Archives for November 2014

After picking the brain of one of the other campers here yesterday (who left this morning, leaving us pretty much on our own here today), I managed to make some sense of the hand-drawn map the manager Kelly gave me yesterday, and plotted a 6+ mile trip for today. We headed south out of the ranch, past the "Big House," and climbed up for a while on Black Canyon Trail. Rather rough going, not too steep but pretty rocky, until we finally hit the plateau full of huge saguaro cacti for a while, before finding the "Big Rock" that signaled our turn to the right. We weren't sure if it was the right place, but we were following tracks from the group that had gone out yesterday, and when they disappeared and we backtracked, they did turn at a big boulder, so we followed those roughly down hill until we reached the pipeline head, which was clearly marked on the map. Once we crossed the road and went down a bit more, we finally came to the wash, which was mostly dry, mostly flat, and mostly sand, and we soon had a wonderful canter along the riverbed. One last turn up a beautiful, narrow canyon, under the bridge of the main road, before following the wash back to camp, before finishing our 6.75 mile ride back at the entrance to the ranch. A much more interesting ride that we thought at first that it would be, and were happy the rocks didn't continue for the entire trail. Gave the horses a quick rinse off before settling down for the evening.

The state park here is on the edge of the Coconino National Forest, and today we took a trail that doesn't appear on the Dead Horse Ranch Map, but does appear on the "You are Here" placards around the trail. I had taken a picture of one on our last trip, so I was able to do a general GPS map to guide us, though it wasn't a full picture, so I missed part of the western edge of the Bones trail. Nevertheless, I figured about an 8+ mile loop would do the trick today, so off we went! This turned out to be a very fun trail, designed by the local biking community, and once it turned off the main trail, it essentially followed the terrain of the hills and valleys about halfway between the top of the hills and the depth of the valley, so it curved deep into each valley until the trail met that halfway point, then curved back out again around the peninsula that was the mountain. It was easier than Lime Kiln, and all the climbs were gradual, so we had no trouble anywhere. Once, Hubby lost one of Clio's boots, but fortunately he noticed before we had gone to far, so it was just a short jaunt back to retrieve it. Our Cavallos have been GREAT boots, but the straps are getting pretty worn out now, so we're probably going to have to get a new pair for Christmas! Apollo shied a couple of times at nothing, but otherwise, he was a very good horse today. We stopped for a break and an apple all around before continuing on, with the final leg of the journey on Lower Raptor Trail going in the opposite direction than we had taken previously, then we picked up another short trail past the old house that sits atop the hill above our campsite, that got a bit rocky and difficult on the downside, but not too bad. That hooked us up directly with Lower Raptor again, and a short walk southward led us directly back to the campground. It turned out the trip was just under 9.5 miles, but that was because I was missing that section of map and left out one of the trails around one of the mountains. No worries, Hubby is feeling much more fit these days, and he handled it beautifully! The temps today were perfect, and though it was a bit breezy and cloudy, it wasn't enough to create any dust problems. Forecast had called for a 30% chance of rain, and it might have on the other side of the mountain range, but it was great here! This has been a great stay!