Well…a mountain.

Today, Jeff Palmer and I made a ride I have been wanting to do for several years. You might recall my post from a couple years ago, in which I talked about a trail up a mountain near my home that I had been wanting to ride. I had found a way up to the trail, but until today I had not made the time to actually ride it.

The trail is actually a service road for a cellular transmission site located on top of a mountain just east of Salem, Utah. I am getting my horses prepared for a pack trip into the Wind Rivers next week as well as my second foray to Alaska in September. So, it occurred to me that a ride up that road that has been calling my name for nearly five years would be a good conditioning ride for my good steed, Apollo. I called Jeff and asked if he was interested in going. Of course he was!

So, this morning about 10am, we set off on our ride, straight from the stable where I keep my horses. I rode my Tennessee Walker, Apollo, and ponied Calypso, while Jeff rode his huge Fox Trotter, Tank.

After we traveled about a mile and a half along paved roads to get to the bottom of the trail, we started the steep ascent on an ATV trail to reach the service road. That half mile or so is a steep climb for horses (you can see the trail in the foreground of the above photo), but good for getting them in condition for a tough pack trip.

Once we reached the first level, having climbed around 1,000 feet in about 1/2 mile, I tied up Calypso’s lead rope around her neck and let her follow along behind, without me tugging on her lead rope.  On other pack trips, she has followed along just fine, but we hadn’t gone another mile, before she decided she had had enough. We stopped to give the horses a breather and she quietly turned around and headed back down the mountain. Not a sound. She didn’t even whinny as we headed on up the trail. She just snuck away.

Experience told me that if we went after her to try to catch her, she would simply stay ahead of us and lead us back down to the bottom. We let her go, trusting that she would find her way home or that someone would tie her to a fence post or something.  She’s about five months pregnant, but in pretty good condition, so I figure she just decided she didn’t want to go up that hill.

So, on up the hill we went. The horses handled the nearly 4,500 foot climb in elevation fairly well. We gave them breathers every mile or so. The 8.5 mile climb to the cell towers took us just over three hours.  It was a nice ride with a cool breeze, despite the heat in the valley.  The upper elevations included passage through aspen groves. The sweet, moist smell was very pleasant.

The view from the upper reaches of the trail, including the area at the cellular transmission towers, was spectacular. We had clear view of the north and west faces of Loafer Mountain and Santaquin Peak as well as an uninterrupted view of the entire Utah Valley and Utah Lake.

It was well worth the wait.

I sent a photo of the view of the town of Salem from the cell towers to my wife at home via text. She returned the quip, “I can see my house from there!”

As usual, the ride down the mountain took about half the time that the climb took. Our horses, sensing they were heading home, stepped up the pace. About halfway down, we picked up Calypso’s trail, which we kept track of to make sure she actually made it down the mountain.

She did. We found her in a pasture along the route home, where a good neighbor had let her into his pasture. We picked her up, thanked the homeowner, and made the last mile to home. We arrived back at my stables about 4pm.

It was a very nice and worthwhile ride. One I’ll likely make again some day, as there are several other trails I saw up there that I’d like to find try on for size.

So, I finally made it up the mountain.

On to the Wind Rivers next week.

P.S.

I almost forgot to mention the large rattlesnake we passed, sunning himself at the edge of the trail, just before we got to the top. We disturbed him again on our way back down.

TH