Sandia Tram, Hike on 4 Seasons Trail, Lunch at Ten3

April 24, 2021

I’m able to cross another item off my To-Do List: Riding the Sandia Peak Tram.

You’ve Never Done That?

At the time of this writing, I’ve lived in Albuquerque for over 14 years. The tram has been there the entire time. I finally took the plunge and rode it for the first time today.

It wasn’t out of fear. At times it was about affordability. Other times, it was simply opportunity, or, better yet, not having anyone to ride with. Since I am now doing things for myself, and not to satisfy anyone else, I decided to commit to the ride today.

I decided to feed my addiction and take a short hike while I was up there, and might as well grab a bite to eat at Ten3, the restaurant that doubles as the terminal for the tram.

Getting There

I asked Alan to join me on this little outing. He agreed to join me. I had to drop my car off at my mechanic’s, so we made arrangements for him to pick me up from there at 9:00 this morning. He showed up a couple minutes early, I hopped into his truck and we headed off to the lower tram station.

We arrived at the lower terminal at around 9:20. We gathered our hiking equipment (including my new Cascade Mountain trekking poles) and headed up to the building. We had our temperature taken and climbed a flight of steps to the loading platform just as the gondola was arriving.

I have been on a tram like this before, in Palm Springs, but it’s been decades since I rode it. I’m not particularly fond of heights, but the ride was smooth and I didn’t have an ounce of fear as we rode.

I was standing at a south-facing window which gave wonderful views of the rolling mountains leading down into Albuquerque. The operator gave us plenty of information about the tram and its history and readily answered any questions that were asked of him. One of the geologic features he pointed out was Golf Ball Rock, a round-ish rock balanced on the top of a small hill. The interesting part is that the rock is twice the size of the gondola in which we were riding.

The ride to the top is about 15 minutes. We docked at the Ten3 restaurant and disembarked and headed for the 4 Seasons Nature Trailhead.

Hike at 10,000 Feet

Alltrails has the 4 Seasons Nature Trail listed as an easy half mile trail with a 24 foot elevation gain. I knew it was supposed to be chilly at the top of the mountain, so I wore jeans, a long sleeved Henley, and a flannel.

Alan wore a light button down shirt and shorts.

We approached the trail and noticed that there were still some parts of the trail on the west facing ridge that had snow. As we continued on, the trail dove deeper into the shade of towering pine trees, which meant more snow on the ground, at times several inches deep. It was at these times that I wished I had brought the snow baskets that came with my trekking poles.

The hike was a bit more strenuous than I was used to due to the elevation. The Cedro Creek Nature Trail that I’d hiked three times starts at just over 6,800 feet, so about 3,500 feet lower than the trail we were venturing out on. Needless to say, the air was thin.

There were times when the snow we were hiking over was hard-packed making the footing very slick. I had a couple of instances where I slid a bit, but was able to keep from tumbling thanks to the trekking poles. Alan was wearing sneakers. I walked ahead of him, as he said, so I could be his guinea pig, to see where he should, or shouldn’t, step.

We finally made it to a service road that was well in the sunlight so there was no snow. We could have continued south to the restaurant but it didn’t open until 11:00 so we still had time to kill. We walked north for a bit on the service road, just kind of checking things out, before finally heading back under the ski lift and to the restaurant.

Lunchtime

We waited in a short line to enter Ten3, then were greeted by a hostess that took our temperature once more, then took our information for contact tracing, something I hadn’t seen done since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

We were seated right next to a huge wall of windows looking out over the city of Albuquerque.

The day was a little hazy so our view didn’t extend very far, but it was still very nice.

We split an order of the Chip Trio, red, blue and yellow tortilla chips served with queso blanco, guacamole and a tremendous fire roasted salsa. Just as we were finishing that up, our food was served: a Brisket Sammie for Alan and the Carne Adovada “Wrap” (it was really just a burrito. I’m of the opinion they call it a wrap so they can justify serving it with French fries.)

I have to say, I think this very well may be some of the best carne adovada I’ve ever had. The meat was super moist, very flavorful and the wrap was stuffed with a healthy amount of cheese. No filler, no frills, no excessive lettuce and tomatoes to get in the way. It was served simply and was absolutely delicious. The sweet potato fries were fine, nothing special about them, aside from the flaky salt they seasoned them with.

I enjoyed a beer with my lunch, after which we sat for a bit to let it digest. We were finally presented with the check that we paid before heading out to the loading platform to board for our descent to the lower tram station.

Our Decent and The End

We boarded the tram to go back to the bottom of the mountain. We wound up in the other car, but with the same operator. Under the assumption that we heard the spiel on the way up, the ride down was quieter. I was on the other side of the car so I was able to get some pictures of the north facing views of the sheer, rocky faces of the Sandia mountain.

We landed at the bottom terminal 15 minutes later and headed into the gift shop. Much of what was offered was general Albuquerque memorabilia, or specific to the Balloon Fiesta (returning this October! Yay!) I didn’t find much in the way of commemoration of my ride on the tram, except a couple of postcards. I picked one out and paid the $.43 for it. On my way out, I saw a nice, large display of shotglasses, coffee mugs and other Sandia Tram memorabilia. D’oh!

I did find a pressed penny machine though, so I took the change I got back from the purchase of my postcard and pressed a nice, shiny tram penny.

We headed back to Alan’s truck and headed home.

I would later take a SECOND hike with Brandy, once more on the Cedro Creek Nature Trail, which I’ve outlined three times in the past already, so I won’t go into any detail this time.

By the time we got back from that hike, I was all tuckered out. I grilled up about a week’s worth of meat (bratwursts, italian sausages, sirloins marinated for fajitas, turkey burgers and squashes) then called it a night.

My Thoughts

All in all, it was a near perfect day. I got to cross something off my To-Do List, I took TWO hikes, and had some amazing carne adovada, had some great company with Alan, and ended the day very fulfilled.

I’m planning on doing a very in depth look at how far I’ve come in the past year or so. It will be a hard project for me as I’ve learned a ton about who I am, who I want to be and how I was able to get to the place I am now. Stay tuned for that.

Until then, make sure you check my Photo Diary for pictures of the outing, and as always, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you.

-Phil