Day 13 – Sandia Peak

Today Carmen and I are headed back up to the top of Sandia Peak, only this time by the Tram.  You can see the tram coming down now, just below the first tower. 

While on the way up, we get to see some of the mountain terrain.  There are many boulders strewn about.

More of the view as we travel our way to the top.

Look up to one of the towers as we near the first ridge on our way to the top of the mountain.

On the other side of the visitor center building at the top of the mountain, where we get off of the tramway, is the top of Sandia Peak ski slope.  The chairlift is 7,500 ft in length with a vertical rise of 1,700 ft.  But, the slope starts at about 6,300 ft and the summit is about 8,600 ft.

On the chairlift and on our way down, we pass this stand of Aspen.  The colors are at their greatest. 

Anyway, after a hot chocolate at the bottom of the slopes, we went back up the ski lift to the top of Sandia Peak.

Back at the top we walked around the railing and viewpoints overlooking Albuquerque.  Here Carmen is standing at one of the overlooks which looks out over the mountain’s strata.

Looking down the mountain at the tram’s cabling system we can see the two trams passing each other.

At one of the viewing platforms we had a good view looking south.  Either because of the cool air on the warm rocks causing a ground fog, or other reasons, we have great separation between each of the hills and mountains in the background.

Here I am looking back to the main viewing platform and the mountain in the background.

We have been at the top of the mountain for some time, hiking along the rim trail and the overlooks, and will take the next tram to return to the bottom of the mountain.  We take a picture of the rugged hillside.  We also find out from the “guide” traveling with the tram, that a plane crashed in the notch.

Nearing the bottom we see more rock pinnacles. 

At the bottom of the mountain, we walked around the gardens.  They have roses, hibiscus, peonies, and other flowers quite surprisingly still in bloom, even though it is October.  Even though the flowers were gone, I did take a picture of this cactus.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Albuquerque, it is also the day of the special shapes balloon launch and it will be an early morning.