All of my adult life, I've loved the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque. In the mid-to-late 1980s, when I was attending law school and graduate business school at the University of New Mexico, I often went hiking a couple of times a week, generally by myself, as a means of clearing my head and working off pent-up emotions. Thus I became familiar with most of the major hiking trails in the Sandias. These days I'm lucky to take more than three or four hikes a year of any substantial distance, with maybe one or two being of seven or more miles; my "big" hike in 2007 was to go up and down the La Luz Trail in October, a total distance of about 15-16 miles (with an elevation change of 4,400 feet in either direction, which is where the real "brutality" enters into the equation). However, I still regard the Sandias as my spiritual home, where I go to heal emotional wounds and feel divine influences.I have plans to do two long hikes this summer in the Sandias. The first will be to hike up Chimney Canyon -- an offshoot of the La Luz Trail that presents a much wilder, steeper, and more direct route to Sandia Crest -- then back down the La Luz. (This is a hike I've done perhaps eight or nine times previously, sometimes by myself; however, I will probably only do it this summer if I can find a hiking companion or two.) The second will be to gain South Sandia Peak via Whitewash Canyon (or, more likely, the massive ridge between Whitewash Canyon and Embudo Canyon), Bear Pass, and the upper part of the Embudito Trail. (While I've reached South Sandia Peak on various occasions via multiple routes, the portion of my proposed route between the first little promontory at the head of Whitewash Canyon and Bear Pass is terra incognita for me, which is part of why it appeals to me.)
