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!

Because it was forecast to be a bit warmer today, we decided to get a ride in a little earlier, and to try to reach a nearby National Monument known as Toozigoot, a former Indian pueblo village that sits right on top of a nearby hillock. Since it was only about 1.5 miles away, we thought we would try to ride there, though I was pretty sure we'd be blocked by fences and rules, and in fact, we were. We began by heading north up the road, which turned to gravel just after a cul-de-sac where the tarmac ended. There was a gate just a bit further on, and fortunately it was open, so we headed through it. On the way down the hill after that, we saw a trail marked for horses, but I thought it was too early to turn to we stayed on the road. Shortly after that, we came across a turnoff marked hikers and bikers only, and just beyond that, then the road was marked for hikers only! Even though it seems like a perfectly good road, it seems it leads to a marsh where they didn't want horses, so we turned around and went back to the path marked just for horses. Suddenly we were out of the desert and into a wonderfully cool, shady, riparian area, with taller trees, water crossings, lush grass, a really beautiful, albeit short, trail. We soon rejoined the hiker/biker trail, until it reached a fork. We took the right fork because it brought us closer to the monument, going through a very interesting forest, before being stopped by a gate with no trespassing signs beyond it. We went back to the fork and took the left trail, which was obviously quite new, with little traffic, but someone had marked it with pink ribbons, so we followed the ribbons. We had a couple more water crossings, one about 30 feet wide, but shallow and with firm footing, so it wasn't any problem for our guys. That brought us out to an area that bordered a horse farm, and the trail eventually took us to an old sluice, presumable for gold panning! The trail ended there, so we circled back on a parallel trail, going past a private dam and lake, ending up directly across from the gate where we had been stopped on the hill above us. Apollo balked at making the crossing there, which had loose gravel and dubious footing, so we headed back around the way we came in, back across the water and eventually back to camp. Only 3 miles, just over an hour, but a truly lovely ride! Amazing how a desert can suddenly have so much life, just be adding water! We put the horses away, and decided to drive out to the monument by truck, and though it was only 5 miles away by road, it took over 20 minutes to get there through town because of it's speed limits. We spent about an hour or so wandering the museum and around the grounds of this pueblo, which had been mostly restored by workers in the 30's as a result of the WPA programs, so it wasn't exactly original, but it was at least representative of what it might have looked like back from 1100-1425 AD, before the Indians abandoned it. Then Hubby told me a story about his first boilermaker, back in the early 80's when he first came to this country from England, and that was in the town of Jerome just up the mountain, so we decided to take a ride up there. Talk about some views! Absolutely gorgeous! This old mining town had become an old hippie town, lots of aging bikers, but still had a quaint feel to it, and lo and behold, Hubby managed to find the old bar! It was now called The Spirit Room, though he didn't think it was named that back then. We enjoyed a nice cool draft beer before heading back down the mountain, arriving just as the sun was setting over the mountains behind Jerome. Fed the horses, poured ourselves a cocktail and settled down for the evening. I downloaded a new app on my smartphone today, one that tracks the International Space Station, and tells you when there will be a sighting in your area (based on your actual GPS location), and we were fortunate to be having one this very evening, so a few minutes before it was due, Hubby and I headed outside, and moments later, we caught sight of it, watching it cross the sky from just above Jerome and go toward the south. What a perfect ending to another perfect day! As a raging space fan, I'm going to LOVE that new app!