RIVER Retreat

Day 55—Sunday, September 25—Hopewell Lake to Abiquiu 

57 miles; dropping 4,000 ft

Cows and free range cattle..more on this later

Rolfe joined us to share the campsite. From San Ignacio (near Durango) he is doing a 10 day loop

Ponderosa Pine, I believe

Canon Plaza , NM

Vallecito, NM. Abandoned storefront

Vallecito—first Biden sign

Fence collage

Jim and Ron invited us to lunch

A lot of really pleasant downhills today interspersed with shorter climbs through beautiful national forests filled with Aspen, pinion pine, and ponderosa pine. We were invited to lunch by Bike Dreams (see previous post) and had terrific sandwiches which saved us since some of the restock options were closed or nonexistent in some of the towns we passed through. The hosts were very friendly as well as some of the riders, made up of Americans and Europeans.

Subtle colors on a fall day

Landscape changing as we ride into El Rito

"Mars Polar Lander" in El Rito—not sure how to describe this…wonder who issued the building permit 

El Rito church and storefronts (click images to enlarge), including the Mexican restaurant that would not open

We tried to get a second lunch in El Rito but the excellent Mexican restaurant there was closed.  On to Abiquiu. Coming into El Rito, the landscape changed dramatically to interesting rock formations, buttes, and mesas. The rock and dirt became more colorful. This is the New Mexico landscape I am more familiar with.

Dropping down to Abiquiu 

Rock formations…crazy clouds

Mountains behind Abiquiu

Iconic flat top mountain that Georgia O’Keefe worked into her paintings 

We had lunch at the Abiquiu Inn but could not afford their room rates. We met up with TJ who had pedaled ahead when we stopped at Hopewell and picked up some food at Bode's. For camping we found the Retreat on the River owned by Goldie. It is a relaxing spot with a covered picnic area right on the Chama River, a wide muddy waterway that was flowing fully from recent storms. ROTR is a funky place with outdoor shower and composting toilet. Goldie was very hospitable!

TJ picked up a bottle of wine and we watched and listened to the river as well as dramatic skies and thunderstorms as they passed overhead.