We camped half way up the Sandia Crest, hoping  (rather than expecting! ) to climb on one of the impressive crags at its summit. Temperatures around -5C  overnight put paid to that idea, but we made the 10 mile drive up the Crest just for a shufty. Increasingly icy roads looked like scuppering the plan but we cruised on gently to the top at 10,600 ft or about 2 miles high and a mile above Albuquerque.

Sure enough, climbing was out of the question, but the views for a hundred miles on either side were worth the drive and inked in this as a place to return to in warmer weather.

Icy trees with Albuquerque a mile below

Looking down towards the climbing in the upper Canyon

Back down to more reasonable temperature and altitude, we had a pleasant afternoon stroll around a line of three ancient volcanoes

…before heading south 🙂