Tours of the Cave Kiva trail near the bottom of NM 501 (truck route) are scheduled for Friday and Saturday. The tours are sponsored by the Cultural Resources team in Ecology (ENV-ECO).
The Cave Kiva trail begins southwest of the truck inspection station on the south side of NM 501. The non-guided tours begin at 10 a.m., and continue through about 3 p.m., both days. Members of the public should wear appropriate footwear, such as hiking boots or good walking shoes, wear appropriate clothing for weather conditions and bring their own water. There are no restroom facilities.
The tours are one of the final opportunities for the public to hike these trails as they will be closed to both the public and Laboratory employees beginning next Monday (Dec. 12). Once per year, the trail will be open during Cultural Heritage Month.
In December 2003, the Trails Assessment Working Group was established to inventory, map and prepare historical reports on many trails that have been used on the Pajarito Plateau. Some of these are ancient ancestral pueblo footpaths that continue to be used for recreational hiking today.
The assessment concluded that the Cave Kiva trail must be closed because it rated problematic in eight of the 10 evaluation criteria, including endangered species habitat, parking, proximity to potential release sites, cultural resource issues, erosion problems, and trespassing problems onto Native American lands and Laboratory technical areas.
The working group consists of representatives from the Laboratory, local citizen hiking groups, Los Alamos County, the U.S. Forest Service, Park Service and the Los Alamos Site Office of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
For more information, contact Bruce Masse of ENV-ECO at 5-9149.
