Rained Out

Well it took us a while to get dried out so I could write this journal entry, but I will try to catch you up on the goings on here down the road from Dogpound South. Last weekend we headed out Wickenberg way to meet up with some of our friends and another group the Glendale Equestrian Club for a ride up towards Sayers Springs. Since it is a two hour haul from Dogpound South to the trailhead we decided to head out as we usually do on Friday morning. We got to the site and got our horses out on the highline while we got everything else setup. It was a beautiful desert site as evidenced by the shot above. Later in the afternoon I set up our electric fence so the horses could move around a little.

After a nice afternoon the rain came in right at sunset and it rained pretty steadily throughout the night. We got a call bright and early in the morning from the Modahl’s checking on the weather and with the wind picking up and no end in sight to the rain the decision was made to call off the ride. Guess these Arizona folks are made out of sugar or something, might melt in the rain.

Just kidding, I am not sure I could have drug Brenda out into the rain either so it was just as well that we cancelled. And with that early wakeup call I set to breaking camp and we were loaded and on the road back to Dogpound South by 7:00AM. Thanks again for the 5:30AM call Modahl’s!

Good thing we headed home as it rained all day and most of the next night. It was really into Monday before the clouds started to clear out, in fact, it was still pouring when I went for my swim on Monday morning. Unlike back home all the pools here are outdoor so although you don’t get any wetter swimming in the rain was the order of the day.

I had a visit last week from an old friend, Phillip Staden, and he was looking for some places not to far away from Maricopa that would be good for a trail ride so Monday afternoon I decided to take a spin out west and check out some parking places. Lo and behold just as I get to where I thought we should park I pass a trailer bearing Alberta plates and the driver turns out to be Mr. Staden. He and a friend of his, Brian Mitchell, were going to unload their horses and go for ride there and then hitch hike back to pick up the trailer. I gave them a ride to shuffle the trailer but one of their horses had lost a shoe so after getting the trailer back they headed back to the ranch and we decided to try again on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning Phil and Brian pulled into my yard and we loaded Blue in their trailer and headed up the road to pick up another fellow, Clarence, and then we were off to the Butterfield Pass loop that we rode a few days before Christmas. We parked in a different spot and with some freelancing across the desert were able to cut it from a 21 mile ride down to about 17. As usual the dotted line is our trail for today while the solid red one is the trail we took a few weeks ago. The bright purple line coming in from the north is another trail I have yet to ride.

It was great riding with Phil again, it was 45 years since the last time and we certainly need to shorten the cycle for the next one.

Wednesday was a big day around here, it was time to saddle up Willow and see how the last two months of rest have treated her. I haven’t noticed any lameness for a long time but it was time to test it under load. And the biggest load around Dogpound South is me. I wrapped her fetlock in a polo wrap to give her a little support. I didn’t go far just a few hundred yards but so far so good, she appears sound, and we will work her slowly back into shape. Wink is doing a good job of filling in for her so there is no need to push our luck. She will have an easy winter ahead of her and we’ll be letting her enjoy her winter vacation with just a little light exercise and hopefully by the time we head north she will be 100%.

This upcoming weekend is our “gourmet lunch” ride, kinda like “heavy appy’s” in the RVing world so we’ll try to get some pictures of that for next weeks entry.

Sonoran Desert National Monument

This weekend we headed west of Maricopa towards Gila Bend. Much of that stretch of road is bordered by the Sonoran Desert National Monument a piece of Arizona set aside to protect the unique ecosystem of the Sonoran desert from the incursions of the modern world. Further closures have limited the access to non-motorized uses only. Perfect! Scouting around the country though I managed to find a spot where we could get our rigs in and a few miles off the highway. That allowed us to saddle up and head into the wilderness area. Amazing how when the motorized access is restricted there seems to be a lot less garbage and empty beverage containers strewn around the country. It was a beautiful ride without the constant reminder that somebody who couldn’t give a damn for the beautiful surroundings was wandering around the countryside also.

Well enough of that rant and onto the ride. We left our camp in the morning and picked up the old trail across the desert just a little south of our site.

Although the new highway travels a little further south this area has been a highway of sorts for hundreds, and probably thousands of years. It was not hard to envision the Indians and settlers winding their way through the pass or the rattle and thunder of the Butterfield Overland Stage coach as it raced it’s way from St. Louis to San Francisco. Can you imagine bouncing your way over that 2800 mile route in 22 days. Those coaches were on the move night and day stopping only to change teams and grab a bite to eat.

Although we had a lot less ground to cover we also keep on the move except for a brief stop to break some bread with friends.

We covered 21 miles altogether on Saturday riding parts of the Butterfield Stage route and then back through another pass to meet up with the Rock Cairn trail and back down a wash to the flat desert. Once we hit the desert we used that modern GPS technology to run a beeline back to camp as Brenda’s knee was kicking up. That and we had some pretty fine eating to get done once we got unsaddled and got our fire lit. Well actually we had such a great bed of coals from the fire Friday night that tonight's fire started itself once we put the kindling on the pit.

“K” deserved his rest by the fire as he had a big rock to hold out of the way for the rest of us to scramble by as we came down the wash into the desert.

Brenda’s new horse, Wink, had another great test and once again passed with flying colours. She has a couple of things to work on but that just makes it more interesting.

You can follow this link to see the pictures of our Sonoran ride.