Climbing Piedra Lisa Trail 3/30/2018

Piedra Lisa Trail is one of those trails you hate to love.  It entails climbing ~1000 feet in two miles to the Rincon Ridge and is rated moderate.  I hate it because it is all uphill then all downhill whereas I prefer to have a rolling hike with ups and downs scattered throughout the hike, but that is just me... But I love this trail because it is so beautiful.  The views of the Sandia Mountains are so different from what you see of them from Albuquerque...and they are all beautiful, which explains the number of pictures I took.  Kudos do go out to Lynda for heading up this hike and giving us all a geological history of the area as well.  She explained how the area was altered by an earthquake(s) and, after years of erosion, separated this area of the Sandia Mountains resulting in a "valley" between two ridges. She also pointed out rocks known as slickensides which have a smoothly polished surface caused by the frictional movement between two rocks along the sides of a fault.  This surface in normally striated in the direction of the movement.  There are several pictures in this post of examples we found on the trail. So without further ado....

First row: Lynda our leader, Annette, Marilyn Back row: Kelly, Annie (our newest Hoofer), Judy A., Ginny, Sally, Barb, Kathleen, Jennise, Jan, Jean P., Carol, Jean R. and

Rose

Heading out on the trail

And, you will notice that we immediately start climbing

Always impressed by the large boulders

Lynda pauses to explain the earthquake that separated the two ridges of the Sandias

View of the Prow

View of the Shield

View of the Hoofers chatting

Even dead trees have their beauty

Saw some hikers ahead of us, so I zoomed in as I thought this would make a nice picture

The brilliant sun made some nice shadows on the trail

Fortunately Hoofers like to stop and chat a bit when we climb

View of Albuquerque

Middle of the picture are the Four Hills and the Manzanos in the far distance

Another view of the great metropolis of Albuquerque

More talk about geology

We have finally reached the top of Rincon Ridge and are now headed west along the ridge to find some slickenside rocks 

Across the canyon we see some hikers sitting on a rock face...wow I am excited to have such a nice place to have lunch

This hiker has an even better perch on top of the rock face...what? we are not having lunch there?  =(

Several samples of slickensides 

Note the smoothness of the rock caused by the slippage along the fault

Lynda holds up another small sample

Then points out this huge one

Beyond the red slickenside area the remaining rock is metamorphic  

The three rocks form one big heart and the one on the far left makes a perfect heart all by itself... Jennise has plans to take that one home for her Heart rock collection

A nice place to have lunch but got no takers

The place chosen for lunch was backtracking to the top of Piedra Lisa Trail...I must say it had a great view!

View of Jemez Mountains through the trees

Barb sharing some of her Passover food on Matzo crackers, it was very good

Judy A. and Jean P. having lunch together

Best buds Marilyn and Carol winning the best pose ever! 

Our newest Hoofer, Annie with Jean R. and Annette with Lynda our leader in the background. (Marilyn, Carol and Judy A. are photobombing this shot)

Kathleen and Jennise coordinated their attire, and Kelly who didn't get the memo

Jan and Ginny

Annette and Barb with Hoofers continually photobombing my shots

Sally and I enjoying a private spot in the shade

Heading back down as we pass a pile of rocks dubbed Totem Pole

Now that the sun is behind us other Hoofers stop to take pictures of the views as well

Nice view of the Shield

You know, going down is so much easier...next time we should go down both ways!

Lynda points out some Serpentine rocks

They are awfully pretty and when polished pretty enough for jewelry

A pretty view of the towers at the Crest

End of the trail

Another great hike for the record book!  Weather was awesome!

KEEP ON HOOFING !