Today I went up Cerro Grande and walked the handline down the ridge to the edge of the Valle Canyon meadow. If you're up on Cerro Grande, near the benchmark at the highest point of the peak, the handline trail is in the trees to the north, more or less, of the benchmark. In fact, if you look behind the biggest cairn that has sprung up on top of Cerro Grande, there is a dim trail behind it, in the grass, that goes into the trees to the north.
In the trees, the handline trail starts out like a pleasant walk in the woods,pine cones under foot, with very well defined, single track. That part doesn't last long, though, because then you come to the steep, stony middle part and my first reaction is "elevator shaft"!
That part is short also and than the trail moderates and comes to a rock felsenmeer. There are views of Redondo, Redondito, Cerro del Medio, and La Garita from the felsenmeer. You walk straight across the felsenmeer and the handline trail continues for a short distance down to the edge of the Valle Canyon meadow.
Walking the trail, you catch glimpses of the caldera and of Pajarito Mountain through the trees. At one point, I spied Cerro Rubio and Valles de los Posos when I looked back during a rest stop while going back up the "elevator shaft".
There are places where there are standing dead trees at the side of the ridge that block what would have otherwise been a great view. The sides of the trail are littered with cut trees from the construction of the handline. The trail is easy to follow because you essentially keep to a ridge that is more or less north-south trending and the various cut tree stumps are a dead giveaway that you're following the handline.
There was a bit of fall color starting, mostly in shrubs growing in the understory.
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