Comanche Point, a notable landmark on the western side of the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest, is located at the confluence of Comanche Creek and Costilla Creek.
A panorama of Ash Mountain, as seen from Little Costilla Peak in the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest. Little Costilla Peak, which rises to 12,584 feet in elevation, is the highest point in Colfax County. Ash Mountain is 11,429 feet in elevation.
Comanche Point, a notable landmark on the western side of the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest, is located at the confluence of Comanche Creek and Costilla Creek.
Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
Wildlife biologist Francisco “Kiko†Cortez began his career in the U.S. Forest Service as a teenage intern working as a fisheries technician in the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest. Thirty-five years later and just a few years shy of retirement, he still finds himself entranced by the wonders of the “Valley of Life.â€
In those early days, Cortez was on the ground floor of what would become a massive collaborative restoration effort that has returned the Rio Grande cutthroat trout, New Mexico’s state fish, to the rivers and streams of the Valle Vidal. Now, he and others have the opportunity to fish for the black-spotted, red-throated trout in the waterways of the majestic mountain basin near the Colorado border.
When he gets to talking about the allure of the Valle Vidal, the 54-year-old Taos native draws on his decades of memories working, fishing, hunting and roaming the unit’s 101,794 acres to paint a rich mental picture for his listeners. He most frequently recalls his trips in the fall, when the bulls of the Valle’s large elk population are in full rut and their haunting bugles echo across the massive meadows and forested hills.
Cortez described the surreal experience of fishing in the mist of dawn as the male elk wail in the distance. And he said the chorus of calls doesn’t stop when day turns to night.
“You go there in the end of September, early October and you camp out, either dispersed or at one of the campgrounds, and you’re not going to sleep because the elk are just bugling all night long,†Cortez said. “They might run right through your camp, and I’m OK with that. I wish all my nights were like that. Even though I don’t sleep a wink, it’s one of the best nights I ever had.â€
You don’t have to spend decades in the Valle Vidal like Cortez has to acquire vivid memories there. One weekend, even one day reveling in the solitude of the remote high country escape can be enough to make a lasting impression.
An outhouse near a historic cabin in the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest.
Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
My first visit to Valle Vidal was in the fall of 2020. I had seen photos online of the gorgeous landscape and wanted to lay eyes on it myself but wasn’t quite sure how to approach a visit after learning that there aren’t really any designated trails there.
I committed to the nearly three-hour trip from ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe, heading up to Questa and continuing north on N.M. 522 toward the Colorado border before turning east at the tiny town of Costilla. The road transitioned from pavement to gravel beyond Amalia and then went alongside Costilla Creek through the striking high walls of Costilla Canyon.
Land through the canyon and up until the boundary with the Valle Vidal, known as Rio Costilla Park, is incredibly picturesque and managed by the Rio Costilla Cooperative Livestock Association. The area offers camping and fishing opportunities from May through Labor Day weekend.
The unmistakable rock formation of Comanche Point overlooks the confluence of Costilla Creek and Comanche Creek and greets visitors near the western edge of the Valle Vidal, which was once part of Vermejo Ranch before it was donated to the American people by the Pennzoil Company in 1982. At Comanche Point, signs note the distances to notable destinations in the Valle.
There are two campgrounds in the Valle Vidal. Cimarron Campground is centrally located and within a short hike of Shuree Ponds, which are stocked with trout, while McCrystal Campground is on the eastern side of the unit.
Shuree Ponds and the abandoned Shuree Lodge in the middle of the Valle Vidal.
Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
I opted for Cimarron Campground and had a quiet late afternoon at camp before the elk bugling picked up around dusk and continued through a frigid fall night. The next morning, I hiked down to Shuree Ponds and walked around an abandoned lodge. I ended up finding a peaceful place to sit under the flickering golden leaves of a stand of quaking aspen, trying to concentrate on a book of poems by N. Scott Momaday as elk continued to call in the distance.
Uncertain of what to do next with no official trails on the map, I decided to scale the nearby geologic feature known simply as The Rock Wall, which divides the Valle Vidal down the middle.
I got to the top after climbing up some scree and took in the view. I eyed a much higher mountain to the northwest and told myself, “The next time I come here, I’m going to climb that.â€
I headed back to camp, packed up and drove back west to take a short hike into the Big Valle, a 3,800-acre grassland meadow that’s at 9,500 feet in elevation. It reminded me a lot of hiking in Valles Caldera National Preserve in the Jemez Mountains, one of my favorite getaways closer to ·è¿ÍÖ±²¥ Fe.
The first trip to Valle Vidal was short and sweet. It gave me a feel for the area and an urge to return, but it didn’t include any meaty hikes. The second trip, which I took last month, was more ambitious.
A panorama of Ash Mountain, as seen from Little Costilla Peak in the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest. Little Costilla Peak, which rises to 12,584 feet in elevation, is the highest point in Colfax County. Ash Mountain is 11,429 feet in elevation.
Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
One of the cool or frustrating aspects of the Valle Vidal, depending on how you view it, is that there isn’t a lot of information out there yet about where to explore or what you’ll find. That means much of what you encounter can feel like a surprise. You can choose your own adventure, if you feel like an adventure, or you can stick near the roads and still have a wonderful experience thanks to the beauty all around.
“You could walk in any direction and anybody who enjoys the outdoors is going to find happiness,†Cortez said.
I found my happiness with the help of the AllTrails app, which shows two “trails†in the Valle Vidal.
One is a 7.2-mile loop that follows an old forest road for the first part of the hike and a faint suggestion of a path the rest of the hike. The Comanche Creek to La Belle route took me by a historic cabin, introduced me to many dozens of cows that graze in the valleys, and delivered me to the middle of an elevated grassland where I could see the expansive meadow reach out toward the towering mountains as rain clouds formed above them.
There were no other vehicles in the parking area by the trailhead, and I didn’t see a soul on the hike. I knew I was alone out there and I relished it, taking time to relax in total peace when I came to stands of aspen that provided some welcomed shade.
A stand of trees provides shade at the edge of a valley in the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest.
Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
The next morning, I started off early to hike the other “trail†on AllTrails, which went up to the top of Little Costilla Peak. The 12,584-foot peak is the highest point in Colfax County and requires quite a bit of bushwhacking up steep inclines before getting to ridgelines where things become more straightforward.
I’m definitely glad I had my phone’s GPS to stay somewhat on course, along with a downed fence that went on for miles and got me back down the mountain without as much resistance as I faced going up.
The Little Costilla Peak hike is done mostly by scouts and staff who come from nearby Philmont Scout Ranch in the summer but not tackled many others. I didn’t see a hint of another person on the nearly 9-mile hike that had an elevation gain of nearly 2,800 feet.
The views at the top were phenomenal, with the rocky spine of Ash Mountain directly below and to the east, Culebra Peak (the southernmost of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks) to the north, Wheeler Peak to the south, and some valley vistas and more mountains to the west.
The ridge up to Little Costilla Peak in the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest.
Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
Now that I’ve exhausted the two AllTrails routes in the Valle Vidal, I’m looking forward to charting my own path to a different destination on my next visit.
Cortez’s path in the Valle Vidal started as an intern 35 years ago, and now he can see the legacy he contributed to when he spots a Rio Grande cutthroat trout swimming in the Valle’s streams. It’s also a place he’s shared with his family over countless hunting and fishing trips.
His now-adult children sometimes bring up that he never took them to Disneyland, which he said wasn’t in the cards because of his obligations as a wildland firefighter during their childhood. But he reminds them that he did take them on multiple once-in-a-lifetime elk hunts in the Valle Vidal, among many other visits to the Valle.
“I remember my oldest son, he was only 3 or 4 years old and he was there with his little elk call and an elk would bugle back at him. He was so excited,†Cortez said. “That was better than ‘It’s a Small World’ in Disneyland and waiting three hours for a two-minute ride. This is real, and this is yours.
“They’re like, ‘Yeah, you’re right, Dad. Much better place to be than Disneyland.’ â€
Cattle graze along Comanche Creek in the Valle Vidal unit of Carson National Forest.
