St. George Area

We decided it was time to move on so we headed down to St. George (about 50 miles) Thanks Giving day. We put the horses in a “horse hotel” near St. George and spent about 5 hours scouting for camp sites in the four runner. We got back about 6:30 PM hoping to eat Thanks Giving dinner out. It turns out that anything that look appealing to everyone (read Chuck-O-Rama or Golden Fork) closed at 6:00 PM on Thanks Giving. So we stocked up on frozen pizza, sliced ham, and frozen egg rolls and ate in. The next day we refueled, ran errands and headed 30 miles out of town to welcome springs, a remote stock watering trough on BLM land. We ran late as usual and didn't make camp till after dark. Between excellent moon light and the fact that we had already scouted the area it was no big deal. Denise and the girls road the horses the last two miles while I drove the bus because the road was so washboarded.

The stock water trough is a great feature of the camp site.

November 29th: We did our first long ride today. The terrain was pretty flat. I didn't know if the horses were up to it. I didn't know if I was well enough for it either. We all did fine. Denise went bareback. Lily was complaining about her back hurting and didn't want to do anything but walk her horse at the start (I believe she was still psyched from falling of the other day). By afternoon her back was better and she was happily galloping. We got back after dark but there was good moonlight.

Music (my horse) ready to go.

Tandy (Jackie's horse) ready to go.

Lunch break.

November 30th: We went 2 ½ miles to a rock climbing wall and did one route. It was very cold and windy. The routes on the wall didn't seem to match the book very well. I tried to lead what I thought was a 5.8, I think it was closer to a 5.10. After two bolts I moved over to what was supposed to be a 5.9 (and actually felt like it was).

November 31st: We went on a 26 mile ride. We didn't initially plan to go so far. We didn't hurry very much for the first four hours. Then we decided to cut back in a loop through a high pass on the back side of the mountain behind us. We got up into the juniper which was very pretty, it is all cactus, sage brush and and Joshua Trees down at our camp. We had to go 5 miles along the highway on the return. For about 4 of those miles we had only moonlight. Fortunately the dogs didn't get hit, the traffic was light and there was a decent shoulder to ride on most of the time.

Moseying through the desert.

Jackie and Tandy.

Pepsi (Denise's horse) ready to go.

Denise and Pepsi.

Looking down the canyon at the desert floor.

View from the pass.

December 1st: We went back to the climbing area again today. I got up at 7 (sunrise) and started getting ready. We still didn't leave till 10 something, we haven't really gotten the early departure with horses down yet. I put all the climbing gear in pack bags on Music and lead her. I lead about a 5.10 and then top roped that and 3 other routs in the 10 range. It was an ugly lead with lots of grabbing the draws. I enjoyed the top roping. Jacky and Lily climbed the first route. Jackie climbed in good form, Lily was ratcheted up. Lily climbed two other routs. Her last climb was just as hard as the first, she had excellent form and hardly any takes.

Music with her pack bags on.