The sun hit our faces just before 9 a.m.
We’d been hiking for two hours.
We got an early start because I had the idea to watch a Balloon Fiesta mass ascension from the mountains. Brilliant as that idea seemed, it didn’t really work.
I had picked the Pino Trail in the Sandia foothills because it was far enough north and low enough elevation that I thought we’d get a good view of the field. I was right: we could see the field. We could even see some balloons hovering over it, floating along like chess pieces moved by an unseen hand. But they were tiny from where we stood, and as soon as we started ascending the trail, they became impossible to make out.
So we focused on the hike.
I have history with the Pino Trail. When I first got interested in hiking and was looking to build stamina, I’d hike on this trail every weekend, going a little further each time. It was many months before I realized it was nearly 10 miles roundtrip and rated difficult by the Forest Service. I tried to do the whole thing last year but fell a mile short (the end of the trail is the toughest.)
The trail is steep and well-shaded after the first mile, with enormous boulders scattered along its lower half. On the upper half, a narrow trail climbs along the canyon wall, with steep dropoffs on the other side.
The sun comes slowly into this canyon. In the cold early morning, it touched two rocky peaks.
Half an hour later, the top of a ridge. Half an hour after that, most of the ridge was bathed in sun, but we were still in layers and gloves in the shade.
By the time we finally caught up to the sun, our legs and lungs were pounding. We might have tried for the top again, since we’d gotten such an early start, but I had a midday commitment. So at a dark, cold spring seeping from the canyon wall, we turned and headed back down.
The light on the way back was spectacular, shimmering through pine needles, dancing on leaves, warming our backs and faces.
The humans and dogs who’d been mostly absent from the trail on our early climb poured up as we moved down.
Birds and butterflies flittered past us into the light. As we finished the last open, unshaded section of trail, I spotted a tarantula hawk crawling on the ground and called to my husband. A man heading up with his family saw us looking at it and gaped.
“We don’t have anything like that in Montana!” he exclaimed.
“Do you know what it is?” I asked, ready to blow his mind.
But he was talking with his companions and didn’t hear me.
It’s for the best. Knowing the full beauty and horror of the tarantula hawk might have sent him packing back to Montana early.
Hike length: 6.5 miles
Difficulty: difficult
Trail traffic: moderate
Wildlife spotted: cottontail, jays, robin, sparrows, butterflies, tarantula hawk
Woman Seeks Elevation 
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