Saturday, June 13, 2009

June 12—Aztec, NM










We made a friend with a local grazing cow. I wanted to pet it, Eric wanted to scare it with loud noises. Neither one of us was successful. First things first, we headed out on a 15 miler on the UFO Alien trail. The trail was curvy with easy climbing for the first half. An alternative technical route was available if you knew where to detour off the main trail, which consisted of some interesting slick rock formations. The entire detour was less than a quarter mile, so it didn’t make all that much difference. The trail continued to be awesome, especially when you hit the official UFO crash site. The site allegedly was home to a 100 ft in diameter and 18 ft tall UFO in 1948. Excavation of the craft was a top secret military operation and lasted 2 weeks. None of the 16 “passengers” survived the wreck of the spacecraft so the purpose of the mission was never known. While passing through the area, I saw a UFO of my own (see pics). We continued on the trail until we hit the secret Area 51 trail. The locals at the bike shop had told us about this new trail that we could ride. The nature of the trail was unlike the rest of the Alien loop. It was rocky and steep. Eric and I don’t think it is very sustainable because there are super steep sections that are already rutted out and the trail isn’t officially open yet. When we got the end of the out and back, we didn’t know it. Instead we continued riding on what we thought was a trail until we lost all traces of bike traffic. It was clear that we were turning around and heading back the way we came. This was a little sad because we were sort of hoping it would be a loop and we wouldn’t have to re-trace the trail we weren’t too fond of. Bummer. After rejoining the Alien loop, we enjoyed the fast, smooth, twisty trail all the way back to the motorhome. We tested out our outdoor shower for the first time, which was great! We drove the short distance to Durango and visited with Kristi and John for the rest of the evening. John was building a desk and Kristi was baking gourmet cookies, which were amazing. On Saturday, we are doing a race with K an J involving rafting the Animas River, running, and finishing with a scooter leg. Should be fun!

1 comment:

  1. my goodness! You have been busy! Looks like lots of fun.... I'm jealous!

    ReplyDelete