If you wanted to take the hike I took today, I couldn’t tell you how.
It was my husband’s childhood arroyo hike into the Santa Fe National Forest in Tesuque. No drive to a faraway trailhead, no stopping to load up on supplies. Out the back door, into the arroyo, and it began.
We followed a web of dry watercourses and sunbaked game paths into the rolling foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The wind blew briskly from the northwest. Fresh snow coated the entire top of Santa Fe Baldy, visible periodically between hills, and crunched under our feet. The wind chill never got above 40, but the sun blazed bright enough that I stayed warm in a long-sleeved wool shirt.
My husband has told me so many stories about haunting these arroyos, and more today. The spot where he and his two best friends played paintball for a bachelor party. The ridiculously steep cliff he sledded down and crashed unceremoniously. The time, walking with two friends, that a pack of dogs surrounded them.
The terrain pushed us gradually up, making it clear we were now in a forest. The bare hills fell away and ponderosas towered above. Our footprints fell among fox and deer tracks in the snow. Ravens rode thermals overhead.
Just as I was beginning to think what this hike could really use was some views, a very steep mountain bike path beckoned upward.
Vistas opened up almost immediately, and more just kept appearing as we climbed. Beige and red cliffs stretched all the way to the Valle Grande. Redondo Peak towered above it, dusted on one sharp side with snow. The bump of Tetilla Peak to the south, the Ortiz and Sandia Mountains beyond.
It was so tempting to keep climbing until Baldy came fully into view. But I had to get my sore legs back down the steep path, and we had to get back to Albuquerque by dark.
On the way back, we took more ridgeline paths, winding amid homes with walls of windows.
We stopped at a clearing with manmade circles and stacks of rock overlooking the Santa Fe Opera.
I’d been there before, but couldn’t quite place the memory.
“I think you were angry,” my husband said.
Hard to believe, but there was a time when I wasn’t wild about ascending a steep hill.
Luckily, I learned good things await at the top.
Hike length: 8 miles
Difficulty: moderate
Wildlife spotted: juncos, nuthatches, ravens, bluejays
Trail traffic: none
Woman Seeks Elevation 
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