Mountain Time has been good for us, we've been getting up earlier than usual, and having some pretty good night's sleeps as well! Managed to get out on the trail again by 11:00, this time heading to a place called Cave Creek. Where to get to the trail head was a mystery to me, despite having gotten several opinions from our neighbors, but we managed to just finish saddling up when another group from the campground left, so we tagged behind them, just close enough to keep an eye on which way they were going. Almost lost them once, but managed to figure it out. Down the hill to the northwest, across the road, parallel the road for a while, then down to the road again, make a right and stay on the road for about 80 yards, then the trail appears on the left. Take that to the campground, cross the creek and up the bank on the left to the road, make a right, take the left fork up the road (there's a small sign indicating a horse trail, up around the bend to the left, and the trail is on the right. Up the bank, and there's an intersection with several choices, one of which was, thankfully, Cave Creek. In about a quarter mile there was a fork with no sign, one going up to the left, the other down to the right. As we pondered which way to go, Hubby caught a glimpse of our lead party across in a field to the right, so we headed down to the right, crossed a creek, and were able to easily follow the well-marked trail from that point. What a busy trail! Granted, it was Sunday and there was a lot of day traffic, but joggers and hikers galore! No other horses than ours and the lead group. We haven't seen this much foot traffic since the Grand Canyon! Though we don't usually ride on Sundays, that's true. In any event, it was a great trail! Much less rocky than the previous two trails, though there were still a few spots that had some problems. Really nice, though. Apollo has settled down nicely, he was perfect today, no anxiety, no muss, no fuss, a very enjoyable day. We thought we found where the caves were, near a sign that said "No camping within 50 ft. Of stream", and we had been told it wasn't easy to find, but that turned out not to be the case. Just a bit further along, however, we found our other horse party, and they were hanging out there. The first one was essentially a hole in the wall of rock where the stream diverted into, leaving a dry river bed until it came back out of the wall downstream. About 50 or 75 yards further along was the more interesting feature, though, with three large cave entrances, large enough to easily walk into (and a lot of people were, as it was much cooler inside), with one of the holes being where the creek, once again, dropped into a hole in the ground. A great destination, and stayed there for a while and kept cool. Eventually the other horse party left, as did the several groups of hikers that came and went, until we were ready to head back. With two creek crossings, the horses were well watered along the way, the first time on the trail since we've been here. It was a beautiful and enjoyable day, perfectly blue sky, light breeze to keep it from getting too hot, the babbling brook that paralleled the trail, the forest with well-marked trails, what else could anyone ask for? A perfect day, the best day yet, and we've only been on the road a week! Speaking of, when we got back, we spent some time packing up and getting ready to leave bright and early. Since we filled our tank and yet only stayed four nights, we both got to luxuriate in a nice long shower after the work was done, the perfect ending to a glorious day!

Another early morning for us, our time clocks are really working well in this Rocky Mountain Time. I was up by 7:00, having gone to bed about 9:30, and reading till a little after 10:00. Best night sleep so far, fell right back to sleep after I woke up a couple of times, fewer times than most nights. Getting back to normal! Rasped Apollo's feet again, just to make sure the boots would go easily, though I still had to do a bit more on one, but finally they slid right on. Clio was another matter, got them on but had to force the back of them up over her heels. Out on the trail before 11:00, though, this time going to check out Round Mountain, which is a long, supposedly gradual climb. Well, I guess relatively speaking it was gradual, but it went on and on and on! More than 2.5 miles before we finally hit our high point at 10, 157 feet where we found ourselves in a beautiful field with at 360 degree absolutely gorgeous panoramic view! Stunning! We rested the horses and lay down on the grass for a while, luxuriating in the simple pleasures. The feel of the ground, the sound of the wind whistling through the nearby pines, the munching of the horses on the tufts of grass where we lay, the crystal blue sky, white fluffs of some kind of pollen racing past us on the wind by the millions. Heaven on earth! We lay there for quite a while, then a riding party of some of our camp neighbors went by, breaking the spell of being the only two people on earth. We waited a few more minutes before re-mounting and heading back down the mountain. We passed several hikers, caught up to the riding party that had stopped for some reason, and we continued past them, with Apollo straining to go faster and faster down the hill. It was all I could do to hold him back, I thought he'd be worn out after all that climbing, but he was still raring to go when we reached the campground, even cantering along the road to the campsite! He continued pawing all the way through his unsaddling and unbooting, I figured he must be thirsty so I got him into the corral right away, but he bypassed the water to flop down on the ground and roll! Then he stood up, shook himself, dropped himself down on his other side and rolled again! Then he got up and did the same thing again, over and over and over, at least half a dozen times on both sides. I've never seen him do that before, and I hope it isn't something symptomatic of colic. We've been trying to gradually move them over to a mix of their old coastal hay to this new mix of alfalfa, and I've been so afraid that too much alfalfa will cause it, but we've been really careful. Nevertheless, I'm thinking of dropping back to just one flake a day of the alfalfa mix, just in case. He's been acting so hyper, and I'm not sure if it was because of the month-long layoff, or if he's just really excited about being back on challenging trails every day, or if the alfalfa is just going to his head. Sure wish horses could talk! Anyway, once he was finished, he finally settled down, got a drink and took a nap, along with Mama, who was already sound asleep. In any event, it was a beautiful day, a fabulous ride, particularly grand because I know the folks down in the valley are sweltering and we're up here in perfect 80 degree weather, with the occasional cool wind coming down off the mountains. And yes, that's SNOW at the top of the mountains in a few of the pictures! Can't say enough about how gorgeous it is here. Only con is that there are a lot of stones and rocks on the trails, chipping their hooves in the back pretty badly, but it doesn't seem to have affected their performance. Tomorrow, we head west to someplace called Caves Creek or something like that. Again, we have to make it linear to keep it under 7 or 8 miles, but for those that like really LONG rides, and who are acclimated to the high altitude, most of the loops here (of which there are MANY) are at least 12-15 miles long, and all cover lots of terrain, mostly pretty steep up and down, so pretty challenging. Better have fit animals when you come here!

Had a pretty good night's sleep, pretty quiet here, though there were a few early risers we heard talking a bit before we got up. Kind of surprising that it wasn't the mules in the corral next door, actually, I expected them to be our rooster while we were here, but they were quiet, too. Morning temps in the upper 40's so heat was certainly not a factor in the night! Had a good breakfast, then got the horses ready to go. Even though I had rasped Apollo's feet a little yesterday, I still had a little trouble putting his boots on, so I had to rasp him and Clio again. We didn't need boots at the last place, but this one apparently has rocky trails (typical in the mountains), so we saddled and booted and were on our way by about 10:30. We decided to take a trail that would lead us to the Iron Gate campground, which I had figured on Google Earth to be about 2.75 miles away, then return on the same trail. Tammy asked us to check in on a camper that was along the way as well. Headed out on a trail to the south, thinking there was only one trail out, but no sooner did we get out of the campground than it split in about 5 different directions, so we took a chance on the one that seemed to head downhill, which, according to my Google Earth-made map was the right one. The idea was to have an easy day in order to acclimatize everyone to the altitude, so down was better at first. The trail was rather rocky in some places, but a lot of just dirt, too. We did go gradually downhill, then uphill a bit, until we finally reached the bridge. At other intersections there had been signs to keep us on track for Iron Creek, but at the bride, the trail went straight up the creek or across the bridge with no indication which way to go. We went over the bridge, then carried on for just a few hundred yards before my GPS compass was saying we were going south, which wasn't right, and off the track as well, so we turned around (though later I was told it was the right way to Iron Creek, I'm still not convinced!) Anyway, we backtracked, then continued on the other trail just to find the campers, which we did, checked in on them, then headed back. We had already gone two miles, and we didn't want to make it a long day, so that was enough. The only challenge was that Apollo was incredibly frisky this morning. He was so excited to be back on engaging trails that Clio was having to trot just to keep up with his walk, so I was having to slow him down. Once we left the bridge and headed back he started to get so antsy I had to get down and run him around in circles for a few minutes, just to calm him down a bit. Once he settled down we continue on our way, and at the first opportunity on an uphill slope, I gave him permission to run, and run he did! He galloped for a dozen strides before the terrain forced him to slow down, but he went like a maniac up that hill! I was hanging on tight, and Clio and Hubby were the same, riding like we stole 'em! Apollo was a little better after that, and by the time we got back to camp, having taken an alternate route back up the hill, he was actually willing to stand still for a couple of minutes while we chatted with Tammy, the first time he had stood still all day. Well, as Hubby said, "Wouldn't you rather have a frisky horse than a dull one?" Yes, as long as he doesn't go crazy on me : -). I told Apollo I was looking forward to seeing how he behaves on Day Three. Anyway, we spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading, watching TV, while our bodies continued to acclimatize. Looking forward to another ride tomorrow!

Such a great night sleep! Other than waking up once and having a hard time getting back to sleep, we both slept very well, and it cooled down so much, at one point I was tempted to reach for another blanket! Perfect! Let ourselves sleep in to help with adjusting to the time change, had breakfast, and were out saddling the horses by 10:30, though it seemed later. It had been very cloudy earlier, and we actually had some rain overnight (I had to get up and close the vents and a couple of side windows), but by the time we got on the trail, it was just starting to clear up. We headed out west of the ranger station and around the workshop area, quickly coming to the park boundary, and headed cross country to the "sand dunes" promised on the map. We had been warned twice about the snakes out here (diamondbacks and sidewinders), and sure enough, just after climbing the first ridge, I heard a small squeal, and saw a snake had just wrapped itself around some kind of small mammal. Not sure what it was, it was wrapped so tight, but I guess I'll say it was lunch for the snake. In any event, as it was obviously occupied, we bypassed it and continued on. Very shortly afterward, we came across another dune, though an actual trail was a bit more challenging. We finally found something that looked like it would pass as a trail and followed it up over another ridge. From there we saw the campground just on the other side! Already? I checked my map again, and sure enough, we had already crossed "the dunes!" I knew this place was small, but I didn't realize it was a postage stamp! We followed the road around, passing several work areas, including an out of order dump, and a crew that was putting up cement block walls to create a small pavilion at every site along that loop, as well as putting cement pads in on top of perfectly useful gravel pads. What a waste of taxpayer money! This tiny little park, and they're spending tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade it beyond what it needed. Crazy! We kept following the road until we came to the "lake." More like a fishing pond, it had been stocked and several families were dipping poles around the perimeter. It was also surrounded by a cement break wall, and was smaller than some holding ponds I've seen in developments in Florida. Managed to find the trail that circled the pond, stopping by a bench for a pic, then headed back around, trying to find any additional trails to follow. Tried one that actually had a sign at the trailhead, but all the trees were very low, requiring us to duck under limbs, and only served as a "sidewalk" of sorts between the bathhouse and the regular campground loop. Not exactly inspiring trail riding. In all, we managed to clock up nearly 2.2 whole miles! Well, at least it got us back in the saddle again, after nearly a month, and the horses got to stretch their legs a little bit. Apollo was a bit antsy with all the rest and the activity going on in the park, but he behaved himself. I took a rasp to his feet when we got back, just to keep his feet in shape. Last month I had a guy come out and do them professionally, he did a real nice job and explained a few things to me (always something new to learn!), so I want to keep them in as good a shape as I can, by rasping early and often. Spend the afternoon catching up on my blog and confirming a hay pickup, ready for a relaxing evening and another early morning tomorrow! A bit lengthier drive, plus with a couple of stops, plus another climb of 4000+ feet in altitude, it promises to be a long and tiring day!

Yesterday, we drove all the way out to McKinney Roughs for a ride, only to learn the trails were closed because they had 3 inches of rain a few days ago. Note to self: Call Ahead! Since we had had two dry days after the rain, it never occurred to us the trails might be closed. Anyway, I had called Reimers yesterday and they said their trails were open, so I knew they would be today. We've only been here once before, and it was nice but not too challenging (i.e. Boring), but it's close, and we wanted to do the same trail in reverse. We arrived to find that two rangers were working on the parking area, with new wood chip surface, and building a railing around the entire parking lot, will make it look a lot nicer when it's finished. One other trailer was there, and we met the owners a bit later, an English woman and her American husband, when they returned from their ride. We were delayed quite a bit because I had to trim the horses' feet, as they were way out of whack, and none of the boots fits. That took nearly 1 ½ hours, so much needed to be done. Plus chatting with the couple was a small but interesting distraction. Finally got on the trail about 1:30, heading north so as to take the loop clockwise. Lots of opportunities to canter and the horses behaved beautifully, having as much fun as we did. Only twice did Apollo try to add an extra leap in his transition, but I managed to stop one and ride out the other until he settled down. At one point about halfway around, Clio brushed Hubby up against an unforgiving limb, which caught his stampede strap and broke it, so that his hat came off. Once retrieved we carried on for a bit, before he realized he had lost a hearing aid. Knowing it had to have happened during the branch incident, we headed back to that tree limb, and, miraculously, after about 5-10 minutes of looking actually FOUND the tiny little bugger! Yeah! Once plugged back into his ear, we continued on our way, getting a few more lovely canters in before getting back to the parking lot by about 3:30. From there, we met with my brother and his friend Dely for a birthday get-together (he celebrated his 89th yesterday) at a nice little place called J-5 Steakhouse on Hwy. 71. Got home around 8:00, bedded everyone down, and had a relaxing evening, after a very nice day.

After a week of recovery and catching up, it was time to get the horses back on the trail, but since we had so much going on, we elected to just go to nearby Pace Bend Park. In search of new trails to ride, we headed north from the Day Use area along the edge of the beach. We passed through a few fields of beautiful blue bonnets and other spring wildflowers, a beautiful sight to see! As we reached the beach, the sand was firm for a short while, but then Apollo balked when the strip narrowed between the edge of the water and the base of the cliff, so Clio took the lead momentarily, but the sand was so soft, she sank in so deep her knees buckled and she essentially laid down, her belly resting on the sand. She didn't struggle, she just sat there waiting for help, so Hubby stepped off her, and she popped right up again. After re-mounting, we headed back up to the top of hill and followed it along the edge for a while. Eventually it curved around until we hit the perimeter fence, then we followed it down through some very nice fields on a narrow trail, with more wildflowers and a few cantering stretches along the way. Not a long ride, but a very nice one, it was good just to get out again. After so much riding last week, we don't want the horses' fitness level to drop any more than necessary!

Got up around 9:00 today, had breakfast and hit the trail before 11:00, for our last ride here at Hill Country, at least for this trip. The only trail long loop left for us was trail #8, which looked very easy, a simple loop by the primitive campground and the group camp, and partially along a utility line, but was pretty rocky so it wasn't quite as much fun as we thought it would be. Couldn't get much trotting or cantering in because of the rocks, and frankly, the horses were quite a bit more lethargic today than on previous days, not used to getting ridden every day. Generally they would get a day off in between long rides, or at least no more than two ride days in a row, so I think by the third day in a row, they had had enough. Nevertheless, they were troopers, and we only went about six miles, mostly walking, so it was still a good ride. Saw some spectacular cactus blossoms coming out, saw some pig sign and then one black pig crossed our trail in front of us, getting just a little reaction from the horses, though their noses were up in the air, heard gobbling of wild turkeys as well, as quite a few birds were out today, too. It was pleasant, with only the amount of rocks being the only detraction. Got back before 2:00, got the horses settled in , had lunch, then went into town for a conference call regarding our meeting next week. Overall, it's been a great week, much needed for us to get away, and for the horses to face new trails for a change. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and will likely come back again, just to finish off the few minor trails we didn't get a chance to do. Glad we came!

Slept later today, another sunny day, just a bit more wind from the south, warming things up a bit, though the overnight was quite cool. The gas furnace went off multiple times during the night, and it was only set at 63 degrees! After a late breakfast and a bit of computer work, we hit the trail about 12:30. Since we went 9 miles yesterday, with lots of tough climbing up and down on pretty rocky grades, we decided to take a nice easy ride today, mostly along the bottom land area. We covered a good portion of the northeastern side of the park, which was a lot of open fields and just a little climbing now and then, skirting along the side of some of the hills, which again offered some really nice views, digressed a few times as we elected to take some wider loops, getting in a lot of cantering, which the horses seemed quite up for, despite their long day yesterday. We started out with a plan of going about 5.5 miles, but ended up doing more than 8 once we took those wider loops. Great ride, though, but there were some pretty rocky sections again in the middle, pretty much par for the course here on the majority of trails, I'm afraid. Glad we have rubber boots for the horses, good traction! Got back by 3:30, took a quick run down to the Ranger station where they were kind enough to let me use the phone to return a call from our local client's staff as we prepare for a meeting next Monday, then settled down for a quiet evening.

What a gorgeous day!! It got quite cold overnight, into the mid 30's, so we weren't in any hurry to get out of bed, slept in until nearly 10 (after I turned the furnace on and warmed it up, that is!), then had breakfast, and were out, saddle up, and hitting the trail by about 12:30 or so. Today, at the suggestion of the nice Ranger we met on Sunday, we decided to do both the 4A and 4B loops, as they both were supposed to have spectacular views, and they did not disappoint! From the camp we crossed the road and crossed a nice field, which will be a perfect place to canter on the way back, but the horses were so rested after having a day off yesterday, they were walking fast and frisky for the first few miles of flatlands. We soon reached the group camp where they have stalls and an arena, and started climbing no long after that. While the bottom land was mostly dirt trails, the climbs were rocky, but our guys went up with no problem, their rubber bottomed Cavallo boots providing them with great traction. We saw a lot of marking from horseshoes, that looked like a lot of slipping. We like boots better, more protection and as I said, better traction. We climbed with no problems and were rewarded with gorgeous view after gorgeous view! We followed the trails faithfully, which were marked pretty well for the most part, except one section that I had traced on Google Earth using their trail map as an overlay indicated a turn to the south MUCH earlier than what the actual trail was. If you only had the map you'd be okay, but looking at my GPS and seeing us get so off-track was a bit nerve-racking, at least for a little while. But frankly, there was only one trail, and we never saw any turn-offs, so we get moving forward, and suddenly the trail turned southward, and I could breathe a sigh of relief. It turned out to be at almost a third of a mile farther north than marked on their map. I'm planning on mentioning to the Ranger, just to let her know. Anyway, we did the loops counter-clockwise, and there were several benches along the way. We stopped at one for a quick break and apples all around, then went a bit farther and came across another one with an even more spectacular view. There was one hill so far away, I swear we were looking at Mexico! Beautiful! Apollo seemed to be right in his element, no hesitation, completely engaged with the trail. Once again I had him in his hackamore, though at one point I put on some gloves because he was pulling so hard it was giving me rope burns. We finally reached the bottom of the valley again, and just before we reached the road, a great big black bird flew up right in front of Apollo, and in a split second his nose was where his tail had just been, and I didn't have a horse under me any more, and I ended up on the ground. Fortunately, it was dirt and not rocks, and I missed a dead tree limb by a couple of feet, so no damage done. Apollo just went over to Mama for protection, and stopped there. As always, I just dusted myself off and climbed back up again, and we were on our way. We crossed the road and picked up the trail that paralleled it, which took us to that open field again, and as soon as the horses saw it, they started racing across it! We were amazed they had that much energy after all those climbs, but I guess all that careful and cautious walking made them really want to stretch their legs, so off we went! It is so exhilarating to do that! It was one of the longest canters we've ever done, and the horses just seemed to want to do more. I am so looking forward to the rest of the trails here! We've gotten most of the hardest ones done, the rest will probably be a piece of cake compared to this one. What a great day! We got back to camp around 3:45, after doing almost exactly 9 miles in about 3 hours. Got the horses settled in, then got ourselves settled in for the rest of the evening. Exactly the kind of days we LIVE for, especially after having been in one place, without trails, for so long. Wonderful!