Kachina Hills in Albuquerque, NM

Kachina Hills is a small residential pocket in Albuquerque's Northeast Heights, along the Indian School Road corridor east of Juan Tabo Boulevard, where the street grid begins to climb toward the Sandia Mountains. It lies northwest of Embudo Canyon, whose trailhead opens off Indian School and leads into the Sandia Foothills Open Space, roughly 2,650 acres of steep slopes and gravelly drainages at the base of the range. Houses here answer to no homeowners association. Mountain views come with the elevation, and Embudo Hills Park, a short fitness loop with a playground and picnic area, sits to the south at Lomas and Monte Largo.

Indian School Road is the through street, carrying traffic east to the canyon trailhead and west into the rest of the Heights. The foothills preserve runs north and south from that entrance, and its other gateways at Copper Avenue, Candelaria Road and Montgomery Boulevard put a long stretch of the range's western slope within a few minutes' drive.

Homes here are served by Oñate Elementary, Jackson Middle School and Eldorado High School, all Albuquerque Public Schools campuses.