Sandia Mountains

Sandia Mountains
The Sandia Mountains and Rio Grande at sunset, looking southeast from Bernalillo
Highest point
Peak	Sandia Crest
Elevation	10,678 ft (3,255 m)
Coordinates	35°12′32″N 106°26′49″W / 35.20889°N 106.44694°W / 35.20889; -106.44694Coordinates: 35°12′32″N 106°26′49″W / 35.20889°N 106.44694°W / 35.20889; -106.44694
Dimensions
Length	17 mi (27 km) N-S
Width	8 mi (13 km) E-W
Geography
Location of the Sandia Mountains within New Mexico
Country	United States
State	New Mexico
Parent range	Sandia-Manzano Mountains

The Sandia Mountains (Tiwa Pueblo name posu gai hoo-oo, "where water slides down arroyo") are a mountain range located in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, immediately to the east of the city of Albuquerque in New Mexico in the southwestern United States. The range is largely within the Cibola National Forest, and part of the range is protected as the Sandia Mountain Wilderness. Its highest point is Sandia Crest, 10,678 feet (3,255 m).

Sandía means watermelon in Spanish, and is popularly believed to be a reference to the reddish color of the mountains at sunset. Also, when viewed from the west, the profile of the mountains is a long ridge, with a thin zone of green conifers near the top, suggesting the "rind" of the watermelon. However, as Robert Julyan notes, "the most likely explanation is the one believed by the Sandia Indians: the Spaniards, when they encountered the Pueblo in 1540, called it Sandia, because they thought the squash gourds growing there were watermelons, and the name Sandia soon was transferred to the mountains east of the pueblo." He also notes that the Sandia Pueblo Indians call the mountain Bien Mur, "big mountain".

The Sandias are a small range, a part of the Basin and Range Province, but built by a different phenomenon, consisting of a single north-south ridge, which rises to two major summits: Sandia Crest and South Sandia Peak, 9,702 ft (2,957 m). The range measures approximately 17 miles (26 km) north-south, and the width in the east-west direction varies from 4 to 8 miles (6 to 12 km). The west side of the range is steep and rugged, with a number of sheer rock walls and towers near Sandia Crest. The east side has a gentler slope.