Falls Trail Tour - Stop 15

Before the floods, the Falls Trail reached the river near here. Now, a cliff prevents access.

NPS Photo

Quick Facts

Amenities

1 listed

Information Kiosk/Bulletin Board

See if you can spot where Frijoles Creek joins the Rio Grande. In 2011 the massive Las Conchas wildfire heavily burned the upper reaches of this canyon. In the years that followed, several huge floods changed the landscape of Frijoles Canyon. The creek normally flows around 10 cubic feet per second (cfs); during several of these floods, it was flowing over 9,000 cfs! The roaring waters displaced huge boulders, trees, and fine sediments. These were eventually redeposited downstream, with much of the fine debris reaching the Rio Grande.