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When the only way to access the publicly-owned Valles Caldera required visitors to pay a minimum of $40 to a private concessionaire, people balked. They said that was "elitist". But now that the private concessionaire has reduced the price of admission, attitudes appear to have changed.
Quoted from appended article:
["I don't know how they do it for $10," Whitted said. "To me, $10 is a steal."]
All that has changed is the PRICE. The fact that the public (i.e., the owners of this land) can not access this public-property unless they pay a private concessionaire, is still elitist. I hope the new low price does not mean that the uproar over the privatization of the Valles Caldera has ended.
When people start quibbling over the price, it reminds me of an old joke. It also makes me worry that those who place high value upon equality, citizenship and democracy are screwed.
Scott
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Jemez Haven
Story by Staci Matlock / The New Mexican
July 15, 2004
Towering Ponderosa pines, aspens, wild strawberries and flowers line
the seven-mile Cerro Seco loop trail in the Valles Caldera National
Preserve. The trail, actually an old logging road, winds its way up
with a 720-foot elevation gain to almost 9,000 feet. Matthew Griego, 7,
and his brother Daniel, 10, of Albuquerque approached the hike the way
children often do. They marched ahead, sometimes skipping over boulders
in the way, then a sudden stop to inspect something of interest along
the trail, such as a butterfly or a rock. Just as abruptly, they
spurted ahead again while their grandfather Jim Jett adjusted his pace
to match theirs.
Jett's brother Michael Jett from Chicago and his 16-year-old son,
Chris, were along for the walk as well. "You have to go a long way to
find mountains like this," Michael Jett said, as he set a steady pace
along the road.
Cerro Seco is one of two new trails opened to the public this summer in
the 88,900-acre Valles Caldera National Preserve, which was once a
cattle and sheep ranch. It is one of three trails hikers must pay a fee
and register to walk, along with San Antonio Mountain and Cerro del
Abrigo.
Albuquerque resident Ed Whitted, who retired from the U.S. Air Force
and worked a second career as a Los Alamos National Laboratory staff
scientist, has hiked all three of the fee trails this summer. He
remembers when the preserve opened two years ago, and hikers were
charged $40 each. "To me that was outrageous ," Whitted said.
A lot of other hikers also suggested the preserve was "elitist."
The preserve's board of trustees listened and lowered the fee to $10
per adult and $5 per child. Whitted thinks that's reasonable,
especially since a preserve van picks hikers up at a parking lot and
drives them the last half hour into the trailheads. "I don't know how
they do it for $10," Whitted said. "To me, $10 is a steal."
Vans drop hikers off at a specified time, usually 7:30 a.m. or 9:30
a.m. and are back to pick hikers up in the afternoon . Lucky hikers get
a van driver such as New Mexico State Park ranger Randy Trujillo and a
preserve volunteer like Betsy Reiken, who know the area and its lore
history.
The preserve limits both the number of people on each fee hike (12 each
trip) and prohibits all but official preserve vehicles in most areas of
the preserve. The big reason is to limit the impact from vehicle
traffic on the Valles Caldera.
Hiking opened May 13 this year and continues to early September when
elk hunting begins, according to preserve information officer Julie
Grey. As of July 7, 463 hikers had paid to trek along Cerro del Abrigo,
78 hiked San Antonio Mountain and 118 took the Cerro Seco trail. Last
year, the preserve counted 898 hikers on the fee trails through Oct. 31
and 378 more who signed in at the free trails.
The free Valle Grande and Coyote Call trails are open until late fall.
San Antonio and Cerro Seco trails are open only two days a week. Cerro
del Abrigo is open four days a week. The trails are rated as moderate
difficulty, but can be as easy as hikers want to make them, depending
on pace and how far they go. Those who make it to the turnaround point
of each trail are rewarded with stupendous views of the ancient
volcanic calderas and the lush valleys in between.
Jim Jett worked at LANL for almost 33 years before retiring. Those were
the pre-preserve days, when the Valles Caldera was still in private
hands. The most Jett could do was drive along N.M. 4 to see it, he
said. He thinks the Valles Caldera is a "wonderful, magical place," and
he's happy to see a bit more of it now with his family .
In an e-mail interview after the hike, Jim Jett said he was pleased
with the flexibility the Valles Caldera staff allowed. Like other
trekkers that day, he and his family were scheduled to walk the
seven-mile round-trip San Antonio trail. Since the San Antonio and
Cerro Seco trailheads were across from each other, staff allowed hikers
to choose the one they wanted when the van arrived.
Flexibility also allowed Jett's family to set their own pace and turn
back when they needed to. His grandsons decided the two-mile mark of
the trail was far enough and turned around. He also thought the fees
were reasonable .
"Since there were five in our party, the boys added only $2 over the
cost for three adults," he said. "My one criticism at this point would
be that the length of the van ride was not noted in the description of
the hike. Adding an extra hour to one's plans at the last minute could
be troublesome for some."
Like Jett, Whitted has enjoyed his forays into the Valles Caldera. He's
made a few suggestions to the Valles Caldera staff about how he thinks
they could improve the program.
"When I hike, I don't like to hike continuously. I like to stop, take a
break and listen for wildlife," Whitted said. "If you are always
moving, you scare away wildlife. If you stop for awhile, the wildlife
comes out."
He's suggested having van pickup times based on the pace a group wants
to take - one for continuous hikers, more time for the ambling,
wildlife-watching people.
He also sees no reason mountain bikers shouldn't share the trails.
"They're not what I call normal hiking trails. They're old logging
roads," Whitted said, noting a logging road is wide enough to
accommodate both cyclists and hikers.
Out-of-town or out-of-state visitors should remember the hikes begin at
high elevation, around 8,000 feet. Hikers should bring plenty of water
and food, plus rain gear in case of the sudden afternoon storms
well-known in Northern New Mexico.
See the Web site www.vallescaldera.gov for more information, maps of
the trails and to reserve hikes. Hikers who pay the fee do not get a
refund if they fail to show up or miss the van.
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- Privatization 
