We had breakfast and then walked Chile around the bosque trail. Most mornings there are lots of people and dogs out walking. Your walk can be cool or challenging, depending on the other dogs. Chile is almost always chill unless the other dog(s) are aggressive. Christine knows them all by sight and takes appropriate diversionary tactics. It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and temps in the 60’s.

After the walk, we headed for a  hike at Carlito Springs. The trailhead is off a dirt road and feels little used although there were a few cars there already. Next to us was a bearded woman preparing to walk his/her dog. No kidding. Breasts and a long beard. Not that there is anything wrong with that. S/he was wearing loud Zubaz. When we started out we were preceded by a large, noisy family in front of us. My guess is that they were Mormon by the number of kids and the way that Mom dressed. And she called one of them Caleb. For some reason, Dad has a gun in his belt. Bears? In case the kids get out of line? The terrain has a variety of vegetation including cedar, Ponderosa pine, piñon. sage and lots of cacti. The walk started at 6500 ft elevation. We climbed pretty steeply for several minutes initially. Breathing was a challenge at times.

We eventually hiked to the top where there is a refurbished large, hotel-like structure. You can actually drive up there from the other side so we surmised that the place might be for rent for your next family reunion. Today there didn’t seem to be anyone around. The Mormon mom was having a mini-crisis. Several of the kids had to go to the bathroom. So she started trying doors and found a bathroom that was open. Divine intervention?

There is an enclosure at the top that creates a pretty little pool of ice cold spring water. Unfortunately touching the water is forbidden. But it made for a lovely cool place to sit. We continued our hike.

We gradually started going down. It was a beautiful, arid landscape. There were some long views but primarily it consisted mostly of a gigantic cement plant across the road at the bottom of the hill. We gradually descended into a micro climate of huge ponderosa pines and cedars.

When we had returned to our car, it was past noon. Next stop, lunch. The place that John and Christine wanted to take us, a restaurant called Greenside Cafe in Cedar Crest, was a few miles away. Unbeknownst to us, it had just changed hands and was now called the Trailrider. It is a restaurant and bar and seems to be the local hangout with live music a couple of times a week. The food was good. We had enormous sandwiches and fries and gallon sized drinks (free refills!). The service pace was glacial so we were pleasantly surprised when our food showed up about 45 minutes later. The sandwiches and home made fries were really good and all but me had a Platinum Bar (Scotcheroo by any other name).

As long as we were on the east side of the Sandias, we decided to drive to the top of Sandia Peak to have a look. It was lovely, 65 degrees and the aspens were in full fall glory with luminous reds and yellows quaking in the wind. It got cooler as we ascended to the summit. We took a quick look from the main vista and then jumped back in the car.

We arrived back home, hot, tired and thirsty. I ended up working out at the club. The others took a walk and enjoyed the beautiful sunset on Sandia Peak in the distance. We ate a late dinner of salmon and roasted corn and tomatoes. Yum again.

Sunset on the Sandias.