Natural Qualities of the Jemez Mountain Trail
You'll find many wonders along the Jemez Mountain Trail. For example, the history of the Jemez Mountains goes back one million years to a volcano's eruption. The eruption created an area of mountains, mesas, and canyons the size of a small eastern state.
Dominating the western half of the Santa Fe National Forest, the Jemez Mountains resemble a wagon wheel on a topographic map. The hub is formed by the giant Valles Caldera (a crater created by the volcano's violent explosion), and the spokes are made by the mesas built of volcanic tuft. Elevations in the range from 6,000 to 11,000 feet. One of the legacies of the volcano is the canyons' Swiss cheeselike rock cliffs and strange cone-shaped tent rocks.
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