Links

Other Sources of Information about the Sandia Mountains

FOSM contacts

Forest Service information

Other Volunteer Opportunities

Maps

Hiking

  • www.sandiahiking.com Mike Coltrin’s site for hiking in the Sandias. The original website (sandiahiking.com) was vacated by Mike, but he gave permission to provide a link from the FOSM website to this archive copy in the interest of passing along legacy data related to the Sandia trails (including GPS waypoints and GPS tracks of many of the Sandia Trails). See also: Sandia Mountain Hiking Guide – UNM Press.
  • www.nmmountainclub.org NM Mountain Club

Wildlife

Cross-country Skiing

Snowshoeing

Trails

Mountain Biking

Sandia Peak Ski Area and Aerial Tramway

Click above to access a short history of the Sandia Peak Ski Area and Sandia Peak Aerial Tramway (materials collected by Jamey Browning).

Horseback Riding

Fire/Closure Information

Hang Gliding

Click above to access the Albuquerque Library’s collection of historic postcards related to the Sandias.

Rock Climbing

Search and Rescue

Culture and History

Aircraft Crash Sites

Unfortunately, the Sandias have been the location of more than a dozen aircraft crashes over the years the most famous and deadly of which was the crash of TWA flight 260 in 1955. FOSM co-founder Sam Beard, who has visited most of the sites (and was the first person to arrive at one of them), presented a summary of the crashes at a FOSM membership meeting in 2021 to which FOSM member Cliff Giles added a compilation of newspaper articles, NTSB reports, and other information.

Medallion Trees

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 A person or persons unknown took core samples, meticulously counted tree rings to determine the age of each tree, then attached medallions to at least 84 trees scattered throughout the Sandia Mountains. (The various numbering systems suggest the total was once over 100.) In most cases, the medallions show an identification number, the estimated germination year of the tree, and an event that happened on or about that year.

A 2020 Albuquerque Journal article describes two friends’ quest to find all 84 of the trees. Several medallions seem to be missing from their trees having probably been taken by selfish souvenir hunters.

One of the missing medallions, Robert II Crowned King of Scotland Tree, is on display at the Sandia Ranger Station having been removed by the Forest Service from a fallen tree alongside South Crest Trail.

FOSM member Jamey Browning, who has found and photographed almost all the medallions or the trees on which they once were mounted, created an comprehensive collage showing the medallions along with photos of the trees on which they were (or should have been) found.