Climbing to North Peak in the Sandia Mountains and Eating Lunch at the Needle Overlook 8/25/2017

Kathleen had a great idea for a hike, and as it turned out, most of us never did it before so we were excited to find a new hike.  We drove up the mountain to the Crest parking lot, then hiked down the North Crest Trail...yes we have done this more times than I could count, but we took off on two side trails.  One that led us up to the North Peak of the Sandias (which I didn't even knew existed) which is the second highest part of the Sandia Mountain range... the Crest is #1, and South Peak is #3...so now I have climbed the top three peaks in the Sandia Mountains!!! And thankfully North Peak was the easiest of the 3.  The second side trail took us to the Overlook of the "Needle"--which turned out to be a very special place for our "Retired" Hoofers.

On the ride up to the top of Sandia Peak we saw some deer playing in a meadow

Posing Pretty:  the Hoofers: Lynda, Nancy (coming over from the Trekkers and after 2 more hikes will be an official Hoofer) Kathleen:  our leader, Bridget,  Back row: Kelly, Helene, Ginny, Sally,  and Karen

And now in front of the camera: Rose

Tassel Flower, usually white but they can turn yellow

Velvet Umbrellawort, aka Mountain Four O'clock

Showy Fleabane/Daisy

 Penstemon

Harebells

Whipple's Penstemons

Showy Goldeneye

The wildflowers were abundant after recent rains

As were the many mushrooms we saw

Some recent tree clearing along the trail

Looking back to catch a photo of the large tree trunk I just passed

The variety of mushrooms was amazing

Richardson's Geranium

Red Elderberry

Large bunches of Showy Goldeneye

Field of Harebells and Showy Fleabane

Hollow trunk

Remember, what goes down, must come back up

Our two goals, The Needle (center) and North Peak (right of the Needle)

Too many flowers... I almost ran down my battery

Indian Paintbrush

Is it just me, or does that log look like an owl?

Definitely an owl eating wild mushrooms

Possibly Cutleaf Groundsel

Possibly more of the same

Baneberry with white berries

One of the Hoofers wanted this to go in her yard... I wasn't going to carry this back--so took a picture instead 

We passed by the area where there was a recent fire.  We could still smell the smoke

So sad to see the loss of trees

Back to finding even more varieties of mushrooms

A better view of North Peak where we were headed first

This was dubbed Giraffe Mushroom

On the climb up North Peak I got a great shot of the Needle

Hyssop

Velvet UmbrellaWort aka Mountain Four O'clock

Making the final approach on North Peak

Hairy Golden Asters

Excited to see one of the rarer wildflowers: Sandia Alumroot aka Coralbells...endemic to the Sandia Mountains!

Need to capture these while I have the chance!

Kathleen surprised us again by showing us two Medallion Trees!

The Medallion on the above tree is the Charles I King of England Tree Gestation date 1625!

A picture of its healthy branches

And if you turn around and look East...this is your view!

I had to get a picture of all the Hoofers seeing these Medallion Trees, this is the second one

My first time seeing these trees too so I wanted to get in the picture!

This Medallion tree is a fir tree, older than the other one... First Romanov Russian Tsar Gestation Date: 1613!!!

Snowberry Shrub

A beautiful Wallflower

At the top of North Peak I took a picture of the Marker, unfortunately the elevation was no longer readable but after looking it up it is 10,600 ft.

Views from North Peak -- Looking at the Needle and further the radio towers of the Crest can be seen

A View of the Crest of the Sandia Mountain, elevation 10,679 ft

Unable to identify

I also read that these three foundation blocks (Karen is standing by one, the second one has a backpack leaning against it and the third has only a large bolt coming out of the ground lower right corner) are the remains of a signal beacon which warned airplanes away during WWII.  A similar structure was in place on South Sandia Peak through the early 1960's.

The mushrooms are just amazing this time of year with the rain we have had

We stopped for a snack/lunch at the peak while I went around taking pictures

Look at the Lady Bugs!!

Now we make our way to the overlook of the Needle

Interesting tree, too bad it is dead

I saw all these itty bitty mushrooms growing on a stump

Scarlet Gilia aka Skyrockets

Another sighting of the illusive Coral Bells

At the overlook many more interesting wildflowers--these are Sandwort

One suggestion for this was an Alpine Lupine

A view of the Needle from the overlook

A view of North Peak from the overlook

The Alpine Lupine could also be Purple Locoweed these are just guesses--but definitely in Pea family

The Needle

Hoofers on the Overlook

Climbing to the top of the Overlook...

When we see this area in the trees, we think we are in Hoofer Heaven--where the earliest Hoofers use to go for an overnight stay on the mountains...a lot of us thought this would be a great idea for us "younger" Hoofers to do some day! 

Another view of Hoofer Heaven...first time many of us have been here

Stopping on the Overlook for lunch and enjoying the views

And good conversation

Kelly is totally relaxed

The group standing up had their lunch at North Peak I am one of the few who saved their lunch for this spot

Talk about a room with a view! Albuquerque and Mt Taylor in the distance

I zoomed in on the cave in the Needle don't know how deep it goes

Time to leave and make our way up to the Crest where the cars are parked

Jacob's Ladder

Jacob's Ladder

Before we know it...we are almost back

Sally saw this mushroom and sent me a picture as I was way ahead and she couldn't call me back... she looked it up and it is called a Crown Cup or sarcosphaera crassa

I saw these heart-shaped leaves at the end of the trail...and had to take a picture as they expressed how I felt--
I LOVED THIS HIKE!!!