Hike up Sandias crest trail - part 1

The Sandia crest trail is the trail that extends from Interstate 40 to the village of Placitas, which is located on the north end of the Sandi mountain range.

The trail's path is just as about as you would imagine. The trail follows the crest of the mountain range. It connects with most or all of the trails that go up the mountain.

The very northernmost section of the trail that I hiked as a loop was a pretty easy hike... climbing only about 1,200 feet and going around a circle of about 4.5 miles.

The trail ends in an trailhead parking area in the national forest a little bit southeast of Placitas.

This section of the trail only gets up to an elevation of about 7,400 feet, but if one continues south past the path that I took, the trail continues higher peaking out at more than 10,500 feet.

It was a pleasant hike. I took my dog Pearl, and my lunch, and we ate our lunch at the crest before we turned around to return to the car.

There is a section that follows the top of the ridge, and the views are quite good looking north.

The day that I decided to take on this hike, it was partly cloudy, and nice and cool. Both Pearl and I really enjoyed this hike.

There were lots of interesting views up and down the trail and plenty of unusual rock formations.

It's a great hike. Next time I'm in town I plan to also hike from the crest down to the northern trailhead as a "one way" hike. it should be a great hike.

I'd also enjoy doing an end to end hike on the crest trail, all 26 miles, including both the south and north peaks. Only concern is availability of water, although I think there is a spring down about 2,000 feet about half way up the range near the skiing area parking.