Ellis #202

Access to the Ellis Trail is at the Ellis Trailhead Parking Lot located off the Sandia Crest Rd. Parking requires a pass available for $5 on site. Cross the highway to start.

The 2 mile Ellis Trail follows a wide 200 ft road cut that was stripped of trees in the late 1960's in an ill-conceived plan to construct a highway called Skyline Drive intended to go from Sandia Crest to Placitas. The project was eventually stopped. The road cut has become a lovely meadow, filled with flowers in the spring and glowing aspen trees in the fall. Ellis Trail is used by cross-country skiers, hikers, equestrians, runners and mountain bikers. It offers solitude and glorious views. It is named after George Ellis, who lived in the Sandia Mountains from the 1880's until his death in 1912. The pre-existing trail followed the old road cut with steep, rocky up and down sections Many of the sections were badly eroded and in need of re-routing for sustainability. In the summer of 2024 extensive improvements were made in the form of reroutes. These reroutes bypassed previous rocky steep areas. The new re-routes meander in and out of dense forest at a more gentle grade with more sustainable tread making this a truly amazing user experience as well as made it more MTB friendly, although still considered a black. In my opinion it is best ridden as an out-and-back, but can also be ridden as a loop with the 10K North trail. The loop option is more technical and rocky, requiring frequent dismounts.

Access Info

Multiple Trailheads, all official parking areas are paid ($3) but there are several pullouts along the road where one can avoid paying.