Arrowhead Ranch: House Hunting

Thursday, May 23, 2013

House Hunting

In the span of eight years, from 1933 to 1941, 54,585 Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees in New Mexico built hundreds of roads and rails, 795 bridges, 472 lookout towers, large dams, and reservoirs, installed millions of rods of fences and planted millions of trees for reforestation and to prevent gully erosion.When these New Mexico men joined the corps, along with 3.5 million other Americans, the country was in desperate straits. Close to 25 percent of the population was unemployed. Hunger and despair had become a way of life. But the CCC accomplished so much in the Great Depression. The CCC was the greatest-ever conservation effort in American history.
At 10, 600 feet elevation, sit the Kiwanis Cabin. It was built by the CCC in 1936. What you see there today is the third try; the first two were destroyed by fire and wind. In 1993-1995 the cabin was restored.

The last time I had ridden Apache up to Sandia Crest and Kiwanis Cabin, I had wanted to ride Apache inside of the Kiwanis Cabin, but I wasn’t able to work up the nerve.

But in the days leading up to our second journey up to Sandia Crest, I made a promise to myself that I would finally ride into Kiwanis Cabin with Apache.
We would do a little “house hunting” together. Perhaps a nice barn cabin, with amazing views, for my lover-of-high places mare?

I think I might have been a little concerned that Apache might not want to go house hunting, but I needn’t have worried, because I asked, and she willingly went along with my plans.

I’m sure part of that reason is because Apache trusts me enough to know I’m not going to put her into danger. But I’d also like to believe that she was just as curious as I was to enter into that tiny stone cabin, too.

It is a good thing I don’t have a tall horse, or it might have been quite challenging to go inside. Not only is the doorway low, but the ceiling is low, too.

But if we stayed between the wooden beams, I was actually able to sit upright, and Apache and I both enjoyed having a look around. The views out the windows were awe-inspiring and beautiful!

Apache enjoyed the inside of the cabin so much that I had to ask her several times to come back outside again. She had just as much fun as I did inside that cabin, peeking out at everyone.

Apache decided the Kiwanis Cabin should belong to us, and that we should haul some hay up there and her water bucket. She was quite content with her little cabin.

Yep. It’s too bad Kiwanis Cabin isn’t for sale.

Otherwise, we would move right in!

And I just want to say that I love my Apache mare. Life is so Good. And I am so immensely blessed!

And here is the GPS map from our Sandia Crest trail ride: