I (Chad) was poking around the Caja del Rio on my motorcycle and thought that Colorado Peak looked like a good hiking destination, so the next day we drove out there and checked it out.

Our March camping trip was to what looked like a very scenic area on the map, up the Chama river above Abiquiu. We tried to get back in this area a couple years ago to check out some slot canyons, but got skunked by a giant snow dump in early November that turned the roads into gloopy mud. This time, the forecast was for dry and mild conditions, so we took the van and bikes and planned to camp along the river.

We set our sights on Cerro Pedernal, the object of innumerable photos and paintings and musings ("It’s my private mountain. It belongs to me. God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it." Georgia O'Keeffe).