Some trails to open Saturday By CRAIG MARTIN, For the Monitor Lace up your boots or put some air into your fat tires. Some popular trails near Los Alamos will reopen on Saturday. The Santa Fe National Forest announced Thursday that it will partially lift the closure on lands affected by the Cerro Grande Fire. Specific trails and roads in the area burned by the fire will be open for public use starting Saturday. The burned area has been closed to public access since May due to fire rehabilitation activities and safety concerns. "I am happy that folks will once again be able to walk the trails above Los Alamos," said Leonard Atencio, Santa Fe National Forest supervisor. Close to town trails that will be open to public use are the Quemazon Trail, Cave of the Winds Trail and North Community (Perimeter) Trail. Near the Pajarito Mountain Ski Area, the Pajarito Nordic Ski Trail and the Guaje Ridge Trail will open. On the popular Ca-ada Bonita Trail, officially listed by the Forest Service as the Guaje Canyon Trail, the closure will be partially lifted. The trail will be open from the ski hill parking area to Pipeline Road. The section of the Guaje Canyon Trail north of Pipeline Road that descends into Guaje Canyon will remain closed. Pipeline Road and Forest Road 181, also called the American Springs Road, will be open, as well of the Forest Roads 2997 and 2998, both spur routes off of Forest Road 181. The Cemetery (or Upper Guaje) Road is open as far as the Guaje Ridge Trailhead. All trails and roads will be opened to non-motorized use only, which includes hiking, biking, running, and horseback riding. Although these specific trails and roads will be open, a closure order remains in effect for the rest of the burned area. No use will be allowed beyond 10 feet on either side of the listed road or trail. Miles Standish, trails specialist for the Espa-ola Ranger District, was well aware that local trail users were impatient to get back into their boots or on their saddles. He worked with others in the Espa-ola Ranger District over the last week to select areas that could provide many residents with their first close-up view of the burned area. Based on preliminary trail assessments by Standish, Carlos Gonzales of Bandelier National Monument and volunteers, officials selected trails to open that showed few signs of increased runoff and had been previously cleared of hazard trees. "We looked at ridge top trails that could be opened with little risk to trail users," Standish said. Forest Service officials ask that visitors to the forest remain aware of the potential dangers. "Safety is still a concern and forest visitors should watch out for weakened trees, snags, stump holes, trip hazards and not wander beyond the path of open trails and roads," Atencio said. Standish was aware that an increasing number of people were entering the closed area. "We figured if we gave people places to go, we'd have better luck keeping them out of the really dangerous areas," he said. Of particular concern is safety in the canyon bottoms. Denuded slopes above quickly gather runoff, and flash floods sweep down the canyons during each significant rainfall. Water, Valle and Rendija canyons all bear evidence of 6-foot walls of water that have recently rushed down the drainages. Trails in the canyon bottoms or that lead directly to a canyon bottom remain closed and will stay closed for at least another month, Standish said. Trails still under a closure order include the Water Canyon, Pajarito Canyon, Valle Canyon, Nail, Knapp, Rendija Canyon, Pajarito and Cabra Loop trails. Forest Road 2996 leading into Valle Canyon will stay off limits. Forest Road 442 in Guaje Canyon also remains closed. The Mitchell Trail remains closed to protect the trail and the steep slopes over which it passes from further erosion. Throughout the area, hikers will find contour-felled trees, wattles, and small rock dams. Each of these structures was placed to arrest the movement of soil down the slopes. Standish urged trail users to leave all the structures in place. More trails and roads will be opened as they are assessed and deemed safe. About 80 miles of trails and roads are located in the Santa Fe National Forest in the mountains surrounding Los Alamos. Only about 11 of those miles were untouched by the Cerro Grande Fire. Volunteer efforts are underway to repair or rebuild the damaged pathways, but the rehabilitation effort could take two years to complete.