hike
Most hiking trails in the Preserve are open only on a pay-per-visit basis, and some require guides. However, two attractive trails based on defunct logging roads are accessible for free from SR 4: Coyote Call Trail, leading through meadows to a low pass, and Rabbit Ridge Trail, to a ridge end on the caldera rim. The trailheads are at mile marker 41; nice views of the Valle Grande on the hikes, which are each about a 3-mile round trip. Another pleasant trail leaves SR 4 at mile marker 43 and descends to the edge of the Valle Grande 2.5-mile round trip. Hikers on this trail sometimes have stirring encounters with the VCNP elk herd.
As of summer 2006, there are two trails in the interior of the Preserve that can be hiked on a pay-per-visit basis: Cerro Seco on the west side, and Cerros del Abrigo nearer the rudimentary visitor center. The Preserve is considering adding one or two other routes, so stay tuned. Fee for access is $10/person discounts for seniors and students and only a limited number of hikers are allowed per day Friday, Saturday, Sunday only. Reservations can be placed via the VCNP web site. Note that the drive to the trailheads via VCNP-operated shuttle, as interior roads are closed to visitors' vehicles can take up to an hour from the scheduled departure time; allow time accordingly.
ride
The less athletically inclined can take advantage of sleigh rides in the winter and wagon rides in the summer and maybe in the winter too, if snowpack is insufficient to run the sleigh. Rides are on a reservation basis $30/adult for sleigh, $25/adult for wagon, senior and youth discounts apply; reservations placeable via web site and run on the weekends, usually with four scheduled rides a day starting at 10 am. The vehicles are drawn by a pair of enormous Percheron horses that are scenic attractions in their own right. Dress warmly for the sleigh rides; the purveyors provide blankets, but they're insufficient to keep you warm if the winds come up.
Horseback riding is permitted during the spring, summer, and fall months, in a restricted area of the VCNP. At the Banco Bonito trailhead horse riders have reserved, secure trailer parking and access to a network of dedicated trails to scenic Redondo Meadow and El Cajete. The trails are easy, well kept ranch roads. Horse riders are permitted on about 20 miles of trails. Horses can be rented from local outfitters not connected with VCNP who deliver the horses to you at the trailhead. Overnight horse camping is allowed as of June 2008, as part of an Interim Camping program; details of this to be determined. Horse layovers are welcome at a private camp 4 miles away in Vallecitos, 45 minutes away at Fenton Lake State Park, and 1 hour away in Los Alamos at Camp May and at the Rodeo Grounds. Los Alamos has an extraordinary network of hundreds of miles of horse-friendly trails linking the town to the surrounding Santa Fe National Forest, Pajarito Ski Area, and Bandelier National Monument. Some of these trails overlook Valle Grande. Santa Fe National Forest also has many forest roads and trails, including Trail 119, Turkey Spring Trail (http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/s...) from a SFNF portion of the Valles Caldera to Bandelier National Monument and Trail 126, Peralta Ridge Trail (http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/s...).
hunt
One of the primary money-makers for VCNP is the annual elk hunt. The resident elk herd is the largest in New Mexico, is reproducing vigorously hearing the bugling of the bulls in the fall rutting season is a stirring experience, and would rapidly exceed the carrying capacity of the terrain, resulting in starvation and disease, without culling. A limited number of hunters each fall are therefore allowed on the Preserve each year, via a lottery system similar to the one for fishing. Tickets for the lottery cost only $5 each, but do not guarantee the purchaser a hunt -- only the possibility that the ticket will be drawn when the small number of annual hunting permits are allocated. If you hold a winning ticket and get to hunt, you'll have to pay considerably more for the privilege of actually doing so. See the VCNP web site for details.
ski
Nordic skiing is possible, snow permitting it didn't permit during the winter of 2005-6, from December to April in theory, although the snow rarely lasts this long on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, plus some holidays. Fees $10/adult, discounts for youth and seniors, for routine daytime skis no reservations required, pay and get permit at the visitor center; $15 discounts for moonlight and dark-night skis, which are held a few times during the winter check the site for details, reservations a good idea but not essential.
An interesting Nordic trip is to El Cajete, one of the more recent eruptive features in the caldera. This is a round trip of just a few miles on old logging roads, with relatively little elevation change, and should be feasible for the inexperienced Nordic skier. Longer trips lead into the interior of the caldera. It's easy to underestimate distances here owing to the immensity of the Valle Grande and the lack of features for scale; make sure you're up to the trip you choose.
Since 2006, New Mexico Orienteers holds a ski and snow-shoe orienteering meet in Valle Grande each February. Spectacular views of Valle Grande can be seen from the top of the Pajarito Ski Area and from the Canada Bonito trail in the Santa Fe National Forest.
fish
Fishing within VCNP is presently sharply limited but there are three satisfactory fishing streams: the Rio San Antonio, the East Fork of the Jemez River, and Jaramillo Creek. New for the 2009 season, trout fishing on the Rio San Antonio is by reservation and the river has been divided into four "reaches" that are about 2 miles long. Each reach has a limited number of slots available each day and any slots not reserved are available for "walk-ins" on that day. Access to a reach is $35 per person $21 for 16 years and younger. There is no public access to the river so a shuttle is provided to take anglers to the stream. However, the shuttle leaves at 7 a.m., so walk-ins must be at the VCNP's public staging area before then. It's a 45 drive to the water and the shuttle picks everyone up starting at about 2 p.m., so plan for a full day in the back country.
Access to the East Fork and Jaramillo Creek is by reservation but available slots on any day are open to anyone who shows up. The cost for East Fork/Jaramillo Creek access is $50 per person $40 for 16 years or younger. On each day there are six slots available to the public and four slots for guided trips. Anglers may hike from the staging or park on the public access road near the river.
Details on the web site. VCNP also offers fly-fishing clinics that combine with an overnight stay at Casa de Baca Lodge; again, see the web site reservations are necessary far in advance.
The fisherman who doesn't wish to pay access fees, or just wants more time on the stream than the permit offers, can go to any number of public-access areas free, but NM fishing license required downstream of the Preserve in Santa Fe National Forest. Access is convenient from SR 4 on the west side of VCNP.