Colorful Strip Mine Trail turned my boots into a work of art

I stand on purple rock.

I look out at a rust-red hill, streaked with more purple.

I’ve already seen one pinyon jay, then a flock of 20 or more, dart across the trail.

And I’ve questioned my decision to hike alone without bear spray, thanks to two big piles of bear scat. (I thought they were hibernating…)

I’m hiking Strip Mine Trail in the Sandia Mountain foothills in Placitas. Another surprise: even this sunny, exposed trail has a good bit of snow and mud today. The snow probably totals two inches, but it’s enough to make the climb of about 1,000 feet a deliberate clomp.

Hills recede. The Jemez and Sangre de Cristo ranges, covered in snow, appear on the horizon. Watercolor Placitas below, mesas topped in green.

I take a wrong turn, end up on a path local residents take from home to wilderness (lucky them.) I retrace my steps, climb again. At last, a giant cairn, a lunch spot clear of snow.

I sat down to my sandwich wiped out, but fortified by peanut butter and honey, I want to go farther. I follow a few footsteps, then deer tracks, then nothing. A smooth curve of snow wraps around the side of the mountain. The ultimate temptation. But unsafe without spikes.

Another side path beckons as I head down. It’s sunny and relatively dry, but insanely steep.

Instead I return through the mud and snow only slightly faster than I went up. I sit on a rock in the winter sun until cloud takes over.

When I arrive at the trailhead, my boots are as purple, red and white as a Jackson Pollock painting.

Hike length: 6 miles

Difficulty: moderate

Trail traffic: almost none

Wildlife spotted: pinyon jays, crows, hawks