Into the NM Sandias and Hiking the Tree Springs Trail…

Leaving Tucumcari on Route 66 we headed further west on I40 heading toward Albuquerque. Our planned stop for the next two nights was Tijeras NM just east of Albuquerque. We wanted to check out the Sandia Mountains before our stop in Albuquerque.

We set up at yet another Passport America park called Hidden Valley Resort. It was not the best park we have ever stayed at because the sites are a bit tight and we had to climb a fairly steep hill. However, for the price, it can’t be beat for this area!  The first evening we sat out in our chairs and simply enjoyed looking into the Sandia Mountain range, where we planned to hike the next day.

The hike we chose for our first hike in a very long time was called the Tree Springs Trail. We drove about 30 minutes up into the Sandia Mountains until we found the Tree Springs Trailhead. We donned our hiking boots and Sharon found a nice recyclable walking stick near the trailhead and we took off down the trail.

This was a 2.2 mile hike in and then again back out for a total of 4.4 miles. We figured this to be a good indicator of just how out of hiking shape we had become. No doubt we were huffing and puffing at the slow but steady continuous uphill climb. The total elevation gain was a little over 1000 feet.

As we were slowly climbing we found several late season wildflowers still in bloom on the mountainside. Also, as I was leading I noticed a flash of movement on my left. I stopped and studied the ground thinking I might be able to find what I thought was a lizard scurrying off the trail. Instead I found what was a very small baby horned lizard. This guy wasn’t much bigger than a quarter but he/she was oh, so cute!

We were glad the trail was mostly shaded on this rather warm day and as we found the end of the trail we continued on to what was described as a very nice vista looking back down into parts of Albuquerque. It was a bit of a scramble through fairly dense brush but we did emerge on a cliff with an expansive vista… well worth the extra hiking.

We enjoyed a rest atop the vista and took in the views. We then watered up and headed back down. Going down was not near as fun going up as the trail was very rocky and thus required one to look mostly at their feet instead of the sights around. A couple of miles later we emerged at the trailhead where we took our boots off and congratulated each other for accomplishing the hike without any issues.

I was sure glad to know we can still hike a moderate trail without dying ;). We move on into Bernalillo NM the next day just north of Albuquerque NM. We are excited to eat some New Mexico green and red chili and see some friends during our stay.

NOTE: We are currently at Lake Abiquiu, next up is Chama NM…