Frey trail
| In years past, all visitors took this route into Bandelier. Since the road was built, many people are missing the great views that this trail provides. |
| Hike data | Waypoints | Maps | Getting to the trailhead | About the hike | Plants along the trail | Comments |
|
| Date: | 2003-10-26 |
| Time it took us: | 1:25 |
| Usage (people/hour): | 0.00 We saw nobody else until we reached the main ruins trail. |
| Cleanliness: | 9 |
| Waypoint | Type | Description |
| BAND VC | Trailhead | Bandelier National Monument Visitor Center and trailhead |
| FREY TH | Trailhead | Frey Trail at Bandelier National Monument, mesa top trailhead |
| FREYXRUINS | Trail junction | Frey Trail junction with the Bandelier Ruins trail |
| Map name | Cartographer | Year | Scale | Topo map? | Online access | Notes |
| Albuquerque New Mexico | USGS | 1983 | 1:100000 | Y | from sar.lanl.gov (free) | |
| Bandelier National Monument | National Geographic Trails Illustrated | 2000 | 1:28600 | Y | Trails Illustrated Topo Map: Bandelier National Monument - New Mexico, USA (Trails Illustrated - Topo Maps USA) (purchase) | |
| Guide to Indian Country of Arizona Colorado New Mexico Utah | Automobile Club of Southern California | 1998 | 1:0 | N | Arizona Strip Interpretive Association (purchase) | Good overview road map for northwest NM. No scale is given on the map. The corner coordinates are approximate. |
| Los Alamos | BLM | 2003 | 1:100000 | Y | Public Lands Information Center (purchase) | |
| Santa Fe National Forest | US Forest Service | 2004 | 1:126720 | N | From the National Forest Store (purchase) | West half |
| Wildernesses of New Mexico | US Forest Service | 1981 | 1:1000000 | N | No online copies. | Base map with national forests, wilderness areas and highways. |
From the main entrance to Bandelier National Monument, follow the signs
to the Juniper Campground. Across from
loop B is the Bandelier Amphitheater parking lot. The trailhead is at
the south end of the parking lot. At the trailhead is this large sign
about the history of the trail, so the trailhead is hard to miss.
|  |
 | The trail heads across the mesa top. At this point, it is flat and open. One of the grasses you are likely to see is Little Bluestem (Andropogon scoparius). When this plant is growing, it is bluish at the base of the stems, hence the common name. When it dries out, this is what you see. |
The views include the San Miguel Mountains, which are the western border of the park. You also get views south, and occasional glimpses of the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the east. As you look across to the mountains, you can see areas which have burned. Years of fire suppression have led to intense fires. As you hike, consider how the landscape will change over the next several years. |  |
 | Clearly, the park recognizes the view, as they have provided this bench which has a view of the San Miguel Mountains. The drought and the bark beetle infestation have turned what was previously an evergreen forest into one that looks like a mixed deciduous/evergreen forest in winter. |
Along this part of the trail, look at the ground. It is covered with
small crystals. Ants appear to be collecting the crystals.
|  |
 | You cross a road after about a mile of hiking. A sign indicates that the visitor center is 1.2 miles further. Right after crossing the road, the trail begins to head down into a side canyon of the main Frijoles canyon, and then turn the corner into Frijoles itself. You are waling on tuff, which is welded volcanic ash. Sometimes the trail is decomposed tuff, which is like gravel or sand. Other times, you are walking on blocks of tuff, which are carved into steps. Watch out for the steep dropoffs off the side of the trail at times. The photo to the left is looking up Frijoles canyon after the turn. The rounded mesa-top in the upper right is the end of the Tyuonyi Overlook hike. |
As soon as you turn the corner into Frijoles, you also begin to get
great views up and down the canyon. You also can look down upon the
ruins and the ruins trail, and across to the trails on the other
canyon wall, which are part of the Frijolito hike.
|  |
 | As you continue to descend, you begin to hear the sounds of the other
park visitors on the ruins trail. When we hiked this trail, we saw
nobody else until the ruins trail.
When you reach the junction with the ruins trail (GPS: FREYXRUINS), go right.
This takes you to the main ruins trail. If you want to head to the
visitor center (GPS: BAND
VC), when you get to the next junction, go left and you will find
yourself there in under half a mile.
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Plants we saw along the trail:
Reader comments about this hike:
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Very nice trail. We hiked it in June 2005 from Juniper Campground down into Frijoles Canyon, and back. The first half is relatively flat with some views of the Jemez Mts. When you get to the canyon the trail descends quickly. A little tough on the knees. Views of the canyon and ruins are excellent. The trip back was more strenuous since you are going up, up, up and we were tired after viewing all the caves, etc... Take plenty of water, sun screen, and camera. A park ranger saw us returning and asked if we saw any cougar tracks...yikes! We didnt see any but it was pretty hot and sunny so it may have been sleeping somewhere. Enjoy! On Sun Jul 9 04:15:32 2006 Anonymous from Somewhere said:
If you have alternate transportation, get a ride to the bottom of the Frey trial and hike up to the campground. That seems easier on most peoples knees, and you can enjoy the views while you take rest stops on the way up. I camped at Juniper Campground, rode my bike down to the bottom of the trail, locked it, and hiked up to the campground where I spent the night. The next day I drove down and retrieved my bike.