We were really excited to to this hike. Looking for wild horses! Rain, rain and more rain. Mud, mud and more mud. 6 hours of rain and mud. Still it was a great time! We arrived at the trailhead about 6:30 a.m.. The trailhead is just north of I-70 and Cameo. It started raining just as we arrived at the parking lot. It was a light rain but would increase intermittently. It was snowing above on the Mesa's.
I head back to Pixie and Jamie and we continue up the trail. The trail, very easy, very little change in climbing noticed , but it goes on forever so it seems. They say you go 3.9 miles until you run into a wire fence where the trail ends. Never found it. We crossed the creek about twenty times. It was raining but the creek was running low and easy to cross. Further along the sandy areas were getting very muddy & sloppy. This trail runs along the creek and you have the canyon walls on both sides. It was difficult to see what a beautiful area it is due to the cloud cover and the rain. We saw fresh tracks on the trail and near the creek so we thought we were following a couple of horses but never saw them.
Rain was coming down pretty good at times, but we all wanted to get to the end of the trail. It was only 3.9 miles right? The trail became very muddy and sloppy so Pixie and Jamie decided to head back. I went up further thinking it was not very far to the end. Wrong! I went another mile or so and came to another junction at the cottonwood trail. At this point the canyon walls came in and made it very narrow. Crossing the creek was getting very sloppy and the trail disappeared. I crossed the creek to see if the trail picked up but did not see it. I said screw it! Tired of the rain and mud so I headed back. I felt I had gone at least 4 miles but Kenny said at that point it was probably only about 3 miles with another mile to go to the fenced area. (He had run the trail a couple of weeks earlier on a training run). Coming back I had the wind and rain to my back and I was walking fast to catch up with the girls. I heard a wild turkey calling but I could not see it, I hesitated until I heard it again. It was about 25 yard away by the creek so I tried to sneak up on it but lost it.
The trail was so slick now but I was making good time. I finally caught up with Pixie and Jamie at the end of the trail. They had stopped so I knew there were horses in front of them. The same 4 we had seen earlier were in the meadow grazing no more than 75 yards from us. I took out the camera and started taking pictures. I was excited to see and had not expected to get so close. The day was not wasted although we had a great time in the rain. After getting so close to them for pictures I was disappointed to find that the filter had fogged up slightly from rain so the pictures did not turn out as well as I'd hoped.
Now the fun begins, I was so close to the horses taking pictures and just slipped in the mud. I did a face plant but saved the camera. I cannot believe all that time on the trail and crossing over the streams I didn't fall, but right near the end down I go. Pixie had fallen earlier just standing still on a slight incline. Well now it is time to head back to the car. Like I mentioned in the beginning the first part of the trail was on a ridge and the type of dirt was very soft. We started going up and got about 10 feet and could not get any traction. We had about 6 inches of mud on the bottom of our boots. We only had to climb about 100 yard but there was no way we could go up on this slippery trail. We had to go back down and climb up the face of the ridge. It had more vegetation and rocks. It took some time to navigate our way through the wall of rocks but we finally found a way. Sometimes crawling on all fours. It was amazing to see the trails and hoof marks on this wall where you would think is too treacherous for the horses to climb. Incredible animals.
Before we started this climb we saw two black horses about 200 yard east of the 4 horses I had just photographed. As we reached the top and looked back we saw the two black horses getting closer to the band of four. The band kept a close eye on them until they got too close. The one of the two roans decided enough was enough and charged towards the 2 uninvited guests. He kicked and reared then stood his ground. The rest of the band then all charged towards the 2 and they high tailed it out of there. It was a welcome reward to see the horses in their natural environment after climbing this wet, muddy, rocky ridge.
Well now that we had reached the summit of the ridge we now had to head down to the parking lot. Yes still wet, muddy. No escaping the mud this time around. As we contemplate our decent we can see the parking lot and just about 25 yards from the car is another band of 4 horses. Seriously right by the parking lot! Unbelievable! Well we make our way down sliding all the way with mud caked to the bottom of our boots.
We got pretty close to the band and see a beautiful Palomino that was the stud of the band. Once he spotted us he moved his band out.
We spent 6 hours in the rain but what a great adventure. We really enjoyed having Jamie hike with us for the day. Sorry about your shoes Jamie!
We went to a car wash once we got into town to spray the mud off our boots. The pictures did not turn out very good due to the condensation on the filters. Very Frustrating! We plan on going back before the rattlesnakes come out and better weather. We hear the horses will go up in the mesa's during the summer months where it is cooler. I am looking forward to going back and getting better pictures. Overall I learned a lot about taking pictures in the rain. This would be a great spot to come back to in the winter time as well It was a great time!
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