Woke up to an early alarm again, expecting hot weather and possibly rain later in the day, so after breakfast, we saddled up and headed out. Our plan was to tackle the big loop on Trail #4, but after making a long arduous climb up some quick rocky washes, we missed the intersection to take us there, and ended up on a challenging Trail #5. Very rocky, with lots of grades, which kept Apollo very engaged. I had forgone the bridle today, using my rope hackamore instead, since he's been very well behaved lately, and I think he really appreciated it, especially because it prevented any accidental pulls on his mouth going up these very steep and twisty terrains. Once I realized that we were on the wrong trail, I consulted my GPS and map and realized that #5 would take us directly back to the southern end of easy Trail #1, so the second half of the journey would be very easy, and the ride pretty short, but the fact that the first half was so challenging, and that we were planning on staying through Friday and riding every day, we decided to keep it short to keep the horses enthused about the week. It was a fantastic, albeit shorter than usual ride, and there were some great views. We were back by 12:30, so we decided to do our shopping today, and to have lunch in town, so we drove the short 10 miles into the cute little town of Bandera, known as the Cowboy Capital of the World, got gas for the generator, had lunch a delightful little restaurant call the Brick Cafe, and went shopping for groceries at the Market, and headed back to camp. We stopped at the Ranger station and extended our stay until Friday, having a conversation with a woman who, too, is from England (like Hubby), and was also a horsewoman, so we had a very fruitful conversation with her, discussing trail options. Back to camp by around 4:30, and settled down for the rest of the day.
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