Hot on the trail of two special springs in the Sandias

I was excited. I had realized that by hiking south on the Faulty Trail from the Sandia Crest Highway, I had a shot at seeing two springs.

Both were much-touted springs that I’d passed on separate hikes in the area, but couldn’t access, because they were closed for rehabilitation.

That was two years ago. It’s been monsooning. I thought I had a good shot.

It had rained on the trail overnight. Mud and wet pine permeated our nostrils.

At the junction of Armijo and Faulty Trails, a dogleg of Armijo once led to Torro Spring. Now, Armijo dead-ends at Faulty. A tiny spur trail leads to a”medallion tree,” which displays a medallion allegedly noting the age of the tree, but branches block any travel beyond it.

We persevered on Faulty. I’d forgotten our Sandias topo map, and we wandered around on an unmarked trail with a fallen sign nearby, thinking it might be Canoncito Trail, home of Canoncito Spring. Though the trail had great views of the San Pedro Mountains, it was springless. We retraced our steps and pressed south.

Canoncito! The maps had shown a flowing travertine spring just east of the trail’s junction with Faulty. We hiked down to a beautiful canyon lush with wildflowers. It looked just like a canyon fed by a flowing spring would look. But…nada.

Through this stretch Faulty Trail rises and descends through canyon after canyon. Many look like spring territory. But none are – at least not today, that I could see.

There’s no shortage of scenery, from an outstanding overlook of Cienega Canyon to little horny toads scuttling among the red rock and limestone.