bjregan

A Bolder Boulder Ridge Hike

An overcast, chilly winter day and it feels wonderful to relax in an easy chair with a hot cup of tea. Especially after today’s rugged 6-1/2 mile hike in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains.

Lee had read about a hike called Boulder Ridge that was posted on the Albuquerque Senior Center Hiking Groups website. Since the Sandia foothills are just east of the city we have become familiar with the area and had a sense of where the hike would go. But one of the problems with the proximity to the city is that the area is heavily used by hikers, dog walkers and bicyclists, many of whom make their own unofficial trails. It’s often difficult to know if you are on the trail you intend to follow. Also, it’s not too far from the trailheads when the boundary of the Sandia Mountains Wilderness area is crossed. As you ascend you continue to see the city below and can’t get truly lost, but, in a wilderness area, trail markers aren’t allowed so any number of the intersecting trails could lead you astray from your destination.

I had the benefit of a GPS app on my phone where I pre-loaded the track from the hike posted by the seniors group. After the first mile Lee chose a different route than what the track showed, thinking we would meet up further down the trail. Big mistake.

Fortunately, we had cell coverage and for the next couple of hours we were calling and texting back and forth trying to figure out where we were in relation to each other and how and when we would meet back up. I was enjoying the views up on the ridge but wasn’t sure if I wanted to complete the entire loop. Parts of the track weren’t easy to follow and some of the terrain was very rugged, including several north slopes with packed snow on the trail making for slippery downhills.

Lee was fairly certain he would be able to intersect me at some point after I started the descent. I wasn’t so sure. From his descriptions of the ridges he was on it seemed like he was several ridges to the south. After two hours of hiking I was approaching the halfway point on the track and the notes I had from the hike description said there would be some bushwhacking at that point. I was having problems following the track when Lee called to get an update. I kept walking and chatting with him on the phone when suddenly he said, “I can see you!” Sure enough I looked up to the top of the ridge in front of me and there he stood waving at me.

It still wasn’t an easy matter to meet up on the trail. The trail I was following descended into a canyon. I could no longer see the ridge where Lee had been standing and my phone lost coverage. The track left the main trail and twice I took a wrong turn and had to backtrack. At the second wrong turn I had stopped and was searching for a visible trail that lead in the direction indicated by the track. Imagine my surprise to hear Lee’s voice and there he was on the trail right behind me.

I never did figure out how he met up with me when he did. We ended up not completing the track I was following, deciding instead to head towards one of the lower elevation trails that were now visible on the down slope. The end result of my hike was a loop of the same distance as the loop on the original track, just on a better trail. Sometimes you just have to step out and be bold, winter day or no winter day and clear trail or no clear trail.

View west towards Albuquerque from Boulder Ridge summit.

View to the south from Boulder Ridge. Interstate 40 visible as it passes through Tijeras Canyon.

Some of the snow covered sections on the descent.

Winning Big in Las Vegas

We were big-time winners on our weekend trip to Las Vegas. We hit the jackpot at the Taco Bell Cantina on the Strip where we participated in the fun-filled wedding ceremony for our granddaughter and her fiancee. The happy couple will have many good memories of their special day to share with children and grandchildren.

Before and after the wedding there was lots of time to take advantage of all that Las Vegas has to offer. We gambled on the weather, looked at descriptions of hikes in the area and made a couple of bets on two National Conservation Areas: Red Rock Canyon on the west edge of the Las Vegas Valley and Sloan Canyon on the south edge.

We had been to Red Rock Canyon on other visits and looked forward to revisiting the scenic red rocks. We wanted to do one of the hikes that we hadn’t done before and I threw my money on the square for Turtlehead Peak. Two and a half miles up to the summit and then back down sounded doable in the time that we had. We needed to get back to town with enough time to get dressed and ready for the wedding.

After the first mile or so of hiking the odds of making our goal were not looking good. The trail started to get very steep and rough, wandering through the rocky side of the gulch with no markers in sight and multiple paths winding through the rocks. We weren’t sure we were on the right trail and we weren’t sure how much further it was to the top. At a couple of points we almost threw in our chips and turned around. But we finally hit the mark and saw red dots on the rocks, our sign that we were back on the right trail. We pushed through the next steep mile uphill and were rewarded with lunch and the awesome views at the summit. On the way down we were confident that we could stay on the right trail but once again found ourselves navigating the off-trail slippery slopes, this time with knees aching on the downhill instead of lungs panting on the uphill. It was a tough game but we won the bet and got back to town with time to spare.

After a tough rock scramble on the wrong side of the gulch we were finally on the right trail, looking back the way we had come.

Walking got easier once we found the right trail, but there was still a mile of steep uphill to round the peak and climb up the backside to the summit.

From the backside of the peak, nice view of Las Vegas. Still some climbing left.

Enjoying lunch break at Turtlehead Peak summit.

The day after the wedding we appointed Lee as the dealer. He dealt us a much better hand. The hike he turned up was three and a half miles up to the summit of Black Mountain and back down. That meant the total hiking miles were 7, instead of 5, like we did the day before. But measuring difficulty on that hike I would say that it won hands down for being a trail that was easy to follow and one where you knew you were going to make the summit. Turtlehead Peak summit is reached by going around the back side of the ridge and you lose sight of the goal for much of the hike. At Black Mountain there is a flag at the summit that is visible for most the hike, letting you see clearly how close you are getting.

Our goal is a flag 3 miles in the distance on the top of the peak.

Nice to see some Joshua Trees along the way.

Some tough climbing but at least we were on a decent trail.

Black Mountain Summit reached with our favorite hiking partners.

Visible goals provide the motivation that I need for pushing through the tough spots. I could never motivate myself to waste money on a card game because I lack the necessary imagination for seeing an invisible goal of piles of money waiting on the next draw. Reaching the top of a mountain after a hard hike is the type of reward I aim for. And Las Vegas delivered in spades.