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| Hiking | 5.90 Miles |
900 AEG |
| | Hiking | 5.90 Miles | 3 Hrs 44 Mns | | 2.24 mph |
| 900 ft AEG | 1 Hour 6 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | Note: This trip report is from the 10k trailhead to the Sandia Crest high point and also includes the Sandia peak wilderness high point.
This was my first time in this area. I stayed at a hotel in Albuquerque, left in the morning and stopped a place called Twisters for a breakfast burrito. Wow, it was one of the best breakfast burritos I had in a long long time. I got the #7 (Rio Grande) which is basically shredded pork, egg, potato, green chili and cheese. This was true New Mexico food and I got a recommendation from my friend named Mike to try this place out. It was well worth it. It was only $6.09 + tax. Reasonable price and delicious.
Next I drove up to to the 10 k trailhead. There was parking on both sides of the road. I decided to park on the left side to save me from having to walk across the road. There's a $5 fee here because it is a National park but if you have the annual pass, it works here also. By the way, there are a lack of maps in this area and along the various trails. But, I did see a few trail maps higher up.
Because of confusion with the signs and route, I started off going the wrong way on the Challenge trail. Once I realized it was basically going down the mountain, I knew I missed a turn somewhere. I turned around and walked 5-10 minutes back to where I started from. About halfway back I saw a fawn running down the trail at me. It stopped within about 20-30 feet, stared at me for 3 seconds and then turned around and ran away. I wish I had time to get this incredible event on video!
I turned around and followed the Challenge trail back to the trailhead and up. I found another hiker's route which appeared to go away from the road so I thought I would try to follow that so that I was further away from traffic. I found an old abandoned trail that ended up being quite nice. It seemed to intersect with the Challenge trail in about 2/3 of a mile.
I continued on the Challenge trail which was well maintained but a bit rocky in some spots. This eventually took me to the Ellis trailhead where I picked up the Switchback trail heading up. The Switchback trail took me to the Crest trail which took me over to the main ridgeline and up to the summit. It was possible to drive basically to the top, but I wanted a bit of a challenge today. Along the hike up there was a nature trail section with signs identifying the various trees, plants, etc. Eventually the trail led to a parking area. There were some buildings and concrete work with stairs at the top leading to a lookout area. From the lookout, you could see the entire city of Albuquerque.
I continued North past the summit for another 1/4 mile to reach the Wilderness high point. To get to this high point I followed an unmarked trail along a fence line. This fence line seemed to enclose some radio towers and then, surprisingly, the fence line just ended and I was able to walk to the Wilderness high point. I saw a lot of graffiti on the various buildings and was shocked to see this. These sites are supposed to be under 24 hour video surveillance and at a minimum there should be a fence going ALL THE WAY around the equipment. The company is called Vertical Bridge. www.verticalbridge.com They don't seem to take criminal vandalism seriously enough. I think I will write them an email and describe what the hellish eyesore it was to see all of the graffiti on their buildings. Those vandals need to be put in jail! And #2, they need to extend the fence to prevent this crap from happening! A fence is basically worthless unless it goes all the way around a site.
I took some photos and videos and then headed back along the Crest trail. In the distance I saw an old stone house on the top of the ridgeline. I learned this was the Kiwanis cabin and the trail that led here was called the Kiwanis cabin trail. After checking out the cabin, I continued down along the border of Kiwanis Meadow and then intersected with the Crest trail. I took that to the Kiwanis Meadow trail which took me back down to the Ellis trailhead. From here I decided to take the Challenge trail back down instead of the unmarked trail that I took up. This trail followed alongside the road but the road was only visible at times. It was private enough and I didn't hear much road noise. I got back down to the trailhead after that.
The views were very nice and the temps were pretty comfortable above 10 k feet elevation. I believe the high temp was about 100 F in Albuquerque. This area is a great way to escape the heat. The trails and nature were beautiful. The only eyesore of the day was the graffiti on the buildings near the radio towers.
Stats:
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5.9 miles round trip
900 feet AEG
moving time 2 hrs 38 mins
elapsed time 3 hrs 44 mins |
| _____________________
Michael Williams
IT Professional
Rocky Point Vacation Rentals
Ocean Front Condo in Rocky Point, Sonora, Mexico
www.beachfrontmexico.us
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