Archives for 2010

After a very cold night, woke up wondering which was crazier, driving all this way and not taking a ride, or taking a ride when it was freezing outside. There was, in fact, some snow on the ground in the campground when we arrived, but the temps weren’t too bad, in the forties and fifties, but there was a very cold wind coming from the west, which, fortunately, we were somewhat sheltered from, being on the east side of the mountain range. After getting outside and realizing it wasn’t too bad, or at least, wouldn’t be too bad if we dressed properly, we saddled and booted the horses and left the camp about noon, heading out the Red Canyon Trail, which was the beginning of a loop of about 7.2 miles. The first part of the trail was the most difficult, which was fine because the horses were fresh, and apparently quite happy to go for a ride. After the initial easy bit, we headed into rockier terrain, criss-crossing a creek up fairly steep terrain, but like mountain goats, our horses sailed up them with no problem. We were confronted once by a downed tree across the trail, and I wasn’t sure we could get past it, because the cliff dropped away down toward the creek, and the upside seemed to have unsure footing, so I got down and walked it to see how safe it was. My trusty gelding followed right along, climbing up like it was nothing, and Hubby and his mare followed right along. I felt a little silly for not trusting him to take me on his back, but I quickly climbed back up and we proceeded onward. The trail was difficult in some places at first, but once we got past about a quarter mile of rough stuff, it became simply moderate for quite some time. The horses took quite a few breathers as we got closer to the top, understandable considering they climbed about 1100 feet in 2.5 miles. When we reached the intersection at the top, there was a clearing with some grass, so we let them graze for a bit, cognizant that we couldn’t waste much time, what with the time change back to standard time this past weekend, and it getting dark here by about 5:00. We certainly didn’t want to be late getting back. There were spectacular views, though, on both sides of the mountain range we had just climbed, we could even see Albuquerque in the distance! After the horses had a few minutes rest, which they needed, as evidenced by the goodly amount of sweat they had accumulated, we headed north on the Crest Trail. I had made the assumption that the Crest Trail would stay fairly level and that the returning trail would be all downhill, but I was wrong. The Crest Trail actually descended for 1.2 miles on this particular stretch (the entire trail is upwards of 18 miles), then the rest of the loop was mostly level and gradually downhill, skirting the mid-section of the mountain all the way around. Apollo sensed we were heading home, and his pace picked up a bit as well, and we made the last 3.5 miles in just an hour and fifteen minutes, pretty good considering the trail was still mosting rock and didn’t lend itself to trotting, much less cantering. It did get considerably colder on the north side of the mountain, and the snow was a bit deeper, possibly 2 inches or so, which added to the challenge. It was harder to actually see the rocks on the trail, and it made it much more slippery, which made us once again grateful we were using Easy Boots rather than horseshoes, which would have slipped even worse on the rocks. Having dressed in parkas and double socks, we managed to get back without being completely frozen, and in fact, really enjoyed ourselves. We made such good time that we actually made it back by 3:15, even though I had predicted closer to four. We had the horses settled in and fed by four, and relaxed the rest of the evening, happy that we had made the decision to come here, wishing we had done it sooner. We hadn’t wanted to ride in snow, but were glad that we had experienced it. The rest of the winter, however, we hope to try to stay in 70 degree weather!

Packed up and moved out of this spooky place, heading straight north to the Cibola NF, or at least a portion of it. I had discovered a horse camp that was only about an hour from Albuquerque, and couldn’t understand why I hadn’t found it before, except that I thought I remembered calling and either they didn’t call back or they told me they didn’t have a horse camp, I can’t remember which. In any event, it was ideally located, but the only drawback was there wasn’t any water there, so we stopped at the Ranger Station in Mountainair to pick up maps, and while we were there we filled out RV water tank as well as the 55 gallon drum for the horses, knowing that would be more than enough for two nights. The temperatures dropped a bit as we headed north, and the folks at the Ranger Station mentioned that they had had a “dusting” of snow up at the Red Canyon campground, so we were prepared for a cooler experience than where we had left. We arrived at the well-marked horse camp, which was only slated for RV’s 22 feet in length on their website, but found a pull-through that was more than adequate for both our units, so I don’t know where these numbers come from! Put the horses in each of their own 10X10 corral, realized there was no chance of a satellite signal, which didn’t really matter as we had so much on DVR anyway, and were fully settled in by 4:00. The only unfortunate thing was that one of our dogs got into something that upset her stomach, and she wasn’t up to eating dinner, which for her is unheard of. We were worried about her, but could only leave her to her own devices, namely eating grass and throwing up when it suited her. Went to bed concerned, but looking forward to a ride tomorrow.

Once again saddled and booted the horses for another ride. No sooner had we passed the trailhead when my horse froze, with ears pricked and eyes alert. He even “trumpeted,” a strange occurrence I hadn’t heard him do in a very, very long time. For the uninitiated, it a quick intake of breath followed by a sharp exhale that comes from the bottom of the horse’s diaphragm, almost as if he’s using his whole body as a sounding board. It’s usually performed as a scare tactic, I think, like a dragon giving a warning before the next flaming exhale comes out. Anyway, we finally moved on but the trumpeting continued every few hundred yards. He was obviously agitated about something, especially after we turned up a new trail, the Dry Canyon Trail. It was pretty unnerving, but we kept going. The woods felt very claustrophonic, and we kept our eyes open for wildlife, thinking maybe it was the smell of bears or mountain lions that was upsetting the horses. As we climbed up and up, the rocks got worse on the trail, and it kept getting very close, and the horses just stayed nervous, until we just couldn’t enjoy ourselves anymore and headed back. It felt strangely haunted here, as though bad things had happened and there were evil spirits, or at least unsettled spirits, still hanging around. Though we had expected to stay until Thursday, with another ride on Wednesday, we decided that it just wouldn’t be enjoyable, so I spent the afternoon finding another place closer to Albuquerque where we could go and hopefully get another ride day in, in an atmosphere that was better than here. Once I found a place, we decided we would leave in the morning, and went to bed happy with that decision.

Decided to really take a Sunday off for a change, and spent the whole day relaxing, finishing off the rest of the Jaws series, III and The Revenge, both a pathetic shadow of the original and even 2. A terrifically relaxing day that we obviously needed!

Slept late again, so obviously we’re still recovering from our late hours earlier in the week. After brunch, we saddled and booted up the horses and hit the trail about 12:45. The trail was pretty rocky in a lot of places, but some areas weren’t too bad. It was a gentle climb for the first couple of miles, but then started getting very rough, so we decided to return, since this was the horses’ first day out in over two weeks, and we wanted to make it easy for them. They were already sweating just on this short, easy ride, so we knew they’d gotten out of shape, so we have to work them up again slowly. I can’t say it was as enjoyable as it could’ve been, mostly because hostess Christy had regailed us with stories of running away from bears, almost getting leaped on by a mountain lion, rattlesnakes and a whole litany of other wildlife horror stories that kept us on a paranoic edge for a while, before we finally settled down, comforted by a lack of activity of wildlife all around us. In fact, the only thing we saw was a flock of wild turkeys crossing the trail in front of us. Meanwhile, the horses were brilliant, well-behaved, not at all spooky though their ears and noses did prick up on a few occasions. So well-seasoned now, even a two-plus week break hasn’t phased them. Was out for a total of almost two hours, just about the right length for our first day out. Spent the rest of the day watching movies, beginning with Jaws and Jaws 2, having DVR’ed the whole epic in recent weeks, before switching to a couple of network shows. Went to bed happy that we’re living the dream!

Had an excellent night sleep, not getting out of bed until well past 10:00! Went to feed the horses and discovered the camp hosts had let two of their horses wander, which was fine (as long as they don’t steal our hay or try to chew the paint off our vehicles, especially my new truck!). Our horses weren’t bothered by them, but they were happy to be fed, considering the late hour. Spent the day getting caught up on work. I had been having trouble getting on the internet for several days in Colorado (I think our host’s Wild Blue satellite dish had moved), and here, amazingly enough, I have two bars of cell phone signal, making a Verizon broadband connection quite fast. The hostess, Christy, stopped by and hand-drew a map for us, as I haven’t been able to find one on the internet for this area, and had a beer with us. Despite our long night sleep last night, we’re still both a bit tired, so I made a pot of chicken soup we can munch on all evening before we crash!

Got up early as planned, and were pulling out by 7:45 a.m. Stopped at a Denny’s about 10 miles south (since when was a “strip” of bacon 2 inches long?), got fuel and propane and went shopping at Wal-mart before heading down to the Lincoln National Forest. It was one of the more boring landscapes we’ve seen for a long time. Though there were some mountain ranges in the background, it was mostly a desert. The only interesting area as what looked like a lava field, full of black rock chunks for miles near the end of the trip. The roads were fine until the last five miles, where the gravel got a little washboard-y. We were met by the camp hostess Christy, who showed us around. We picked our spot, put the horses in a round-pen sized corral and didn’t take long to pick up water in the RV and get settled in. We were both tired, so we called it an early night.

 Up early, got packed up and moved out by 10:00. Stopped in LaVeta to dump at the Country Store, then headed West on 160, deciding we wanted a more scenic route than I-25. Although we though it would be more mountainous, it actually turned out to be less so, traveling down a long flat valley for most of the way (other than the climb over LaVeta Pass), with just a few twists and curves and hills around Taos and Santa Fe. Picked up lunch at Wendys along the way, and arrived at our overnight stop south of Albuquerque, a private residence with a good-sized paddock and a run-in shed in the back that boards animals. We wanted to check it out before we left our animals there for our long trip later this month. Friendly dogs were everywhere, and our guys socialized immediately, the horses loved having so much space to run around in. We didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver the RV around the house, but we managed with care. Spent a restful evening, knowing that in order to accommodate our hostess we need to be out before 8:00 when she left for work.

Spent the day doing laundry and watching the election returns. Have been having a lot of problems getting on the internet, I think perhaps the satellite dish has moved, so now I’m behind again on our planning. Stayed up WAY too late watching returns, especially since we’re leaving in the morning, but it was just so addictive I couldn’t help myself! I’ll catch up later. Other than that, an uneventful day.

Our hostess had a dinner party for her husband’s birthday today, so she spent the day cleaning and preparing, while I continued to get my computer up and running. It was a lovely event, with a high-end caterer from Colorado Springs, and a decorating crew that turned the room into a magic place, albeit barely large enough for a sit-down dinner for 16. We had cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the patio, though it started getting cold and windy after a while, so we all meandered inside until dinner was ready. It was an excellent gathering, the food was great and the conversation was also quite interesting, mostly politics, of course, as many were involved with the hostess’ local political campaign, and with the election on Tuesday, and the race seems neck in neck, though no polls have been done so no one really knows. One thing we know, her incumbent opponent hasn’t answered any of the mailers she’s sent out (which were quite well done), and the momentum seems to be going her way, but no one will know for sure until Tuesday, or perhaps later if it’s really close, liks so many races across the country. After a deliciously sweet chocolate souffle with ice cream, we left the house at midnight on a sugar high that kept us up for hours, even though we went to bed by 1:00. Not a great night sleep, unfortunately, but that’s what Sunday’s are for, to sleep late and recover from Saturday night!