Two years ago, I met a wonderful lady and fellow member of my local Back Country Horsemen group named Gin.
She had recently moved to New Mexico from out of state with her 3 Arabian horses and was eager to get out on our beautiful New Mexico trails.
I was happy to share my knowledge of our local trails and glad to have a new riding partner. And best of all, we really seemed to hit it off and enjoyed each other's company (and we still do!)
What is interesting about my friend Gin, is that she is 73 years old. But you would hardly know it. She's single, but she is very active and independent.
She travels a lot, does barn chores, mucks stalls, hauls her own hay, tends her garden, and rides spirited Arabians. I think she's pretty darn cool.
We had already ridden and worked together on a couple Back Country Horsemen projects, but she wanted to get out and just ride the trails without any trail maintenance work. Since it was Autumn, I suggested we take the horses over to the 4 Hills Open Space area because the Tijeras Creek traveled through and was lined with beautiful, tall cottonwood trees.
I fondly called the area The East Mountains Bosque.
The Open Space doesn't have any established trails, but there are many trails that loop around and through the entire Open Space. It's impossible to get lost, too. On the south side of the Open Space there is a fence to keep you out of the Air Force Base. On the west side of the Open Space, there is the 4 Hills Neighborhood. And in the distance, the city of Albuquerque.
The far east side of the Open Space is bordered by tall mountains, that you can ride up to the tops, but are too steep to ride down the other side.
And on the north side of the Open Space is Route 66, I-40 and the southern foothills of the Sandia Mountains.
And because the 4 Hills Open Space doesn't have any tall trees, except for down near Tijeras Creek, you can see the entire area easily.
But the terrain is neither boring nor featureless. There are large junipers, deep, sandy arroyos, roller coaster hills, and huge boulders.
The terrain is so fun to ride and explore with varied terrain that can be both relaxing and challenging, depending upon whether you ride through sandy arroyos, or up and down the undulating hills.
And the yellow leaves on the cottonwoods were just glorious!
Riding through the tunnel of yellow leaves was just magical!
Gin and I had a grand 'ol time on such a beautiful, warm Autumn day!
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