Elena Gallegos Late Summer Ride

My buddy Dana and I decided to ride the Sandia foothills just east of Albuquerque, one day. We met up at Elena Gallegos Open Space and saddled up, ready to ride!

The vistas are always incredible!




My buddy Dana and her mustang gelding, Blaze.



The clouds were putting on a show across the Sandia Mountains. Every time we looked up, the mountains had a different appearance. Always stunning!

I was happy to let my buddy lead the ride as I am almost always the leader/guide. Dana knows the foothills trails well as she has ridden them often over the years, so I knew I was in good hands.



She showed me an old land grant settlement snuggled up against the foothills.

And we rode along the edge of the open space, along the far eastern Albuquerque neighborhoods that line the park.

Lots of wide open spaces.

I was thrilled to meet this dog and it's owner because the dog is also missing an eye...the same eye as Apache. So, this is basically Apache's canine eye twin! The One Eye Wonder Dog!

Apache the One-Eye Wonder Horse!

And always, the beautiful views of the Sandia Mountains, with the clouds giving them a new look all day.

How blessed we are to be able to ride in such incredible places!

Even our horses enjoy the views.

Apache and I.

The trails are mostly sandy and easy to travel.

An Apache selfie!

My selfie!

Wonderful trails.

There's those amazing clouds again!

What a beautiful day!

The views never get old or boring.

At one point we decided to leave the park and enter into the National Forest/Wilderness trails. But the horse gate was in very bad shape caused by erosion and lack of maintenance.

We dismounted to help our horses figure out how to negotiate over the jumbled logs through the gate.

The trails were in much better shape than the gate!

We encountered mountain bikers, hikers and even kids in strollers. Lots of stuff for horses to discover and get used to.

Apache and Blaze...the mustang BFFs!

Apache and I surrounded by gorgeous vistas!

Apache and I with Dana and Blaze. A friendly hiker offered to take out photo.

A lot of very cool boulders line the trails.

I love the sections that travel down through the arroyos.

We rode past the ranger station.

A very happy Dana!

Back at the horse trailer after a wonderful ride!

I always thank my girl after every ride.

After we unsaddled and watered our horses, Dana set up a table for us to eat our lunches.

She even brought mini-dixie cups for us to drink our wine.

While we ate our lunches and visited, our horses enjoyed a rest...with a view!

Life is Good!!!

Elena Gallegos Open Space Ride

I invited a few riding companions to ride with me at Elena Gallegos Open Space in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, just at the eastern edge of Albuquerque.

Unfortunately, I forgot my Canon camera, so I had to use my cell phone camera, which is not as good quality nor size, but at least I had a camera!

The trailer parking area at Elena Gallegos.

Wonderful trails with views of the city towards the west. You feel close, but far away from the hustle and bustle. It's amazing how quiet it is on the trails within sight of a metropolitan city.

A bit breezy this day, but it helped keep us cool.

Lots of cool boulders alongside the trail.

Even though I was technically leading, or guiding this ride, Apache and I rode far in the back because our riding companion's horses were much faster...and because I prefer to mosy and enjoy the scenery and take photos, instead of racing along the trails.

I love the sections that travel through groves of trees and large boulders.

And there was always breathtaking vistas of the Sandia Mountains!

I managed to get my riding companions to stop long enough to take a few photos with the Sandia Mountains as our backdrop. Pretty incredible!

Apache seems to be thinking, "Let's stop taking photos and explore this trail!"

 

The foothills are misleading if you look at them from far away. They appear to be mostly flat, but there are lots of fun hills to ride up and down. I get bored riding flat trails. Bring on the hills and mountains!

Here I am checking one of the trail signs to make sure we were going in the right direction.

Check out those Sandia Mountains!!

We stopped for a lunch break in a grove of trees with views of the gorgeous mountains.

Just me relaxing against a boulder during lunch.

 

The vistas of the Sandia Mountains is even more amazing through the ears of my awesome Apache mare!

Enjoying such a beautiful day.

Looking west towards the city.

I enjoyed riding through this deep, rugged canyon.

The trail went through this lovely rock garden area.

But to enter in the rock garden, your horse must climb over those boulders in the middle of this photo. I took this photo after we had ridden over those boulders.

Sometimes the Sandias peek through the trees.

 

And then spread out before you in their full glory!

Up on the top of the Sandias, if you look closely, you can see the radio towers on the left, kiwanis cabin in the middle, and the Sandia Peak Tram on the right.

Such a gorgeous place to ride!

I never tire of this view!!!

The Sandia Mountain vistas are always changing depending on the movement of the clouds.

Something funny happened when I returned to my trailer at the end of the ride.
I discovered that, when I had hooked up Apache's reins after lunch, I had somehow clipped both reins to the same side, her right side. And I had ridden like that for over an hour!
It's not wonder Apache was a bit difficult to turn! Poor girl was probably confused. I felt so bad. But I was thankful that Apache was so incredibly patient. I love my girl!

After the ride, we gathered together for some celebratory beers. What a great view!

My rig and my horse and those gorgeous Sandia Mountains!!