We left Hatch at a pretty decent hour in the morning. We had a big day ahead of us and I was ready to go. After discussing cutting our trip shorter, I was in much higher spirits than the day before.
The first sight of the day was this bad boy. What it is used for, I have no idea.
We found Caballo Lake State park just in time for a break before we started our ascent.
Though murky, the lake was very beautiful.
Back on the road again, we had a long ride up to Hillsboro. We didn't gain much elevation, but we sure climbed for a while.
The views of the surrounding areas were very nice.
Hillsboro was an interesting little town. I kind of liked it. It was small and just dropped into the mountains. Hillsboro also meant lunch, so I was very happy to find it.
At first we were rather disappointing with the town, not realizing that there was more up the road for us to see. The downtown area was quaint, and most things were closed on Wednesdays.
Except for this place. It seemed like the entire town was here. It must be famous. I had myself a burger with green chilies and a slice of delicious pie and ice cream to wash it all down with. I didn't want to spend the money, but I wanted to help out this little town that provided an oasis to passing cyclists. I also wanted a burger.
After a troublesome ride post burger consumption, we made our way into the Gila Forest.
And so the climb began.
9 miles and approximately 3 or 4 thousand feet. I dislike climbing, so I was pretty unhappy during the entire crawl up the mountain. Brian loves this stuff so he zipped right on up.
The views, however, are spectacular.
Here is a shot of everything we just rode on, from the top of Emory Pass. Those mountains off in the distance are where Caballo Lake is - where we started our ride.
Though I hate ascending mountain, the descent is always wanderful.
The sun was beginning to go down, so we had to cruise down the entire length of the western side of the mountain.
I tried my best to capture the amazing scenery around me while riding, but the pictures didn't turn out that great.
Well, this one wasn't so bad.
Some of the rock formations that we rolled around were spectacular. The diversity in the area was also very impressive.
Like I said before, sunsets in New Mexico: they don't get much better.
After the sun went down, we found ourselves in a small town called Mimbres, where we managed to pitch our tent behind a church. It was freezing cold. I knew well before climbing into bed that my crappy sleeping bag would not be keeping me warm during the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment