From Albuquerque, take Interstate 40 East to exit 175 for South NM 337. Take 337 south. From the stoplight, head 28.7 miles south on NM 337 through Chilili until the road ends at a T intersection with NM 55. Turn right (west) and continue another 12 miles passing through Tajique and Torreon to the town of Manzano. Watch for a sign which says: Manzano State Park; Red Canyon Campground; NM 131. After going 2.4 miles on NM 131, you are at the entrance to Manzano Mountains state park.

Turn right; you are now on a one-lane paved road. 0.5 mi down the road you get to the forest boundary and the road turns to gravel. A few small side roads branch off, but remain on the main road for 1.8 miles, where you will see a sign for the Red Canyon campground.

The trailheads are at the horse camp, across from the picnic area (GPS: RCTH) and at the far end of the loop (GPS: 89TH)

You can hike the loop either way. This description is for Spruce Spring trail no. 189 up and Red Canyon Trail no. 89 coming back down.

Start at the trailhead across from the picnic area (GPS: 34.622324 -106.411922 RCTH). Trails 89 and 189 are both on the same trail at first as it heads behind the horse campground. You could also start at the trailhead at the back of the loop road in the horse campground, and turn right almost immediately to get to Spruce Spring Trail.

To the right, Diana stands on the trail at the trailhead.

One thing that this trail excels in is flowers. From the beginning of the trail to the end, you are rarely out of sight of wildflowers.

The Spanish called Geraniums (like the sample to the right, which is James Geranium, geranium caespitosum) patita de leon because the leaf looks like a lion's paw. They also used some form of geranium as a gargle for sore throats.

Just past the end of the campground, you come to a junction (GPS: 34.623199 -106.414159 89X189) where the two trails diverge. Turn right at the sign (pictured on the left).

The trail is shady, and the temperature is pleasant. This makes it a nice change from the city where we spend most of our time. The trail is clean and people were rare when we hiked it. As you climb on the trail, the flowers change, providing continuous variety.

There are raspberries along the trail. They were ripe 7/15/00. The one to the right did not last much longer than the time it took to take the picture.

There are strawberries along the trail as well, but none had any fruit.

Oh, yea, we're hiking. That is a view east along the trail in the photo to the right.

When you start to see some aspens, you can take heart in the fact that you are about halfway in your elevation gain. A little after you see the first aspens, you cross the wilderness boundary (GPS: 34.640729 -106.427350 MMW189).

After about a quarter of a mile, you come across a fork in the trail which leads to a spring about 300ft away from the main trail. This is the Spruce Spring for which the trail is named. The spring is more of a muddy place where a little water comes from (at least when we visited).

The trail heads through a field of ferns about (Kenneth's) waist-high. When you see these, you are almost at the junction with trail 170 (GPS 34.644399 -106.432398 170189). In the photo to the right, you can see Kenneth taking notes beside the trail sign.

Trail 170 is the Manzano Crest trail. When we were here, it did not look like the trail was heavily traveled. If you are happier without people, you might want to hike this trail northbound. However, to continue the loop we are describing here, turn left (southwest).

From here, the trail begins to climb more steeply. When you see trails heading right, they normally head to a place with a good view.

The trail skirts the east side of the highest point of the mountain here. The high point on the trail is at GPS: 34.637371 -106.435397 GALLO.

The trees are so thick here that the trail is dark at times.

Heading down trail 89, the canyon is much narrower than the one you hiked up.

In this canyon, you cross a stream many times. Sometimes, this stream has water, sometimes it does not. At one point, there is a small waterfall (photo right).

There also are lots of thimbleberry plants along this trail. Unfortunately, they were not ripe.

Not long before you return to the campground, you will come across a small shelter cave. Unfortunately, it was too dark to get a good photo when we were hiking. Next time.