Author: bjregan

Enjoying retirement activities. Main goals for retirement are to stay spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally healthy.

Pino Trail

When I suggested to Lee that we hike the Pino Trail, I was remembering it as a moderately strenuous 3 1/2 mile climb to the South Crest Trail. I knew that we had done it more than once before, but didn’t bother to look up the details from previous hikes.

The first time that we did it was 6 years ago at the end of October just before we moved into our apartment. Then in January of 2014 I hiked it with 2 friends during one of the times when Lee was housesitting for his brother in Ohio. That hike adventure is documented in a blog posting. . In September of 2016 Lee and I did the hike again, which meant yesterday was the fourth time for me and the third time for Lee.

If I had looked up the hike details in advance I might not have been so hasty to suggest the hike yesterday. It’s actually 4 1/2 miles to the Crest, making a 9-mile hike with 2000 feet of elevation gain. The last few months have been busy with travel and the hiking we have done has been mostly short hikes. We probably weren’t in as good of shape as the other times we hiked the Pino Trail.

Hiking in summer, instead of fall or winter, makes an additional challenge. The first mile of hiking is in the foothills with no tree cover. We had gotten a start early enough in the morning that lack of shade was not a problem in the beginning. It was that last mile coming back down in the heat of the afternoon that had us panting for water. I had forgotten how much of the trail crosses open areas even after you get to the higher elevations. We both had taken our usual amount of water, but we really should have taken some extra because our bottles were empty before we got back.

Many good views of the crest. Pino Trail intersects the crest but further south of this point.

Looking back at Albuquerque, lost in the summer smoke haze.

The trail skirts the base of the distant cliff. Nice to be in the aspens but still a lot of climbing left at this point.

Reaching the point on the trail where we had glimpsed this cliff in the distance. Still a couple of miles of climbing.

An unexpected benefit of an August Pino Trail hike was to see many different wildflowers in bloom. It has been such a dry year that we had given up on seeing the array of Sandia Mountain flowers we usually look for on our spring and summer hikes. But even though the rain here in the valley has been scarce, apparently those afternoon thunderclouds we observe over the mountains have provided some moisture. As we got to the higher elevations, there were our old friends. Purple Geranium, Harebells, Red Columbine, and Birdsbill Dayflower were the most plentiful. There were many others that Lee could tell you about. And he could show you flower pictures much more professional than my poor attempts to capture a bit of the beauty.
Lee with camera in hand after one of his many stops to take flower photos.

Draba, a member of the mustard family.

Purple geranium were plentiful.

One of the many patches of Red Columbine along the trail at the higher elevations.

Nature’s artwork.

Horse or Hike

When I told my sister, Sande, that we were planning to come for a visit to her ranch in Salmon, Idaho, she was excited at the prospect of taking us along on one of the backcountry horseback riding excursions that are her favorite recreation. Although Lee and I look forward to any opportunity to get into the mountains, we weren’t too sure we wanted to do it on horseback. But I was willing to give it a try and told her to go ahead and plan the outing.

My brother, Clint, who lives in Bozeman, Montana, is also enthusiastic about riding so he drove over to Salmon to join us. Sande has a friend, Arnie, who was willing to loan us some horses and suggested a trail that he thought we would all enjoy. With lunches packed, saddles and gear assembled and horses loaded in the trailers, the five of us set off for the mountains.

After miles of rattling and jolting over a rough forest road we finally got to the trailhead. We unloaded 3 horses from Arnie’s trailer and 2 horses from Sande’s. I would be riding Sugar (sounded sweet), Lee would be riding Penny and I can’t remember the name of Arnie’s horse or the one Clint would be riding. They all looked friendly and Arnie said Sugar and Penny would be gentle enough for us two New Mexico greenhorns.

Sugar is the Palomino, Penny is in the middle and Arnie’s horse is the one with the blaze.

Since this was going to be a trail ride, single file, one horse plodding along behind another, I had envisioned that I wouldn’t need to do anything except sit in the saddle and let the horse carry me up the mountain. As best I can remember, the extent of my experience with horses was as a kid riding bareback on a pony we owned. I can’t remember ever having sat high off the ground in a saddle on the back of a huge animal like this that was expecting me to manipulate a leather strap laying on it’s neck to tell it where I wanted it to go.

I barely got myself in the saddle before Sugar started heading off the trail into the woods. Clint hollered at me that I was supposed to be using the reins, but I hadn’t even yet figured out where they were. I fumbled around for them and got the horse headed in the right direction behind Clint’s horse. I was not prepared for the roughness of the trail and was soon convinced that Sugar was determined to step on the biggest, slipperiest rocks she could find. My feet were wedged into the stirrups, twisting my knees into a very uncomfortable position. I was gripping the saddlehorn in both hands, squeezing tight in the saddle with my legs and bracing my feet in the stirrups. But as the horse lurched up the steep, rocky trail I was sure that any minute I would slide off her back or worse yet the horse would slide off the edge of the cliff whenever we had to navigate a narrow ledge.

Lee handled Penny like a pro.
A section of the trail.

After about half an hour my knees were aching so badly that I gave up on using the stirrups and just let my feet dangle free. Then I felt even less secure on the slippery saddle as the trail got steeper and the horse stumbled over the rocks. I didn’t know how long we’d been riding or how much further we had to go but I was just about ready to ask Clint if we could stop for a minute so I could get off and use the bathroom. Suddenly, Sugar lurched to the left and smashed my leg up against a tree. That was it. I got off the horse, did my business in the trees and said that I would walk the rest of the way up.

Arnie was kind enough to lead my horse and I was finally free to make my way using my own two feet. As it turned out there was less than a mile to our destination. It was steep going and I was huffing and puffing to keep up with Clint’s horse but it was worth it to be on solid ground.

Lee on Penny, Sande in the background.
Arnie and Lee.
Alan Lake, our lunch destination.
Arnie, Sande and Clint enjoying the view.

We had a relaxing lunch next to Alan Lake and I mentally prepared myself for the ride back down. But then Arnie said he would walk down and Lee decided to do the same. So 3 of us walked and 2 rode. Walking down, the trail didn’t seem as rocky or steep as it had when I was on the horse. It turns out that the trail up to the lake was 4 miles with 2000 feet of elevation gain. It would have made a nice day hike, if you ask me. I think as long as I’m able to walk, I will be hiking up trails, not horseback riding.