Introduction

Second hike on the Palomas Peak trail, this time with clear weather.  

The Hike

We went further than the previous hike, close to half of the total distance to the upper end of this trail.

Statistics

Total Distance:  5.01 miles
Elevation: start  7,071 ft, maximum  7,071 ft,  minimum  8,074 ft
Gross gain:  1,003 ft.  Aggregate ascending  1,553 ft, descending  1,560 ft
Maximum slope: 35% ascending, 40% descending, 10,2% average
Duration: 3:50

If you haven’t explored these hiking tracks with Google Earth, I urge you to try it. 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 screenshot above. For some ideas, check out  Using Google Earth Track Files.

References

ASCHG:
      Palomas Peak Two Ways Hike
      Palomas Peak Downhill to Sandia Man Cave Hike

Jay's Photos: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show

Palomas PeakHike.Jay.2016-05-01

Introduction

‘Twas a cloudy, windy day in New Mexico.  None the less, the dauntless duo set off to hike a new trail, Palomas Peak.  Not to disappoint us, the dreary day on the mountain brought — a steady fall of snow throughout the hike.

The Hike

The trail, starting from the parking lot for the Sandia Man Cave at about 7100 feet elevation, the well traveled trail leads up a canyon for about a mile, the slope steady but never strenuous.  The trail then levels out at about 7900 feet; we took the trail to about 1.7 miles where we took our break, just before the trail turns south on the edge of a quite steep down-slope.  

Throughout, the trail passes through New Mexico woods: juniper, pinon and a few ponderosa pines, some white fir, and many smaller “shrubs” that I can’t name.  This day we didn’t have an views, weather having the area “socked in”, but we could see enough to think that views in all directions will be spectacular.  We’ll return in coming weeks; this trail will be one for the summer months.

Statistics

Total Distance:  3.38 miles
Elevation: start  7,049 ft, maximum  7,970 ft,  minimum  7,049 ft
Gross gain:  921 ft.  Aggregate ascending  1,154 ft, descending  1,186 ft
Maximum slope: 40% ascending, 45% descending, 11.6% average
Duration: 2:54

References

ASCHG
     Palomas Peak Two Ways Hike
     Palomas Peak Downhill to Sandia Man Cave Hike

George's Photos: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

This hike is an old standby for Jay and me, having made this loop a few times in the past.

The Hike

The weather was perfect – sunny, cool, no wind ’til late in the hike.  There was a nice flow of water along the bottom of the canyon, such nice sounds to accompany our hike.  Spring is in the offing – cottonwoods are leafed out, grass along the bottom of the canyon is vibrant, and flowers are a’bloom. The GoogleEarth screenshot above, a view to the south, gives you an idea of the location of these trails – on the north end of the Sandia Mountains.  The Northeast Heights of Albuquerque are in view over the top of Rincon Ridge.  And the green ‘meander’ beyond Albuquerque is the Rio Grande River.  Beyond the Sandias, the horizon in the center of the view, are the Manzano Mountains.  Our track, the yellow line, was a counter-clockwise loop: up the Del Agua trail then down the north end of the Piedra Lisa trail.

A bit of explanation about the bar across the bottom of the screenshot above.  The red line (and pink area) depicts the elevation of our track, left to right/start to finish.  The jagged blue line depicts our speed in miles per hour.  (As you can see we kept up a steady and rapid pace during the last quarter of the hike – keeping up with Jay gave me a strenuous workout.)

Statistics

Total Distance:  4.3 miles
Elevation: start 5,949 ft, maximum  7,035 ft,  minimum 5,949 ft
Gross gain: 1,086 ft.  Aggregate ascending 1,509 ft, descending 1,509ft
Maximum slope: 51% ascending, 43% descending, 11.7% average
Duration: 2:53

If you haven’t explored these hiking tracks with Google Earth, I urge you to try it. 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 screenshot above. For some ideas, check out  Using Google Earth Track Files.

Jay's Photos: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show.

George's  Photos: Click on a Photo for Gallery Show,

Today Jay and I explored new territory in the Placitas area. We started with a track from an ASCHG hike, “Placitas Knobs“.  But a short distance into the hike, Jay recalled his visit to the area some years ago so we followed his lead (with some help using trail tracks on my PN-60 and on the Smartphone with the Maverick App and MapQuest maps).

The Hike

Weather was cool and cloudy with snow showers high above us on North Sandia. The trails were well traveled, wide but often rocky. Slopes were not terribly steep so this was an easy hike. From the GoogleEarth image above you can see that we circumnavigated a good sized hill, often with great views overlooking Placitas, across the Rio Grande valley to Bernalillo and the Jemez mountains, and beyond.  Even ‘tho it was not as long as many of our hikes, none the less we paused for a coffee/picker-upper break before heading towards the car.

Statistics

Total Distance:  3.1 miles
Elevation: start  ft, maximum  6,458 ft,  minimum  5,882 ft
Gross gain:  751 ft.  Aggregate ascending  753 ft, descending  753 ft
Maximum slope: 23% ascending, 30% descending, % average
Duration: 2:36