The La Cienega Trail in the Sandia Mountains is accessed by taking Hwy North 14 from I 40 east of Albuquerque to the Crest Road and then just a few short miles to the trail.  It is just before Doc Long’s picnic grounds.  There is a large area for parking horse trailers.   Several trails can be followed from the trail head.  We took the Faulty Trail for the entire loop.   At the summit you feel like you are on top of the world, for some of us with acrophobia that is not a good thing.  A narrow trail with a significant drop off preceded by some large stone blocks resembling stone steps.  Even as surefooted as these horses are we choose to dismount and walk down the trail until it leveled out.   Casanova, the terrific Peruvian Paso who is my main mount took good care of me.  Along the way we were treated to several sightings of the Abert Squirrel, a rather large squirrel mostly charcoal but with white markings as well.  At first you might think you were seeing a small skunk running up the trees.  They are distinguished by their large ear tufts and are found mainly where there are large Ponderosa Pine trees as they subsist on the pine cones.  However after saying that I must add that we had a rogue Abert squirrel show up on our 3rd floor deck, how in the world he got there is anyone’s guess!  He must have scaled the side of the house as we have no trees that reach that high.  Of course I was worried that he would starve so I supplied him with food and water.  He enjoyed my seat cushions for a day or so before he decided the woods were more inviting and he disappeared.   I might also add that we don’t have any Ponderosas near us only Pinon so I guess he high tailed it for higher altitude and Ponderosas.

All in all a beautiful ride