Sandias Redux

After our successful Wheeler hike, we set our sites on something a little closer, and hiked another trail up the Sandia Crest.

It was considerably greener than my last time up the crest.

Wildflowers were blooming.

Still pretty awesomely steep, though.  This time there are just some saplings for you to try to grab on to you if you take a tumble.

Wheeler Peak

Jess came to visit for Memorial Day, and we figured that if you're going to visit New Mexico, you might as well hike its tallest peak.  I had last climbed Wheeler in 2003, so it was great to get back to it again.

After trying unsuccessfully to find the longer, less steep route to the top, we ended up hiking from Williams Lake.  The lake itself is in a great spot at the base of the peak, and made for a sweet nap post-climb.

Summit photo.  It was pretty windy.  The photo was taken by a member of a family from Salt Lake City, among whom was a lady easily in her 60's.  I was pretty impressed that she made it to the top.

Hiking the summit ridge to the summit in the distance.

Looking down on Taos Ski Valley and Williams Lake.  I forgot how awesome the mountains of northern New Mexico are.

Back in the Southwest

I actually landed back in the Southwest, where I spent a couple of summers as a Ranger at Philmont, several months ago, but I'm way behind on posting photos, so here's an effort to catch up.  I'm currently in Albuquerque, south of the Rockies, but home to the Sandia Crest, and awesome and seemingly random upshot of mountains rising from a base of 5,000' to a height of 10,000' nearly straight up.  To re-acquaint myself with the Southwest, and with high altitude, I decided to take a stroll.

The route I chose was pretty steep, and it being March, there was still a decent amount of snow left up at higher elevations.

Looking out towards Albuquerque.

Some of the spires around the crest can get awesomely steep, and I was feeling the elevation a bit.  It's sweet to be back in the Southwest, though.