Thursday, June 09, 2011

Sandia Crest-New Mexico

I hiked the La Luz trail to the top of the Sandia Crest yesterday. This trail is well maintained, and only got difficult near the top as it switchbacked multiple times across a boulder field. On the way down, my foot smeared across a rock and my face was planted into a stone...I have a small cut on the cheek, but otherwise came out unscathed. It took me 3.5 hours to gain the 3,775 vertical feet to the top of the ~10,700 foot peak. I considered the 7-8 mile hike back down to be more strenuous than what I experienced going up due to the constant pounding on my feet. Regardless, the Sandia Mountains were a fantastic range to hike through, and are worthy of another visit in the future. Now on to Humboldt Peak in the Colorado Sangre de Cristos tomorrow.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Awesome photo!! I'm a landscape artist and want to paint that scene! I'll be there in two days. What time did you start hiking to get that lighting in that scene? That's exactly what I love. Looks like you started early morning if it took 3.5 hours and this looks like morning light, is this right?
Thanks!
Stephen Williamson

Jonathan Garner said...

Correct, I started up the trail fairly early in the morning, before sunrise. I don't remember the exact time though since I did the hike 6 years ago.

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