| Yesterday we walked up Hwy 4 and, after seeing more than a few "private property/no trespassing" signs we walked into the parking lot of Mary, Mother of Priests Catholic Church. It seems that this church was/is used for retreats. There are several small dorm building behind the church. Three different ritual spaces - a labyrinth, a circle marked in the four directions surround by cut logs for seating and a boulder-defined circle with a large obsidian boulder in the center - none looked recently maintained. A little further on was a short river trail with a seating area that was quite lovely. Someone had posted a copy of a Thomas Merton prayer on a tree - again it looked very weathered in it's plastic pouch - and the prayer seemed rather disconnected to the actual site. |
Today we loaded up the bikes and drove back past the fish hatchery to ride up the trail along the Rio Cebolla. It is a very pleasant ride, 5 miles in each direction up to about 8,500', on mostly double-track on what was clearly a graded jeep road at one time (and perhaps still) used for ranchers to access the property. There is grazing land on both sides of the small stream as it snakes down the Ponderosa Pine and cliff-face lined canyon. At the top (there was a short, very steep hike-a-bike section with a 600 ft climb that we decided to pass on) we enjoyed lunch with some medium boiled eggs harvested from MSA's chicken coop. Then a leisurely ride down before returning "home" and seeing more blossoms on the yellow rose bush.