An early hike Pat & I made in Albuquerque’s Elena Gallegos Open Space. One of more than a dozen Open Space lands, Elena Gallegos has numerous hiking and biking trails within it’s boundaries, and trailheads for trails into the Sandia Mountain Wilderness.
The Hike

Pino Hike.Pat.2012-08-12
Pino is a truly great trail, amazing to be so close to the city. The initial quarter of a mile, within Elena Gallegos, is on well-traveled, two-abreast, sand covered surface; tho’ it is uphill (2% grade), it is flat and an easy walk and not forested. Leaving Elena Gallegos and entering the Wilderness, the trail continues to be well traveled tho’ it gradually becomes one-abreast and with some rocky stretches, enters the juniper and pinon forest setting, and continues uphill (thus the 1,241 ft elevation gain over the 2.5 mile hike to our turn-around).
Statistics
Total Distance: 5.27 miles
Elevation: 6,460 start, 7,701 maximum, 6,460 minimum
Gross gain: 1,241 ft. Aggregate ascending 1,543 ft, descending: 1,581 ft
Maximum slope: 36% ascending, 42% descending, 11% average
Duration: 3:53
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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
Sandia Mountain Hiking Guide: “Pino Trail”
ASCHG: “Pino Trail Short Hike”
“Pino Trail to Crest Trail Hike”
Albuquerque Open Space: “Foothills Trail Map”
US Forest Service: “Sandia Mountain Trails”
Sangre.com: “Sandia Mountain Wilderness”
Wilderness.net: “Sandia Mountain Wilderness Fact Sheet”
Hiking Project: “Pino Trail”
AllTrails.com: “Pino Trail“
I’ve been quite surprised and enjoyed tremendously the amazing variety of flowers throughout the mountains, whether the Sandias, Manzanos, or Jemez. I recently discovered my fascination began on our early hikes (I’m writing this in 2017), with this collection of photos of flowers we came across during this hike in 2012.
Last Updated on February 28, 2022 by George Young