New Mexico Adventures

Hi y'all! Let me tell you, I did not do my due diligence and ended up going every which way but the way that I had wanted to go. Here's that Manzanita Mountains Trail Map again. My annotated route. Sorry for the poor quality. What I did was take ATV bypass slightly east to Powerline, which I followed to the junction with Chamisoso. I took Chamisoso almost until the end, but turned back at an arroyo crossing. I followed that back about 1 - 1.5 miles to the Coyote-Camisoso Link, which I briefly followed until 462. I took 462 southwest to the ATV bypass, which I then followed until close to the parking lot, where I gave up and just followed the road back. The actual route I took can be found here. And here's a handy elevation profile: As you might be able to tell, it wasn't a bad hike until that pesky ATV bypass, which was a little rough most due to very loose rocks. I had intended to follow one of the hikes mentioned in the Albuquerque Seni...

Hi y'all! This weekend's adventures don't involve camping, sadly, as my wife is in the northeast visiting family and I'm house sitting. Since I'm in Albuquerque and really it's Tilly and I that are much more out of shape, I decided to take a hike in the nearby Manzanita mountains. I'm familiar with the geology of the the Sandias, and the Manzanitas are basically the same thanks to the tectonics of the area, so it was exciting to be able to hike through formations I'm familiar with. I had wanted to wake up early, but my wife's flight was delayed and so she didn't get into the East Coast until close to midnight our time, and then didn't get to her destination til past 1, so I didn't get to go to bed until anywhere near as early as I wanted. I managed to drag myself out of bed at 7:30 and we arrived in the parking lot of Mars Court trailhead at 8:40 am. The drive to Mars Court trailhead is actually a really pretty and fun drive. ...