Hiking Atalaya Trail (Santa Fe, New Mexico)

Hike: Atalaya Trail

Hike Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult (it's a steep one!)

Hike Distance (Round Trip): 5.5 miles from Ponderosa Ridge parking lot

Time (Round Trip): 3 hours

Elevation: 7,540 feet to 9,121 feet

It's hard for me to type up this post, because it will be the last Santa Fe hike I post (at least in the foreseen future). My time in Santa Fe has come to an end. I loved every second of it and just wish we'd had more time to explore there! However, I think we did a great job of seeing as much as we could while we were there. One of our last hikes was Atalaya Trail. It's a popular one because it's so easy to get to and has incredible views of the city. Don't let its popularity fool you into thinking it is easy, because it's not. This trail is steep! However, the views at the top are totally worth it. 

We started at the entrance to Ponderosa Ridge neighborhood. There is limited parking here. The other option is at St. John's College, but that adds 1.5 miles to the hike. At the end of this post, I'll share driving directions to the Ponderosa Ridge trailhead. 

The beginning of this hike is a bit unique. We walked through the neighborhood to get to the trail. The signage was really good for the hike, so it would have been difficult to get lost. We followed the sign that directed us into the neighborhood and then took the first left up a dirt road. After passing under some power lines, we saw the staircase in the picture below off to the left. We took the staircase to continue the trail (Trail 170). 

After about 10-15 minutes of walking, we came across options for the "easier route" or the "steeper route". We decided to take the easier route up, and the steeper route on the way back, and I recommend this to others. The steep route is super steep, and the easier route was still plenty steep. However, the easier route is a bit longer, so since the sun was getting close to setting, we opted for the steep route on the way back. 

On the easier route, we came to a sign that read "Atalaya Lookout Trail" and turned left to stay on Trail 170. We then came across another Trail 170 sign  and took a left there as well to stay on the trail. This section of the trail is pretty flat and along a low ridge for a few minutes. Then we met up with the "steeper route" trail and continued right up the trail. The rest was very steep with plenty of switchbacks. The coolest thing about this trail is we had views of the city several times when the trees opened up to the west.

When we reached the ridge on Atalaya, there was another Trail 170 sign at which we turned left to head north on the ridge. Soon we came across several great spots to sit and have a snack and look out on the soon-to-be setting sun. I really wanted to see the snow on the mountains to the north, because I knew they had gotten snow the previous night. I kept walking north until the trail started going down. I didn't get any wide expanse views, but I did see the snow!

 Snow on the mountains from the night before

Like I said previously, we took the steep route back down. The signs made it really easy to follow the trail and it didn't take very long to get back down to the car.

I am really going to miss Santa Fe, even though it's nice to be back in our home. I hope we can adventure out there again some day, because there is so much more to see!

Driving Directions to Ponderosa Ridge parking

1. Take Alameda Street West from town.
2. Alameda turns into Canyon. Continue on Canyon Road.
3. Canyon turns into Camino Cabra. Continue on Camino Cabra.
4. Turn left on Calle Picacho.
5. Turn left on Camino de Cruz Blanca. Continue on this until you see the gate for Ponderosa Ridge. You cannot go into the community, and a few parking spots are on the left. If you can't find a spot, I think you have to go to St. John's and hike from there.

Kitchen Mesa Hike at Ghost Ranch (New Mexico)

Hike: Kitchen Mesa

Hike Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult

 (Most of the trail isn't hard, but there are parts that require careful footing and rock scrambling.)

Hike Distance (Round Trip): 4 1/2 - 5 miles

Time (Round Trip): 3 - 4 hours

Elevation: 6500 feet to 7077 feet

A couple of weeks ago, Allyson and I took a long weekend trip to Durango, Colorado from Santa Fe. On the way there and back, we drove past Ghost Ranch and knew we had to come back for some hiking. We drove back through on this trip right before sunset when the rock colors were even more magnificent than they are at other times of the day. We decided to make a trip back to Ghost Ranch on an afternoon after work, in hopes of enjoying an incredible sunset. 

In preparation, the day before, Allyson and I visited the Georgia O'Keeffe museum in Santa Fe. She spent a lot of her time at Ghost Ranch, hiking and painting. This woman was enchanted by New Mexico, and I totally understand why. 

Ghost Ranch is located off Highway 84, about 10 miles past the Trujillos Store and gas station. (We stopped here to buy some Monk's Ale, brewed by monks at the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiu.) The entrance to Ghost Ranch is on the right hand side of Highway 84 and marked by a large wooden sign over the driveway. The trail head is all the way at the back of the property. We just followed signs for Kitchen Mesa and parked right by the trailhead and the Long House. 

I highly recommend purchasing the "Day Hikes in the Santa Fe Area" book by the New Mexico Group of the Sierra Club. They provide very specific details about this hike. The whole hike is marked by old "coffee cans" painted green or white; however, it still got a bit confusing once we climbed up the slot. I don't plan to provide specific enough details here to get someone through the hike. 

 Walking along the floor of this valley was easy, enjoyable, and breathtaking. High rock walls all around us. Many times, I just had to stop and do a 360 degree turn to take it all in. 

 This section of the hike was a little tricky. I can imagine this would be really dangerous if it was wet. The dirt was very loose and the ledge is very steep (you can't really tell that here). 

The slot. You can see one of the coffee cans I mentioned at the lower left corner of the photo. At any point of the hike, if we felt confused about where to go, I just looked around for a can. All but once, I found one quickly. 

 At the top of Kitchen Mesa. There was no one else up there, so it was pretty incredible to be up at the top with this view and have the only sound be the wind. I wish we could've stayed up here to eat our dinner, but we were worried about climbing back down the slot and the tricky part right after it in the dark. We still took some time to just take in the views. 

 Abiquiu Lake and Pedernal in the distance. Georgia O'Keeffe once said about Pedernal, "It's my private mountain. God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it."

Georgia O'Keeffe's Pedernal 

 I like how the background of this photograph looks like a painting. Or maybe I've just been viewing too many Georgia O'Keeffe paintings this week!

 We were just up on top of that!

 Ghost Ranch is an education and retreat center. When we drove in this afternoon, several painters were out painting in this lawn. As we drove out, people were out on picnic tables eating dinner watching the sunset. Seems like a very peaceful and lovely place to attend a retreat or workshop. 

Other hiking options at Ghost Ranch can be found at their website. I am starting to get really bummed that we will be leaving Santa Fe soon. Allyson's clinical rotation is coming to an end and we will be heading back to North Carolina. I'm hoping we get a second fall colors display when we head back east! 

Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument (New Mexico)

Hike: Cave Loop and Canyon Trail

Hike Difficulty: Cave Loop (easy) with Canyon Trail (moderate)

Hike Distance (Round Trip): 3.5 miles

Time (Round Trip): 2-3 hours

Elevation: 5,750 feet to 6,375 feet (ridge top on Canyon Trail)

This place is really cool and very different than all of the hikes I have blogged about to date. It is about an hour drive from Santa Fe or Albuquerque and definitely worth the short drive. It is pretty far out there in the middle of nowhere, so make sure you pack enough water and food in case you get a flat tire (like I did on my way back!)

After checking in at the entrance of the park (normally there is a $5 fee, but I somehow didn't have to pay it), I continued driving almost 5 miles to the parking/picnic area on the right-hand side of the road. Once I parked, I saw a large information board with the trail map and other information about flora and fauna in the area. I started down the path, and at the sign below I went right. I wanted to do the Canyon Trail while no one else was on it, because I had a feeling the slot canyon and vista would be the highlights of the hike. Signs for this hike were really clear and it is impossible to get lost. 

It was still pretty early in the morning (before 9am), so the lighting in the slot canyon made photography challenging. My favorite part of the hike was watching the sun rise over the slot canyon wall. There were plants at the top that were literally glowing!

The sunrise

Towards the end of the slot canyon, there are some sections that require hands and some light scrambling up rocks to continue the hike. Nothing too challenging. I saw little children doing it on my way back down. This is also when I started climbing in elevation. This section maybe took me a half hour or so (I wasn't keeping track so this is not precise), and I made sure to keep turning around because the views were better behind me.

Cochiti Lake in the distance from the vista point at the top of Canyon Trail

The trail continues past this vista point and then I met an intersection of trails where I could either turn left or right. I turned left to head out to the very end of this rock formation. From here, I could see people walking down below through the slot canyon and had 360 views for miles around. There is not a lot of room for error out here, so I wouldn't have come out here if others were out there. I just don't trust other people that much!

The trail ends here. I had to go back the same way I came up. However, with the sun up, everything looked different so I still enjoyed it! Plus, I ran into this creepy guy....I've only seen one other tarantula in the wild and that was on Mt. Diablo in the Bay Area when I first moved there in 1996. 

I took the Cave Loop the other way (turning right to continue the loop from where I left it earlier) to complete the loop. My advise to other people heading to Tent Rocks: do the slot canyon and the vista! The cave was cool and you can see the tent rocks all around you on the Cave Loop, but I definitely think the slot canyon is the main attraction here.

By the time I was done with this hike (around 11:30am), it would have been difficult to take pictures without people in them. This is a popular day trip for people from Albuquerque and Santa Fe. I highly recommend getting there early, so you can have the place to yourself like I did.

I didn't let the fact that I got a flat tire on Hwy 16 on the way home and waited 2 hours in the middle of nowhere for a AAA person to show up and change it for me ruin this pleasant Saturday excursion. It's a spiritual place, especially when you feel like you are the only one there.