South of the small town of Placitas, New Mexico, located high on the side of a cliff wall in the Las Huertas Canyon, is the Sandia Cave. Despite the controversy surrounding the cave’s discovery and claims about the early inhabitants, it is a place both locals and visitors enjoy.
The cave is about 11.5 miles from the I-25 and NM 165-E exits. On a warm Saturday in mid-February, we drove east on Hwy 165 past Placitas, where the highway curves to the south. The pavement ends just past the 9-mile marker, and the highway becomes a gravel road. Parts of the road are smooth, but there are many ruts and bumps.
The cave parking lot is on the left side of the road and is clearly marked. The Sandia Cave trail sign is at the north end of the parking lot.
The Sandia Cave Trail
The narrow trail up to the cave is easy and offers spectacular views of the Cibola Forest and the mountain.
There are two sets of stairs on the trail. After climbing the second set, you are only a short distance from the metal spiral staircase that leads to the Sandia Cave.
The Sandia Cave
The walkway from the last set of stairs to the spiral staircase is very scenic. If there is a crowd at the cave, it’s an excellent place to rest and wait.
The spiral staircase is very narrow, with textured steps that grab your shoes. The website indicated it was dog-friendly, but I don’t think a dog’s paws would like those steps. We were glad our dogs were waiting for us at the RV.
When you reach the platform at the top of the spiral staircase, you’ll need to duck under the gate to reach the cave entrance.
The inside of the cave is dark, dank, and dusty. A 4 ft. wall has been built across the tunnel that leads farther into the cave. Some people climb over the wall to explore further.
I was content to shine the flashlight into the tunnel while Andy took some photos.
If you are not into caves, the view from the platform is also a good reason to hike this trail — and climb the spiral staircase.
The cave was a popular spot on that warm Saturday afternoon. As we came out of the cave, several others were climbing up the steps. Looking out from the platform, we saw another group walking up the path toward the stairs. It was time for us to go down.
New Mexico Hwy 165 to the Balsam Glade Picnic Site
When we pulled out of the parking lot, Andy turned left. This was not the way back to Placitas. “I just want to explore a little,” he said. “See what’s up this way.”
We soon drove up a rough, gravel road into the Cibola National Forest. The Garmin showed we were still on Hwy 165.
We stopped several times to check out the view and look at the snow. After we had crept along the road for a while, we saw many tire tracks up the side of a hill. It was messy and looked like a favorite spot for offloading. We parked along the road at the bottom of the hill and walked up.
The view was spectacular. Let’s just say it was the high point of our drive.
The road was slushy and icy in parts. This picture was taken at the base of the hill we climbed. You can see how the road curves around the hill.
The road was narrow, and when a truck or jeep approached us from the opposite direction, Andy and the other driver slowed down and pulled over as far as possible to allow room to pass.
We knew those trucks and jeeps had accessed the road from somewhere. After checking the map to find where Hwy 165 was taking us, we saw it eventually intersected with NM Hwy 536. After slowly driving a bit further down the slush-covered gravel, we finally reached the pavement.
The road ended in the parking lot of the Balsam Glade Picnic Site. There were many families enjoying the snow, carrying brightly colored discs up the nearby hills. A curious man walked over to our truck and asked if the road we had just taken was rough. Andy suggested that he not attempt it without a 4-wheel drive vehicle.
Leaving the parking lot, we turned south on NM-536, also known as the Sandia Crest Scenic Byway. If we had turned the other direction, we would have driven to the 10,678-foot crest of Sandia Mountain.
The drive back to the RV park was a long one. We were on the other side of the mountains and had to drive around them to return to Bernalillo. It was dark when we arrived at the RV, and the dogs were ready for dinner.
I researched HWY 165 through the Cibola Forest and the Sandia Mountains for this post. One site listed the gravel part of the road as 7.8 miles, with an elevation increase of 2200 ft. It seemed longer than that; however, we were driving very slowly.
After the snow melts, we will take HWY 165 through the mountain again and turn north on NM-536 towards the crest.
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