Start: Old lean-to on Sandia Ridge
Finish: Southern Crossing Trail
Miles: 21.33 / 38.27 total
Ascent: 2340 feet
It sprinkled on and off last night and there was even a rumble of thunder or two but nothing serious. It cleared up for a much better looking day in the morning. Despite the rain, my tent was only a little wet. The dry desert air does wonders for gear management.
I set off at sunrise and is my baseline plan for the trail. It is fall with the days getting shorter every day, so I want to make the most of the 12 hours of daylight I currently have. Also want to get moving before the sun heats things up too much.
Heading down the trail, even the brush along the trail had mostly dried out. This is in stark contrast to a warmup hike I did back home where the bushes stayed wet the whole day even with the sun out. Big difference in climate.
I continued down the Sandia Ridge, with it petering out as I went. Soon a sharp divide marked the end of the ridge, leaving a large gap to the next chain of mountains that continued further south. I descended quite a ways on easy trail, and watched the flora go through evolutions in the reverse of what I saw yesterday.
I spent a lot of time hiking through large juniper which were fragrant which I always enjoy.
I got occasional views of the surrounding landscape, but I was mostly buried in forest with little else to see.
I came to a waterfall which was bone dry even after the recent rains. There were a ton of dayhikers heading up to the falls from the nearby trailhead, so I’m sure a lot of them were disappointed.
I got to the trailhead and my route transitioned to road for the first time to get under I-40. Thankfully on the other side there was a café where I topped off my devices and had 2 meals, since that is way better than trail food.
When I stepped away from my table to get my water bottles refilled, someone dropped off a plate of food when I got back. The restaurant didn’t do it, so I presume someone thought I was homeless and needed the food. Not the first time that has happened on a hike, but definitely the soonest. It was only the morning of day 2! I returned the food since I didn’t want it. Don’t want to be too full on a warm day hiking uphill. I’ve learned that lesson before. A shame it probably went to waste though.
The route continued up a road briefly, then hooked into some multi-use trails which I would follow the rest of the day. It looked like mostly hikers and mountain bikers used them, so no ATVs or beaten down trail from that thankfully.
There was a big network of trails, and I made my first wrong turn of the trip. I knew there was a turn coming up, but I didn’t see a trail until I confirmed with my GPS that I had passed it. Oh well, it was only a few minutes. I paid closer attention the rest of the day with the many trails, but I don’t like to just stare at my GPS. It takes something away from the hike for me. With this being an unmarked route following existing trails, it will happen.
The mountains I was passing through today weren’t as high or steep as the range yesterday, so the hiking was fairly easy, but with few views. It was nice forest, but nothing spectacular. I purposefully don’t research hikes extensively before hand because I want to see the landscape as it unfolds before me. I don’t really know what to expect for this route.
My stretch target for today was to camp right before the next road crossing, since that is the beginning of a long road walk. Ideally, I wanted to hit that road first thing tomorrow morning so I could get as much of it done as possible.
I saw that I was well within range of the road at the beginning of the afternoon, so I took it a little easy and took a couple long breaks. It was fairly warm and exposed and I had only gotten 4.5 liters of water at the café, so I needed to manage my water closely. I probably should have gotten more since I won’t get to the next source until tomorrow morning. Oh well, I had enough.
I rounded out my slower afternoon by getting to camp around 5 with plenty of time. I’m not far from the road, but still can’t hear it, so that is ideal. I got a much nicer campsite for tonight. Flat, spacious, a bed of pine needles. Better in every way from the site last night.
I relaxed the rest of the day.
