Atalaya Mountain Santa Fe

One of the nice things about Santa Fe is that there are some nice trail systems that start while you are still in town. One of them is the Atalaya Mountain trails that start Near St. John’s College. St. John’s college has the claim of being the third oldest college in the US.

The lower parking lot and trailhead for the Atalaya Mountain trail are on the St. John’s campus. The rest of the campus is closed, but the parking lot has been left open. The lower trail follows up an arroyo that passes behind some of the nicer mountain houses in town. You don’t really see into the backyards, but you can tell they are there.

As the trail goes up you see fewer and fewer homes. The trail turns into a narrower single track. Winding trails give you a lot of views on the way up of the mountains and overlooking the city of Santa Fe.

It’s not an easy trail, 6.5 miles and 1750 feet of climbing. There’s no vertical climbing, and with persistence, most people could make it to the top. We started early, a little after the sun came up. The sun cleared the mountain about the time we were halfway up. There was a little snow and ice near the top, but the sun was great.