Tuesday, December 22, 2009 - Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu NM

Crosshatch, Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu NM, December 22, 2009

"You know I never feel at home in the East like I do out here and finally feeling in the right place again I feel like myself and I like it . . . Out the very large window to rich green alfalfa fields-then the sage brush and beyond-a most perfect mountain-it makes me feel like flying-and I don't care what becomes of art." - Georgia O'Keeffe, in a letter to Henry McBride, 1929

Ghost Ranch is the most photogenic spot I've been in in a long while. I drove through Abiquiu on a road trip back on April 5, 2006 and I somehow forgot just how gorgeous the scenery is here. Driving US 84 through the valley is beautiful in itself but getting up close and personal with the multicolored rock formations here is something else entirely. It's no wonder Georgia O'Keeffe was so at home here. Kate spent the whole morning giving me a photo-op tour of a tiny portion of the 21,000 acre Ghost Ranch and the Conference Center. It's no wonder she and Terry are so in love with this place.

Night camp

Ghost Ranch Campground, Abiquiu NM

This is a basic, small campground with full hookups.
Verizon cell phone and Broadband service are not available here.
Locate Ghost Ranch on my Night Camps map
Check the weather here

Absolute Silence

I remembered hearing of a backcountry Park Service ranger who was cleaning up after dinner one evening when he heard a chilling scream. He ran out of his cabin in time to see a mountain lion standing with a dead deer next to her. The lion saw the ranger and bounded off. The ranger realized this might be a rare opportunity to closely observe a mountain lion, so he stationed himself a short distance away from the deer carcase. He sat in absolute silence, and listened closely as night deepened. After sitting in darkness for well over an hour, he gave up hope of the lion's returning and stood up. In the powerful beam of his flashlight, he could clearly see that the dead deer was no longer there. ...

Caught in Fading Light: Mountain Lions, Zen Masters, and Wild Nature by Gary Thorp

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