Help Topics
Authors: Marilyn Warrant and Howard Carr

Topics

For all registered hikers

Information Disclaimer

Information on this web site was voluntarily produced by our hikers. Use the information with some skepticism. Landmarks, signs and trails all change. Describing routes in the wilderness is difficult. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information on this web site. Use this information at your own risk.

Log In/User Id/Password

If you are having difficulty logging in, contact the webmaster.

If you have forgotten your Hiker Id, the webmaster can retrieve it for you.

If you have forgotten your Password, it cannot be retrieved, but the webmaster can issue you a new one. You should change the new password immediately via your Hiker Profile.

Using the Menu

Clicking on a menu or submenu item takes you to a new page. No action is ever performed by clicking a menu or submenu item. All actions are performed on the new page. This means you can explore the menu without causing any action.

The menu is dynamic; it has different items and subitems depending on your roles and if you are logged in.

Centers

Click the link to go to the page on the City of Albuquerque's website about the Senior Center. See Groups below for information on hiking groups. You pay and sign up for van transportation at the Senior Center's front service desk. Look at the schedule for the estimated travel cost. It is an estimate because a center may be nearer or farther from the trailhead than the estimated (average) distance. The cost is calculated as 5¢ per mile, round trip. If the hike will return late, the payment is before the hike or the payment is collected during the hike and the money is turned in the next day by the hike leader.

BCSC	Bear Canyon Senior Center, 4645 Pitt NE, 505-291-6211. Hikes meet at 7:45 am. Hikes must be signed up for in advance. You can call the center to sign up. You pay for van transportation when you return from the hike.
HSC	Highland Senior Center, 131 Monroe NE, 505-256-2000. Hikes meet at 8:00 am.. You pay for van transportation when you return from the hike.
LVFC	Los Volcanes Fitness Center, 6500 Los Volcanes NW, 505-839-3710. Hikes meet at 7:00 am. Hikes must be signed up and paid for in advance. Signup can be at either LVFC or the Senior Sports and Fitness Center (SSFC). Call either center for details. For these hikes a van only leaves from LVSF.
LVSC	Los Volcanes Senior Center, 6500 Los Volcanes NW, 505-836-8745. Hikes meet at 8:00 am. Hikes must be signed up and paid for in advance. Call the center for details.
NVSC	North Valley Senior Center, 3825 Fourth Street NW, 505-761-4025. Hikes meet at 8:00 am. You pay for van transportation when you return from the hike.
PDSC	Palo Duro Senior Center, 5221 Palo Duro NE, 505-888-8102. Tuesday hikes meet at 8:00 am, Saturday hikes meet at 8:45 am. You pay for van transportation before you leave for the hike.
SSFC	[Palo Duro] Senior Sports and Fitness Center, 3351 Monroe NE, 505-880-2800. Hikes meet at 7:00 am. Hikes must be signed up and paid for in advance. Call the center for details.

Groups

Groups are hiking group abbreviations. Most senior centers have only one hiking group. For these centers, the group abbreviation is the same as the center abbreviation. For the centers that have more than one hiking group, the group abbreviation is the center abbreviation followed by a single letter that is indicative of that particular group. For example, the Palo Duro Senior Center's Saturday hiking group's abbreviation is PDSCS, PDSC plus S for Saturday.

Center Abbr	Group Abbr	Indicator
BCSC	BCSC
HSC	HSC
LVFC	LVFC
LVSC	LVSC
NVSC	NVSC
PDSC	PDSCT	T - Tuesday
PDSC	PDSCS	S - Saturday
SSFC	SSFCD	D - Downhill sking
SSFC	SSFCH	H - Hiking
SSFC	SSFCS	S - Snow shoeing
SSFC	SSFCX	X - Cross country sking

Roles

Roles define responsibilities and what parts of the website that are visible and what can be changed.

Role	What You Can View and Do
Hiker	Must be logged in. View most of the information on the site (e.g., schedules, hikes, and hikers).
Hike Leader	Participate in developing a hike description. Add hike leader comments to hike notices or send out hike change notices. For authored hikes without a named Maintainer, revise the text of the hike description.
Maintainer	Control changes to a set of hike descriptions and revise hike descriptions without a named Maintainer.
Hike Coordinator	Create and maintain schedules. Create email lists of hike leaders and van drivers.
Editor	Check hike descriptions for completeness and consistency according to the Editor's Checklist. If the designated editor, revise a hike description with status "waiting editor" unless "No Editor Change" is checked.
Email Coordinator	Send blanket email messages to all or a subset of registered hikers.
Administrator	View and use most of the functionality of the website.
Webmaster	View all and change all. Approve registration of new hikers.

Schedules

Find the schedule you want under Schedules. Choose the year and either H1 (First half, January – June) or H2 (Second half, July – December). Each column of the schedule can be sorted in alphabetical (or numerical) order. Click on the arrows next to the table heading to do the sort on that heading.

Information provided is the hike date, the group, hike information (see below), the hike leader(s), and the van driver(s). The schedule may have hike variation information on the second line after the hike name. Click on the link to view the complete hike description.

Hike Information (Column Headings)

Name	Title of the hike in the database
Region	Area in New Mexico where the hike takes place.
Hike Class	Hike's rating, A (easy) to D (difficult). See Hike Rating/Class.
Hike Miles	Hike's distance in miles.
Elevation Gain	Distance in feet between the lowest and highest elevation in the hike.
Total Vertical	Sum of all uphill vertical in feet for the hike. Will be greater than Elevation Gain if the hike goes up and down hills.
Route Type	General description of the hike's topographic route: loop, in-out, lollypop, etc.
Drive Miles Round Trip	Estimated round trip distance in miles traveled by the van. This distance is used to compute the estimated charge per hiker for the trip.
Drive Time One Way	Time in hours and minutes for the van to go from about the I-25, I-40 interchange to the trailhead.
Estimated Cost	Estimated transportation cost based on the drive miles and 5 cents per mile.

Hike Rating/Class

Hike ratings are based on hike distance and total uphill elevation change (see Total Vertical above). Special considerations, contained in the hike comments, also affect the rating. The rating may be increased based on things like a very long, continual ascent or the presence of gravel on a steep descent or decreased based on a long, but extremely level, hike.

The difficulty of a hike depends greatly on the individual hiker's physical abilities. Read the hike information carefully, particularly the hike's rating, total vertical, and distance. Check the hike's comments for special considerations. Know how your physical ability matches the hike's characteristics. Contact the hike leader if you have other concerns.

A	Easy, not more than five miles and not more than 200 feet total vertical.
B	Moderate, not more than seven miles and not more than 700 feet total vertical.
C	Challenging, not more than nine miles and not more than 1500 feet total vertical.
D	Difficult, not more than elevenmiles and not more than 2300 feet total vertical.
E	Demanding, more than eleven miles and/or more than 2300 feet total vertical.

Hike Descriptions

A full hike description includes the data listed in the Hike Information table above, as well as the following:

Hike Id	Hike key in the database.
Last Update	Last time any of the hike information was updated.
Minimum Elevation	Minimum elevation in feet for the hike. Consider this information if you have difficulty hiking at higher elevations.
Grade	Calculated by mapping software as a percentage. Anything over 7% is fairly steep.
Hiking Seasons	Quarters of the year in which the hike can be comfortably done. More important, note the missing quarters when the hike should not be done.
Trailhead Directions	Detailed instructions on finding the trailhead from the middle of Albuquerque for drivers and hike leaders. Some directions link to Hike Access information which provides more detail.
Actual Hike	Gives directions for the hike itself and usually some ideas of what you will see.
Comments	Additional information about the hike. Special hike considerations may be given here, which should be considered by the hiker in deciding whether to participate in the hike.
Map File:	Link to the map file in the database. Usually, it is a larger image than is displayed on the Hike page. Use the zoom function of the browser to enlarge the image.
Waypoints	GPS coordinates for particular points of interest on the map. Given in degrees and decimal minutes in the WGS84 datum.
GPS Files	Links to GPS files in the database for the hike route/track. If you click on a link, it will open a window that allows you to open the file or save the file on your hard drive.
Text Author	Hiker who "blazed the trail" and/or wrote the hike trailhead directions, hike description and comments.
Map Author	Hiker who created the map. Most maps were created using GPS mapping sofware.
Waypoints Author	Hiker who created/generated the location of the points of interest on the map.
Track Author	Hiker who created/generated the GPS track for the hike.
Maintainer	Hiker who is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the hike description. Contact this person if you propose changes.

Printing a Hike or Help File

You can print a hike description from the web browser. Choose File (at the upper left of the screen), then Print Preview. If you like how it looks, click Print. If the description runs into two pages and you'd like it to fit on one page, click on Page Setup where you can adjust the margins, headers, orientation, or scale, depending on your browser.

If you want to print only part of a Help file (often the case), choose File then Print Preview as before. You'll see something like Page 1 of 2 with arrows up at the top of the screen. Preview the pages, and note which ones you want to print. Click on the Print button, then for the Print Range on your printer, select the Pages to be the range of pages you want.

Finding a Hike

You can locate and view a list of hike descriptions sorted alphabetically by name or alphabetically by region of New Mexico. The hike description typically contains the hike data, trailhead directions, how to do the actual hike, comments, a map, and GPS files.

To find a hike when you're not sure of the full name, use the Edit/Find capability of your web browser.

Open one of the Hikes options (sorted either by name or by region)
Locate the top menu bar of your browser (labels from the left will be File, Edit, etc.).
Click on Edit, then Find.
Enter a keyword (e.g., Goblin), then click on Next.
Keep searching through the content of the web page until you find what you're interested in, you see an entry repeat, or the browser tells you it has searched the whole page.

Finding a Hiker

View the current list of registered hikers under the Hikers menu item.. You can sort by first or last name.. You will be able to view the hiker's phone number or email address if the hiker has given permission to publish that personal information.

You can also view a list of the hikers who share one of the common interests listed in the hiker profile.

New hikers can join ASCHG by going to the website home page, moving the cursor to the Hikers tab, clicking on Join ASCHG, and filling out a profile. Once the hiker is verified, the webmaster will send them a email saying they are verified and can now log in.

For hike leaders

Hike Notices

The hike notices are automatically sent by the website. The schedule is:

Friday @ 5 am	Send hike notice for next Tuesday's hike.
Sunday @ 5 am	Send hike notice for next Thursday's hike.
Tuesday @ 5 am	Send hike notice for next Saturday's hike.

Hike Leader Comments

To create hike leader comments for a hike that you'll be leading (at any time before the hike notice send date/time):

Log in to the website.
Go to the Hike schedules tab on the top menu.
Click on the bottom item in the drop-down list, "Add/Edit Hk Ldr Cmmts".
Choose the period for which your hike is scheduled (e.g., 2011H1).
Choose your hike.
The default meet time and leave time for the hiking group are displayed.&mbsp; If this hike has a different meet time and/or leave time, enter the correct values.
If there is a schedule variation comment in the schedule, it will be displayed. You can decide whether the schedule variation comment will be included in the hike notice (usually you should).
Add anything else to be highlighted in the Special Message white text box.
Add your hike leader comments, if any, in the second white text box.
Click on one of the Preview buttons to preview the content of the hike notice. Close the preview window.
Edit your comments if necessary.
When you're satisfied with your comments, click on the Save Comments button.

You can go back and edit your comments at a later time, if necessary. The hike notice will be formed from the meet time, the schedule variation comment, the special message, your hike leader comments, and the data from the hike description. All registered hikers who selected "Upcoming hikes" from the applicable hiking group in their profiles will receive this hike notice.

Hike Change Notices

Usually send one of these only when something major changes after the hike notice has gone out:

Log in to the website.
Go to the Email tab on the top menu.
Select "Send hike change notice" in the drop-down list.
Choose the period for your hike (e.g., 2011H2).
Choose your hike.
Say what has changed.
If you're proposing a substitute hike and you know its name in the hiking collection, choose it from the drop-down list next to New Hike.
In the New/More Information text box (optional), explain what's going to happen differently than originally planned.
Click on one of the Preview buttons to view the composed hike change notice.
Edit further if necessary.
When you're satisfied with the hike change notice, click on Send Change Notice.

All registered hikers who selected "Hike changes" from the applicable hiking group in their profiles will receive this hike change notice. If before you send the hike change notice you decide it isn't necessary after all, log out or close the browser window.

If you discover that you'll need to substitute a different hike within 2 weeks of the hike date, you should send a change notice immediately. Otherwise, just ask the hike coordinator for the affected hiking group to change the schedule.

Hikes

Adding a Hike

Adding a hike is like publishing a book. Any hike leader can author a hike but it has to be reviewed by an editor before it is published (made available to the hikers-at-large). We do this for completeness and to maintain consistency.

A hike can be added in stages or all at once. If it is added in stages, there is a minimum amount of information that must be entered. After that, the rest of the data can be entered at will until the hike is completed. When you indicate it is complete by changing the status to "waiting editor", that signals the website to send an email message to the editor that a hike is ready to be edited. There may be communications back and forth between you and the editor resulting in changes to the hike data. When the editor is satisfied, the hike will be published.

For more information about writing hike descriptions, see How to Write a Hike Description.

If you're creating a hike description and don't know what region to choose, first look at the choices for Region and the current list of hikes sorted by region. If that doesn't help, go to the Regions tab on the main menu, open the Regions map, and zoom in near the geographic location of the hike. If you're not sure what the region should be at this point or you think a new region should be created, contact the Region Coordinator. To find out who is the current Region Coordinator, from the Hikers tab choose Region coordinator. Only the Region Coordinator and the Administrator can add, change, or remove a region.

Changing a Hike

If there is no named hike Maintainer, the hike text author, the hike's editor, any maintainer or the Administrator can change a hike description. If there is a named hike Maintainer, then only the hike Maintainer, the hike's editor, or the Administrator can change the hike description. The downside to limiting who can change a hike description is that the Maintainer will have to communicate with whomever wants a change/correction and handle all the little details like misspellings or typos plus minor, normal things like trail changes, trailhead direction changes, etc.&mbsp; (Of course, an editor or the Administrator can help you revise GPS data or maps.) The upside to being the Maintainer for one of your favorite hikes is that you can prevent errors from creeping into the description over time.

Removing a Hike

If a hike has been published, only the named Maintainer or the Administrator may remove it. If it hasn't been published, the hike text author, the hike's editor, or the Administrator can remove it. Once a hike has been published and actually hiked, it will be almost impossible to remove it due to references to the hike from schedules, access maps, hike reports, etc. The best that can be done in that case is to make the hike inactive.

Inactivating a Hike

Why would you want to inactivate a hike? There are lots of good reasons: the trail is no longer safe, some necessary part of the trail is impassible, the trail is on private or Indian land, you can no longer get to the trailhead because of road conditions, and so on. Only the Administrator can make a hike inactive. Making a hike inactive does not remove it from the website. It only means the hike is not displayed in the hike lists and the hike cannot be scheduled.

Using a Published Hike Description

Hikers will be consulting the website to decide if they want to go on a hike and if they're fit enough to do it. The person who developed the hike description usually has gone on an exploratory hike, edited a GPS track and waypoints, and done his/her best to let hikers know what to expect on the hike.

For many of the hikes, especially those in the "badlands", there can be different ways to do a hike and still have it recognizable as the "same" hike to most hikers.

You as a hike leader may schedule a hike, then plan to lead a modified version of that hike. However, you should do that only if you're familiar with the hike as you plan to do it. We ask that you be considerate of the hikers who decide to go on your hike, by:

Leading the hike from the same trailhead.
Visiting the advertised features (e.g., arroyo, canyons, views, meadows) of the scheduled hike description.
Maintaining the advertised hike rating or make the hike safer.
Not introducing any additional hazards (e.g., ledge to jump from, return trail that would be a problem for a person who has vertigo).
Introducing additional activities only if they are optional and you'll be returning to the hikers who don't want to participate (e.g., climbing a hill to a viewpoint, going to a side spring).
Returning to the center by the planned time or all hikers agree to extend the hike time.

If you'd like to make minor changes that hikers should know about, work with the applicable hike coordinator to develop a schedule variation comment when you schedule the hike.

If you find that no hike on the website is a close enough match to what you'd like to do, you may define a "hike place holder" with the hike name and region and as much other information as you have. The hike placeholder can be scheduled, then improved into a full hike description later.

For hike coordinators

Use the Admin tab in the Menu to perform various administrative tasks.

Adding/Deleting a Hike Leader

To add or delete a hiker from the list of hike leaders:

From the Admin tab, choose Hike leader maint.
Click on the little blue arrow next to the Hiker white text box. A list of hikers appears. Hikers who are already hike leaders have "hike leader" after their names.
Choose the hikers's name you want to add or remove from the hike leader list.
If the hiker is not yet a hike leader, a button Designate As Hike Leader will appear. If the hiker is already a hike leader, a button Un-designate As Hike Leader will appear.
Click on the button to make the action happen.

Adding/Deleting a Van Driver

To add or delete a hiker to the list of van drivers:

From the Admin tab, choose Van driver maint.
Click on the little blue arrow next to the Hiker white text box that says -- Choose -- . A list of hikers appears. Hikers who are already van drivers have "van driver" after their names.
Choose the hikers's name you want to add or remove from the van driver list.
If the hiker is not yet a van driver, a button Designate As Van Leader will appear. If the hiker is already a van driver, a button Un-designate As Van Driver will appear.
Click on the button to make the action happen.

The hiker must have a City of Albuquerque license to drive one of the vans.

Scheduling

Hike Place Holder

If there is no hike in the collection that describes a hike you want to schedule for your hiking group, create a hike place holder. Go to Hikes -> Add a hike, set the Record Type to "Hike place holder", and fill in the name and region. (That's all the required information.) If you know the person who will be working on the hike description, next to the Text Credit -- Choose -- box, click on the little blue arrow and select that person's name from the drop-down list. Fill in any additional information you have, then save what you entered by clicking on one of the four Add buttons at the bottom of the page.

Hike In Process

There might be a hike description that isn't finished yet. You can also schedule a hike in process. Just make sure you check with the maintainer or text author to find out the estimated completion date.

Scheduling Tools

To avoid scheduling the same hike too frequently, from the Tools tab choose Hike, histories by group, and find your group in the list. You'll see the hikes you’ve scheduled, when they were done, and who were the hike leader(s) and van driver. Hike, histories by name, show the number of times a given hike has been scheduled in the past few years. You can see new hikes that haven't yet been scheduled by any group, as well as the most popular hikes.

Tools, history info by group and Tools, history info by name provide a different selection of the data. Along with the group and date hiked are included the hike data, applicable seasons of the year, and the route type. This data can be imported into a spreadsheet program and edited and sorted as you wish.

Entering the Schedule for a Half-Year

During the hikes planning period (usually one or two months before the half-year starts), the Webmaster will pre-populate the schedule with dates for your hiking group. To enter the hikes for your group, you'll change the schedule data for each date.

If there isn't a hike planned for one of your dates, choose the hike place holder called "No hike scheduled" that will be in the list of All Hikes.

Create a schedule variation comment to:

Change the departure or return time for the hike or leaving from a different center.
Add a side excursion.
Remind hikers to bring extra money for a restaurant lunch, a museum visit, etc.
Notify that hikers must carpool.

Steps for each schedule date:

From Admin, choose Schedule maint.
Choose the applicable period ID.
Click on the button Change Entry In Schedule.
Click on the little blue arrow next to the Schedule Entries white text box. Only the hikes for your hiking group will be displayed. Choose the date you want to change.
Click on the little blue arrow next to the All Hikes white text box.
Select the hike for the chosen date. Note that a hike place holder will have an super script 1 (¹) at the end of the name.
The hike group and the date are filled in for you.
Choose the hike leader(s) and van driver(s) from the drop-down lists.
The default meet time and leave time are filled in for you. Change them if you'll be leaving early.
Add a Variation Comment, if applicable. The comment will appear in the schedule entry for the hike and in the hike notice when it is issued. You can copy and paste from a word-processing document or spreadsheet file.
Set the status to 2.
If you have more enties, click on the Do Change and Return button. If this is the last entry, click on the Do Change button.

Adding a Hike to the Schedule

If you're going to do an extra hike for some reason, you will want to add a hike to the schedule.

To add a hike to the schedule:

From Admin, choose Schedule maint.
Choose the applicable period ID.
Click on the button Add Entry To Schedule.
Click on the little blue arrow next to the Hikes white text box. Choose the hike you want to add.
Fill in the date to be added to the schedule.
Fill in the remaining information as in Entering the Schedule for a Half-Year above.
Change the status to 4 - OK/Done.

Canceling a Hike in the Schedule

It is useful to record when a hike is cancelled to alert hike planners that the hike was scheduled but not hiked. It should probably be schwduled in the next half.

To cancel a hike that has been scheduled:

From Admin, choose Schedule maint.
Choose the applicable period ID.
Click on the button Change Entry In Schedule.
Click on the little blue arrow next to the Schedule entries white text box. A list of the scheduled hikes that you are authorized to cancel appears.
Choose the hike you want to cancel.
Change the Status to 3 - Canceled.

Changing a Hike in the Schedule after the Schedule is Published

You may need to change a hike in the schedule after the schedule has been published for several reasons. Things like a change in the planned van driver or hike leader, a change of the scheduled hike when a hike leader decides to do a different hike, or when a hike place holder of one name should be replaced by a hike description of another name. Changing a scheduled hike removes the original hike information from the system and replaces it with the revised information.

To change a hike in the schedule:

From Admin, choose Schedule maint.
Choose the applicable period ID.
Click on the button Change Entry In Schedule.
Click on the little blue arrow next to the Hikes white text box. Only the hikes for your hiking group or the ones you will lead (for other groups) will be displayed. Choose the hike you want to change.
If you are doing a completely different hike, select that hike from All Hikes.
Add a variation comment, if applicable. The comment will appear in the schedule entry for the hike and in the hike notice when it is issued.
Edit other information to be changed.
Leave the Status as 4 - OK/Done.
Click on either the Do Change or the Do Change and Return button.

If you substitute one hike for another less than two weeks before the scheduled date, be sure to cancel the first hike.

Communicating with Hike Leaders and Van Drivers

Hike coordinators can also generate an email list string for hike leaders and/or van drivers who are participating in the current half-year schedule for specific or all hiking groups.

Help Topics Authors: Marilyn Warrant and Howard Carr