I noticed the signs at the campground about being mindful of the bears upon my arrival yesterday. I used the trusty bear sack and had it plenty far enough away that if a black bear wanted the items inside the sack, at least I would be far enough away from the carnage to hopefully not be involved. Everything is good, right?

How about a series of loud air horn blasts being blown at 3:16 am in the morning down at the lower campground? Do you think that obvious warning there is a bear in the area allowed me to get anymore sleep in my soft sided Nemo tent? Nope!

I was not planning on leaving early because I would like to see the large rocks on the trail, but since I was up anyway my front light was helping me see all the obstacles this morning as I continued down the trail. I was reassured by a local that the trail conditions I rode on yesterday would improve today. Seems those in charge of maintaining the roads actually give it a good effort of maintaining up to the campsite from the other side since these two campgrounds are popular for those coming from where I would now be going.

For the first few miles, I was not so sure about his assessment. However, it did get better a little later down the road. My thresholds for evaluating good versus bad riding conditions have obviously been expanded during this adventure just like many other tolerances when it comes to adventure cycling.

Today was planned to be a short ride to Hopewell Lake where I would have a nice day to relax before heading to Abiquiu the following day. However, the climb up to Hopewell Lake ended up being on pavement and I was there by 10:00 am. Even for my standards, that is just too early to stop for the day, especially with the weather being cooler and with the not so bad road conditions.

I confirmed the roads would continue to be just a little rocky in places with the Hopewell Lake Campground camp host. He also gave me some water since the campground water was nonexistent at this current time, another good reason to move on out.

Leaving the lake, I was thinking about getting to an informal campground that was in the vicinity of Valle Grande Springs, a great water source. I had no intentions of making it all the way to Abiquiu today.

Once I got closer to the informal campground, the clouds that were providing shade most of the day now turned all dark and stuff. Guess they were ready to dump some rain and create some lightning strikes. Sure enough, a light rain started and the lightning strikes were nearby.

The rain lightened up just as I was getting closer to the springs, so I quickly filled my bottles and hurried to the campsite. Once at the campsite, I had a feeling that being in a nice storm would be no fun in this open area. I looked at my ACA app and saw Abiquiu was only 22 miles down the road and it would be a descent all the way there. Sold, let’s get on it before the rain starts again.

The first seven miles got me to El Rito and then it was pavement all the way to the Retreat on the River outside of Abiquiu. I had a spectacular tailwind most of the remaining ride and I was bombing down the hill. I was amazed that War Dog could reach such speeds with the load.

After a quick stop at the Family Dollar for some resupply, I made it to the retreat and was grateful for the help from Erin in assisting me getting in contact with the sweet lady that owns this beautiful place. I seriously had great cell phone service in Abiquiu and a mile down the road, it vanished. Erin, once again, saved the day and I was able to find my Adobe Hut for the evening.