Embudito Canyon’s funky, tingly, flowery forest

We try to talk each other out of it.

That huge creature soaring high above the canyon probably isn’t an eagle.

I can’t be sure what I’m seeing, with sweat in my eyes and watercolor Albuquerque levitating below us.

We’re on Embudito Trail, one of the most beautiful hikes close to the city – one I’d normally never do in summer. Its stunning first two-plus miles scale steep canyon walls with no trees to speak of. In full summer sun, hiking it feels like roasting on a griddle.

Thankfully, it’s unusually cool this morning, thanks to last night’s monsoon rain. It’s also unusually humid.

We lose the not-eagle in the cloud smudges. We round a corner and realize we’d taken our break just short of an outstanding overlook, forested peaks and ridges on all sides.

Then we climb into them for the first time.

Two hours into our hike, everything that came before evaporates. Ponderosas coalesce into a canopy. The temperature drops 15 degrees. Aspens shoot up from mossy two-ton boulders. Yarrow and penstemon narrow the trail from both sides.

Forest funk fills the air. My arms tingle from the cool breeze and the phytochemicals.

I have never felt a sensation like it. I tell my husband.

“Is it just your left arm?”

“No, it’s both. Why?”

“Because that would be a heart attack.”

This is not that. I don’t know what this forest is manufacturing, but I just finished “The Overstory” and I know my blood pressure is probably improving every time I inhale.

The grade of the trail lessens through the forest, but then the switchbacks begin again. The entire trail is rated difficult. It’s midday and the forecast cloud cover is nowhere to be seen (I knew I was rolling the dice with that and I might lose.)

It’s time to haul my tired legs back down the griddle.

Good thing I have a lungful of mysterious forest compounds to propel me.

Hike length: 7 miles

Difficulty: difficult

Trail traffic: lots until you reach the forest

Wildlife spotted/heard: quail, curve-billed thrasher, hawk, butterflies, cicadas, bluejays, horny toad, lizards, velvet ant, crows. And after consulting the bird book on what an eagle looks like from below (I’ve only seen one once for sure), I think there’s a good chance that was a golden eagle.