The South Piedra Lisa Trail in the Cibola National Forest has an elevation gain of 1,272 feet into the Sandia Mountains. The trail ends at approximately 8170 feet above sea level. All Trails reflects a 4.8-star rating. Best of all, it’s dog-friendly
On a crisp, sunny Saturday in early February, we packed the dogs, camera, and water into the car and drove 20 miles from our RV site in Rio Rancho to the South Piedra Lisa Trailhead parking lot.
The number of cars in the lot confirmed the popularity of the trail. Before we found our spot, Max and Sadie were getting excited. They were ready to get out of the car and get walking. Leashes in hand, we walked the short distance to the trailhead and started our ascent into the mountain forest.
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We didn’t walk far before we saw snow under trees and along a dry creek bed. There wasn’t much snow in the lower elevations, and after our winter in El Paso, we enjoyed seeing the snow along the trail.
The South Piedra Lisa trail is a steady incline up the mountain. However, it’s not too steep, and as you ascend, the views get better and better.
We saw several groups of hikers heading back down the trail and others going up. Because we weren’t in a hurry, we stepped to the side and
let them pass. The dogs enjoyed our slow pace and the extra ‘sniffing time.’
After walking for over an hour, we met a family walking back down the trail. Asking if they had reached the top, they told us no, they turned
around before reaching it. We asked several other groups heading down the same question. None of them made it to the top.
Hmmm . . .
Wanting to reach the top, we continued walking and watching for trailmakers to show us the distance. We decided to walk until 4:00 p.m., then head back down to avoid being on the trail after sunset.
At 3:45 p.m., Andy started feeling lightheaded. It was time to turn around. We were at the 1.8-mile marker. At the time, we didn’t know our elevation. After returning to the RV, I looked it up on an elevation map. The elevation at that point is 7,9000. We were close to the top but couldn’t risk proceeding. After resting and letting the dogs explore the area, we began our journey back down the mountain.
The trip down took about an hour, stopping several times to enjoy the view and take a few more pictures. When we had the trail to ourselves, we let the dogs run ahead of us for a short distance.
It was a great hike, and we hope to return someday to try to reach the top. If you are in the Albuquerque area and like exploring local trails, we recommend you explore the South Piedra Lisa trail.
Peggy Staver, the author of this blog, is a freelance copywriter specializing in outdoor recreation and hospitality. You can contact her at PSCopywriting.com. The majority of photos are taken by Photography by Andreas. Visit his portfolio here.
