Off to the Yaha

Well we were getting stuck in a rut here cutting grass, vacuuming grass clippings out of the motorhome and then watching it grow all over again. Not bad for relaxing but the hitch itch is settling in around here at almost record levels.

So we hitched the horse trailer up to the camper and headed west to that favourite haunt of ours the Yaha Tinda Ranch. We can only get away for a few days but without any phone, or internet it will be relaxing and we’ll be ready for the next round of appointments when we return.

The picture above is a view of the Red Deer River valley right where the Forestry Trunk Road crosses it west of Sundre, and over behind those mountains is the Yaha. Only about 25 kilometres from here to “Heaven”. Although there was some exciting weather out in the Flatlands to the east back at the ranch it was all blue sky and fair winds, with only the far off rumble of the nightly thunderstorms to remind us that the real world was still out there somewhere.

Of course once we got in there we had to set up our camp, just in case that rain came a calling in our little hidden paradise. That is a new shelter we have flanged together to keep the sun and rain off the horses, cause we are always a lot more comfortable when they are comfortable. Now there are a few million mosquito’s around here right now. It has been a pretty wet year and those little critters are loving it. Although it doesn’t look like it in this photo there are a lot of folks out here, maybe more than we have ever seen in the past. Oh well, it is a big country and there is room for everyone. Once we got the camp set up we spent the rest of our first day just soaking in the sunshine, swatting a bug or two, and enjoying the view from our camp chairs. That’s right Dave and Sherri that is your view we are looking at, but I promise that it won’t be all used up when you get here next.

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Now with the bugs a little thick it seemed like a good time to learn from our wild neighbours and head for the tall, shady timber and leave the open meadows to braver souls, with maybe more blood to donate than we have. We headed across the Red Deer River to a beautiful little spot called Hidden Falls. It is a nice little 5 mile ride up a good trail and well worth the visit. These falls have cut themselves quite a distance back into the mountain so you have to scale a fairly steep trail down into them, one time we came upon a couple of mountain sheep sunning themselves there, but if I can get there with my fear of heights almost anyone can, well maybe not my cousin Mike, and the view is more than worth it. They are fairly high falls and it is hard to get a picture back in the dark room that does them justice so I thought I would try a movie this time. Never having loaded one of these into the blog before this may be a bigger challenge than the climb/slide down into the falls and back and I apologize for the fact that you will have to turn your head to make them look right, even here in Canada the water falls down not sideways.

Hopefully that works and next time I will try to get it right way around…..lol. And just in case it doesn’t work I will include a few still shots.

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And just in case you don’t want to risk the trail down it is still a beautiful place to eat your lunch, here is our view that day.

The next day we took a ride around one of our favourite trails here on the ranch. Most folks call it the Poplar Bluff trail but we have always called it the High Trail, simply because there is a trail below it we call the Low Trail. However the views are better from up the ridge and today with the mosquito’s out and about the higher ground was less infested. And the flowers were in full bloom so the meadows along the way were pretty spectacular.

 

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We did run into a couple of hikers, Teri and Axel, who had stumbled on our blog while looking for information about the area so the mystery is over, at least one person reads this thing other than Sweetpea. The one thing we didn’t see much of this trip was wildlife but I am betting that is because just like us they were sticking to the deep timber to thwart the insect invasion. Just this little fellow who hung around as camp security while we were out riding.

 

We will be heading back into the hills next week for a few days once we get some more stuff done around here down the road from Dogpound and with any luck this will be the view to greet us as we head into the West Country.