Today is May 3, Rebecca's birthday. Ken called and talked with her this afternoon as she and Catt were walking out onto the pier at Newport Beach. Happy birthday, Rebecca!
We missed visiting the Christ in the Desert Monastery on our last visit to Abiquiu, so that was our destination as we set out today. It's a few miles north of Lake Abiquiu, off US 84, on Forest Route 151 in the Santa Fe National Forest.
It's a 13 mile drive on a very curvy one lane dirt road to get to the monastery, with stunning scenery around every curve. For most of the way the road follows the curving route of the Rio Chama, though often enough it's at a dizzying height above the river (at least it's dizzying if you are sitting on the side of the vehicle nearest the dropoff, going around a blind curve on a one lane track!).
Along the way we saw several turnoffs with labels like "Big Eddy," "Whirlpool," and "Rio Chama Campground" as well as others that were unmarked. All were inviting, but we saved exploration of all of them until after our visit to the monastery.
After an hour's drive, we arrived at the monastery around 12:15 p.m. We wanted to be there in time to hear the monks sing Sext, one of the hours of the Divine Office, at 1:00 p.m. Meanwhile we browsed through the gift shop and the photograph gallery.
The chapel, designed by George Nakashima, is both peaceful and awe-inspiring. The high windows give on a view of the majestic cliffs beyond. Listening to the chanting of the psalms brought back memories of visits to Assumption Abbey in Ava, MO, many years ago.
When we left the monastery, we embarked on an exploration of most of the byways leading off 151. We drove into some and walked into others. One developed campground has 9 sites with picnic tables and fire rings. The remaining camping is "dispersed camping" with no officially designated sites, but plenty of beautiful views along the Rio Chama.
We stopped at Skull Bridge, where we decided to check out the Ojitos Trail, which forms a portion of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. If you look closely at the post, you might be able to make out the distinctive logo of the CDT. We followed the trail for a while. It's clearly used by equestrians, as we saw large horse trailers parked at the trailhead and on Forest Road 474, and we met two riders on the trail.
After a bit we decided to turn around. I'm sure it was because we had other things to check out (and not because of the large black bull showing some curious interest in our approach--or maybe it was a steer....).
[For more info and photos, see Trip Report: Chama River Canyon Camping.]
As we explored, we saw several occupied campsites, mostly with tents, but we also saw one travel trailer. The Forest Service website suggests that some sites might accommodate a 20-ft. RV, but first you'd have to get the RV to the site. Given the state of the roads, most people wouldn't want to attempt this except in a rugged, high clearance vehicle. We were glad to be in our truck. When the weather is inclement, everyone is advised to avoid traveling on these dirt roads.
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