Last Tuesday, I took a couple good friends for a nice horse ride out near Soldier Summit, east of Utah Valley off of Route 6. It was an area in which I have wanted to ride for a while now, so I took the opportunity, while it is sooooooo hot in the valley. Temps in Utah Valley have been in the 90s, which may not sound like much to somebody from Phoenix, but when I can head to higher elevations within 45 minutes and see a temperature drop of 15-20 degrees, well, why not?

So, off we went.

My friends, John Fife and Rob Prody, haven’t done a lot of mountain riding, so this was a pleasant break for them as well. John rode Trigger, my daughter’s Tennessee Walker, an excellent horse with a superbly smooth gait. Rob rode J Golden, my Tennessee Walker, who also has a very nice gait, and I rode Lizzy, my Missouri Fox Trotter. Now, I’m still working on smoothing out Lizzy’s gaits, but she is still the best trail horse I’ve ever ridden.

We started our ride, just off of USFS Road 047 just a few yards south of where it comes off of USFS 081. I’ll give all the details about how to get there at the end of the post. We started out following game trails southward, along the eastern side of a large gulch, which descended away before us. Our plan was to ride the eastern side, then cross over and return on the western side, making a nice, long loop of it (I avoid in-and-out trails if I can; I much prefer loops).

However, as we descended the canyon, our path joined a fairly well-traveled trail that descended to the bottom of the gulch and followed it out.  Further down the trail we even saw signs of trail maintenance. Still, we crossed a number of deadfalls and blow-downs on the trail. We also crossed a few sagebrush meadows and eventually got into pine groves and aspen. The elevation was in the 8,000 foot range.

The scenery was pleasant, but we didn’t see wildlife, although there was plenty of elk and deer sign. In all likelihood, we were talking too much and too loudly to see anything.

As we descended lower, keeping to the trail following the bottom of the gulch, we came to a couple of springs that quickly made a decent flow as a creek in the bottom. As we began to look for a place to have lunch, my mare, Lizzy, who was in the lead, began acting up a little and it became evident she was smelling something that worried her. I thought maybe she smelled a bear on the trail. Still, the brave girl she is, she kept going forward and eventually we heard the bleating of sheep. We stopped short of the flock and had a lunch break. A couple of the sheep wandered up to where we were and showed themselves. The horses stared and snorted, but quickly accepted that they were not dangerous critters.

After a nice, relaxing lunch break and some good conversation, we mounted back up. Rather than head back up the trail we had just descended, I decided to give John and Rob the experience of ascending a steep hillside and do a little bushwhacking to get us back to the trailer.

We headed due north, right up a hillside, on which we climbed about 1,000 feet in elevation in a very short distance. I showed them how to pick a trail and gauge the angle of climb and distance between switchbacks, and when to rest the horses and give them a breather. This is the kind of riding that teaches you to trust your horse and gives you confidence in his/her abilities.

As we came over the mountain and made our way back up toward the trailer, we crossed through aspen groves, aspen thickets, hillsides covered in Douglas Fir and other conifers, and areas of many blowdowns. I always consider that

kind of terrain to be good trail training for the horses and riders.

My mare Lizzy is an excellent trail horse who always keeps her head down and her eyes on the trail.  She will cross the most difficult trail obstacles, carefully picking her way. She has learned this over many miles of rough terrain. Both J and Trigger are learning mile by mile.

After many miles on backcountry trails, I have learned that horses aren’t very good at picking a good route through difficult terrain. I place the duty of picking the path on the rider, while leaving the horse to pick where it places it’s feet on that path. A horse that keeps it’s head high and looking down the trail, rather than down at the trail immediately before it, is one that may stumble and get itself and its rider into trouble.

We arrived back at the trailers safe and sound about three hours after we started, having enjoyed a very pleasant and somewhat challenging ride.

The trail we rode has no name that I am aware of and I was unable to find any name on any map for the gulch we rode down, however, I recorded the trip on Ramblr. You can  find all the specs of the ride there.

Here is the link:  http://rblr.co/Qqx

The area we rode is accessed from Utah Route 6, just east of the Soldier Summit service station. Turn east on USFS 131, then about 1/2 a mile along, take the right fork onto USFS 081. Take that road about seven miles and it comes to a long southerly elbow. At the apex of the elbow you will see USFS 047 heading about due south. We just found a parking spot near a USFS weather station (or something of the sort), but a little further down we found some decent log corrals and a nice, wide area for parking a trailer. It would accommodate about any size horse trailer and there is plenty of room for turning around. No services, though, and no water. The trail is unmarked, but just head down the gulch to the east and you will find the trail.

Just a note of caution, USFS 081 is a very narrow dirt road with a lot of bends. It is fairly decently maintained, but passing another rig coming the other way at certain spots could be “touchy.”

I discovered later, by looking at Google Earth, that the trail we rode down continues down the gulch, eventually meeting USFS 081 about 3.5 miles from Route 6 in a place called Trail Hollow. I suppose that might be a good place to start a ride to ascend the trail we descended, but I don’t know whether the trailhead would be on USFS property or privately owned. Maybe I’ll try that on a future ride.

The trail we rode, as documented by Ramblr, is not particularly difficult, except that we bushwhacked on the return, rather than staying on the trail. That part should be considered moderately difficult for experienced horses and riders, due to the steep ascent up the hillside and the brush busting through aspen thickets. We considered it a training ride, so it was all in good fun for us. The entire trail is suitable for unshod horses. In fact, J Golden had lost a front shoe before we started and showed no tenderness by the end of the ride.

Overall, a very pleasant ride.

TH