1/26 14.7 miles
We had planned to today and head down the trail tomorrow but by 2 pm the horses were ready so Denise and the girls headed down the trail. I parked the bus at a ranchers a ½ mile away and then hurried south to scout the next day's section. Parts of this section are not yet constructed
I found that the bridge in the wash next to Kelvin had been swept away in last week's floods. I waded across the wash and decided that shouldn't be too hard for the horses. It was getting late but I had time to hike out the three miles of un-constructed trail. It didn't look like an easy ride at all. I walked back on the other option 1 ½ miles of RR track and decided I would rather risk trains than falling horses and broken horse legs.
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| Shadow guarding the tent |
I reached camp at the end of a round 4X4 rode after dark but with just enough time to start a camp fire before Denise and the girls arrived. Everyone was in good spirits. It had been a very pretty ride. There was a little confusion once it got dark but the trail was mostly 4X4 road during the dark hours so it worked out. We ate hot dogs and tied the horses to trees for the night.
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| Jackie packing up the tent. |
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| The first night was in a very scenic location. |
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| Denise was the main horse wrangler. |
January 27 15 miles
It was my turn to ride today. I didn't have to far to go and we had been up late the night before so I didn't hurry and didn't leave till 10:40. Denise was a little worried about driving the 4 runner out of the camp but she was able to do it just fine.
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| Lily cooked breakfast |
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| The four runner carried the camp while the people rode the horses. |
The first 1.2 miles were pretty discouraging. It turned out that the route followed a wash but there was no trail. It took 1 ½ hours to get through. There was a lot of fighting brush. In two areas I had to scout ahead to get around rocks and shorts cliffs. The worst part of it was I hadn't realized the route would be bad through this section so I didn't know how far the tough route would last (and if we would have time before dark to get through). Ironically a long convoy of 4X4's passed us just as we entered the canyon. Just as we left the canyon and got on to a 4X4 road 1 ½ hours later the same convoy passed us again.
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| ready to head out on the second day |
The rest of the day turned out to be easy riding. The weather cleared up and was partly sunny. Lily saw 3 javelinas but the rest of us missed them.
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| Lunch on the trail. |
Denise met us on the trail in the afternoon. Unfortunately it was a steep and windy. She met us coming around a bend (at 2:38 pm by the GPS log) and spooked Tandy who was in the lead. Tandy turned down the very steep slope. Jackie jumped off and hurt her knee. Cinnabar was next in line and followed Tandy. Lily fell off on her chin in rocks next to the trail. Pepsi was free and following the group so she, Cinnabar and Tandy went galloping down the trail the way we came. Between controlling my horse and looking in horror at my girls falling and then crumpled on the ground I didn't even think of grabbing the escaping horses. It was steep enough that when Music got her back legs off the trail it felt to me like she might fall and I jumped off her. We watched the three horses gallop out of sight calling to them to stop, which they didn't seem at all inclined to do. I stayed with Music and the girls while Denise ran down the trail to catch them. At 3:00 pm the girls were feeling a little better and I trotted back to see how Denise was getting on. At 3:12 we were all reunited again.
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| We followed the RR tracks for a mile and a half. |
We got into camp at 5:22 pm. Denise cooked up a tasty dinner of meat, potatoes and salad. It was just starting to rain as we all tucked into bed.
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| Our camp on a ridge. |
January 28 25 miles
I didn't sleep very well because we knew we had to get up early and get Denise on the trail. Rain pouring down on the tent didn't help either. At 5:30 am I gave up on it and got up to start a fire. Everything was soggy. I finally used green alfalfa to start the fire. Denise got up at 7 just as I was saddling the horses.
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| Poor soggy Pepsi. |
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| Saddling wet horses. |
It turned out the girls hadn't gotten their fly staked out and they had left their ground tarp sticking out from under their tent in a kind of funnel position so they were absolute swimming in rain water. When the girls got up we were very happy to find that their injuries weren't to bad and that most of the swelling had gone down. After applying some hot cocoa and whatever dry clothes we could manage everyone was aboard the poor wet horses and off at 8:15 am. This was more than an hour later than we had hoped to get off.
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| Off on a wet, wet day. |
I hoped the rain would stop as the morning wore on which it did at about 10 am. I headed towards the next camp only to find my way blocking by the flooding San Pedro river. A 100 mile detour brought me to another access only to find a road closed sign. I had been coordinating with dad (who planned to spend the next two days with us) all day long. He pulled up behind me just as I was sitting at the sign pondering what to do. A few minutes later a rancher exited the road. He said there were no washes flowing and that the road was slippery and slimy, but passable. I decided to shuttle the bus down to the intersection. The rain was pouring down again and I was afraid that I would have very soggy and cold riders on the trail.
I got back to the intersection with the bus a little after 5 pm and reached the trail head after 20 miles of slimy road at about 6 pm. The first sign of saw of the trail was Lily on top of her horse silhouetted against the sky. It turned out everyone was in good spirits and Denise had a small fire burning. We decided that Denise would spend the night with the horses and that I would take the girls back to the bus and grandpa's camper.
I helped Denise set up camp and then returned getting back at 9 pm. Denise got on well enjoying s'mores and her fire. We enjoyed steak, rice, and salad and chatted with dad.
January 29 30 miles
We had decided to make this a rest day. Dad and I shuttled the bus down to the Tiger mine trail head. In the afternoon we all joined Denise at the trail head. It turned out that the road had dried considerable and I don't think dad even got any mud on his camper.
We enjoyed frozen pizzas complements of dad in the evening.
January 30
It was my turn to ride again. We got off on with a beautiful sunrise at 7:34 am. It is very flat and open country. We could essentially see the end of the days ride from the very start and it looked very far away. Sharp eyed Lily saw a deer. A little later we all saw a nice buck.
The day was mostly overcast and pleasant though it got a little hot when the sun came out and a little cold when the wind blew.
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| Recent rains made the desert bloom. |
By the end of the day Musica was exhausted.
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| The end of the trail. |
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