Polar Vortex or Pino Trail?

Maybe we were trying to identify with the rest of the country that is feeling the effects of the “polar vortex” causing record breaking cold weather in much of the nation. Living in New Mexico, even in January, there are plenty of hikes out in the desert that don’t require trudging through snow and ice. Whatever the reason, the hike we decided on today was a steep, 9.2 mile hike in the Sandia Mountains on the Pino Trail, that we knew would have wintery conditions.

This trail begins in the Sandia foothills at the Elena Gallegos Open Space, heading east along Pino Canyon and ending at the ridgeline between Sandia Crest and South Peak. Lee and I had done this trail once before, but we did it before the winter snows came to the mountains. I wouldn’t have thought of doing a hike in the winter months in this area, but that was before I knew there was such a thing as YakTrax. For those of you, like me, who don’t pay much attention to equipment for winter sports, YakTrax are devices that attach to the bottom of your boots to give you traction for walking on packed snow and ice. My friend said she had a pair that I could borrow, if I wanted to do the hike. I’m willing to try just about anything at least once. So up we went.

There was definitely packed snow and ice on the trail and I’m not sure I would have made it safely up and back down, if I hadn’t had the YakTrax. The climb up is hard enough without having to deal with an icy trail. There were also many fallen trees along the way that we had to struggle over or under or around.

.

The EveryTrail GPS track of our climb up the Pino Trail. Remember this is only half of what we did, because we also had to come back down.

As difficult as the climb is, once at the top it’s well worth the effort. And I’m really thankful that I could do a hike today when so many other people are dealing with sub-zero temperatures and can’t even get outdoors at all. I’ll take the Pino Trail over the Polar Vortex any day.