The Needle – Woman Seeks Elevation

December 7, 2020

The other Jaral Canyon (the one without people)

Looks like forever’s rolling away from us.

Long exposure of beige hills, crest to mountains, frame. Look right, deep into Juan Tabo Canyon’s gullet, frame.

Cabezon Peak is framed by the notch in Juan Tabo Canyon’s wall.

One human, a trail runner cresting a saddle below.

We can’t see them from the southwest corner of Jaral Canyon, but humans and their structures surround us. Sandia Casino. Subdivisions. The crowded trailhead for this hike, where Tramway meets the forest road.

We bypassed that busy spot. Drove north on the forest road to the quiet Juan Tabo trailhead. Hiked into Jaral Canyon from there. Met only one other person, the trail runner.

The route: doable, but steep and rugged up-and-down, starting with a 45-degree leg-burner.

We did not want to hike down that. And with all the trails that crisscross these canyons, some not on any map, there had to be an easier way back.

Right?

Riiiiiiiiiiiighht.

False starts. Turnarounds.

We get most of the way back on a rough path, but it dumps us into a brush-choked arroyo.

We backtrack to the forest road. My husband huffs up the road half a mile to the car.

I look up at the Shield, Prow and Needle rock formations. Snow clutches north-facing slopes. Jays rustle in the pinons.

We reached our goal: finding a socially distanced route into Jaral Canyon.

And after all the detours, I think I’ve actually satiated my appetite for this canyon for a while.

Hike length: 5 miles

Difficulty: moderate

Trail traffic: light

Wildlife spotted/heard: blue jays, doves, crows, spotted towhees, nuthatch

December 9, 2019

Juan Tabo Canyon from the bottom up

I’ve climbed steep paths for a dramatic view into Juan Tabo Canyon.

But I’d never seen its rugged rock walls rise hundreds of feet above me.

Until yesterday.

You can get a good gander at the Sandias’ Shield, Prow and Needle from many spots near the canyon. Yesterday’s hike took us through the canyon’s less-traveled northern sections.

Down arroyos, following footprints and deer tracks. Through stands of bare trees and brush. Over damp rocks where a stream had recently flowed.

The sun and a light breeze warmed us. Still, our feet crunched snow in shady spots.

We squeezed against jagged slate canyon walls. The further south we went, the higher the rock rose above. Mountain chickadees and towhees darted from juniper to juniper.

It made me wonder if this canyon bottom would flourish green in a wet spring and summer.

Our first view into the canyon looked verdant even today, blanketed with evergreens.

The light and warmth shortened with the afternoon. Winter cloud cover built.

Time to go, taking a new view of the canyon with us.

Hike length: 6 miles

Difficulty: moderate

Trail traffic: very light

Wildlife spotted/heard: hawk, blue jays, spotted towhees, mountain chickadees, Jerusalem cricket

TIPS:

-I recommend this hike, like my other recent ones, November-March. It’s very sunny.

-This barbell-shaped route comes from Mike Coltrin’s Sandia Mountain Hiking Guide.

July 29, 2018

The Sandia Crest I know never looks the same twice

Now, this is the Sandia Crest I know.

The place where the air is as clear and crisp as the first day of the world.

The place where the sun and the wind feel right on your skin, a mile above the valley’s dry blaze. You might even need a jacket.

The Sandia Crest of last week, nearly as hot and bright as the valley, fades into a not-quite-believable memory.

Two nights of thunderstorms that meant business have left their mark. The air’s heavy and cool, the trail oozing smells of soil and pine.

We descend carefully over muddy tree roots. A big evergreen, blown down by one of the storms, blocks our path; we climb around it.

We bypass Del Agua Overlook, the world’s greatest overlook, which we discovered here last week, and spent our lunch hour watching the light and shadow play across the top of the Needle.

As spectacular as it was, we know there’s more, and we want to see it.

Mini-overlooks abound. The Needle’s shoulder comes into view.

We see more and more of the limestone ridge stretching back to the crest.

The Del Agua Overlook is the green spot just below the highest point visible in this image.

The trail begins ascending, fossil-rich limestone poking more frequently into the path. The sun ascends, too, and when we emerge from dense stands of aspen and spruce, it quickly warms us.

We turn. We’re now headed for a ridge higher than everything around it, one we’d spotted from last week’s overlook. The vantage point from there will be one we’ve never seen.

But first, a clamber over steep limestone. I stop to eat lunch on a ledge before the last push.

Before we even reach the top, I look back and see the Del Agua Overlook, its limestone shelf carpeted in golf-course green.

Gray wisps coalesce in front of us. My husband thinks a building far below must be on fire. It’s a good guess – everything’s on fire right now – but what we’re seeing are wisps of cloud playing across the green slope we’ve just traveled.

At the top of the ridge, a commanding view of Juan Tabo Canyon, glimpses of the San Pedro Mountains and Ortiz Mountains in the valley behind us.

For just a second, I think about the next ridge, and the next, and the next.

But we’ve gone nearly three miles, and my ankles and knees are talking to me from all the clambering. The return route is a 700-foot elevation gain.

I snap a sideways view of the top and clavicle of the Needle as we return.

This is the Sandia Crest I know, a place where you’re always one ridge away from seeing something you’ve never seen before.

Hike length: 5.6 miles

Difficulty: moderate

Trail traffic: moderate

Wildlife spotted or heard: swifts, brown creepers, chipmunk, butterflies, vulture, crow, squirrel, mule deer on the Crest Highway