I’ve wanted to climb and explore “El Cerro de Los Lunas” (or for you gringo’s like me- that big honking hill/mountain that looms outside of my neighborhood). So last week, Lisa entertained my foolish ambition and let me wander on a mountain in the desert as long as I promised to be home by dinner.
Legend has it, or at least the kind folks at the
It probably took me about an hour to hike up crude trails and scramble up lava rock and dry beds to reach the summit; my “map” which was given to me by the Los Lunas Ranger upon request says the peak is 5,827 ft. Admittedly, I “meandered” quite a bit looking for petroglyphs and signs of ancient civilization, and spaceships. Although, I was bummed I didn’t get to see a spaceship I did see two C-130’s from Kirtland AFB fly overhead, which if you haven’t seen them they are huge!
On my descent, I stopped at the Los Lunas High School letters on the southeast side of the mountain and ran into a couple of high school kids ditching school. They were nice, just wanted to hide out for awhile… note to self, if you want to hide-out don’t pick a mountain face visible to the whole
After wandering for about two hours I found some really amazing petroglyphs which only increased my interest to take on the mountain again sometime soon… Of course, further expeditions will have to wait for another time.
Just so you all know, and in case you were wondering- I made it home in time for dinner.
