Hike up Tree Spring trail - part 2

The Tree Springs trailhead is on the east slope of the Sandias mountains. The trailhead is along highway NM536, which connects to highway NM14 and that connects to I-40 heading east from Albuquerque. Hiking up from the trailhead, one notices that it's basically a walk in the woods, with the once in a while peek through the trees to the east to the San Pedro, South, and Placer mountains. But most of the time one only notices that one is walking in the forest on a rocky trail uphill.

The trail is not very long, with a one way length of about 2.3 miles, and it gains a little over 1,000 feet in elevation in that distance. If one continues uphill past the "10K" trail intersection, going another quarter mile or so, one runs out of uphill at the ridge of the Sandias at about 9,500 feet.

Near the top of the trail, there is an intersection to the Sandias Ridge Trail, that goes both north and south to the respective "peaks" of the mountain range. If you take that ridge trail from one end to the other, it goes about 25 miles or so.

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

The day that I decided to take on this hike, it was partly cloudy, and breezy and cool. Both Pearl and I really enjoyed this hike, but it was a little on the cold side, and the elevation got to both of us a little bit when we got back home. With the average elevation of about 9,000 feet, it was the most elevated trail that I had taken all year, and I was a little winded.

It's a good hike. This is the first time I'd hiked on the east slope of the Sandia mountains, but it probably won't be the last time.