Mud Spring-Faulty Hike – 05/15/2016

This trail came to our attention just this year, in the latest edition of “60 Hikes within 60 Miles” (Ausherman).  In past years, we looked into Barts and Canoncito Trails but found that they weren’t accessible; one must cross private land which the owners blocked a few years back.  Upon returning from hiking this trail, we discovered that the the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, through which one must pass to gain access to the Mud Spring Trail, is not open to the public except on a few days each year.  So in the future, this trail, too, will be off limits.  But having already passed through the History Center …

The Drive In

Proceed north from I-40 in Tijeras for 2.5 miles, then turn left on Columbine Lane. Continue on Columbine Lane (a left turn, then a right turn) to the gate, the entrance to the History Center. We parked on a pulloff on the right side of the road.

The Hike

Mud Spring-Faulty Hike.Jay.2016-05-15 (Click on the above image for an expanded view.)

The hike begins at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center.  One goes through their parking lots and onto trails the Center has created obviously for use in the programs for Albuquerque 5th graders (and others, see their web site).  The hike then goes into Cibola National Forest and its Sandia Wilderness Area, following a fairly open canyon.  Not having a GPS track from another hiker, we followed a sketch track that I produced “free hand” on GoogleEarth.  For about half the distance on this leg we were able to follow a trail, but for the 2nd half, we lost signs of a trail and bushwhacked up a fairly steep slope to intercept the Faulty Trail, just over a mile into the hike.

The Faulty Trail is well used and is generally level and flat, which makes for easy hiking. We proceeded north on Faulty for about a mile, then decided it was time for our mid-hike break.  On the return, we went further south than where we earlier intercepted Faulty, looking for signs of the intersection with the Mud Springs trail – no joy.  So we chose to descend, bushwhacking, down a canyon that the topographical lines on the GPS indicated would bring us back to the Center.  ‘Tho at times steep, the trees, undergrowth, and canyon floor did not make the descent difficult.  This is a great trail, and we’re disappointed that we aren’t free to hike here again.

Statistics

Total Distance: 4.04 miles
Elevation: start 6,866 ft, maximum 7,629 ft, minimum 6.866 ft
Gross gain: 773 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,286 ft, descending 1,286 ft
Maximum slope: 41% ascending, 33% descending, 9.3% average
Duration: 4:40

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 and Resources

GeoCaching: Filling In The Gaps – Mud Spring Trail

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

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