Archives for 2014

Got up a bit earlier today to make sure we got back from our ride before it gets too late, as Friday the sun was just about down by the time we got, which is cutting it a bit close to not getting back before dark, so we were out before 11:00 this morning. We took about a 7.5 mile loop that was roughly northeast of the ranch, which started along the wash. We heard gunshots of apparent target practice, so before we went around a turn I called out, and the shooting stopped. As we came around the corner, a couple of shooters waved at us to let us know they had heard me and stopped until we passed. Being Sunday, it was quite busy out in this area of BLM land, with numerous ATVers and picnickers, but the horses paid not attention. They were pretty sluggish this morning, not used to being ridden three rides in a week, particularly since the one on Friday was so long, but eventually they became engaged with the trail. The wash alternated between sand and sharp rocks, and many times we followed the ATV trail, as it avoided most of the worst sections, but weren't that great either, very rocky. About halfway around, the turnback on the loop, was very steep, with an almost 40% grade according to my GPS, but at least it got us to the top of the hill quickly! We stopped at the top for an apple break before continuing. Beautiful views up here, though it was pretty rocky, and the road was quite challenging, with lots of hills and dales along the top. Another nice ride, though! During the course of our ride, Hubby and I debated the pros and cons of staying here or moving on, and by the time we got back, I checked the weather, and there's a polar vortex moving down in the next week, so the place we were planning on going in Payson would have lows in the upper 20's by the end of the week, compared to upper 40's, low 50's here at Bumblebee, so we decided that if it was okay with Kelly, we'd stay here for a few more weeks. With a great cell phone signal, this is a good place for the audio conferences I need to facilitate in a couple of weeks, and it's pretty quiet here, and very reasonably priced, so our focus is now on just staying where it's warm for the winter, and at the moment, this is the place! Spoke to Kelly when they came up to feed the horses, and she smiled and said, "I knew you'd want to stay longer." Other than having to accommodate a very large saddle club group this weekend, we should pretty much have the place to ourselves, except maybe a few folks occasionally. Having made that decision, we settled in for the night, satisfied that the next few weeks will be comfortable, and living will be easy with water and electric!

Saddled the horses and got out a little late for our four-hour ride today. I had tried to plot a GPS course based on the hand-drawn map that I got from Kelly, the ranch manager, but it was mostly guesswork on our part. We did manage to find most of the landmarks, and actually did pretty well until the end, when we hit the farthest wash, where we thought we were supposed to turn left, which we did. We followed the wash another mile up into a cove, climbing all the way, until the trail simply petered out. We headed back down the valley again, until we reached where we had turned left, and went the other way because there was an interesting rock formation that I though would be a good place to stop for an apple break. Turns out, that was where Antelope Falls was! So instead of left, we should have turned right, which quickly dumped down into another wash where the rock formation and the trail up to the falls were. There was a small pool of water in the rocks where I was able to collect some in our portable bucket for the horses, then we split a couple of apples between us all. There were two ATV 4-wheelers parked there, and after a while, half a dozen guys came down the trail that led up to the actual water fall, though according to their report, there was only a tiny drip at the moment. We all chatted for a while before heading back toward the ranch. The trail along the wash is like so many here, it's more of a general direction rather than a precise trail, so we meandered here and there on our way back, cutting through the campground on the road this time, though we cut back down to the wash to stay off the main road. Got back to the ranch by 5:00, having completed nearly 12 miles, about 2 miles longer than we expected because of our wayward trip up the canyon. A great ride, Hubby even held up well the entire trip, despite being longer than we expected. A gorgeous day!

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!