Our original plan was to climb out and take the convenient tram down. Unfortunately for us they don't open the parking lot to the tram until 9 AM and we were there at 6:30 AM. So we opted to leave the car at the trail head knowing there is a trail from the bottom of the tram back to the trail head parking lot. More on this later.
A view of our destination Sandia Crest from the parking lot
Yes there are bears here but I'm faster than Derf now so it shouldn't be a problem.
(Heck, I let him off the hook for the Aztec sacrifice)
Yes there are bears here but I'm faster than Derf now so it shouldn't be a problem.(Heck, I let him off the hook for the Aztec sacrifice)
Our destination at about the 2.5 mile mark
Views from the around 5 Mile mark
Derf enjoying the scenery
Looking down the valley toward the City of Albuquerque
Looking Northwest across 40 miles to the Jemez Mountains
At the Five Mile mark
The notion that you only have 2.8 miles left is very deceiving. Over the first 5 miles you climb a total of 21o0 feet. That means you climb the remaining 1900 feet over that last 2.8 miles...meaning double the rate of climb. In addition the majority of this is done over massive,long rock slide.Gaius Derf making his way up the rock slide
A couple of shots of the mountain
Uhh, an accidental shot of a rock
We were pretty beat by the time we got to the 'saddle' marking the end of the big climb.
Our destination (almost) the top of the tram
Looking north and south from the tram
Our nice end, the tram down...not
Gaius Derf failed to mention that the hike back to our parking lot was another 3 miles with another climb of over 700 feet. Since we are back down at our original altitude it is substantially hotter...not fun. But we made it.
12 comments:
beautiful! but ugh!! another 3 miles after all that?? whew. you cracked me up with the faster than derf and the accidental rock shot lol.
phew! What a hike!
That makes my hikes look rather puny. But since Ohio doesn't have mountains, what is a person to do. Great shots along the way.
Sounds like a long journey! It still makes me want to go hiking though. Do you have an official hiking stick?
Bearrrrssssss!! I knew it! You were just leading Ricardo and I out to slaughter.....bastard.
That was pretty funny about the rock and being faster than Derf though. Ha!
Jules - you are welcome to come with us any time! Actually since you are young and in shape you would probably lap us a couple of times :) And if you look at the accidental picture of rock, you will see the handles of my set of hiking poles.
Joe - Finally outed me huh. Didn't do a very good job since you two are still around.
Nonna - if you only knew just how painful that last three miles was :(
Beautiful!
So how are your feet and knees feeling after all that?
Before I was fat and out of shape, I might consider doing something like that. I'm not sure I could pull it off now, though. I'm impressed, to say the least. Especially by the fact that you walked another three miles after a climb like that.
Terri - the knees and feet were killing me right afterward. But I've learned that if I hydrate myself extensively after I get back plus do some yoga the next morning, I actually bounce back fast.
Mike - I don't know about impressive. I think my thoughts were more in the line of "this is freakin stupid."
I would have started running, but I'm not sure if it would have been the sight of the bear sign or the sight of the tram. ha ha
You know that you can take helicopter tours right????
I'm glad you had fun and are in better shape than I.
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