Archives for December 2014

Friday, Dec. 19, 2014 – First Ride at Catalina State Park

Woke up to a beautiful day, just a nip in the air this morning, quickly being replaced by warm, sunny skies. After a late breakfast we saddled up the horses and head out, going uphill on the 50 Year trail, figuring uphill to burn off any excess alfalfa energy at the beginning of the ride would be good. It got a bit rockier as we got higher, but there was still plenty of sand around for the most part. After a bit of climbing, we eventually came to a plateau for a while, a bit rockier, but not too bad. We came to a gate and passed through, and it seemed as though we were supposed to turn to the right rather than straight, (at least that's they way the sign seemed to indicate), so we went right for a while until it came to a T. Again, it seemed like the cutoff we were looking for on my GPS was right about there, so we turned right, but that just led us to an overlook. We came back and went the other way, which then switchbacked it's way down the hill until if finally reach what was more like a road, but the sign then clearly said turn right, so we did. Passed quite a few free range cows in this section. Moments later, we came to two gates side by side. The one of the right said it was the entrance back into Catalina State Park, the other wasn't marked other than to close the gate. It had a cattle guard with a cowboy gate next to it, though it was partially filled with dirt so probably not a problem, but having had bad experiences with cattle guards previously, I wasn't about to try it. Anyway, we agreed to take the park entrance, then followed what seemed to be the main path trail ahead. That eventually narrowed until it became a wash, did a river crossing, and figured out we were way off track according to my GPS, though we were heading south, which was the eventual direction we wanted to go. We followed the wash until it became almost impassable, then we cut west in an effort to rejoin the original Sutherland Trail. Just before we reached, but since we were clearly heading in the right direction, we stopped and shared an apple with the horses, resting momentarily before moving on. Again, the trail alternated between sandy and rocky, but nothing too tricky. The views of the mountains in front of us were spectacular, with a bit of snow dusting the top after the rain we had the other day. Moments after beginning again, we met up with Sutherland trail and followed that south again. There was one tricky spot that went down some actual steps that someone had build into the side of the ridge, and were a bit close together for a horse going down, but we managed to make it without any drama, though we took it nice and slow. That brought us to a creek crossing and another climb up the other side, but part of that stairway had a bypass for horses, which helped, and the top steps were wider apart, making it much easier. We started picking up a lot of foot traffic at this point, and soon we dumped out into a parking area. We found the Bridle Trail on the far side of the parking area, and that brought us straight home, passing by a group area and several campgrounds. A very nice ride, a bit shorter than we expected because we cut off a significant corner of my proposed route when we missed where to go when we came through that double gate, but that just means now we'll have to go back again in the reverse direction to find out what we missed! Just under nine miles, the perfect length for me, and even Hubby's been getting fit enough lately to hand in there for 3+ hour rides. Got the horses bedded down for the night, and enjoyed a relaxing Friday evening.

Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014 – More Rain and Writing

Had some more heavy rain overnight, but fortunately they were warm and cozy under a solid roof, though the rest of their corral is a muddy mess. I’m SO glad we left their rain sheets on, not just to keep them dry, but to keep them clean! Every exposed area was thick with mud, all over their faces and the top of their necks, I can only imaging what the rest of them would have looked like without them! Cleared up a bit more in the afternoon, but still too muddy to do any corral cleaning. Did manage to get some more pages done on the book, though!

Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014 – Rain and Writing Day

Woke up a few times during the night to the sound of rain, but managed again to get right back to sleep. When we went out to feed the horses, we discovered our neighbors we gone already, so evidently it was just an overnight stop for them. Took a walk with Billy to check out one of the trails, which seem to be mostly sand, so it’s possible we won’t need boots when we go riding in the next few days. Forecast is for rain today and tomorrow, so we’re thinking Friday for our first ride, though the temps are only in the high 50’s. That could change, though, and because it will be sunny, we know it will feel warmer.

Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2014 – Hay and Reconnaissance Day

Had the best night sleep in a long time last night! Lately, I’ve been waking up at 4:30 am and not being able to get back to sleep, but this morning, I quickly went back to sleep every time I woke up. Really quiet here, yeah! After doing some research, we decided to run down to the other campground we’re considering to check it out today, as there is a hay farm very nearby, and we could kill two birds with one stone. After breakfast we headed out in the truck, first to the Gilbert Ray County Park, where we met Billy, who showed us the area that they had decided they could allow horse camping (they don’t usually, but are making an exception for us), which turned out be much nicer than we thought, and since it is so close to the trails at the west unit of the Saguaro National Park, we may decide to move over next week. Afterward, we headed down to the hay farm just down the road, and looked at their alfalfa. It seemed a bit greener than what we had had before, but it still seemed a little more stalky than what we like. Only way to find out if Clio will eat it is to try it! We bought 6 bales for $13 each, less than what I had planned, but they wouldn’t accept personal checks or credit cards, so I had to use cash. In any event, at least it solved our problem temporarily. I spoke to several growers in Las Cruces, with plans to get a full load on our way to Austin next month, since New Mexico is famous for their alfalfa. Arrived back at camp to discovery someone had come in during the day and parked on the other side of the yard, with two palominos in two of the uncovered corrals. Back to routine chores, and settled down for the evening.

Monday, Dec. 15, 2014 – Travel Day to Catalina State Park

Got up reasonably early and finished packing up, loaded up the horses and after saying our good-byes to our barnyard neighbors, got on the road by about 9:30. A very straightforward drive down I-17 to I-10, found a Walmart directly across from the entrance to Catalina State Park, one short side trip to get gas in the van, then into the Park we went. They only charged us for one vehicle (thank goodness), so at $15 a night, we felt it was a decent bargain. The horse camp has 8 open corrals and 4 partially covered corrals, so we put the horses in two of the covered corrals, since there's a lot of rain in the forecast. We got the RV settled in along the fence, filled the water tank from a nearby spigot (there are several around the grounds), got the satellite dish up and running, and were settling down for the evening just after nightfall. A very quiet spot, even though it's just off the main road through town, we couldn't hear much in the way of traffic noise. Paid for a week, not sure if we'll stay longer than that or not, depends on what we learn about the other campground we want to look at further south.

Sunday, Dec. 14, 2014 – Hay Return

Yesterday, because there was heavy rain in the forecast, we moved the horses to a couple of corrals with full covers rather than partial ones. The result was we learned that Clio hadn’t been eating hardly any alfalfa. Apparently, she’s been just picking off a few leaves and leaving the rest of it for Apollo to eat. This is just what happened last spring when we got a few bad batches of hay, and she lost so much weight we have only just recently gotten her back to normal. Since we didn’t want to have to go through that again, I was compelled to ask Kelly to let me return most of the hay that I had bought from her, so I would have room in the truck to get something she WILL eat. Hated to do it, but didn’t really have a choice. Dallas and another helper came by with a flatbed and loaded out the hay, leaving me with two partial bales just to get through until I can pick up some more later in the week. Afterwards, we did some packing up in preparation for our departure tomorrow. Hubby had done a good job spacing out his repair and maintenance jobs during the week, so there wasn’t too much to do. Finished up some laundry and put some stuff away, otherwise an uneventful evening.

Thursday, Dec. 11, 2014 – Ride to Hidden Treasure

After a week of the usual chores, writing, laundry, vehicle washing and various mundane activities, and determining that this may be our last ride here at Bumble Bee, we decided to make today's ride a long one, and the one place we had heard about but hadn't been to yet that fit the bill was a spot called Hidden Treasure. I drew a map on Google Earth and downloaded it into my GPS just to make sure we didn't get lost, since the last thing we needed on a 12 mile ride is to get lost. We headed south along the east side of the ranch, on a lovely trail I wish we had known about before, it was very nice. Apollo was full of beans this morning, and shied at every piece of rusted metal, downed saguaro cactus and other extraneous junk that we passed by. Eventually, he settled down and was his usual sane self. The trail took us down to a gate that, unfortunately, only had a key lock on it, so I guess I missed the instructions, but we followed the fence a little east and found a break in the fence by the wash that is near the pipeline and managed to get through there. We then followed the pipeline for a few miles looking for where the Black Canyon Trail crossed it. We thought we saw a shortcut ATV road a little before my GPS told us to turn left, and that ended up taking us in the wrong directions, so we cut back to the pipeline and stayed on it until we finally did reach the BCT. West from there, and before we knew it, we were at Hidden Treasure, an oasis of sorts. Evidently there is an underground river that pops up along the wash occasionally, including one down on the ranch, and here there is a very small pond several inches deep, filled with bulrushes and cattails, surrounded by cottonwoods and even some grass, a very rare occurrence here in the near desert. Cattle pens have also been built here, with a ramp for loading onto trucks. We stopped and shared a couple of apples with the horses, and an ATV with a couple of guys came by, asking us if we had seen any quail, as they were out hunting. Hadn't noticed any, and told them so, so they moved on. After a little rest, we rejoined BCT and started heading south back to the ranch. This was truly a beautiful section of trail, though a bit challenging in a few places. Lots of cutbacks in order to cross arroyos, mostly a sand trail which made it particularly nice, until we finally joined the road that went straight down to Bumble Bee. We debated whether to stay on the BCT, but that would have added additional mileage, and the sun was already getting low, and we figure the most direct route would just get us back in time, so we took the road. It was a great ride, and surprisingly, neither of us felt overly tired. We've been walking fairly regularly, and I think that's been helping a lot, getting us back in shape now that Hubby's fully recovered from his broken bones. Got the horses put away, and had a lovely evening!

Saturday, December 6, 2014 – Abrupt Wakeup Call, Otherwise Relaxing

Woke up abruptly to the blasting of multiple gunshots from semi-automatic weapons on the range that’s about 100 yards behind us. We figured it was the guests that were up at the Big House that arrived last night, didn’t realize they were the hunting types. After an hour or two, though, they finally quit, and by then we were finished with breakfast and settled down for the rest of the day.

Friday, December 5, 2014 – Ride Day at Bumble Bee

The rain moved out overnight, but the clouds remained, at least high clouds that veiled the sun. We saddled up and this time, headed north on the main road, then turning west once we got through Bumble Bee, taking a previous route backwards, until we took a turnoff that headed us east toward the mountains, though on a road we hadn't been on before. The road was a bit rough, but we eventually came to the end of it, where there is an abandoned mine. I've noticed when I look on Google Earth that there are a lot of primitive roads around here that seem to just end, and I'm learning that these mostly lead to abandoned mines. Good thing they didn't have satellites in the old days, the old prospectors would never be able to keep their strikes secret! On the way back down, something had the horses at full attention, likely something they smelled. We saw some hoof prints coming up the hill that looked very fresh, probably elk or some similar large deer, so we figured that was it. They finally settled down again once we got to the crossing of the Black Canyon Trail, which we again headed south on. So far, this is our favorite trail, it's a really nice section. Had a nice canter once we hit the main road, then got back to the ranch safely. Didn't bother to wash the horses, since the paddocks are nothing by mud, but we did move them to a different pen because the one they were in had gotten so chewed up during the last couple of days. Once it dries out, I'm sure it will be fine again. Had another relaxing evening, it was really quiet since both our RV neighbors went to Sedona for the weekend. Terry and Martha just got their new RV on their new pickup, so they've been busy the last couple of days trying to get everything moved in, and it took a little longer to pack up than usual. So no happy hour tonight, just a nice quiet evening!

Thursday, Dec. 4, 2014 – More Rain, More Writing

Once again it rained heavily in the morning, finally quitting around noon, though the clouds remained for the rest of the day. More writing! Good week for it!