A 40 degree morning and a gentle breeze. All night I heard animals splashing in the river. We sat an alarm to get up before sunrise, but by the time we got going, the sun was well into the sky. Our hike today is from the hot springs to Rio Grande Village (and the village store with cold drinks) and back. It’s a beautiful hike, along the Rio Grande for a while and then through the desert. The hike was supposed to be three miles, but Andrew’s GPS showed it to be closer to four miles, one way; making our hike 8 miles round trip. We took a break at the store with a cold drink and a bag of chips. By the time we headed back, it was close to noon. It was well past noon by the time we got back, but we got in the springs for a minute anyway. Andrew stayed longer, but I got out and headed back the 1/4 mile hike to the truck… and the air conditioning! After cooling off and drinking everything we could hold, we took off for our next site.
Our next site is Pine Canyon, but I don’t see any pines, just flat, dry desert. We are going to hike the Pine Canyon trail in the morning. The signs around the trailhead warn of mountain lions in the area and caution hiking too early in the morning. Darn, we’ll have to sleep in tomorrow!