So I stood on/climbed three different volcanoes today (c: Here are the pictures, and probably tomorrow I’ll add some proper text… we’ll see.
Sandia Peak
One of the biggest local attractions is Sandia Peak, a long ridge of limestone that stands on the eastern side of Albuquerque. From the city her face is sheer and steep, strong and tall it the sort of ridge that stands quietly and asks to be climbed! Unfortunately I haven’t the time right now to take the 4mi trail to the summit of the ridge so I cheated and took the tram!
For a paltry $17.50 one can obtain the privledge of riding in the worlds longest tramway, including the worlds longest clear span on a tramway, 1.5 miles! Yup, it’s quite a sight to see and one point the operator/guide described the distance to the ground in seconds (c: It took a few people some extra moments to catch on but when they did I thought they might faint!
Cable car docked at the top
After a 14 minute ride we arrived safe and sound at the top of peak and I was immediately struck by the view. When you reach a peak in the Rockies you are usually greeted by row upon row of mountain ranges carpeted with pines and larches fading off into the distance, but here it is nothing but desert and the next mountain range is some 160 mi away!
Albuquerque in the middle-ground and more mountains far away
View across the ridge
Another shot of ABQ
I took a short walk down the trail that would eventually have brought me out to the bottom of the ridge. It was fairly wide and easy to follow, given more time I would have happily walked back down.
Fun way down
This one really wigs me out. I was waiting at the top for the car to come back and was trying to see where it would go, but I kept losing the cables, seriously they just seem to melt into thin air and disappear.
We’re came up on those?
Here is one with some perspective in it. Can you spot the cable car?
Our tour guide/operator mentioned that the sunsets were spectacular on Sandia Peak, and I had seen a few from the hotel so I figured I’d come back and try to get some good shots of it. This was before the sun really started sinking, its so dry here it’s almost unbelievable. This ridge here is Sandia Peak and you can kind of see the visitors center on the right side of the picture.
I was walking around a golf course mostly, all of the golfers were off so it lead to some interesting shots. I like the lines in the gravel on this one.
This is one of my favourites from the whole evening
Clearly, the sun is setting in full force and everything becomes bathed in a golden-red light
A couple of wider shots of the ridge
It was excellent to get outside and to experience the quite of the place. Despite having a ski hill and restaurant and tram and gift shop it wasn’t hard to find some quiet places and reflect. It also satiated my desire to get to the top of something again (c: I can’t see to help it!
Not sure what tomorrow will bring, but it shouldn’t be hard to find fun on a saturday in Albuquerque.
Old Town Albuquerque
I went down to Old Town Albuquerque tonight to take some new photos and practice with the new camera. Unfortunately I don’t have a new tripod so most of them didn’t turn out. Here are the best ones that did.
Really cool fountain I found
Olde Tyme Church(e)
Just so there is no doubt, in case you were looking for the rectory
Canon protecting the gazebo… gazebo thieves are everywhere!
Unfortunately shortly after this one was taken I got a call about mechanical problems with the airplane so it cut my picture taking short. Hopefully we can resolve it in the next few hours.
Rinconada Canyon
Petroglyph National Monument – Albuquerque New Mexico
Within the city limits of Albuquerque is a National Monument dedicated to Petroglyphs or stone writings, some of which date back 2000 years! Most of the ones here are are from bettween 1300 and 1700 AD (my immediate thought was “while we were writing on rocks Europeans were building castles out of them!)
It’s a rather scrubby and brushy landscape, for one more used to mountains and forests it felt incredibly dry and nearly dead. The writings however were pretty cool and I managed to get some good pictures of a lot of them. If I get some time again I might go back, they say there are over 2000 glyphs in this canyon and I’m sure I missed tons!
Sandy trail and blazing sun
Dancin’ man
View up the valley
Lots on one rock
Nice antenna bud, Roswell is that way!
New Mexico
I arrived in New Mexico today after a rousing 48hrs in Montana (c: The hardest challenge has been learning how to spell Albuquerque, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, it’s not easy!
Also, when I was in Grade 4 I remember saying “Albuquerque” over and over and Laura Busby threatened to kick me if I didn’t stop. I didn’t, she did, it was terribly painful!
And now I’m here… seems like a nice place, warm, deserty and probably fun. I’m gonna go find out.
Pictures
Here are some pictures from the weekend out in Manitoba
Shooting (and hitting!) sporting clays
Glen (my cousin), George (my father), Jon (me) after a successful hunt
Stalking one pheasant that got away
Got him!
Jake the Peg, what would a family event be without a singing three legged man!?
Adventures
After a nice decent period of time off I’m heading back to work again. This time my adventures will start in Billings MT with a possible side trip to New Mexico if the weather up north goes south…. After that it’s destination Europe with Vienna, Cologne and Madrid being the front runners. I’ll keep you posted as I go and hopefully there are some good stories around the bend.
Cheers!
