peak and Redondo Peak, and the volcanic ring fracture dome of Cerro San Luis. VIEW THIS PANORAMA. You can also view this aerial photo that features Garita Peak, which is the portion of the background mountains (North Rim) with a wide clearing.
Twin Cabins Canyon
This isolated, idyllic meadow is on the northwest rim of the Caldera. This perspective is within the ruins of the “twin cabins” that once occupied this meadow. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Indios Cabin
This little shack was built just a few hundred feet away from the shady and isolated Indios Canyon, through which the Rito de los Indios flows south on its way to the San Antonio River. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Central Caldera:
Valle Jaramillo
Through this valley flows the Jaramillo River. This is a prime location for spotting hundreds of elk in the summer. Behind you is the ring-fracture dome of Cerro del Medio, and across the valley is the base of Redondo Peak. VIEW THIS PANORAMA. You can also view an aerial photo, the bottom portion of which features Valle Jaramillo.
Obsidian Valley
Cerro del Medio, the mountain (ring-fracture dome) on the other side of the trees behind you, is the source of some of the largest and most plentiful obsidian in the Jemez Mountains. There are many massive prehistoric obsidian quarries on Cerro del Medio, used for tools, spears, points, and knives by native people (Martin). It is hard for one to avoid stepping on the dense quantities of obsidian that are found in this valley. VIEW THIS PANORAMA. You can also view a shot from the air in which Obsidian Valley can be seen in the middle of the photo.
“Buffalo Girls” Film Set
These structures at the base of Cerro Piñon, along the Jaramillo River, were constructed by filmmakers for the 1995 TV movie “Buffalo Girls” to look like a ghost town (Martin). Look closely on the other side of the canyon for a solar panel. This powers a device that measures the water quality in the Jaramillo River, which flows through this canyon. Among other things, the machine is attempting to measure the impact of cattle grazing on the water quality of the rivers of the caldera. Continuing to the right, near the road, notice the triangular, white shape. This is an insect trap. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Foothill of Cerro del Medio
The vista shown here was taken from a meadow on top of a foothill on the eastern flank of Cerro del Medio (which means “middle mountain”). Also known as “CDM,” the mountain is the oldest ring-fracture dome in the Valles Caldera (formed about 1.2 million years ago). The Valle Grande can be seen through the trees as the panorama opens. You can also see a view from the sky of Cerro del Medio here and here. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Eastern Caldera:
Valle de los Posos
This panorama was taken at sunrise. Valle de los Posos is nestled against the eastern wall of the Caldera, next to the Sierra de los Valles. In 1915, a log cabin was built here in Valle de los Posos by the Leese family, who believed that the location was outside of the Baca Ranch. Indeed, the original 1876 survey of the Baca Location No. 1 did show that this area was outside of the original 100,000 acre land grant. However, a new survey was done in 1910 indicating that the original 19th-century survey was performed in a haphazard manner. It demonstrated that the Baca Ranch was actually larger than the originally survey indicated, and that the Leese homestead was actually inside of the Ranch. Though they had an impressive potato-growing operation on their land, the Leese gave it up due to legal problems. This valley was also the location into which students from the Los Alamos Ranch School (the institution that existed in Los Alamos before the Manhattan Project) emerged on horseback over the East Rim (the Sierra de los Valles) into the Valles Caldera on the trail from Los Alamos. Students at the school were welcome on the Baca Ranch by the owners of the property, the Bond family (Martin). VIEW THIS PANORAMA, or take a look at a view of Valle de los Posos from the sky.
Valle Toledo
This broad valley, approximately 1.75 miles long and 1.5 miles wide, is a remnant of the first caldera collapse here in the Jemez. The Toledo Caldera eruption and collapse occurred 1.6 million years ago, before the Valles Caldera eruption and collape of 1.2 million years ago. The Toledo Caldera ring fracture (the ring along which the earth collapsed) was wider than that of the Valles Caldera. A portion of the Valles Caldera ring fracture can be seen across the valley in this panorama, represented by the ring fracture dome of Cerro Abrigo that looms across the valley). However, the Toledo Caldera ring fracture occurred behind the perspective in this panorama, behind the trees close to the perspective of the panorama. While the Valles Caldera eruptions blew away most of the Toledo Caldera, the beautiful and expansive Valle Toledo remains one of the existing relics of the first caldera collapse here in the Jemez. (Martin) VIEW THIS PANORAMA, or view Valle Toledo from the sky.
Valle Grande in All Four Seasons:
Valle Grande Lightning Shack
This panorama was taken along the south base of Cerro del Medio, near the Valle Grande Lightning Shack. This structure was built during the Baca Ranch era to shelter cowboys working on the ranch during the Jemez Mountains’ monsoon season, in which dramatic thunderstorms fall upon the Valles Caldera almost every day in July for an hour or two during the early afternoon. Monsoons are a result of humid, warm air flowing northwest from the Gulf of Mexico. As the moist air ascends to New Mexico’s higher elevations, it cools off beneath the dew point and condenses into rain and hail.
Visitors to the Southwest (and indeed, longtime residents) marvel at the spectacle of the Jemez’ monsoon season, in which it is not uncommon for the sky immediately above to be unleashing a torrential downpour, while much of the surrounding sky is bright blue. Experiencing warm raindrops falling in a verdant valley of colorful wildflowers as the bright New Mexico sun shines through the droplets from the west, producing an enchanting “liquid sunshine” effect, is one of the most magical parts of summer in the Jemez. This experience is also extremely enjoyable at one of the Valles Caldera’s magnificent hot springs. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Valle Grande in March (high resolution)
VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Valle Grande in June (low resolution)
VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Valle Grande in September (low resolution)
VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Valle Grande in December (low resolution)
VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Others:
Top of Battleship Rock
Battleship Rock is at the southwest rim of the Valles Caldera, in the Santa Fe National Forest (outside the National Preserve). The rock was formed 50,000 to 60,000 years ago by the El Cajete Eruption (Martin). Beneath this perspective is the confluence of the two major drainage systems of the Valles Caldera — the East Fork of the Jemez River and the San Antonio River. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
Top of Cat Mesa, Along the South Rim
This perspective is located in the Santa Fe National Forest, on Cat Mesa, along the South Rim of the Caldera, high above and to the west of the Valles Caldera community of Sierra los Piños, facing to the northeast, before a late-summer afternoon thunderstorm.
Once the panorama is open, the resurgent dome of Redondo Peak (elev. 11,254), the highest mountain in the Caldera, stands tall in the center of the perspective. Just below this sacred mountain is the Banco Bonito, a high plateau that was formed by an eruptive event that occurred between 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, in which thick, obsidian-like lava flowed to the southwest, a path which you can visually follow by dragging the cursor to the left (which moves the whole perspective of the panorama).
Below the Banco Bonito, take note of the prominent rock cliffs. These form part of the north wall of the East Fork of the Jemez River canyon. Although it cannot be discerned, to the right of these rocks is Jemez Falls, one of the most family-friendly recreation areas in the Valles Caldera and the Santa Fe National Forest, with a short trail from the road traversed just as easily by young and old alike.
To the left of the rock cliffs (also not visible) is McCauley Warm Springs. If you turn the perspective about 60 degrees to the left of this, you can see a rich assortment of volcanic features: at the nadir of the north and south walls of the East Fork Canyon is Battleship Rock (tiny in this panorama), which is the location of the confluence of the two rivers that drain the Valles Caldera (the aforementioned East Fork of the Jemez River as well as the San Antonio River). Above that is the wall of massive Virgin Mesa, which forms the Western Rim of the Caldera as it extends to the right (north). Panning even more to the left is an impressive collection of tent rocks, which are hoodoos consisting of eroded Bandelier Tuff (which is the output from the two cataclysmic eruptions 1.6 and 1.2 million years ago — the first formed the Toledo Caldera and the second created the Valles Caldera, which obliterated most of the first caldera). There are various collections of tent rocks (some of them hidden) throughout the Valles Caldera and Jemez Mountains, most notably in Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument, a surreal, magical landscape that was designated a National Monument in 2001 by President Bill Clinton in the final days of his administration. VIEW THIS PANORAMA.
Top of Guadalupe Mesa
Guadalupe Mesa is not located within the Valles Caldera, although it is in the Jemez Mountains. This perspective is located at the southern tip of this one-thousand-foot-tall mesa, which was formed by the output from the two major Jemez eruptions that formed the two calderas in Jemez geologic history – the Toledo Caldera (1.62 million years ago) and the Valles Caldera (1.2 million years ago). This output — compressed ash — is known as Bandelier Tuff (Martin). A battle between the Spanish and the Jemez Indians took place here at the top of Guadalupe Mesa in 1694. During this battle, the Spanish took control of the Jemez people as part of their campaign to put a bloody end to the Pueblo Revolt, the period of independence for New Mexico’s native population that lasted from 1680-1694. VIEW THIS PANORAMA
