Cerro Grande is a
summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topography, topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used ...
on the rim of the
Valles Caldera not far north of
New Mexico State Road 4, the main highway through
Los Alamos County. Like many mountains in the
Jemez, Cerro Grande was mainly covered with
conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
ous
forest, composed largely of
ponderosa pine and
aspen trees,
with a characteristic
rincon (meadow)
A rincón is a grass meadow. The term is in wide use in English in the southwest United States, where it refers specifically to a sloping (usually steep) meadow on the south facing upper slopes of a forested mountain. These characteristic high ...
on its slopes on and south of the summit.
In May 2000, a
prescribed burn on Cerro Grande got out of control and became the
Cerro Grande Fire
The Cerro Grande Fire was a disastrous forest fire in New Mexico, United States of America, that occurred in May 2000. The fire started as a controlled burn, and became uncontrolled owing to high winds and drought conditions. Over 400 f ...
, a
forest fire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
that burned 48,000 acres (190 km²) and destroyed hundreds of homes.
[ Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health, Committee on Resources, U.S. House of Representatives. Report Number GAO/T-RCED-00-273] Much of the forest on Cerro Grande itself was not damaged badly or at all. However, the whole mountain burned severely in the
Las Conchas Fire of 2011.
[ Click on the "multi image composite map" to see Cerro Grande within the burned area.]
The summit can be reached by a short hike
each way, with an elevation change of from a trailhead along State Road 4. From the summit, one can see into
Valle Grande to the west and into upper Frijoles Canyon to the south.
References
Mountains of New Mexico
Landforms of Sandoval County, New Mexico
Mountains of Sandoval County, New Mexico
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