Arrowhead Ranch: Cienega Canyon Trail Ride

Last Tuesday I organized a trail ride in the Sandia Mountains and invited 5 of my friends to come along.

I chose Cienega Canyon as it’s less than 20 minutes from my house and it’s someplace Apache and I hadn’t ridden yet.

The Cibola National Forest maintains this area very nicely, and the horse trailer parking area is very roomy with restrooms and trails that lead out from the parking lot.

After we tacked up, Karen wanted to show me her new riding breeches she was wearing underneath her leather chaps. I tried to side-pass Apache over to her, and instead my silly mare, turned and backed up, so she and Rio did the boom-da-boom, which was pretty funny for everyone watching. I think Rio thought it was lots of fun, too.

And then we made our way down and through the Cienega Canyon Picnic Grounds, which was a lovely ride.

There were only 2 other cars in the picnic ground parking area and no other horse trailers but ours. We basically had the entire area and trails to ourselves.

The trails are all really well-marked.

But I was looking forward to riding on the mountain trails surrounded by tall pines.

My friend Paula and her awesome mule Tecumseh joined us on the trail, too.

My friend Janet led the way to show me one of her favorite trails, a detour called the TeePee Trail, due to the placement of 10-15 large teepees lining the path for about a half mile. The rest of our friends took the main trail, which was mostly flat and sadly had no teepees.

The first teepee we approached, Apache paused and gave it a hairy eyeball…not sure if someone was going to pop-out from inside. But after the third teepee, she basically ignored them, while I took photos. That trail was a lot of fun to trot and canter across and very magical with the whimsical teepees placed along the trail every 30-50 feet apart.

When we got to the other end of the TeePee Trail, we waited for the rest of our friends who had decided to take the main trail because a couple of them were concerned about the beginning of the TeePee trail which had a very steep ascent, which Janet and I cantered up.

While I took photos of them, Paula took photos of us!

As we rode deeper into the National Forest, the trails got steadily steeper and more rugged…..which to me is very fun and a great challenge for me and my horse.

The only person we saw on the trail that day was a mountain biker, who was very respectful and stopped as soon as he saw us, and then slowly rode his bike past us. A couple of the equines in our group were a little concerned, but Apache is not impressed with bikes as you can see in the photo below. But I was still proud of her calm, sensible, brave personality.

Time to continue riding down the trail!

I love riding in the mountains. There is so much to see, smell and hear all around you. Like these interesting trees.

When we started the ride it was a little cool and a bit windy, especially in the shade of the trees. So I was glad that I brought along my denim shirt as an extra layer that I could remove later as the day warmed up.

There were a few interesting and fun challenges for our seasoned and experienced trail horses, like boulder steps down steep inclines along with sharp turns and knee knocker trees added in, too!

I feel so alive and connected to my horse when we are working on trail challenges and obstacles. When we ride on flat, featureless trails we tend to both get bored.

We also all took turns leading, following and riding in the middle.

My friend Peggy boards her horse Joey at the base of the Sandia Mountains and rides these trails often.

I was thrilled when we rode past a Native American Thong Tree, as I had read about them in the past, and seen one once before while hiking with me kids in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains above Santa Fe, NM.

History of Thong Trees

Thong Tree Children's Book

Basically Thong Trees were part of a Native American message and trail mapping system. The purpose of these trees were to mark trails and to point to other trails, water, caves, safe routes and sources of food. Thong trees are bent into odd, but easily recognizable shapes. The shapes are unnatural and different looking from trees that have been deformed by natural causes.

To form a thong tree, Native Americans would first drive the base of a forked stick into the ground near the base of the sapling. The trunk of the sapling was then bent over the V of the forked stick to form the first bend or hip. Then a leather strip or thong was tied about 2 or 3 feet from the top of the sapling and staked to the ground and the top was left to either grow up toward light or rot off forming the second bend or hip. Eventually the leather strap or thong would break or rot off leaving the shaped sapling.

These Thong Trees are located all across the United States. Did you know that there are even Thong Tree Tours? Like this one in the Ozarks: Trail of Trees

Our Thong Tree was placed on this trail to point the way to a water source. These beautiful Springs with a small pond, waterfall and a creek.

Apache was happy to enjoy the cool refreshing spring water.

At the creek, we had to split up because my friends Loeta and Peggy had plans and had to head back early.

Janet, Paula, Karen and I continued on down the trail.

Lovely Karen and her handsome Rio.

Not all the trails were cleared of blow downs and there were several trees across the trail that we either had to ride over or go around.

Apache and I enjoyed being in the lead for a while.

The terrain changed often.

And you couldn’t just sit back and relax and be a passive rider. These types of trails require you to be an active participant and fully on alert. You feel so alive and in the moment. It’s a great way to be.

Apache and I were always interested in what was over the next hill or around the next bend in the trail.

It was reassuring to see a trail sign and know you weren’t lost.

Apache and I both enjoy riding in a group, but we also enjoy being alone together, riding our own ride, but not far from our friends. It’s peaceful, quiet, exhilarating and Zen-like to feel like you are all alone in the deep forest wilderness, just you and your horse.

As we traveled across the mountain, our trails dipped up and down, into and back out of, the Sandia Wilderness.

Yes….I did say Zen-like.

We left the forest and rode along a forest road for a short distance…….

………..until we entered the Cole Spring Picnic Grounds…….a place I had never even heard of before this trail ride. I’m pretty sure it’s a best-kept secret, or perhaps it’s closed now? I’ll have to do some research…

Definitely a best-kept secret kind of place! Cole Springs is wonderfully well-maintained, clean, and dare I say it…magical!

Paula’s handsome mule, Tecumseh agreed!

The sounds of the springs gurgling out of the ground into this little rock grotto pool was enchanting.

And the water overflowed into a waterfall that flowed down the hill into a creek.

Apache was happy to drink some of that fresh, cool spring water.

But while she was enjoying some of that juicy, green grass beside the flowing springs, we heard some noises down in the dark area of forest below us. Since bears and mountain lions live in these mountains, along with elk, deer and other wildlife, I made sure to make a bunch of noise, so as not to surprise any creatures as they were probably on their way up to the springs for a drink of water and some grass.

So, we didn’t linger too long, so the wild animals could return and use this wonderful water and food resource.

Janet rides these Cienega Canyon trails often and knew of a hidden, unmarked trail we could take…..

Poor Smokey the Bear!

The hidden unmarked trail is pretty much invisible for the first 300 feet, but then the Sandia Wilderness sign comes into sight, and just beyond the sign, the trail officially begins.

The buried boulders make the trail invisible.

And soon the trail travels down the side of the mountain.

Apache and I were in the lead again…..

Narrow trail with the mountain going straight up on one side and straight down on the other. Best to have a confident, sensible, experienced trail horse when riding trails like this…..like my Apache mare.

Beautiful sun-dappled trail beneath the tall pines.

Gorgeous views to the East. South Mountain in the distance…the same mountain I can see from my house.

The trail wrapped itself around the sides of the mountain and canyon and it was fun to see what was beyond each curve.

Steep descent…….but I’m never worried when I’m on my surefooted Apache mare.

Yep, we’re heading back to Cienega Canyon……the Crest Trail leads straight up from our 7,600 ft elevation to Kiwanis Cabin at 10, 600 ft elevation, where we rode 2 weeks ago!

I love it when trees bend away from the trail, so my knees don’t get smashed.

And back downhill we go….

Apache has hooves of steel and did great on these rock and boulder covered trails, despite being barefoot.

All the equines in our group picked their way carefully over the rock covered trail.

That tree was almost a knee-knocker.

One day, this tree will fall across the trail.

No this is not a Faulty Trail: misleading, mistaken and unreliable. It’s a Faulty Trail: a fracture along which the blocks of crust, on either side, have moved relative to one another parallel to the fracture.

The Sandia Mountains lie on a rift zone with many fault lines: Sandia Rift Zone