Atalaya Mountain Trail is a 6 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Santa Fe, New Mexico that features a great forest setting and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, and trail running and is accessible year-round. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
dogs on leash
hiking
trail running
walking
forest
views
This is a short day hike from St. Johns College trail head east side of the city of Santa Fe, NM into the edge of the Santa Fe National forest.
We measured this trail at 3.8 miles up taking the shorter steep route. We took the the longer less steep route on the way down. This added close to a mile to the trip and a ton of time. You will see the option signs on the trail.
Great views on the trail definitely worth the trip. Start early it gets warm on the trail in the summer.
Great trail!! Bring water, as it is long, but you'll be rewarded with great views!!
Seems to be a nice peaceful trail. I went up there looking to photograph wildlife. Didn't see much, but it was a nice walk. I didn't get to finish the hike because I ran out of water and some storm clouds were moving in, but I was only a few miles short. Pretty good look at Santa Fe when you get up there.
This is my favorite trail in the SF area, and I try to do it at least once a week. I recommend doing this trail in the morning because of the temps and increasing chance of tstorms in afternoon. Also, bring plenty of water-I see a lot of people bail halfway because they don't have enough.
Great hike!
Challenging, mostly due to the altitude (plus spending a few hours beforehand walking around Meow Wolf didn't help, haha), but the views at the top are totally worth it! There's a point later on in the trail where you can choose the steep path or the easier path. We took the steep path up but the easier path down, which I'd recommend. The easier path has a different vibe to it and gives a bit more variety to the trail. This was one of my favorite hikes.
Good hike! We had to keep stopping as we ascended because we were short of breath. I guess that's due to the altitude. Descending was much easier. Most of the trails were well marked. However, we took a different route down and came out on a road...from there, we had to figure out how to get to our car. Very nice scenery.
This was a fun hike that was both rewarding and somewhat challenging. Would recommend it and do it again.
Paula O.
beautiful view from the top..
This was a beautiful hike and just challenging enough due to altitude. My daughter and I live in Texas and are visiting Santa Fe. It was her first hike, and she did amazing! I on the other hand was short of breath, but the scenery made it worth it.