Cootonwood Springs ride

We rode out  out  of  our  campsite on BLM land behind the  town of Goldfield for a day  ride to Cottonwood Springs  with Ron Stolp. It  was a  nice  cool morning after a  previous  day  of Showers. The  trail was #3515 which was  mostly  jeep and  ATV trails. Mostly  rocky except  for the  occaisional sand draw that we  rode in.

We headed NW from Goldfield towards the Goldfield  Mountains.

We passed many Cholla Cactus along  the  way. This  is  commonly known as  "jumping  Cactus" by the  locals and  is a  total disaster when your  animal comes  in contact with it. Peg has  had  several contacts with this  stuff on this  trip but so far, nobody has  gotten hurt. Notice  the  nursery at the  bottom of  this big plant. When you  ride  through it , it kicks up and sticks to anything. Try  to pick it off without  a weatherman tool or Big  tooth comb  and  you have it  stuck in you. To rid yourself of  it , You have  to "Flick it off" with a  comb or  other object.

We saw this really  cool dry waterfall on the  ride too. Although it was  dry, you could see that after a big  rain, it flowed pretty  darn good!

The girls  taking a  break and eating some green grass along the  trail.

Cottonwood Springs

Ron rode  to the  top to checkout  a  potential gold mine.

Maude and I wait  for Ron to come  back down from the  top of  the  hill. There  wasnt really  room for three of  us to be up there.

Boulder Canyon and the #104 trail

Today we  went  on a trailride  most  wouldn't  like. It  was classified as a "Black Diamond" trail and  not  reccommended for  horses. There  were  sections that  were "Edgy-Ledgy" with steep rocky declines but, all of our animals and riders did  fine.

We started this ride  at the  first water trailhead  and  rode the  trail towards Hackberry Springs (Trail 78) and  took the second  water trail to the Garden valley. 

Alan leading  us through the  Garden valley. We ran into several groups of hikers  and  found  our  weak links  in our  chain. Rita  shys away from hikers  that  are  carrying  ski poles or  walking sticks and Maudie  just  doesn't  trust  anyone she  meets  on the  trail. Something that they  both have  to work on. 

We were surprised  at  the  amount  of people  on these  past  two rides  that  don't  understand the  reason why  they  need to be  on the  low side  of  the  trail when we  are  passing them along the  route. We passed  one  group of 13  hikers that wanted to scatter all over  high and  low. We stopped and  got  them all to go to the  low side before  we  would  pass. We  explained  to them that  if the  mules  were  going  to spook; we wanted them running uphill not over  the  edge and down a 100'.

Once  we  started  passing them they  got  a  show  and  quickly  saw  the  reasoning. I wish that  I had one of my  BCHW trail etiquette  DVD's  to give  them for their  next  club meeting. Most  hikers  that  we  meet are  understanding and compliant with our  requests.

The  trail down to the  hackberry  Springs  turnoff is  kind  of steep and we  ran into two other  groups  of hikers  that  were  much nicer.

The  turnoff to Boulder  Canyon trail #104

This  trail was  rated  a  black diamond trail and not  reccommended for horse  travel. I found  it very  rocky and hard  to follow because  of brush and not a lot  of  use in the  middle  section.

This  is the  actual trail.

We had  beutiful views  along  the  trail. We  had lunch  under these  hoodoo's.

Aptly  named Boulder canyon…..

parts  of this  trail are  hard to follow because of the  amount  of  brush.

Weavers needle  can be  seen in the  background. 

Riding  in the  Arizona  desert has  a  lot  of terrain changes  with many  training obsticals and  opportunities.

Alan riding  his  new  mule  Miss Kitty.

This was  a  great 12.67 mile  ride with a  peak difficulty  of 9 and  average difficulty  of 6-7.

Salt River and Suguaro Lake ride

We really  had  fun on this ride with Kelly  Brooke  Allan, Ron Stolp and  Alan Gillman. /we  did  a bit  of training with our  mules during  a  fun follow the  leader game  in one  of the washes. The  scenery  along the Salt  River  was  breaktaking as well.

Although it got a little  edgy  ledgy along the  river , it  was  nothing like we  were  about to encounter.

Just when you come out  of  this  ledgy  part, you end  up on a  beach at the  bottom of  a wash. We traveled up this wash to the  trail that would  take us to Suguaro Lake.

We stopped  along the way to have  lunch at something that resembled  an old  mine  but we weren't sure  if it  might have  been a  well too.

See how the rock are stacked at the  top behind  Alan? each one  is over 100 lbs. and  the  walls  are  over 3 feet thick.

The trail got tougher , the higher we ascended but, it was totally worth every step because the scenery was spectacular!. It was  like  riding  through a very expensively landscaped desert  scene!

Once  we got to the  top we caught  views  of  Suguaro Lake!

The trail down to the lake was probably the  hardest pert of the  entire trail. It  is  very steep with deep ravines carved in the  rock trail from years of rain and erosion.

Goldfield Arizona

People have  been texting  me  wondering where  we arte  camping  with our  Mules  Maudie and Rita and our  two dogs Bandit and Scout.  We are  camped  amongst our  friend Kelly Book Allen, Ron Stolp and  Alan Gillman on BLM land behind  the Ghost town of Goldfield near  Apache  Junction in Arizona.
   It is a  really cool spot that  looks  right  at Superstition Mountain. at the end  of the day when the  sun sinks lower  the shadows  that are cast upon the  mountain are  breathtaking to say the  least!

The town of  Goldfield  is  best  view  after or  before  hours  because  it can get  really  busy during  the  day  with  tourists.

Upstairs in this  building  is  the  bordello. there are  lots  of mining artifacts scattered throughout the  town.

On the weekends there are  live  gunfights  on the  mainstreet of town. The  saloon has hitching rails out  back for you to tie up to after your ride. inside  are  good  food and  cold  beer!

They have a  livery stable where you can rent a  horse and go on a  guided  horseback ride or take a horsedrawn carriage ride.

But I think the best view is right across the street!

Hackberry Springs Ride

Our first ride  out  of  Goldfeld Arizona was  to Hackberry Springs. We went  there  last year  coming  back on the Canyon Lake trail but, it was a  great  way  to take  the  edge  off of the  mules for their  first real ride  in Arizona.

Peg just  loves the  way her  new  saddle  designed  by Terry Wagner of  Three Bells Mules fits and rides  on Rita. Of  Course  Rita doesn't  complain about it  neither! The  new  Britchen was  designed and made by  Fellow Back Country  Horsemen Chris Turnow  in Arlington Washington. Both are  really  good  quality  items!

Ron and  Alan picking  the  Choya cactus from Foxie  mule. first  Peg's  mule got  into it with her front legs then Foxie had it all over  her face, gums and mouth. Luckily  we  didn't  have  a rodeo!

                 Miss Maudie mule taking a rest  break at  Hackberry Springs while  we  have  lunch.

 We headed  back to Goldfield after  lunch. Peg put  a  good test to both that high Cantle and  the  britchen on that new  saddle. We're pleased to say  that  the  only  time  that  ehe  came  out of it; she planned it!

                                                   The end  to a  perfect  day in Paradise!

This is the link to the I-84 wreck that we narrowly missed.




On the  next night  we made  it  to Alamo where  they've added a  new  rodeo grounds and  holding  pens. The new  area is  located just above  the middle  school and ball fields.

There was plenty  of  water and as you can see, lots  of holding pens.  The  Rodeo grounds also has full hookup RV sites  for  $13.00 per night. We  just  dry camped there though.

Our 2015 Arizona Trip

Well we left  Washington on  January  16th headed  towards sunny  Arizona and meet up with our  friends Kelly  Brook Allen , Ron Stolp and Alan Gillman.
We left on a  wet cold morning and stopped  in Lagrande Oregon at the  Fairgrounds the  first  night.

 it was  really  cold  and sleeting when we  arrived  but we  found stalls for our mules Rita  and Maude and settled in for a  nice dinner.
     The next  morning we thought  that We'd get  up early and hit  the  road. On the  way  we  started hearing Chatter that  there  had been a wreck at  mile post  318 on the  I-84 East  bound. The  freeway  was  temporarily closed at Baker City. Luckily  we  slept in a  bit  that  morning and was a 1/2  hour  behind the wreck. We went in to the  truck stop at Baker  City and had breakfast  and tried to find out when the  Freeway  was  going to be  opened again. They said that  there was possible fatalities. And that there were 15-20 Semi trucks  tangled up and possibly 50 passenger vehicles  in the  mess. The  cause was dense freezing fog and black ice.
     The freeway was closed from 5:30 am until 10pm that  night while they worked  to oclear the  2 eastbound lanes of the  crash debris. We decided  to go back to Lagrande and spend another  night there  and let any  traffic clear  out  so we  would be  tied up in another traffic mess with people trying to get through.

                         Trucks  waiting at a  freeway  ramp in Lagrande  for the  freeway to reopen.

Our  next stop was  for lunch at  the Twin Falls Fairgrounds. We  let  the mules  out for a  romp in their arena and we  loaded up, fueled and made the long haul to Alamo Nevada.