Snowhere Trail

Story

Funny things happen up on top of mountains–funny things indeed. Mere mortals who are way down below sometimes can’t see what transpires, but when you’re at the top of the mountain, well, that’s a different story. Snowhere Trail is the result of one of those funny things happening.

One winter day I was up on Sandia Peak in the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico standing at 10,678 feet, enjoying the view. That is, if one could consider being insanely cold “enjoyment”. If you’re familiar with me, you’ll realize that I rail against the cold quite often.

Yet, for some reason, I keep stepping out in it to make photographs. At any rate, the view was wonderful, although the skies were clear as a bell. As fate and circumstances would have it, a cloud decided to drift over the peak and enshroud it. The fog completely obscured the peak, taking the view with it.

I continued to stand in the cold, my fingers growing numb, then my hands, then arms, while at the same time my toes, feet and legs were joining the numbness. I was forced to find somewhere place and was just moving away when the cloud also began moving. Enduring the cold a few moments longer yielded Snowhere Trail.

The idea of a trail that leads to nowhere deeply intrigues me when I look at Snowhere Trail…does it continue on, around the mountain? Does it stop? Or maybe it leads off the edge of the world? No footprints lead down the trail to snowhere.

More Albuquerque photographs

Halcyon Sandias shows the Sandia Mountains on a much warmer day, and Sandia Sunset showcases a fantastic sunset.