Sierra Club started with outings!
Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter outings are free and open to the public. Outings are listed in the quarterly Rio Grande Sierran, on our event calendar and also as a quarterly text listing. The Northern Group outings are generally listed on the Santa Fe Group Meetup site, and Chapter outings may also be listed on the Rio Grande Chapter Meetup site.
We offer hikes at all levels of difficulty, and the difficulty level is listed in each outing, along with trip and leader details. Below are general Sierra Club protocols for all outings.
- Participants must sign a standard Participation Agreement, required when registering for each outing.
- Backcountry outings – participants must fill out a short medical form and provide it to the leader for backcountry outings or where a medical facility is more than one hour away. Forms will be destroyed or returned to the participant immediately following the outing.
- Minors – the participation agreement must be completed and signed by parent or legal guardian (accompanied or unaccompanied).
- Leaders may alter the destination or cancel a trip due to weather, unfavorable conditions, or insufficient number of participants. The trip leader will contact you via the information you provided during registration.
- Leaders reserve the right to turn away anyone whose experience or equipment appears unsuitable.
- Dogs are permitted only if specifically noted in the trip details.
- Bring water, lunch, sturdy hiking boots or shoes and clothing suitable for the weather.
- All mileages are round-trip.
Interested in being a trip leader? Contact Outings Chair Terry Owen.
- Select the appropriate month by using the left and right arrow buttons
- Locate the event or outing for which you’d like to register
- Click on the name of the outing or event and a registration form window will open
- Provide the requested information in the registration form. Upon completion, click on the red “Submit” button at the bottom of the form.
- If a liability waiver (participation agreement) is required to participate in the outing, a subsequent form will appear. Read and acknowledge the waiver (participants under the age of 18 will need a parent or legal guardian to complete the form with them) by checking the appropriate boxes at the bottom of the form. If you wish to submit a paper form instead, please request the form in advance from the Outings Leader listed in the announcement. Otherwise, click on the box labeled “Submit Digital Waiver”.
Please visit the calendar for more information or to register for any of these events.
January 2025
Monday, January 13, 2025: Cranes and Moonrise in the South Valley. 4 p.m.–5:30 p.m. Easy hike in the Bosque to the Rio Grande for sunset while the cranes and geese return to roost with added bonus of full moon. Walk will be 2-3 miles at easy pace. Terrain is flat, but there are trip hazards and we will walk in dusk/dark.
Sunday, January 26: Coffee Tasting Bike Tour through Downtown & Bosque, 9:30 am. Chase the cold away with a bike tour of downtown coffee shops! We will visit some local coffee roasters, tea shops and cafes in the vicinity of the bosque. Meet at the Hispanic Cultural Center at 9:30 a.m. for this 1.5-hour ride. Find out how easy it is to get around Albuquerque neighborhoods by bicycle, make new friends and enjoy delicious coffee. The route is about 10 miles long and relatively flat.
February 2025
Tuesday, February 4: Zero Waste Tour of the Surface Water Treatment Plant, 1-2:30 p.m. Learn how water from the Rio Grande is taken in and treated to become your drinking water. Tour entails a lot of walking, going in and out of buildings and climbing stairs, so dress appropriately and wear comfortable closed-toed shoes/boots.
Saturday, February 8: Las Cruces’ Lucero Canyon Petroglyphs trail, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Let’s meet to hike the Lucero Canyon Petroglyphs trail. This is four miles with very little elevation gain (229 ft) and normally takes an hour and a half to hike. This hike up Lucero Canyon leads to ancient petroglyphs depicting hunters with bows and arrows, an antelope, a turtle, bulb-headed twins, abstracts, and other intriguing subjects. The path follows the arroyo, which is dusty with loose small rocks.
Saturday, February 15: Snowshoe on the Sandia Ellis Trail, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. If you can walk, you can snowshoe. Meet at 9 a.m. at Smiths at Tramway and Central (on the Tramway side, close to the gas station and the edge of the parking lot) to carpool or at Ellis trailhead parking lot near the entrance at 9:50 a.m. This high-altitude, three-hour outing is about 3.5 miles round trip with 500 feet of elevation gain.
March 2025
Thursday, March 13: Zero Waste Tour of BARCO Recycling Facility. 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m. See how all of our blue-bin recycling is sorted. Come find out how much is actually recycled and get answers to other recycling questions. Must be able to climb stairs and not be bothered by a very noisy environment. Vests, helmets, eye protection, and ear plugs will be provided. Dress warmly as buildings are not heated.
Saturday, March 29: Introduction to Backpacking, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. New Mexico has hundreds of miles of trails waiting for you. Whether you just want to get away for a weekend of solitude with your family or solo thru-hike from Mexico to Canada, adventure is right in our backyard. Perhaps you’re merely curious and not quite sure how to begin backpacking or whether it’s for you? This clinic is designed for those who have never shouldered a backpack as well as those who just want to learn more about how to safely hike in the backcountry. During this course we’ll take you from the basics to the essential things you need to know for an extended thru-hike, using both classroom and hands-on learning. Class runs from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. with a one-hour break for lunch. Appropriate for children 10 and up with parent or legal guardian.
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