In a Land just North of Summer

Really, since we have got back north of the Medicine Line we have enjoyed an extended period of winter like weather. I guess maybe wintering at Dogpound South has made us soft but even though the temps have not been terribly cold it seems like it has snowed every day since we got home. But the forecast is for warmer weather and maybe even some of those mystical April showers. That should get the snow knocked down and make it a little more spring like here down the road from Dogpound. I haven’t done much riding but the horses are enjoying their time off and making the most of their freedom.

We kept them in for a couple of days and then turned them out with the rest of the remuda, so it is time for them to just be horses and do a little pawing through that snow for their fed. Don’t worry those that were here all winter are much fatter than our hand fed southern ponies so I am sure they are doing just fine, and I do walk down every day just to make sure all is well. And now that the weather is turning around I will be able to start working with some of our northern horses, to start getting them in shape for the summer.

Turned Out VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

But we didn’t head home just to make sure we got a little snow and salt all over our vehicles. Our, daughter and son-in-law, Lacey and Clayton, were heading to Cuba to celebrate Lace’s 30th birthday so a couple of little girls were looking for a place to hang out till their parents came home and Grandma and I are glad to have them here. Although looking after two kids under 4 is keeping us hopping I have to say. Well, really, Brenda is hopping, and I am just trying to stay out of the way for the most part.

The Anderson Girls VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

We are having a riot with the girls and should have them well and properly spoiled by the time their parents get home.

On other fronts I am back at my regular pool and doing 2500 meters (~a mile and a half) five days a week, and both Brenda and I are heading into battery of tests and doctors appointments over the next couple of weeks so we can get that out of the way before it is time to head back to Dogpound South.

• 

Down the Road to Dogpound North

Just a quick blurb to let folks know that we made it safe and sound back north of the Medicine Line. It got a little warm down at DPS so we thought we knew a place that offered cooler temps.

We got an early start on Thursday and pulled out of Dogpound South about 5:15AM. That made the traffic in Phoenix not to bad, and we took I-10 then I-17 up to the Carefree Highway and then across to Wickenberg. No issues at all and a lot less stop and go than the other way on the 303 Loop. With only stops for fuel it was not to long until we crossed into Utah and headed up into the high desert to overnight in Fillmore. When we got there the guys on the Sheriff’s work crew, a chain gang with no chains, were mucking out the stalls and gave us some tips on where the best places to eat were.

We put the horses up and headed off to Costa Vida for dinner. Looked like a fast food place but everything appeared to be made from scratch to order and it tasted pretty good.

Not much to do hanging around the stable at night so we were early to bed and early to rise the next morning. We had the horses loaded by 4:15 and hit the road north. Slid through the Salt Lake City smozzle before the traffic got to bad and then let the big old Ford run across those foggy flatlands of Idaho heading for the hills of Montana. Mid-afternoon we arrived at the rodeo grounds in Great Falls and once again got our stock settled then headed out to eat. Once we were fed we came back and took the ponies for a walk about to stretch their legs, all evening the fairgrounds were filling up with kids and horses for a weekend High School Rodeo, so I kept going around making sure no one was blocking our exit as it appears we have developed a habit of getting out of town before the authorities figure out we are there. It was another early start and we were again on the road soon after 4AM.

We crossed the Medicine Line about 6AM and other than a quick chastisement from the Border folks about having no receipts we were on our way north. I unloaded here at Dogpound North about 10:30 this morning and the unpacking began, hurried along by the sleet and wind. Oh well, spring is in the air and by all reports it should be here before we head south in 6 months.

Took the shot above as we rolled up the Beaverhead River valley in Montana thinking the place looked empty without Mike and Janna.

As I finish this up I notice a nice little spring snow blizzard working up outside, so our quest for cooler temps has been fulfilled.

AZBCR & Old Friends

Last weekend we headed off to Lake Pleasant to enjoy a weekend around the fire and on the trails with a group of folks who began us on our Arizona trail riding experience. The Arizona Back Country Riders website is run by a young woman, Tishri, who has facilitated many long lasting friendships amongst horsefolk here in the Southwest. Each year about this time we all get together to do a lot of socializing and little fund raising to keep this site running.

Unlike most of our weekend adventures this one started with the potluck on Friday night, because on Saturday we were eating a catered dinner are part of the reward for contributing I guess. As usual the food was great and the company better. Both evening were beautiful Arizona evenings with an almost full moon and clear skies. I stood around with my Sky Scout both nights enjoying the night skies and actually learning what the names of many of those stars are. I have it rigged up with an external speaker so others can listen in the descriptions of what we are looking at.

Two fine horseman in the shot below, K Rogers and Bill Roberts.

Below is Lynette and her menagerie.

Saturday we took off on a ride over to the Lake and that was also where we decided to eat our lunch. I believe I got everyone in this panoramic shot but if you look closely this program added a couple of extra heads to folks and legs to their horses. Oh well tough to get forty mounted folks to stand still.

Sunday we had a clinic with K demonstrating getting your horse to ask for you to mount as well as a few tips from Bill about getting your horse to recognize you as the leader, then K worked with another persons Saddlebred who was not great around the trailer. By the time he was finished both the horse and its owner were a lot more comfortable with getting in and out of the trailer and the reports from the owner as the week goes on are that they are practicing daily and applying what they learned.

After the clinic wrapped up it was time for us to make our rounds and say our `catch you down the trails` as this was our last ride for Arizona this spring. We will be back in the fall cause we got a lot more of this state to see yet.

The last few days have been taking up with putting Dogpound South to bed for the summer, but today we had a visit from an old friend from back in the North Country. The first time I met Heather we were up in Tuktoyaktuk, on the Beaufort Sea, doing some work, and she was working for one of the other companies active up there. Over the years we crossed trails and eventually she came to work for Shell and when I retired back in 2007 she took over that Arctic portfolio. Now she is doing some stuff on SE Asia and is based in the Netherlands.

But the Netherlands is a little cool this winter so she jumped on a plane and headed for Palm Springs for a little R&R. So what brought her 5 hours over here to Dogpound South. Lunch, yep that`s right. 5 hours one way just a drop in the bucket for a girl from Old Crow, in the Yukon Territory, where it is five hours to the road and then another five to the nearest restaurant. But it was a great lunch and we really enjoyed seeing Heather and catching up on her new globetrotting portfolio and hearing about all those friends we left behind to follow the sun.

Tomorrow we head to a “land just north of summer” and just “down the road from Dogpound”.

Caballo del Sol

This past week we headed out with the folks we usually ride with and joined a bunch of other folks up near Cordes Junction, north of the valley, on a place called Arcosanti, in the photo below,

where a group from the Verde Valley was hosting their annual trailride. This was our first time there, but the ride was in its 21st year.

This ride is fully catered, so Brenda was off duty in the kitchen the whole week, a well deserved vacation. We left home here last Sunday and arrived there in time to get our camp set up and join the group for dinner, corned beef and cabbage, of course as it was St. Paddy’s day.

The camp was alongside the Aqua Fria River although as we have come to learn in this country just because they call it a River doesn’t mean it actually has any water in it. Surprisingly though this one did have sections that actually had water on the surface although in other sections it appeared that the flow was subterranean. There was signs of high water at certain times though as there was driftwood lodged high in the trees along the river bed. Many of the trails we rode followed along this picturesque valley for at least the start or the end of the rides.

Each day we headed out with a different ride leader and roamed across the high desert and down through some pretty creek valleys. Rumour has it that there are some antelope around the country but other than a few deer, a couple of rabbits and of course some horses and cattle we didn’t see a bunch of wildlife. Not surprisingly I guess seeing as how on any given day there was somewhere around 140 riders out and about in the countryside, and not all of them were catnapping along a creek bed.

The weather all week long was pretty good, a little windy, but shirtsleeve weather, although one day those clouds in the picture below did manage to work up one of those 3 inch rains that Arizona is famous for, you know the kind where the rain drops are about 3 inches apart.

Each evening there was music and dancing that went long into the night, well at least till 9:30PM or so before we all headed off to get a good nights sleep so we were ready for the next days adventure.

K & Teresa enjoying a dance in spite of her broken ankle

For those of you who like to pore over some maps here is a shot of our weeks riding, each day in a different colour. All tallied up it amounted to within a whisker of 60 miles of riding this week.

And don’t worry even though I only marked a couple of our lunch spots we enjoy lunch each and every day including one day when the catering folks came out and cooked us up some burgers for lunch along the trail.

It was a great ride, well organized, and the food was unbeatable, well except maybe by Brenda but we’ll let those other 138 folks think they were eating the best.

There was one sad note though, a fellow who I only met briefly on Day one, Cotton Voight, had a heart attack while playing his bass up on the stage. Cotton had enjoyed a great ride earlier in the day and was in great spirits when he was called away from us here.

Enjoy that great ride Cotton, RIP Cowboy

Twice, you Say!

It has been a while since I sat down and put together an entry here. We have had a few things going on around Dogpound South and I guess the mood never struck me. Not sure what drives the creative juices that start me writing but I guess whatever it is has been subverted by the great weather we have been having. Not that we haven’t had our share of bad, but really, bad down here is kind of like a nice summer day back in that land just north of summer that we call Dogpound North.

Two weeks ago today we had a party here at DPS. Brenda decided since she really had never had a real party for her birthday, and it seemed unlikely that anyone was planning one this year, she would throw her own. She whipped up a myriad of appetizers, invited one and all on Facebook, and danged if a party didn’t happen. We had folks from all over the valley converging on our place, trail riding friends, Canadian friends and just folks we know from the great little community here around Dogpound South.

Brenda’s 50th VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

And the title of this entry, easily explained, last year Brenda celebrated her 50th birthday. So this year she decided to celebrate it again, not uncommon you’d think, lots of folks celebrate their 29th, 39th, and even 49th multiple times, but my girl actually just turned fifty this year so as usual she is unusual. No fear of getting old here, in fact she is welcoming the great years ahead. And when you look like her why wouldn’t you.

YEEHAW!!!! Back in the Chiricahua`s

Our first time down these trails was just under a year ago and boy oh boy is it great to be back. Last year was Blue`s first mountain technical trip and he really didn`t have the footwork down pat yet, so I was pretty alert to his movements all the way around the circuit. This year he is a new horse and he watches the trail and deals with the footing and I am free to gawk around at the scenery. And trust me there is a lot of gawking to be done on these trails. The photo above is heading along the creek into the Chiricahua National Monument and you can see Wink is a little cavalier with Brenda`s bad knee.

This was also Wink`s first trip through here but for the most part she handled everything like she always does, just like she has been there a thousand times.

The national monument was created in 1924 by Calvin Coolidge with a Presidential Proclamation and I thank Calvin for his foresight. It is a wonderful place and many of the improvements were done by Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees of NM-2-A, Company 828, who were stationed at Chiricahua National Monument from 1934-1940. The men improved the scenic drive, created the hiking trails, and built most of the structures in use today.

Many, but not all, of the trails in the park allowed horseback riders although there are a few guidelines that must be followed. They only allow twenty horses to use the park each day and they would like that to be broken down further into less than 10 head traverse a trail at one time. We numbered 19 riders so we headed in as two groups with about an hour of separation between the two bands.

As you can imagine I have a lot of pictures of this place and will put a few in singly but the majority will be lumped together as an album. If you hover your cursor over some of the shots you can see my comments about them.

This is a truly spectacular trail which is on every trailriders bucket list, and Brenda and I are hoping to keep checking it off for years to come. I am sure each time you make the journey you find another great vista or neat spot along the way.

Above Blue is looking over the edge and probably thinking this is a place where we need to watch our step or we will join the angels as I don`t have the wings of Pegasus to carry us on down there.

There are hundreds of steps and miles of ledges cut out of solid rock by the above mentioned CCC, as well as natural slot type canyons between the pinnacles of rock that have been carved out by the wind and water over the eons.

Once we finished the days ride we ran into a little excitement back at our trailers. Two of our local cowboys had brought a couple of borrowed stock trailers in to haul us all from camp to the trailhead, as there is very little parking on site here. When those of us in the first group got back to the trailers the Park Rangers were waiting for us and convinced that we had to be a commercial group. As is usual in these places commercial groups are only allowed to be brought in by approved concessionaires and Ranger Rick? was convinced that we were contravening the rules. He pounced on the fellow who had coordinated the trailers and tried valiantly to get him to confess to numerous crimes. Alas after interviewing a number of our fellow riders he had to go away with his tail between his legs as it appears we were doing nothing wrong and his ticket book would need to stay in his truck after all. Those folks who supplied the trailers were only rewarded by getting to fill their plates at our usual Saturday night potluck. Here is a link to all the shots I took Saturday.

Chiricahua Ride March 2013

Because of the long haul down here from the Phoenix area we decided as a group that we should travel down on Friday, ride the Chiricahua National Monument on Saturday, and then ride up the Pinery Canyon ride to Iron Springs on Sunday. Although this ride had a hard act to follow it was a nice little jaunt just to work the kinks out from the day before.

We did a little riding and a little relaxing,

so that we were ready for a campfire in the evening. The previous nights fire of course had the potluck and a birthday cake for both Katherine whose birthday it was and Brenda’s whose birthday is just around the corner, so Sunday we just had some appetizers and Ken rounded up a “Yukon Candle” for the evenings fire. We even had an impromptu dance demonstration put on by our new friend Darrell Brown.

That fire and the company of all of our friends sure managed to keep things warm this weekend. A map for those who like that sort of thing, the top trail was in the Chiricahau’s and the bottom one in Pinery Canyon.

Now what is up for the future, well we are planning a week long ride in about 10 days so our mounts were off today making sure they had the proper footwear.

And Brenda is having a birthday.

Boulder Creek

Well I have let myself get a little behind on the blog so here is at least an attempt of catching our readers up on our activities. The weekend of the 23rd of February we joined the Glendale Equestrian Club for their ride up Boulder Creek. It was just a day ride but because it was on the far side of Phoenix and “butts in the saddle” was at 9:00AM we decided that it was a good place to head to Friday night and enjoy the evening in the desert.

Although there were a few hunters camped in the same location they like us were early to bed so it was a peaceful night. This fellow made an appearance as we were watching the sunset below while cooking our supper over a nice campfire.

In the morning the rest of the group started to pull into camp around 7:30AM so we were all saddled and ready to ride on time. We headed down and across the Aqua Fria River and past the crested saguaro below and then up and over the ridge before we dropped down into

Boulder Creek. There was evidence of mining activity in the past and of course the usual detritus from our motorized friends. Why is it that whenever we share a trail with ATV’s or other motorized outfits we always find a wealth of broken bottles and tins strewn along the way. You’d think that if they could haul it all in, it would be easier to haul it out. It weighs less empty. As soon as we leave the two track and get back on single track trails that are only used by hikers, bikers and folks on horseback we seem to leave the garbage behind.

Rant aside it was a beautiful valley with more saguaro’s than we have ever seen with maybe the exception of the area around Usery Mountain Park north of Mesa and this may have been the granddaddy of them all.

There were many creek crossings along the way,

and with Brenda’s fast walking Wink she managed to get out front and in one instance found a spot that was a little deeper than she expected. But with a quick sock wringing and a few minutes of sun at our lunch break she was ready to rock and roll again.

The album below capture some of the trail.

Boulder Creek GEC ride VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

After the ride and a short visit with folks we joined the Modahl`s, the Roger`s, Shannon and her date, whose name escapes me, for dinner at Logan`s Roadhouse back down the road towards Phoenix. The company was stellar the food unmemorable although the wait staff were excellent. Now that catches me up to last weekend and that deserves a separate post so stay tuned for our southern Arizona adventure.