"AGBAT's new Albuquerque Page" a Albuquerque Travel Page by AGBAT

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<img src=http://www.virtualtourist.com/p/.144132/tn_t-1702-4.jpg></a>Drive north of Albu. on I-25 to the Bernalillo/Placitas exit #242. Going right at the exit puts you on the road to Placitas (Route 165) and eventually Sandia Crest (10,000 ft elevation and a view that is for hundreds of miles). Placitas was where the Albuquerque hippie communes of the ‘60’s were located. If you saw the movie Easy Rider, you may remember the commune. Voila-Placitas. Anyway, today it is a yuppie kind of community of environmental and political correctness. Pisses me off to see it but it is the most scenic way to get to Sandia Crest. Sandia Crest can also be reached by walking up the west face on La Luz trail, taking a tram from Albuquerque, or by driving east on I-40 to exit #175 and taking Route 14 north. The roads end at the Crest parking lot and from there you can walk along the Crest trail. Besides the mass of radio and TV towers you can see bighorn sheep, deer, squirrels, and very rarely a bear on the north crest trail. On the south crest trail you will see tourists walking back and forth to the tram. In winter, skiing is the main attraction and in the summer you can watch the daring hang glide from the crest. The Sandia mountains are wedge shaped. Very steep on the west slope and a relatively gentle angle on the east slopes. The crest is 1 mile above the valley floor in Albuquerque so it is a hell of a glide down to the bottom. Not that I have ever tried it but I like watching others try ;-) As soon as they step off the platform it is several hundred feet to the rocks below. Yahoooooooooo This link is to a <A HREF='http://home.earthlink.net/~ganelo/Narratives.html'>Hiking trail guide</A> for the Sandia Mountain. It is maintained by a Mike Coltrin and has some very good information about hiking in the Sandias. When I was in high school (65-68), I hiked from one end of the Sandias to the other with my friends. Started at least one forest fire, got slapped by a girl for being to forward (she was sharing my sleeping bag), and generally got camping out of my system. The picture is courtesy of the City of Albuquerque. Visit their web site. <A HREF='http://www.cabq.gov'>City of Albuquerque</A>