Extreme Trail Riding Adventure to Spa Cliffs

 

 

Well, the day started off pretty extreme. I was running a little behind schedule, there was no one on the road, and I was excited about the ride, so my foot got a bit heavy on the gas pedal.

The officer clocked me at 64 in a 45mph zone, less than 2 miles from my house, but thankfully, since I have such a clean record (only one parking ticket and one warning ticket in my entire 29 yr driving record), he let me go with just a warning after he learned where I was heading, “Go gallop your horse, not your truck”. (And he had to laugh when he saw me with my camera. He said, between Facebook and Blogging, he gets photographed a lot.)

And then the day just kept getting better.

A hot air balloon sighting at the Big I Interchange (I-40 and I-25) in the center of Albuquerque.

And flocks of Sand Hill Cranes when I arrived in San Acacia.

 

 

And after tacking up and hauling the horses over to San Lorenzo Canyon BLM, it was time to begin our ride to Spa Bluffs.

There were 16 of us friends riding that day. While riding on the flats down in the canyon we can enjoy riding side by side, just chatting and enjoying the beautiful views.

 

 

A twist of fate happened that morning, too. While riding along, we passed a couple hikers, and one of them noticed the breast collar lettering on some of our horses, ARA, which stands for Acacia Riding Adventures, which is Dacodah’s business which he runs as a Wrangler. Come to find out the one hiker told us that his name was Ara! What are the chances of that happening in the Middle of Nowhere, New Mexico in a tiny canyon, that the two ARA’s meet up?

(Can you find me in this group?)

Here I am, riding Splendor again!

 

My friend Melissa, on her paint horse Pal, was on this ride, too.

Her boyfriend Antonio (remember the Boone’s guy from the Centennial Ride on Jan 7th?) was also riding, and most of the photos with me in the photo were taken by him, because he likes to get up high above the rocks and take photos, so he provides lots of unique and different perspectives. (This photo I took of him)

 

 

And this photo, Antonio took of me.

 

My friend Marilyn, and her husband Tim, were also on this ride. They pretty much ride down at San Acacia every weekend since they board their horses with Dacodah. (That’s Marilyn right behind me, enjoying the views, with Melissa on the paint, and a nice gal named Becky, on the Appy, behind her.)

Marilyn loves to take photos, too. And she’s really good at it, too. (Here I caught Marilyn taking a photo of me)

 

Before we headed up to Spa Cliffs, Dacodah wanted to show us one of the beautiful side canyons that meandered off of the main canyon.

 

 

It twisted and turned for a distance, becoming narrower, until it dead-ended into a little grotto.

 

Someone had probably camped in the grotto the night before because they left behind a still-smoldering log right in the center of it. The grotto even had a little slot canyon off to the side with a tiny waterfall that dripped onto the sand and echoed in that small space.

 

And Antonio took a photo of me with his camera there, too.

And then we turned around and headed back out of the side canyon towards the main canyon.

 

The rock formations in the canyon are just so incredibly beautiful and immense.

They make you feel so small. 

I was very grateful for sunshine and blue skies to help show off the colors and shapes of the rock, on this trip into San Lorenzo Canyon.

 

But soon it was time to leave the canyon in our search for Spa Bluffs. (This is my friend Randi behind me)

And soon we tasted our first bit of technical riding.

And then we had to start riding single file as we climbed higher. (That rider-less grey horse belongs to Melissa and Antonio. They brought her along to get some exercise and experience the trails. Missy was ponied at first, but we realized she wasn’t going to leave our group, so Missy was allowed to free-range instead)

And the views were becoming even more stunning! (Splendor could see a hint of Spa Bluffs off in the distance, to the far left)

And we could see more interesting rock formations that just begged to be explored in the distance.

And when I glanced behind me and saw Melissa and Becky on the trail we had just climbed, it made for a perfect photo op!

And we could see Spa Bluffs in the distance.

 

To reach Spa Cliffs, an uphill canter was required.

 

And to get a better view we all had to line up along the edge of the wide moat-like bowl that circled Spa Bluffs.

 

The color of Spa Bluffs was intense, seeming to glow from the inside, almost other-worldly.

 

After we oohed and aahed and took some pictures, it was time to leave Spa Bluffs. (Splendor and I)

 

Now at this point I’m thinking, “Well, that wasn’t such a difficult, technical trail” “In fact, it was quite easy.” I think many of us were thinking, “Ok, we’ll just ride back the way we came, or down through this flat sandy wash, easey peasey”

But we should have known better. Dacodah doesn’t lead boring in-and-out trail rides. He prefers long, interesting, challenging loop trails with lots of far away, gorgeous vistas.

(Do you see me down there, leaving the sandy wash, preparing for an uphill canter?)

So, I think when we were faced with this steep cantering uphill ascent, after leaving Spa Bluffs, we had come to the realization that the relaxing ride to Spa Bluffs was over and the second half of our ride was in a completely different style of riding:

Extreme Trail Riding. Technically challenging, adrenaline filled, intense, exciting and satisfying. Oh. And fun, too!

(What goes up, must come down, right?)

The trail, if you want to call it that, also became much rockier and more rugged.

    

 

With more downhill descents than I can count.

Some down hill descents were a little hairier than others. (See me and Splen Splen at the bottom?)

 

Many of the down hill descents were quickly followed by a steep ascent, which meant you had to hurry and adjust your body from leaning back in the saddle, to leaning forward, grabbing some mane and urging your horse to canter fast enough, to get enough momentum to make it to the top of the next hill or ridge. (That’s what I’m doing here with Splendor)

  

And then I’d reach the top and be grinning huge from the adrenaline rush!

 

Then we’d have another steep descent.

 

 

Except that one would dump us into a beautiful flat, winding, sandy wash with lovely shade trees.

And interesting rock formations.

And sharp, gnarly, spiked branches that were like witches fingers trying to grab you as you rode by!

And hikers out for a Sunday picnic, thrilled to see a group of horses and riders. We smiled as they took our picture.

And narrow gaps between bushes and rock to squeeze through.

Even more challenging and fun to canter through!

And soon we’d be out in the open again.

Squeezing through a narrow spot. (See Antonio up there on the right?)

Traveling down a narrow slot between ridges.

And then cantering uphill.

To enjoy the views.

(Melissa, Becky, and Antonio down there)

 

But the most intimidating steep hill descent for me, the one that made my heart jump into my throat and my tummy twist in knots, was this one. (Yep, that’s me and Splendor up there!)

This was the ridge trail leading to the steep drop off.

And this was the last photo I took before beginning my own descent down the hill.

It kind of felt like a “Man from Snowy River” moment for me.

When I got to the bottom, and caught my breath, I zoomed in and took this photo of Melissa and Becky coming down behind me. While it may seem like riding sideways would be a safer way to ride down a hill, or even to do switchbacks, if the horse trips and falls, your leg will be pinned underneath him. So the safest way to come down a steep hill like this, is straight down. Still, as you can see from Becky’s saddle, when riding trails like this, a back cinch and maybe even a crupper might be a good idea. Ooops! As you can see, her horse was a saint for trying to keep Becky from flipping over his neck. But, in the end she dismounted and scooted down the hill leading her horse.

Dacodah, our trail boss, encouraged us over the tough parts (and took our photos and video, too)

This picture makes me smile, because usually when I ride Apache, I’m always the last rider in a group. We are very slow and most people won’t even ride with us. So, seeing my friends Melissa and Becky bringing up the rear made me feel a little better about me and my slow-poke mare.

Then after we cantered back uphill again we rode along a steeply tilted hillside.

At the top of hills we often stopped to take in the views, have a snack and check cinches.

And take photos…..as you can see. lol!

 

That’s the canyon we had just climbed up out of to be on that hill in the photo above.

Splendor says, “Put that camera away and let’s go”

This next section of trail is quite hairy and can be very intimidating. For some reason it didn’t concern me as much as that “Man from Snowy River Hill” earlier in the ride. Maybe I was just getting used to the steep technical down hill descents?

Nevertheless, this was still a formidable descent. Dacodah calls it The Platte Steppe Down Ridge, because not only is it steep and winding, but there is a double flat rock steppe that you and your horse have to tackle halfway down. You can see where that steppe is the photo below. It’s just where the line of riders turn to the right for the second section of steep hill to climb down. Splendor and I are at the very top of The Platte Steppe Down Ridge.

  

Here you can see those two flat rocks you have to hop down. That’s Melissa and her two horses up at the top, along with Becky. And that’s Marilyn’s smiling face..…probably because we are almost at the bottom. lol!

Dacodah took some video of us riding down The Platte Steppe Down Ridge. You’ll see me and Splendor at the end.

 

 

Melissa was pretty intimidated by this section, but she also had two horses to take down this steep, rocky, rugged trail, too. We all cheered her on, while her boyfriend Antonio took photos from a different angle than the rest of us, down at the bottom.

Yay! Almost there, Melissa!

 

The sun was sliding lower into the sky, but our ride was not done yet.

Behind me Becky and Melissa were trying to figure out a different way to climb up to this ridge above. You can’t see it, but they are pointing to a spot where we all had to jump up the rock about 2 feet. They were hoping they could avoid that section.

But in the end they cowgirled up and leapt over that rock and cantered up behind Splendor and I!

    

 

Whoohoo! Go cowgirl!

But we have to climb some more. “Hang on, Splendor. The views are gorgeous. I have to shoot just. one. more. photo.”

Time to canter up this hill.

You can watch the video that Dacodah took of this section of trail. 

 

 

Ahhhh, well. What comes up, must come down, especially when riding in a canyon. Time to head back down hill again. Gorgeous views looking Southeast, though.

Splendor is such a smart girl. She knows when the camera is out to be patient and move slowly or even stop. She says ”Put that thing away now so we can tackle this section of trail” Ok, Splen Splen.

 

This is one of those sections where you have to quickly change from leaning back going downhill, to leaning forward at the bottom, so you can hop out of the gap. (Do you see the horse trailer down in the wash? We’re almost done!”

 

One last downhill section.

 

And it’s a doozy.

 

And then canter and trot back to the horse trailers and………

 

                                   The End

(And except for Antonio who was taking this photo, Splendor and I really were at the end. lol!)