Embarked today to find the Waterfall Trail, a spur off of Piedra Lisa. I tried it once before with Marlin, but our track up a ridge on the south side of Waterfall Canyon was very steep – we ultimately gave up our search for the ‘falls’.
The Hike
Piedra Lisa-Waterfall Hike.Jay.2016-09-04
Today, using counsel from another hiker (name not remembered), we stayed in the canyon itself, and found our way to a 20′ tall rock wall, with a small stream of water coursing down it’s face. After looking up both sides of the rock wall, and finding a possible route to get above the falls, we look forward to returning, to see how much further up Waterfall Canyon we can go.
Jay here: It was an odd hike for us. Firstly, it was much shorter than usual. Secondly, it was not the hike we planned. We were supposed to take 10k to Land’s End Mine but when we pulled up in front of the Placitas Cafe we found it closed for Labor Day weekend. That put the kibosh on going up the dirt road portion of highway 165. Instead, we repaired to Cafe Diaz to find an alternate hike. Consulting our trusty Sandia Mountain Guide, we came up with the Waterfall Trail which is directly adjacent to Fletcher and Movie trails, both of which we’ve done before. It was none too strenuous although the return there and a climb over the rockfall itself could be a different story.
Statistics
Total Distance: 2.2 miles
Elevation: 6,951 start, 7,290 maximum, 6,951 minimum
Gross gain: 339 ft. Aggregate ascending 728 ft, descending: 728 ft
Maximum slope: 43% ascending, 48% descending, 10% average
Duration: 2:46
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218 Downloads |
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271 Downloads |
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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.
