Las Huertas Canyon Road

Come along for a quiet drive through Las Huertas Canyon on the north side of New Mexico’s Sandia Mountains, climbing from the Placitas area along one of the most beautiful backroads in the Albuquerque region. The landscape here carries a remarkably long human history. Pueblo people lived, farmed and traveled throughout the Las Huertas valley centuries before the arrival of Europeans, with archaeological sites in the area dating back hundreds of years. Spanish explorers, miners and settlers began using the region during the colonial period, and by 1767 the San Antonio de las Huertas land grant had been established. The name Las Huertas itself translates roughly to “the gardens,” a fitting name for a canyon where springs and mountain runoff made agriculture possible in an otherwise rugged landscape. High above the canyon is Sandia Cave, often called Sandia Man Cave, one of New Mexico’s better-known archaeological sites. Evidence from the cave shows human use of the area stretching back roughly 10,000 years, and the site remains culturally and spiritually important to several Pueblo communities today. This drive follows Las Huertas Canyon Road through the transition from high-desert piñon and juniper country into the cooler forests of the Sandia Mountains. There’s no narration and no soundtrack here—just the road, the landscape and the natural sounds of northern New Mexico. So kick back and enjoy the ride through a canyon where New Mexico’s geology, scenery and thousands of years of human history all meet in one place.