The Sandias are a single north-south ridge about 17 miles long, with a steep west face that drops over 4,000 feet in about two miles to the Rio Grande valley. The name is popularly traced to the pink and green colours at sunset, though Robert Julyan, the author of The Place Names of New Mexico, thinks the Spaniards named them after squash they mistook for watermelons at Sandia Pueblo. The people of Sandia Pueblo call the mountain Bien Mur, “Big Mountain”.
The range has the La Luz Trail, the Crest Trail and a ski area.