First Time but not the Last Time this Season

Brenda made it safe and sound down to Dogpound South and we spent the week just loafing around enjoying the great weather and catching up with our neighbours down here.

Yesterday I loaded Blue and headed out to a favourite trail over near Superior. We re-discovered this trail last year when we were riding near Picket Post mountain and figured there must be some way to circumnavigate it. Oh yah, Blue and I did pass right by Retired Rod's place over there in Mesa but thought maybe his neighbours wouldn't appreciate an organic fertilizer delivery on a nice Friday afternoon.

The whole gang, Suzi, K, Julie, Blue, Teresa, and Janet with Ted on the camera

 Hard to believe but this was, K, who has shown us most of our Arizona trails, first time around the mountain. It is a great ride and passes some pretty nice scenery along the way. Most of the horses there had a lot more riding than ol' Blue but he made out pretty well. A little sweated up but still stepping along at the end of the 11 or so miles. He'll get his trail legs back pretty quick down here after a pretty soft summer.

Good to be back on the trails down here in Arizona

Always nice to ride a trail with a little water down here in the desert

Looks like the fall colours will be along eventually but not in full glory for a week or two.

And these saguaro's have made it in the blog before and hopefully will again

I am hoping to get this blog a little more current than in the past few months but it will probably be more focussed on trail riding than RV'ing although we still do a lot of boondocking as we follow the trails around Arizona and back home in Canada.

Picket Post Again!

Picket Post is one of those rides that gets under your skin. The trails are great and the scenery is second to none. I joined some Canadian friends and a couple of our American hosts out there at the trailhead. They had arrived a day or two earlier so were out on a ride and Blue and I headed out on our own, first stop was the phone booth on the hilltop out of camp. Just to let the rest of the world we made it safely. Here is Joel up there checking his messages.

So this is what the guys who drive trucks for Walmart do on their vacation.

Then we headed out the trail and not to far along we ran into the bunch coming back to camp. Short ride but shook off the trailer legs anyway. Once we got unsaddled we ran down the highway towards Superior where these wagon tracks are cut into the limestone. Must have been a lot of heavy silver ore in those wagons.

Ore wagons cut these into the rock

Always great sunsets here.

The next day we headed off across the highway and up to Happy Camp Canyon. That is ride I first did about a year ago, but it was a lot greener and prettier this year than last. The GPS tells me that this ride is a little less than 13 miles. You go out along a ridge back that gives you great views in all directions.

From these ridge tops you can see for miles

Always good to run into a little water for the ponies on these rides

Joel and his Tennessee Waiting Horse waiting on the rest of us to catch up. 

Heading into Happy Camp Canyon

Kelly and her stud the Huntsman hanging around on the ridge

For the return trip we popped over top of the ridge and dropped into a wash for the return trip. Along the way here is a stock tank with great water for the horses.

After the ride that night Ken and I ran into Superior to try and run down a map of the area and see if we could find a map that showed a trail that made a loop around Picket Post Mountain in its entirety. There is a map but the only one in captivity was taped to the inside of office window on main street. There was a fellow in there sanding the floors and we tried to talk him into giving/selling it to us but he was incorruptible.

But we did get a picture of it with the phone and a little store across the street gave a photo copy of a smaller portion.

With that new information in hand we headed out on a ride of discovery the next day. The first part of the ride was a little bit of bushwhacking Arizona style, looking for gates and discovering fences blocking the trail, but eventually we got through that part and got ourselves down into Arnett Canyon. What a treat that was, it was beautiful down there. Towering cliffs, big sycamore trees, and ample water crossings. And to top it all off a pretty sandy trail so easy on the feet. That was important for Blue as just before we loaded up to come out here he had a visit with the farrier and he is always a little tender for a day or too after that experience.

Arnett Canyon

Ken and Beauty enjoying the crick

More canyon and creek views

Whoa, Blue is leading the ride.

 And when Blue and I lead the ride there is a lot of time for enjoying the scenery, we sure don't see a reason to race through this kind of landscape.

Believe it or not this is what I was looking for.....the other side of the mountain

Here is the littlest Saguaro growing right in that rock. He has made it in a couple of blogs now

Verna, Toni, and Ron and Toni's trail dog Madeline

Although we spent five or six hours on this ride we stopped a bunch of time to enjoy the scenery, eat lunch and do a little pioneering along the trail. I think with all the back and forth we did we were just over 9.5 miles total on the trail and all that to and froing will probably result in it being around 9 miles next time. A little shorter than usual but there is lots to look at and some challenging spots but they are short and sweet.

Sunrise at Picket Post

Same sunrise different angle

The following morning Blue and I packed up and headed home. He was a little foot sore and it seemed the wise thing to do. The others were going to go back around yesterdays loop and try to eliminate the one technical spot on the new trail. Below is a Google Map for those who like that kind of stuff.

Green is the Happy Camp Canyon trail and the Magenta trail is the Picket Post Mountain Loop

And when I got home there was a party about to begin. Brenda had spent the weekend preparing food and drink for a surprise party for her friend Stasia.

Part of the Party People

Brenda and the guest of honour. Hey, it's a Canadian party so we get to spell it how we like.

Now Mike and Janna stopped by on their way home to Montana and I didn't get any pictures but no problem I have their pink motorhome held hostage here so they will be back.