During the weekend of May 25-27, 2017, Jon Tanner and I headed to Capitol Reef National Monument, southern Utah, to ride with the Utah Missouri Fox Trotter Association (UMFTA) and a few other friends. It’s a ride I have been looking forward to for a while.

Since both Jon and I were taking only one horse each, and since he lives up north and had to pass by my way anyhow, I threw in with him. He picked up me, my horse, and gear on Thursday afternoon about 2:15. We enjoyed a comfortable ride down in his nice rig and arrived at our destination sometime around 7:00 pm or so. We met the rest of our gang on private property that adjoins Capitol Reef, of which the owner is a member of the UMFTA.

On Friday morning, after a fine breakfast, we got saddled up and ready to head out about 10:00 am. That’s when the fun started.

I had brought my new horse, J Golden, figuring this would be an excellent training opportunity. This was officially his sixth and seventh rides, so he was pretty green, but hadn’t given me any trouble so far. Well, he was excited to see all the new horses and people and to be in a new place. As I tried to mount, he began fidgeting around. I reined him in on the left side and turned him a couple times, trying to get his mind on his business and to stand still, so I could mount. I thought I had him in check, so I pulled myself up. As I was swinging my leg over the saddle, however, J moved into me, which caused me to be over-balanced to the off-side. My right leg swung over as I hung on and I inadvertently jabbed him in the side with my spur. Well, J felt that jab, and not knowing what had happened, and with all the excitement, he immediately launched into a full-fledged bucking spree.

Here I was, hanging onto his right side, off-balance, never having gained the stirrup, and I knew I wasn’t going to stick this one out. I might have when I was 30 years younger, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it this time. I just picked out a nice spot on the lush, green grass and dove for it. I belly-flopped right where I was aiming and watched J go romping around the camp until he was caught up by my riding buddies.

Okay. So, no harm done. I was still in one piece with no broken parts. Even my cell phone survived.

Second try was more successful and once we were all gathered around, we headed off toward the monument boundary.

Friday’s ride was over a trail that took us up on top of the “reef” known as Capitol Reef. It is a ridge of rock that runs roughly north-south over a long stretch of south-central Utah. There are a number of canyons that run through the reef which offer some spectacular riding, but this day we headed up on top to see the expansive views it offers. It was a dry ride, about 6 miles in, to a point of rock which marked the end of our trail. We could go no further, due to the terrain.

We had lunch on that point, after which we headed back to camp. While I forgot to start my GPS at the beginning of the ride, I remembered at the lunch stop and at least tracked it back.  The trip back was 6.4 miles. The entire ride was only about 4 hours. I haven’t yet figured out how to post the trip on the blog, but here is the link:

http://rblr.co/So3p

The view from our lunch stop point was amazing. I’m sure the visibility was in excess of 100 miles.

We spent a nice, relaxed evening back at camp, where our group all pitched in for a nice camp dinner. I took the opportunity to see how J would do with hobbles. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he reacted very little and the experience was pretty much a “yawner.”

That evening Jon and I shared his high-line. I have a high-line kit I bought a couple years ago, but have never used it, so I had Jon teach me what it’s all about. After stretching the high-line tightly between two cottonwood trees, Jon taught me the rule of 7s. The high line is to be 7 feet high, the horses tied 7 feet apart, and the lead to be 17″ long. He showed me how to tie the loops to attach the leads to the high-line as well. Pretty handy. I normally tie to a tree or picket pin, but those methods are sometimes less practical, less safe for the horses, and leave more disturbed ground in the tie area than the high-line. In areas where it is practical (or required) I plan to use the high-line in the future.

In the photo you will notice our leads are a bit longer than 17″. We tightened them up at night. It still allowed enough rope for the horses to lay down if they wished.

Our ride the following day (Saturday) was up Pleasant Creek, which is one of those canyons that pass through the reef. Pleasant Creek runs year-round and truly is a pleasant little creek. We crossed it a number of times, so if you have a horse that doesn’t like water, by the end of the day, he’ll be fine. Apparently, J got a little dehydrated the previous day, so every time he crossed the creek on Saturday he took the opportunity to drink deeply.

I have to apologize for not taking enough photos on the rides. This was J’s first ride with a group, so he was quite a handful. I had to hold him back the entire two days, although he was better the second day. At the end of each day of riding I felt like I had been doing curls all day with weights. I was able to snap a few shots with my iphone, but I didn’t even try with the Gopro.

Below is a small gallery of some of the views we saw, as we passed through Capitol Reef on the Pleasant Creek trail. We stopped near the visitor’s center at our halfway point. We took a look at the petroglyphs there and ate lunch on the banks of the stream. On the way back we found some more petroglyphs on the canyon walls. The few photos I took do not do the trail justice. It was a very beautiful canyon and a very pleasant ride.

The Pleasant Creek ride was about 13.4 miles and took us about 6 hours. I regard it as an intermediate ride. While there was nothing particularly difficult, there are a couple places where the trail is a little tricky for a beginner, although with a little coaching even beginners could handle it easily. It was not particularly challenging for the horses.

Here is the Ramblr link: http://rblr.co/So3t

The trailheads for the two trails we rode may be accessed from Highway 24 off of Notom Road. Go south from Highway 24 about 6 miles to a dirt-track road. Park wherever it looks like a good spot there off the road. Head southwest to locate Pleasant Creek, then follow the creek westward. You will eventually find the trail leading into the Monument. The trail up on top we took on Friday is a little harder to find. From Notom Road you will take a wash northwesterly until you see a knoll with a rocky rim around it near the top. Some folks call this formation a “Mexican Hat” or a “Chinaman”. It’s the only one in the area near the wash. Take a look at the links I posted and look at the maps with the satellite layer on. Keep in mind that our starting/ending point was private property, so look for another access from Notom Road.

A nice ride for a couple days. I’d like to take the Pleasant Creek ride again sometime. Maybe once I get J a little farther along in his training, so I can spend less time controlling him and more time looking around.