The chilly 30 degrees this morning did not deter us from our plan to hike today. Earlier in the week we had picked up trail descriptions and maps for three hikes which the ranger at the Forest Service office recommended. For today, we selected the St. John’s – Atalaya Trail which took us to the summit of Atalaya Mountain.
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| A little snow on the side of the trail |
The trail is located in the outskirts of Santa Fe in the Santa Fe National Forest and the trailhead is at the end of the visitor parking lot at St. John’s College. We were on the trail a few minutes after 9 AM for this 7 mile round trip hike.
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| Our lunch rock |
Our starting elevation at the trailhead was 7340 ft and it was uphill all the way to the summit at 9121 ft. The elevation gain of about 1700 feet over the 3.5 miles did not seem so bad. We were huffing and puffing trying to catch our breath by the time we got to the top. We made the uphill climb in about 2 hr and 45 min which we were pretty pleased with.
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| A tired hiker |
The trail was well maintained making for a pleasant hike through pine forest. We even got high enough to see a little snow on the trail. There were a few hikers out today, but it certainly wasn’t crowded. We were the only ones on the summit for several minutes until a family of 4 arrived. We had awesome views of Santa Fe and the valley below.
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| View of Santa Fe |
The trip down took hardly any time at all, it seemed. However, I was sure glad to see the truck. I have had my shower and now have my tired feet propped up. I may stay like this until bedtime.
We do not yet have a plan for tomorrow, but I’m sure something exciting will pop up.
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