Placitas, New Mexico

Golden Open Space Mesa Trail Loop is a dog and family-friendly loop trail located near Sandia Park, New Mexico. The trail is open year-round and offers expansive views of the valleys and mountains alongside Juniper and Pinyon trees. These trails are used by mountain bikers as well, so please keep...

Up near the iconic La Luz Trailhead is a smaller and somewhat hidden trail a little farther up the road, Piedra Lisa Trail.  This short two mile climb to the ridge that divides the view of Albuquerque and Placitas tops out at a rocky outcrop that provides simply stellar views of the city and to t...

Point 8300, also nicknamed Mayan Temple by the locals, is the highest point in the Rincon Ridge. In order to reach the summit you start by following the South Piedra Lisa Trail for about 2.25 miles to the ridge. Once you reach the ridge the Piedra Lisa goes off to the right, but there is an unmar...

10K trailhead springs from it a whole handful of beautiful trails.  With access to a rocky path that leads off into raw wilderness, a clean and smooth walking, hiking, and mountain biking trail covered by tall pine canopy, or a wide cut service road ideal for easy strolls, you have plenty of opti...

Leaving from the foothills above Albuquerque this trail leads you from the desert up to the peaks of the Sandia Mountains.  You'll climb from the city at 7000 ft above sea level all the way up to 10,378 ft in altitude along a trail the changes from high desert to deep pine forest.  The views alon...

Tree Spring Trail is an out-and-back trail where you may see beautiful wildflowers located near Sandia Park, New Mexico.

Start at the Sandia Mountain base terminal where you can purchase your tickets to ride the tram (Tip: If you make reservations at the peaks restaurant, High Finance, you can get a discount on your ticket). Enjoy the 15 minute ride to the peak while taking in beautiful city views of Albuquerque as...

Sulphur Canyon #281 and Cienega Horse Bypass #266 Loop is a loop trail that provides a good opportunity to view wildlife located near Cedar Crest, New Mexico.

This is a hiking area in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. This route is a 3.9 mile heavily trafficked loop up Oso Ridge and down Embudito Canyon.  There is plenty of room to park at the Embudito Trail Trail head, on the eastern side of Albuquerque. From the parking lot, take the center trai...

This is one of the most photographed festivals in the world. Professionals and amateurs gather here each year to take millions of photos, and your goal (albeit a difficult one) is to capture a unique perspective at this event. Something that conveys the particular emotion of what the balloon fest...

This point-to-point hike took me about 11.5 hours to complete, however I consider myself to be in decent hiking shape and was moving at about 2.5 miles per hour for the majority of the hike. I would give yourself ample time if you want to complete this in 1 day or you can back country primitive c...

Loop: South Crest Trail > Lower Faulty Trail > Upper Faulty Trail > South Crest Trail The trail starts at the Canyon Estates Trailhead along the South Crest Trail. You'll follow this trail for 0.8 miles before you reach the junction for the Lower Faulty Trail. This is the steepest part o...

*This is a loop hike so you can go either direction. I like going counterclockwise to hike the steepest part up instead of down at the end of a long hike.* You'll start out on the Three Gun Trail for about half a mile until you reach a spur to take Hawk Watch Trail. After traveling briefly on thi...

The trail starts out at the Three Guns Trailhead and has great signage as you drive to it. You'll start the hike on the Three Guns Trail for about 0.5 mile before you'll officially cross into Cibola National Forest. Once you enter there will almost immediately be a spur to the Hawk Watch Trail to...

Petroglyph National Park - Amazing Rock Art - Petroglyph National Monument has one of the biggest, and easiest to find group of petroglyphs in the United States. There are over 20,000 carvings in this monument. It is on the western side of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is easy to reach. The vast m...

Hiking at Tent Rocks is a must-do for anyone in the northern New Mexico area. It's an accessible trail that gives you incredible rewards with little effort. The cone-shaped "tent rocks" are the result of erosion following a volcanic explosion 6-7 million years ago, making for some incredible and ...