Although I’d heard about an area called San Ysidro Trials for years, I’d never actually hiked there until recently.1 While it’s open to the public, it’s largely used and maintained by dirt bikers who thrive on riding through rugged terrain.2
The fairly generic New Mexican hills I traversed during my first visit were pretty enough but not particularly inspiring. However, I’d noticed other areas in the distance that seemed potentially more dramatic so I went back with a friend a few days later. We took off in an entirely different direction, walking through classic rolling hills once again. Twenty or thirty minutes in, we rounded a corner and a huge field of rocks suddenly appeared (above).
We began exploring, completely abandoning the trail we’d been following, and realized there were multiple puddles amongst the crevices between the rocks. That might seem unremarkable to those of you who live in less arid environments, but so much water in such a dry, rocky area seemed incredibly magical to us desert dwellers. Many of the puddles were small but others covered a fair amount of ground. Several could even have been considered small pools.
We finally pulled ourselves away from the rocks and puddles and continued along the trail. We hiked, chatted, saw interesting landscapes, then rounded yet another corner to find ourselves in an even larger field of rocks. This time most were reddish and the gaps between them were significantly deeper than in the first field. It was a wonderland of rock and water.
In some cases the gaps between the reddish rocks were so narrow and deep that they actually seemed to be mini slot canyons. I wanted to walk through some of them but my dislike of mud — especially slippery, slimy, gooey mud — got the better of me.
We had so much fun that we went back a week later, after it had rained and snowed even more. It was on our second visit that I noticed the scene above, a fine example of the tenacity of life, with vegetation growing straight out of a rock. This time I noticed a tiny pool of water encouraging and sustaining that growth.
San Ysidro Trials is only an hour or so from Albuquerque.
The area is administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
Great to see your photos of this area that we’ve also heard about but never visited. Lisa, you’re such the explorer!👍
Glorious photos of a divine place. So glad to read you went back again and found that tenacious little plant.