Embudo Canyon

Monday morning, the older kids and I decided to go for a hike, so we set off for the Sandia foothills east of town. We took a picnic lunch and set out for the trailhead just north of Embudo canyon, one of the more popular hiking areas in town.

As with most of the city's open space in the foothills, the hiking at Embudo begins with a gentle slope to the edge of the hills, followed by much steeper climbs. We went east and then veered south around the base of a nice sized hill. Here the kids begin the walk.
After we turned to the south, the climb go steeper and we found more and larger granite boulders strewn acorss the patrh. Here the kids appear to be trying to move this one out of the way.

After hiking about two miles, we had luch at one of the picnic pavillions scattered around the trail. Her is the view northeast of another shelter and the foothills in which we were hiking.

After lunch we set out again, hiking north along the base of the hills. We took a few side trails as well before turning south and returning to the car. Here Ryan races ahead while Allysona nd Isaac follow along.