Abiquiu Lake

I'm not really sure how to say Abiquiu Lake but it was an amazing place and an even better ride! We went to stay in Ghost Ranch, which is a gigantic ranch and camp site out in the middle of the desert in New Mexico. I rode with Connor and Greg  for the 56 miles we had to go. We started off with a tiny little climb out of Santa Fe and then the road dropped out of no where and we had a decent for about 3 miles! Greg and Connor took off but I was a little bit nervous about the drop because of how steep it was and how much speed we were picking up. After that, we stopped at a really strangely shaped rock that was turned into a tourist site. The entire ride was down hill with a slight tail wind so I had a really great time. After lunch, we decided to take the day very relaxed and enjoy everything! We stopped at a bridge that went over a river to see if we could jump in but the water didn't seem deep enough so instead, we climbed a mountain right next to that river! I haven't ever been rock climbing or really ever intense hiking so all of this is so new and awesome to me! Greg told me he is going to teach me how to climb whenever we are out doing random adventures. Hopefully one day I can get good at it and actually be an outdoor sports kind of person. On the way down that mountain, I sat on a cactus and Jamie had to pull all of the little spikes out of me...that was painful! Later down the road, we came across a huge climb. We stopped at the top for a break and to catch our breath and realized that someone had left their bike on the side of the road and walked over to a gathering of rocks. When we followed, we realized that there was a HUGE canyon that over looked a river and bunch of the mountains! Each step we took closer to the ledge of the rocks, the more beautiful the view got! I wish that the pictures I took gave the view even a little bit of justice but there's no way to capture everything I saw and how breath taking it was. It's also really cool that if I was doing this trip in a car, I would never see half the things I get to and I wouldn't appreciate it nearly as much. We also would see everything at a much greater speed in a car and wouldn't see all of the tiny details of the country. It really is amazing! We stayed on that rock ledge for about an hour just talking and having a good time with all the other groups that caught up and hung out. After that, we had a pretty quick ride into ghost ranch. Unfortunately, the whole driveway was gravel and sand, making it extremely difficult to bike. A few people fell on the way in just because it was so difficult to control the bike. When I finally made it to the camp site, I hung out for a long time, eating candy and hanging out with everyone until dinner time! I went to the camp cafeteria for dinner and then afterwards, we went on a hike on one of the trails that the camp had to Chimney Rock. We managed to hike up and get there by the time the sun was setting and got back down right when it got really dark. The most beautiful pictures we've gotten as a group came from that hike! Greg brought his really nice camera too, so I hope to print it and make a huge frame! That night, I slept in a tent and, unexpectedly, I slept great! Camping is a lot more fun that I always made it out to be.