Sandia Mountains
South Peak
November 2004

My brother was in town for Thanksgiving and we wanted to get out together. The day before our planned adventure it was rotten weather, so I rented a pair of snowshoes for Chris. Our plan was to hike up South Crest Trail and bag South Peak, then return to the trailhead via CCC Trail.

We met at the Frontier at 6:15, where we ate a hearty breakfast and said so long to Wendy and Kennedy. After driving to the trailhead and getting our gear sorted out we were starting our hike at about 8:00.

     
We passed the waterfall and were at Lower Faulty Trail after one hour, Upper Faulty Trail after another, and to the great 'Stone Ridge' lookout after a third. After hiking nearly another hour we arrived at the crest. From here, we were able to look down into Three Gun Springs and Embudo Canyons.

Not far past the crest we stumbled upon an area that had been trampled down. The trail past this area was not broken. It looked like we would be the first ones past this point since the major snow fell several days before. We put our snowshoes on, which was a first for Chris. We then continued on our way, getting to South Sandia Spring at about 11:00.

We stopped for lunch at the junction of South Crest Trail and Embudito. It was much cooler and a bit breezy at the top of the mountain.

  
Dark clouds rolled in and we had a little trouble finding South Peak. Eventually we figured we had passed it, and then we saw it peak through the clouds. Indeed, we had blown about a mile past it. We turned around and headed off trail toward it. We finally arrived at the peak, took some pictures, and got down out of the exposed area. It was really, really windy and cold up there.

     
We didn't leave the peak until about 2:30. Since we were supposed to be back at the car at 5:00 we had to hurry. We took our time getting back to the trail and finding CCC Trail. Then we boogied, stopping only once for a snack and once-in-a-while to confirm that we were still on the snow-covered trail. We got back to Upper Faulty Trail at about 4:15. That's where we took off our snow shoes. The sun set at around 4:45, a bit before we got back to the car.
We arrived back at the car just a few minutes after 5:00, right on schedule. This was a terrific hike, although I was sore for two days afterwards.