Wandering New Mexico with David Ryan: Rabbit Mountain Loop at Valles Caldera

20250803-go-valles — Elk can be spotted in the Valles Caldera National Preserve.

David Ryan David Ryan David Ryan For the Journal

Published August 4, 2025 - 7:00 a.m. Modified August 4, 2025 - 7:00 a.m.

Get the books

Hike information has been adapted from “Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico” by David Ryan, and from the third edition of “60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Albuquerque” by David Ryan and Stephan Ausherman. Both books are available at local stores where books are sold. David Ryan will be giving a talk on Exploring New Mexico’s Special Places at Travel Bug in Santa Fe, 839 Paseo de Peralta, at 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6.

Driving instructions to Valles Caldera

From Interstate 25 north, take exit 242 in Bernalillo. Turn left on U.S. 550 west and go 23.5 miles to San Ysidro. Turn right and go 41 miles east on New Mexico 4. The trailhead is on the right side of the road just west of mile marker 41. Parking is available on the side of the road and in the pulloff across the road from the trailhead. Another pulloff is a half-mile ahead.

About the Valles Caldera National Preserve

Valles Caldera National Preserve celebrated 25 years of public ownership last month and has much more to offer than Rabbit Mountain Loop. Please visit nps.gov/vall for information on backcountry access. Valles Caldera National Preserve has been a fee area since Jan. 1, with a standard pass starting at $15. Fees are waived with an America the Beautiful Pass. The access road to the entrance station is between mile markers 39 and 40 on New Mexico 4.

Valles Caldera National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains is worth driving across the country to see. It is the floor of a collapsed supervolcano that exploded over 1.2 million years ago.

Seeing it from New Mexico 4 will take your breath away, and you might ask yourself — “Why am I not coming out here more often?”

With higher elevations (8,700 feet at the trailhead) and cooler temperatures, Valles Caldera is the perfect place to hike with your dog. Most of the caldera is off-limits to dogs, but the 2.9-mile Rabbit Mountain Loop (formerly known as Coyote Call) welcomes them.

From the trailhead, the route passes through a gate and follows an old grassed-over logging road uphill through a meadow. Along the way you’ll pass a dozen or more different types of wildflowers, and may even see elk in the woods up ahead. You’ll also see signs of forest fire damage and how the land is recovering. Aspen, shrubs and grasses have greened up the mountainside, and the views of the caldera couldn’t be more fantastic.

After a half-mile or so from the trailhead, you’ll leave the meadow (after gaining 300 feet in elevation) to reach the junction with the Rabbit Ridge Trail. Since dogs are not allowed on that trail, bear left to stay on the main trail. The trail generally levels off and has fantastic views the entire way. In another mile or so, the trail bears to the left again and starts downhill back to the trailhead for a nice 2.9-mile loop hike.