So, for my birthday weekend, I loaded up my horse and all the gear we'd need to camp out in the high mountains of the Pecos, above 10,000 ft elevation, in a rustic wilderness cabin for four days.
My riding companion and a forest service volunteer loading everything up on our Icelandic pack horse.
Riding out from the Panchuela Forest Service site, we immediately had a small river to cross.
We let our horses stop to get a drink before continuing on.
About a hundred feet from the small river was a bridge to cross over another river.
Apache and I followed along behind.
We continued our journey, climbing up and around a small mountain.
We could see the lush green meadows, where the forest service grazes their stock animals, down below.
After about 40 minutes we crossed into the Pecos Wilderness.
The forest was so beautiful, lush and green due to our recent summer monsoons.
Which also meant lots of mud and standing water on the trails.
We reached a high plateau and decided to pause for a few photos, even though the day was rather dark and cloudy.
I took my usual "happy-to-be-on-my-awesome-horse-out-in-beautiful-nature" selfie.
About halfway to the cabin, we ran into CeCe, from the Horse Around New Mexico Magazine. She was out there with her horse working on a story about riding in the Pecos. She, of course, too a few photos of us. And I took one of her.
Before we said farewell, she told us of her plans to ride back up during the weekend to visit with our Back Country Horsemen Chapter to do a story on our work project weekend at Beatty's Cabin.
Can you see CeCe and her horse in this photo below?
This next section of trail was very wet and muddy due to several springs that crossed over the trail.
But there were also several high mountain meadows that were breathtaking to ride through.
The gorgeous views just never stopped.
Another muddy spring crossing the trail up head.
Lots of mud to ride through, made me very pleased that my horse had gotten past her aversion to having muddy feet.
And another water crossing, but not as muddy due to all the rocks.
I wanted to take a photo to give a better perspective on the true scale of the tall trees on this trail. I think this photo does a pretty good job.
My son, Jax, also a member of the Back Country Horsemen, was also participating in this Beatty's Cabin Work Project. But he prefers to backpack, over riding horses. So he got a head start from the Jacks Creek trailhead, but we finally did catch up with him.......
......and eventually passed him
The next water crossing we could hear even before we saw it. The spring that fed this little creek, was abundant. We stopped and let our horses enjoy a drink from the fresh spring water.
There was even a lovely, little waterfall to ride past below.
My son even managed to catch up with us.
And then I was grateful to be on a horse that doesn't mind crossing water, as I watched Jax trying to balance on rocks while carrying a heavy backpack, as he hopped across the creek.
I was also very surprised at the quick pace that Apache was keeping on the trail. I'd always wondered if Apache would be able to keep up with my son, who is a very fast hiker, because Apache tends to be a slowpoke who enjoys mosying and enjoying the scenery just as much as I do. But she was keeping up with our riding companion's pace very well, and we were never very far our out of sight from them for long.
But we soon left Jax behind on the trail.
This part of the trail was so incredibly beautiful as it traveled through an aspen forest.
And the next water crossing that we arrived at reminded me of one of those amusement park log flume rides. The water didn't just flow across the trail, it flowed WITH the trail.
Before long, we saw the sign to detour off the main trail and ride up to Beatty's Cabin.
The first cabin we saw was not Beatty's Cabin, but the Game and Fish Cabin.
And when we arrived at Beatty's Cabin, there were already a small group of men gathered there on horseback, exploring the outside of the cabin.
These guys were visiting New Mexico from out of state.
That's my Apache mare tied up to the hitching rail, behind the man wearing the blue shirt.
And here's the famous, and historic Beatty's Cabin as seen from the front. This is where we'd be working, eating, and sleeping over the next four days.
After we got our horses unsaddled and unpacked, a few more Back Country Horsemen members arrived, and we decided to hobble our horses and let them graze freely in this high mountain wilderness meadow. Apache truly enjoyed herself.
I walked around and took a few photos, of course. The wildflowers were in abundance and made a perfect addition to this Beatty's Cabin photo.
To Be Continued........
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