I’ve looked at the Sandia Mountains my entire life. Finally, I can say that I’ve climbed them.
The Sandia Mountains guard Albuquerque’s view to the East, often dominating the relatively flat landscape. Sandía means watermelon in Spanish, and anyone who has seen the mountains glowing bright red in the light of a setting sun knows immediately how the mountains got their name.
The La Luz Trail is an 8-mile long hiking trail which snakes back and forth across the mountain while rising 3,775 feet to the mountain’s crest. The hike is long and strenuous, but is not technically difficult and does not require any rock climbing or bouldering.
On Sunday, I hiked the trail with my Mom and my sister, Lana. We woke up early, loaded a backpack, and guzzled coffee. The trailhead is a 30 minute drive from our house, so after a quick PB&J breakfast in the car, we set off on our hike.
The trail was beautiful in ways that I had not anticipated. Albuquerqueans become accustomed to a particular view of the mountains, the perspective shown above. While hiking La Luz, I became deeply aware of the three-dimensionality of the mountains and noticed spires, peaks, and sheer walls that I had failed to notice before.
At one point, the trail snakes across the results of a landslide, and our pace was slowed significantly as we gingerly stepped from boulder to boulder, intently focused on not rolling our ankles. All told, the trail crosses the landslide 15 times. We knew this going in, and counted every switchback with enthusiasm – by the time we got to 10, we were begging for flat ground.
About four hours after we began, we reached the crest of the mountain. We shared hugs, congratulations, and trail mix as we looked out over the city that my sister and I grew up in. The black cables pictured belong to the Sandia Tram, which we rode down the mountain because we are weak.
Reaching the crest meant that I got to cross something off of my bucket list, and so did my Mom. It felt incredibly gratifying to not only reach the top, but to do it with two of my favorite people in the world. I felt proud that I had taken the time to explore the nature surrounding my hometown, something that I wish I had done more when I was younger. Feeling sentimental, emotional, proud, and tired, we rode the tram to our car and immediately drove to the nearest restaurant that served beer and green chile cheeseburgers.
And they were good.
Cole's Correspondence 