Another Day, Another Hike

We've been enjoying a nice warm spell here, so we decided to venture out for another January hike. This time we headed east to the Sandia foothills, where we made a quick trip uphill.

This hike was fun because it was the first time that Evan has hiked a significant amount on his own. It wasn't that long ago that we had to carry him the entire time. But a few minutes into the hike he asked to be put down. He then held my hand while he walked, although this was short-lived. You see, his goal was to hold Allyson's hand, as seen here:

He also walked a stretch holding Summer's hand:

After about 10 minutes and a nice little ascent, we reached a saddle in the rise, with another descent ahead, the main body of the mountains to our right, and a small knob of a rise to our left. This is called U Mound, a reference, I believe to it being a bit of a party spot for university students back in the day. The hill rises a few hundred feet pretty quickly, and the crest commands a nice view of the valley.

A few years ago I did this hike with the three oldest kids, and we tried to scale U Mound, but the steep slope and scree made us call it quits. This time, however, with two adults along for the ride, we felt confident in making it all the way up here: About 1/3 of the way, the going gets rough and the ground gets unstable. It takes some scrambling and a careful bit of footing to get up, so, while the boys and I went ahead (by this time I was carrying Evan again), Summer helped Allyson along the slope:

Ryan, who may be 1/4 mountain goat, flew uphill, while I helped Isaac navigate the tricky spots. Both boys led me to the top of the peak, looking pretty pleased with themselves:

After taking in the view for a minute (it was clear enough to see Mt. Taylor to the west and the Magdalena range to the southwest), we got to the hard part--going downhill. I went first, trying my best to compensate for the jumbled bit of extra weight we call Evan. Isaac followed along, sliding at least half of the way on his bottom. Ryan seemed bored by the degree of difficulty, while Summer cautiously guided Allyson down, a task at least as much psychological and physical. We were all pretty proud of our group of hikers.

Monday's plan--hike the Mesa Top Trail at Boca Negra.