Following the bikepacking trip that Jesse and I did in northern NM, my realization that between fires, the plundering of public lands, and the likely increase in pandemics to come in the future, the time to see places on “my list” is now. This reality is driven home yet again, as a new fire just today started in the hills northwest of Santa Barbara, on an evening with horrible sundowner winds, and it has already jumped the freeway.
Following the visit with Jesse’s parents we went to Chaco Culture National Historic Park. Chaco was an ancient trading hub and cultural center with unbelievable engineering feats given the time and available materials. What a great topic for Indigenous People’s Day, but really shouldn’t every day be considered Indigenous People’s Day since they were here first, and are clearly better stewards of the land than white colonialists? If Land Back is a novel idea to you, it may take some reading and reflecting to develop comfort with the idea, but you know what, it’s ok to be uncomfortable. White settlers murdered, conned, and stole their way to much of the most beautiful land in the United States; land that often became National Parks. Returning National Parks to sovereign Indigenous control would be a great step forward in trying to make amends for great harms. Would it be uncomfortable for me if those Indigenous groups then decided I no longer had access to these beautiful places? Yes, yes it would, but my discomfort is nothing compared to what colonialism and imperialisms have wrought on the Native Peoples of this land.
Following our visit to the sacred lands of Chaco, Jesse and I headed to Albuquerque where he had a train to catch. I so deeply appreciate him being willing to take slow, but affordable, public transportation, especially in the time of Covid when he and I still try our hardest not to be inside with unvaccinated individuals. After spending the night with a dear old friend in ABQ I headed north for a couple of days riding and camping near Santa Fe, NM and then on to new territory — The Rio Grande near Cuesta, NM. I found one of the few remaining free campsites on the eastern rim of the canyon and took advantage of a hiking trail leading down to the river.
From there I headed north into the southern portion of Colorado. I have driven by Great Sand Dunes National Park many times, but this is the first time I ever stopped in and walked on the dunes. I then continued to familiar trails and camping in the Salida area, because it was Aspen Season (TM) and because I was wooing my friend Kim to drive over from Crested Butte for a visit.
The nights continued to get longer and colder. In fact, on my final night of camping in CO I received some rain and woke up to a dusting of snow on the surrounding mountain peaks. My brief CO foray was over and it was time to head south for warmer temps and ever so slightly longer days! I drove in and out of rain all day, not wanting to stop for the night until I reached lower, and thus warmer, elevations. The camp spot below is basically across the street from The Ghost Ranch (built on the ruins of a prehistoric Tewa Pueblo dating back to the 13th to 16th centuries) where Jesse and I camped on our bikepacking trip, just outside of Abiquiu, NM. Like most places in the Southwest, you can not hide from the history of displacement, war, and purposeful erasure of Indigenous culture.
Following another brief stop in ABQ, I was finally on my way to Silver City, Mexcio, a town well known in Tour Divide and Continental Divide lore. I have been wanting to visit this area for many years, but it is one of those places that is far from *anything*, deep in southern, NM. My friend Dennis told me a few great spots to check out on the drive. The drive itself turned out to be one of the most beautiful of my travels, with intermittent clouds, rain, and big vistas. The first official site was the VLA (Very Large Array of radio telescopes).
There was some good dispersed camping and beautiful scenery near Silver City. The downtown and college also appeared to be quite vibrant! I did a couple of big rides in the area, both involved part of the Continental Divide Trail and ended up being quite the adventurous and long days. I am jealous of how many running streams and small rivers they have there!! On the second day, the jeep “road” I was using to close my loop ended up crossing the river pictured below about 20 times. It was an absolutely gorgeous meander.
I still had one major goal for this trip — to ride the Coconino Loop, an ~ 5 day bikepacking adventure through Flagstaff and Sedona, AZ. However, in the end the weather closed in on me. I had to wait for the trails to dry out following a massive rainstorm that resulted in my phone getting flash flood and tornado warnings (and me shelling out the money for a very rare hotel stay), but then the first true cold front of the season with winter temps and possible snow started boxing me in on the other end. Finally, I decided it was time to head back to Santa Barbara. I went looking for free camping near the AZ/CA border on Old Route 66 on what ended up being a very intimidating, remote, and unmaintained mountain road with the local mine wrapping up a shift just as I was driving by and bunch of young guys in trucks wanting to drive *much* faster than me on this windy mountain road. However, it all ended up being worth it as crested the beautiful pass on the cover photo (top of post), drove through the cute “town” of Oatman, and ended up camping in one of those gorgeous and absolutely silent locations that only the desert can provide.
Another great story with beautiful pics.
I pray that the most recent wildfires aren’t affecting you.