Bicycling Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado and New Mexico - 2006

Ojo Caliente to Santa Fe, NM

July 8, 2006
Distance 56.8 Miles
Climbing Elevation: 2,285 feet

The restaurant at Ojo Caliente was not to open until 7:30 AM. This morning it did not open until almost 7:40 AM. We usually eat around 7:00 AM, so our day started later than usual. This was not good as rain clouds completely covered the sky and as we waited to eat breakfast, it rained for a short time. After eating breakfast, we headed for Santa Fe. After we had traveled about 10 miles, a very light rain began. It was so light that we did not bother to put on rain gear but before it ended, our shirts were both wet. All day we were afraid to take a break because we could see heavy rain clouds to the east and west of where we were.

As we traveled we saw many different rock formations. Most were the result of a hard layer of rock sitting on a very soft layer of rock. This would generally result in a cone shaped rock formation. The hard layer of rock would prevent the erosion of the softer layer of rock until the softer layer of rock would undermine the harder layer and than a portion of the hard layer would fall.

Three or four more times during the day we felt drops of rain but we were never rained on as hard as the first time. The bad news was that we were supposed to take a break at the half way point because for the rest of the day we would be going up hill. We were so afraid of being rained on that we kept going with only very short breaks. By the end of the day we were exhausted. Once we reached Santa Fe we were so tired it took us a couple of hours to decide what to do and find a motel. We are glad the next couple of days are rest days and we can explore Santa Fe.