What a Great Hike!

Today I walked up Pajarito Mountain on the far eastern jeep road that starts at the parking area off Camp May Road, just a short distance past the Town Sight ski lift. As I started up, I really wondered about the dark clouds I could see but other than some light rain later in the hike, there was absolutely no thunder and lightning. Maybe because it was cool, very Fall-like, and there was moisture in the air, no thunderstorm activity could get a foothold. I felt so grateful for the cool weather, the beautiful wildflowers, the fantastic views, and for having a ski hill to hike on that’s so close to town. I took 37 digital images.

I only went as far as the easternmost of Pajarito’s two peaks, the one just past the picnic deck. I enjoyed the views of St. Peter’s Dome, Sandia Peak, Cerro Grande, Rabbit Mountain, and the Valle Grande. The huge, dark cloud directly overhead was very impressive.







I considered doing a full circuit across the mountain and back down to the Ski Lodge but decided not to totally deplete myself. I would like to do the grand circuit one day though. I’d also love to go up Cerro Grande again one day but feel so happy to have done a hike up Pajarito today.

On the way back down, I walked just a short way on the easternmost ski run, Evershine Ridge, very steep with stony, slippery tread, just to where it intersected the jeep road I’d come up on, Lower East Road. I took that to where it intersected the Upper Oxbow Road.

Then, just by happenstance, I saw a bike trail going downhill right in front of me so I decided to follow it and ended up the intersection of Aspenola, the one I was on, and Aspenola Loop (also called Lower Aspenola) trails. These are Pajarito Mountain Ski Area Biking and Hiking Trails that are built and maintained by volunteers and a map can be downloaded from the Pajarito Ski Area's official website. (Click on Mountain, then Trail Map, then Mountain Biking.) I turned right, onto Aspenola Loop Trail, not having any idea of where exactly it led. The trail is a single track that passed through rain-washed aspens. The forest gleamed when the sun filtered down onto the wet, greenness. There were mushrooms popping up in the moist duff.














What surprised me about this trail was how organically it flowed through the woods like it had always been there and what a different world it was than following a jeep road.














Right near where the trail began to loop back, there was my car, showroom bright from its free car wash (if you squinted so as not to see the bird poop!!)