“Old La Luz to The Five” Trail Map
For those interested in an alternate route to The Five (5 mile marker), I’ve put together a map with both the main La Luz Trail and the Old La Luz Trail (shortcut) on the same map. The map includes fairly detailed trail notes, pictures and navigation aids to help you identify when and where you need to go in order to explore the four sections of the old trail. All four sections of the old trail are well-worn, so once you get on a section, it is virtually impossible to get lost or confused as to which way you need to go, except where noted on the map for Section 1.
By hiking the Old La Luz Trail to The Five, the 5 mile trek when hiking the main trail will be reduced to only 3.1 miles. You will also get a much better workout because the old trail has steeper grades than the main trail. However, there is a trade-off: the old trail won’t give you the views you get from the main trail.
If you feel the map needs additional information or corrections, please let me know by leaving a comment.
Click Here to go to the Old La Luz Trail map… then click on the individual icons for the trail notes and/or pics. If icon notes come up empty, try reloading the map.
Click Here to go to my first La Luz Trail hike, which includes main trail info and numerous pics of the main trail up to the five mile marker.
Click Here to see a few pics of snow and ice conditions on each section of the old trail.
April 27, 2014
George
----- ondafringe ----- 
7 responses to “Map: Old La Luz Trail ~ Sandia Mountains ~ Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA”
reedcundiff2014
October 18th, 2021 at 09:42
I first hiked the old La Luz trail with New Mexico Mountain Club in 1955. The only problem with old trail is that it was in south side of canyon from about 0.5 to 1.0 miles and was in shade in winter with result that was full of icy snow for several months
Anonymous
November 12th, 2018 at 21:37
Greetings.
I’m new to Albuquerque, though I have family here. Last night I ran across your very nice website while looking for information on the Old La Luz trail, which I thought I’d run across 40 years ago with my sister. Apparently the old, seemingly abandoned trail we found was something else, as it was to the north of the La Luz , about halfway up, in the canyon the La Luz abandons in favor of La Cueva. We quickly lost that trail and ended up climbing a bit of easy 4th class rock. Well, we were young then….
I enjoyed your map and photos and was pleased to find you using something new to me, a topo overlay on a shaded relief map, and what’s more there seemed to be no end to it—it could be scrolled widely. Seemed like a good resource as I get to know the foothill trails here, having already been confused by the Jaral Canyon country. Yet this morning your “Old La Luz Trail” map showed no contour lines.
I looked around a bit without finding what I saw last night — I must have lost my way in your website terrain. If you could tell me where I was last night I’d appreciate it.
Thank you,
Cress Kearny
George
November 12th, 2018 at 22:10
Hey, Cress…
The map image at the top of this article is from the map service I used to use, which provided real topo maps with contour lines at all zoom levels. Unfortunately, that map service went out of business and I was forced to go back to using Google Maps “Terrain” view. Google Maps doesn’t provide an actual map with contour lines at all zoom levels, not even in “Terrain” view. If you roll your mouse wheel to zoom, as you zoom out, contour lines should appear, as you zoom in, at some point, contour lines will disappear. I suspect that is by design; maybe Google has a fee-based, topo map service they are trying to protect.
Since you want to familiarize yourself with the hiking trails here in the Sandias, drop by REI and buy the Sandia Mountains GPS Powered Trail Map by Dharma Maps — it costs about $10. That is only a 45k topo map, but it will give you all the trail names, location of all the trailheads, a bird’s eye view of how all the trails connect, as well as distances, elevations, etc. Even though I have pretty much hiked out the Sandias, I still carry that map with me whenever I do a hike there.
BTW, my Old La Luz map only covers the trail up to the five mile marker. The old trail goes on up from there, but I have never hiked up that part.
Anonymous
November 13th, 2018 at 12:45
George –
Got it, thanks, and thanks for the Dhama Maps tip – I’ll check it out. Also, ASCHG looks interesting.
Cress
George
November 13th, 2018 at 14:02
ASCHG is the best deal going for seniors. You should definitely check it out.
And almost forgot, here is the link to a free, online topo map service with most of the same information that is on the Dharma map, including contour lines at all zoom levels:
https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=35.14114,-106.42932&z=13&b=mbt
reedcundiff2014
October 18th, 2021 at 09:46
I first did La Luz in 1955 with New Mexico Mountain Club.
The old trail was excellent except in winter. It was in north slop of deep canyon from about mile mark 0.5 to 1.0, from where both old and new trails intersect with the Tranway cutoff. The new trail is on south facing slope and is usually snow free until the last several mikes
George
October 18th, 2021 at 13:28
I haven’t hiked it in the winter, but have in the early spring. Definitely have to deal with a lot of snow and ice!