I can’t whitewash it: This trail got the best of me

Some of the best hiking on the west face of the Sandias can be found in Embudo and Embudito Canyon.

Both involve climbing lots of slick Sandia granite, making your way from one rock to another.

I usually need a boost or a hand, but I’ve tackled some of the most challenging parts of those trails (and Waterfall Canyon, too, where the rock is not only slick in nature, it’s frequently wet.)

But today, in a canyon that looked deceptively similar, I met an obstacle I wasn’t ready to field: slick Sandia stone stretching upward at a 45-degree angle.

We were on the Whitewash Trail, an undesignated trail leading to a ridge. We’d climbed familiar terrain to get there, but the sand and stepped rock came to an end, and only smooth stone remained.

We could see our destination ridge silhouetted against the blue sky, so close. We began heading up, my husband leading the way and pulling me up the hill. It was working. But he wouldn’t be able to give me the same kind of assist down the steep, slippery incline, and I didn’t know how I would make it down.

After a short distance, I gave up and slid back down on my butt. It was surprisingly easy, but not a feasible means of getting all the way back down from the ridge.

I sat on a rock while my husband climbed to the ridge. He’s much more comfortable on boulders and steep slopes than I am, but he slipped and gashed his hand on the way down. While we doctored his wound from the first aid kit, he told me about the meadow he’d seen on the ridge. I wanted to see it and I’d been thinking of trying again, but when the descent tripped even him up, I reluctantly accepted that I wouldn’t see the meadow today.

The path back down the steep, stepped rocks seemed easy by comparison. We explored boulders and game paths on the way down and took side trails.

As we exited the canyon, we could see clouds surrounding the arrowhead ridge of the Sierra Ladrones 70 miles away. It appeared to be levitating.

We could even see the cloud-wreathed Magdalena Mountains south of the Ladrones, a rare sight that had me questioning my geographic awareness.

What goes up generally must come down. But if one had the stamina and daylight for a 9.5-mile hike, one could go up the Whitewash, then return via much easier Embudo Canyon.

Stay tuned.

Hike length: 3 miles

Difficulty: difficult

Trail traffic: lots in the foothills, none in the canyon

Wildlife spotted: butterfly, chickadees, one really irritated jay