When we awoke this morning we were in sunny and warm Albuquerque, NM. Mike had stayed up late last night researching fun places for us to go. So after taking care of a few things this morning we headed out for what we hoped would be a fun day for all of us.
We drove up into the Sandia Mountains outside of Albuquerque. Our first stop was a trail called Oso Corredor. It wasn't an especially pretty or interesting trail (which I guess was why we were the only ones there) but since it was deserted it was a great place to let the girls run free the entire time. Boogie sure needed exercise after a full day of driving yesterday but we just didn't feel it was a safe place for him to be loose. The sign at the bottom of the trail said there could be bears and coyotes. But that is true just about anywhere we go I suppose. However, now that Boogie is starting to develop some prey drive, we're not sure if he'll stay right on the trail like he always has so far. This just didn't seem like the time to test it.
Evidently Mike learned during his research last night that this area has quite the insect infestation. Therefore, the large majority of the trees are dead. This makes me think there really aren't too many critters here. The only evidence of any wildlife we came across was the sound of a woodpecker and the sounds of some grouse. Most of the trees looked like this with lots of stuff hanging from the tree branches. At first I thought they were bird nests. But when I investigated more closely I found that it was just a lot of twigs that got stuck in most of the branches when the wind blows. There were probably twenty of these in each tree.
Most of the trail was a little bit difficult just because the trail was so rocky. We found that we really had to spend most of our time watching the trail instead of looking around. Fortunately it didn't really matter as there really wasn't much to look at (Sparkie would tell you otherwise).
We were pretty high (about 8,000 feet elevation) and in the shady areas there was still a small amount of snow on the trail. Wazzu and Boogie, our two dogs that love cold weather, had a great time in even just that little bit of snow. I can only imagine the time they would have in a field full of snow! Boogie was digging trenches in the snow and then lying down to keep cool. The thing was it wasn't even that warm out - probably up at this level it was only in the 50's (don't worry, I was fine as I had two pairs of thermal underwear on!).
After about a two hour hike we at least had taken the edge off Sparkie. She ran up and down and around the entire time. Sparkie can hunt for hours and never tire of it. She doesn't even have to find anything - she just likes to hunt. And she really likes it when she has her best hunting buddy, Wazzu, along with her. Wazzu was acting really happy today. Her stamina wasn't anywhere close to what it should be but she ran around with Sparkie for a little while. The rest of the time she kept track of Sparkie from the trail - ready to run help Sparkie if she actually looked like she found anything.
From there we drove to the top of the mountain - Sandia Crest. Now we were at an elevation of 10,600 feet. We could see 360 degrees around from the view point at the top. No matter which direction we looked it was very hazy. It would have been so beautiful if it would have been clear.
Looking in one direction we could see desert type area - with a thick band of haze hanging over it..
In the opposite direction was the city of Albuquerque. However, due to the haze you can't actually see downtown. What a shame!
And in another direction we could see a more mountainous area. It was interesting to see so many different types of terrain from one spot.
Wazzu wondered what we were looking at from the view point so she decided to take a look - just in case we were watching squirrels!
From here there was a short 1/3 mile loop trail. A very small portion of it had a fence to keep you from falling down the cliffs. But most of the trail had no fence - and often times the trail was only about two feet from the edge of sheer cliffs. As you can imagine, all the dogs were on leash the entire time!
Here is a look back up to the view point.
In this particular area the trail is about five feet back from the edge and as you can see there is no fence here.
It's hard to get a picture of something that is straight down as I was to afraid to get right up to the edge. Mom, you would not have liked this trail at all - in fact I'm pretty sure you wouldn't even have gone on this walk with us! There isn't any kind of slope at all - it is just straight down.
Here is a different section of Albuquerque - but still just as hazy.
One thing we noticed that was interesting was that at all the trail heads and parking spots there were pay stations with prices anywhere from $3 - $10. You'd think if everyone had to pay they could at least keep their signs nice. But every single sign looked exactly like this:
On the way back down we saw a sign that said there were some caves down this other road in five miles. What the heck - sounded fun so off we went. Little did we know that the road was only paved for the first 1/4 mile. From then on it was a very narrow and bumpy dirt road. Even though it was hard on both Wazzu and me, we continued on slowly.
After we'd been on this road a while, it was obvious to us that we were going to be the only ones at this trail. This of course meant that the dogs could be off leash! And sure enough, when we got there, it was just us. But the very first thing we saw was a recently killed large deer. Someone had been snacking on it but hadn't come anywhere close to finishing it off. We then thought it best to keep the boys on leash.
Unlike our first hike this morning, this trail was very pretty with beautiful views. The trees weren't dead so some of the colors were very pretty.
It was a good thing we had the boys on leash as some portions of the trail had some pretty steep drop offs - but not so steep the girls couldn't navigate them.
The views along the way to the caves were very pretty and sometimes interesting.
As we rounded one corner I noticed what I thought may be the caves we were headed for.
As we got closer, I was sure that what I was seeing was indeed our destination.
By then I could also see that in order to get to the caves you had to climb a lot of steps.
As we got closer we found that you had to climb a flight of stairs in the rocks before you even got to the stairwell. This was the end of the line for me. So I held the boys while Mike and the girls went ahead. Wazzu only ended up going about five feet before she realized I wasn't going so needless to say she turned around and stayed with me.
Sparkie happily went along with Mike. And Boogie very UNhappily stayed with me. He wanted to go so badly. But we didn't know what the caves would be like so we made him stay with me. He barked the entire time.
Sparkie was ahead of Mike the whole time until they got to the metal staircase. There were huge spaces between the metal rails. Dog paws would fall right through so Sparkie couldn't go up with Mike. She paced back and forth at the bottom while she waited for Mike.
Mike took the camera with him and took some pictures on his way up. Looking at this picture, I can see why Mike decided not to carry Sparkie up with him. It looks way to easy to loose your step and fall.
And as you can see, it is straight down!
Once up at the top, Mike found the caves. There were just two of them and they were fairly small.
Since there were no signs anywhere, I can't tell you the significance of either of these caves.
By the time we got home the dogs were well exercised. Or so we thought. The three big ones were down and out - but little Boogie acted like we'd left him home all day. On leash hiking just doesn't wear him out. And here we were worried before we got him that he wouldn't be able to keep up! I don't think any of us can keep up with him.....
Debbie
10/23-24/07
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