Reminiscing.......Got an email the other day from Stevie, owner of Red Cloud Ranch in Taos that brought to remembrance one of our 2005 highlights. We stayed at Stevie's Barn Loft for our anniversary last summer, and boy is it a special place. It's a nice sized spread that backs right up to the National Forest where we embarked on a killer ride to celebrate our anniversary. We rode one of the local favorites; the Valle Escondido Loop starting right at the ranch house. This 20 plus mile loop starts with at least 3,000 feet of climbing and if you make a couple of wrong turns like we did, you'll end up with closer to 4,000 feet of climbing. From the Ranch we climbed to Osha Meadows where we picked up the well-known Elliot Barker trail. Elliot Barker continues to climb to Osha Summit, the highest point of the climb at around 10,600 feet. Here you pick up the infamous South Boundary trail (#164) to descend some of the finest singletrack on the planet. When you reach Garcia Park, rather than continuing on #164, you descend back into Valle Escondido and back to the ranch. We had a spectacular day; warm, sunny, and the wildflowers were amazing. Once back at the ranch it was off to the hot tub for a relaxing soak. An ice cold bottle of Killian’s Irish Red really hit the spot too.

Another highlight of our stay at Red Cloud Ranch was during a hike. On our way back to the Barn Loft, I noticed an eerie set of eyes staring us down from about 50 yards away in the forest. Dark was setting in and as I stared at the motionless figure, I soon was able to make out the characteristic shape of the head and the feline ears. It was a beautiful bobcat, and a really large one at that! We had time to snap a couple of pictures before it took off, but the digital images, just didn't come out well. The image is burned our memories though, and just one more great remembrance of our anniversary. The fly fishing in the spring-fed trout pond was not too shabby either. Hope to get back up there this summer, provided the forests haven’t been closed down by then due to fire danger from our dismally dry winter. Pray for rain.

Pictured is Ann, rolling through a sea of wild iris on the Elliot Barker trail at well over 10,000 feet.