This trail is in the southwest corner of the Sandia Mountains. The trailhead is at the end of Copper Avenue. It is a loop trail; we went about it in a counterclockwise direction. It is largely open, with cholla, prickly pear, and other cactus plus mainly juniper trees (more like shrubs). Like most all of the west side of the Sandias, the surface is rock, gravel, and sand.
The Hike
Eye of the Sandias Hike.Jay.2016-02-21
The first half mile of the trail is easy: flat and a well-traveled trail, a segment of well-used bicycle trails. It then begins a climb, at times fairly steep (maximum slope 36%, average slope 16%), taking us from about 6100 feet to 6900 feet elevation. At about 1.5 miles into the hike, at waypoint EYEWP3, we continued on the spur to the end of the trail and The Eye (another half mile, to about 7270 feet elevation). After taking a break with our usual snacks and coffee (enhanced a bit with Makers Mark), we headed back down taking the loop to the north.
Throughout, we had views of the whole of Albuquerque, and for the first half we had a clear views to the south of Tijeras Canyon, the Manzanito and Manzano mountains, and the expanse of Kirtland and Sandia bases and beyond to Tierra Grande. The weather was cool with the 5-15 knot wind coming out of the east through the Tijeras Canyon.
Statistics
Total Distance: 4.02 miles
Elevation: start 5,936 ft, maximum 7,281 ft, minimum 5,936 ft
Gross gain: 1,339 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,557 ft, descending 1,584 ft
Maximum slope: 35% ascending, 37% descending, 14% average
Duration: 3:55
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I urge you to explore our hiking tracks with Google Earth. With the virtual 3-dimensional presentation, achieved by panning and tilting the view, you can get a much better idea of the hikes and terrain than you can get from the 2-dimensional screenshot above. For assistance: Using Google Earth Track Files.
References
ASCHG:
Sandia Eye Hike
Mano Trail – Sandia Eye Loop Hike
SummitPost: Eye of the Sandias Trail
HikeyHikey!: Hiking Albuquerque’s Southern Sandia Mountains: Eye of the Sandias
Dog of the Desert: Eye of the Sandias
AllTrails: Eye Of The Sandias Loop Trail
