Week 17: The one with the soak in the hot springs!

(Santa Fe National Forest > Ghost Ranch, New Mexico)

Hey, hello, and welcome back! Thanks so much for following along on our grand adVANture! How the heck has it been 17 weeks since we sold our house in Austin, Texas to travel full time? It feels like we’re just getting started!

This was my view out the sliding door window and I couldn’t get enough of it.

All the fall feels!

We started the week off dispersed camping in Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico. The nights were getting colder — as in 30’s! — and it was feeling like fall!

The wild hydrangeas putting on quite the show!

Just look at those bright magenta (!) petioles contrasting with the yellow leaves on this Rocky Mountain Maple!

An Ode to Lichens

There were so many amazing lichens in the forest and I wanted to paint them all!

These lichens reminded me of Christmas decorations!

I only had time for three — guess we have to go back someday!

First there was this lichen on a rock that I found while we were hiking.

Next up was this little fallen twig with two lichen species on it — it was like they were cuddling :)

And last but not least, two beard lichens on a twig:

If you’d like to see more pictures of my sketches and the tools that I use to paint them, check out my portfolio site here.

Soaking in the Views

Wednesday was our last full day in the forest so we decided to hike to San Antonio Hot Springs. It was only a 3 mile hike from camp, so left the van in camp and set off. The way down the mountain was a little scary — I was glad I had my hiking stick and J to hold on to! But it was so worth it!

Foot selfie in the hot springs! (That’s me on the left and J on the right!)

There are several pools to soak in and we had one all to ourselves.

It felt so good we didn’t want to leave.

I kept soaking in that view — see what I did there?

Since I had my kit with me, I decided to do a quick sketch — and I even filled my water brush with water from the hot spring!

Check out the video here on Instagram or click on the image.

We decided to take a longer route back to camp and hike up Valle San Antonio for a bit.

Hiking along San Antonio Creek up into the Valle.

It was so beautiful and really made me miss Valles Caldera!

Stunning views on the hike up the mountain as we headed back to camp.

The hike back to camp was around 5 miles, for 8 miles on the day. We crashed hard when we got back to the van at dusk. What an unforgettable day!

When we got up on the ridge the view was incredible — we thought some of those peaks looked familiar, so Jason got the Peakfinder app out and turns out we were looking right at Cerro de la Garita! (The number to the right of the name is the elevation.)

We hiked the La Garita Summit Trail during my residency at Valles Caldera, so it was so cool seeing it from the forest!

Farewell to the Forest

The next morning we walked down to the overlook about a half mile from camp to say farewell to the forest.

The overlook near where we were camped!

Definitely going back there someday.

On to the next adventure!

Ghost Ranch, Abiquiú, New Mexico

After driving west out of the Jemez Mountains and stopping in Cuba — New Mexico, that is! — for gas and groceries it was on to Ghost Ranch.

I’ve wanted to visit Ghost Ranch to see the landscape that inspired so many of Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings forever. When I first saw Cerro Pedernal it was like meeting an old friend.

Cerro Pedernal with glowing cottonwoods.

I can’t wait to try and paint this scene! What a cloud, right?!

And check out our amazing view from camp! Those colors have my heart.

I’ve been studying the cliffs and taking notes as the light changes throughout the day.

Here’s the view from when we step into the road from camp — what a view!

High Desert Watercolor Workshop

I was lucky enough to take a watercolor workshop with Sean Hudson during my time here. I just love his graphical style and how he captures the desert with simple strokes.

This was my first ever in-person watercolor class so I was a little nervous and didn’t know what to expect at first. But I stressed for nothing — everyone was so nice! I made some new friends and learned some cool new techniques.

Super quick thumbnail sketch of the Pedernal in the ever changing light at sunset.

Here are a few paintings from class — some are still in progress:

Two fun techniques for painting clouds:

I had so much fun learning Sean’s technique for painting junipers!

Walking back to camp after the workshop was also a treat with views like these:

Can’t wait to finish up the works in progress and paint some more!

PS. If anyone is interested in the palette I was using during class drop me a comment below and I’ll write it up! I played with some colors that I usually save for when I’m at Big Bend National Park and they worked great here.

Back to Rio Grande del Norte

We’ll be here at Ghost Ranch one more day and then it’s back to Rio Grande del Norte National Monument. We stopped there on the way south from Cimarron but it was too hot to camp there yet. Can’t wait!

I have some BIG news to share next week — this post is way too long so I’m signing off for now. Stay tuned…

Thanks so much for following along on this journey — it’s so great having you along for the ride! — Lisa & Jason

Our camp at Ghost Ranch — we were lucky enough to score a spot with a shade shelter! I typed most of this update sitting underneath it and watching the dramatic sky.