July 4, 2021
For the second holiday in a row (after Father’s Day), I decided to take a Sunday morning hike. I woke up early, pulled up AllTrails and looked for something where I could stretch my personal bests a little bit.
While I did set personal bests in distance, elevation gain and time on trail, I almost killed Ash and myself in the process.
Trail Stats
AllTrails lists the Tunnel Canyon and Otero Canyon Trail as a moderate 8.7 mile out and back trail with a 1,135 foot elevation gain.
The good thing about out and back trails is you can go as far as you want before turning back and returning. I guess you could do the same with loop trails, or really, even point to point trails, but depending on how far you get on those, you might be better off just finishing the trails.
I was planning on doing like 2 miles out, 2 miles back for a total of four miles, and seeing what kind of elevation gain I got with that. My ambition got the best of me though.
Departure
Ash and I got to the trailhead a little after 9:00 am. I strapped on my pack, grabbed Ash out of the back of the car and we headed up the trail.
It started out as most trails do, a little on the wide side, well traveled and pretty level, if not just slightly uphill. As usual, the trail began narrowing and became rockier but more shaded as we went.
After almost 3/4 of a mile, my phone started blasting me with notifications. I finally checked it and it was AllTrails asking if I was off trail. I checked and realized that I had missed a turn at around the half mile mark. We doubled back and saw the spur that we missed and continued on our way.
As so many of the trails in and around the Albuquerque area, the trail winds through a ponderosa pine and juniper forest, through arroyos and opening up on meadows of dry grass. We were deep in a canyon with mountains towering on our left and the highway above us on the right. The traffic on the road was audible but didn’t detract from the hike.
We continued on eventually finding ourselves on a path that was narrower than my natural gait. I wound up walking with my feet pronated (with my ankles turned in to the middle of the path.) it was either that, or slow my pace to the point where I could walk heel to toe.
Eventually the path widened again and I was able to walk normally… well, normally for me anyway. I walk with a supination (ankles rolled outward) which didn’t help the situation on the narrow path.
At just about 2 miles, we came up to the tunnel after which the trail was presumably named. It’s a ten foot tall corrugated metal culvert that runs under the highway that we had been paralleling. As we approached, I realized that it was much longer, and much darker, than I had been expecting. There was standing water at the entrance into the tube that I wanted to avoid so I tried walking the short distance while straddling the small puddle, but between the sudden upsweep on the sides and the deep ridges creating the corrugation, it was a difficult trek. Luckily, I only had to walk this way for about six feet before the bottom of the tunnel dried up and all we had to deal with was walking on the peaks of the ridges.
About 2/3 of the way through the tunnel, there’s a large stone in the middle of the path. I hopped onto it and walked over the top then back down on the other side. As I came back down onto the steel, the puddles resumed and I fought trying to keep my feet dry for the last quarter or so of the tunnel.
We emerged from the darkness and before we continued on our trek, I noticed a small structure of logs just off trail. We ventured up a small hill to find a strange, little pile of logs with rebar intertwined throughout. It was filled with stone or concrete so it wasn’t an inhabitable structure, and directly next to it was a very large rock. I’m not 100% sure what it was, but I goaded Ash on top of the rock and we paused for a water/snack break.
While on this break, I took what I do believe is the best picture of Ash that will ever be taken.
I mean, just look at that majestic beast!
We finished our break and continued on our adventure up into Otero Canyon.
The trail was a pretty steady incline after our break. We eventually got to a small wooden bridge where I paused and checked AllTrails to find that we’d gone three miles already. It was time to turn around.
We headed back down the hill we’d been climbing in the steadily increasing heat. Our stops for water were becoming more frequent. We made it back to out through tunnel and made another stop for water with about 2 miles to go only to realize that we had gone through all of our water. This worried me as Ash was starting to wear down and pant relentlessly. I knew we were in trouble but I began the long push through the last of the trail.
Before long, I started to wear down myself. I was extremely dehydrated and was burning up. Dizziness started creeping in. Ash found shade and laid down in it, refusing to get up to push through any more. I found it difficult to carry on myself.
Getting myself in this situation is one thing. Putting Ash in danger was wholly unacceptable. I was absolutely terrified of the idea of causing him harm. There was no way I was going to let that happen. I knew I had a couple of gallons of drinking water in the car left from my previous grocery shopping trip. I hoped we would make it.
I looked at AllTrails: half a mile to go. I mustered up pretty much the last of my resolve, tugged Ash’s leash and we pushed on.
As AllTrails told us we were approaching the trailhead, I took my keys out of my pocket and locked my car causing the lone honk from the horn. When I heard it, I knew we were close. Ash heard it too and his pace quickened.
Before too long, we were back at the car. I opened a gallon of water and poured it over Ash and myself. The water was cool and was the most delicious thing I’d ever tasted in my life. Ash immediately laid down in the back seat and drank whatever water fell into his panting mouth. I started the car and blasted the air conditioner and just sat, soaking in the cooled air until the shaking stopped.
Survival
Truth be told, if I didn’t have Ash, I might have sat down for a long rest with that last half mile in front of me. Knowing that he was depending on me though was what picked me up and pushed me through to the car.
Of course, I’m glad that we both ultimately survived my idiocy in not bringing enough water on a hike that promised to be longer and hotter than anything I’d done before. But, lesson learned. I will ensure that I have MORE than enough water on future hikes.
Outcome
All told, Ash and I wound up walking 5.6 miles with 604 feet of elevation gain over 2 and a half hours on the trail, all of which were new personal bests.
After that disaster of a hike, I decided to take it easy over the next couple of weeks. No more hikes for a bit until it cools down.
I didn’t say anything about not taking any day trips though.
I have a couple of outings that I still need to type write ups for, including probably one of the best day trips I’ve taken in a long time.
I have pictures from this hike following, and don’t forget to sign up for my e-mail list to be notified whenever I make a new post, and no more than that. Sign up here:
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As always, thanks for stopping by, I appreciate you!
-Phil
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