Canyon Bosque Trail Ride (Part 2)

 

Ok. I admit it. I was surprised to discover that we have our own Bosque here in the foothills of our mountains east of Albuquerque.

For those that aren’t familiar with the word Bosque……..”Bosque is the name for areas of deciduous forest found along the streams and river banks of the SW United States. The name comes from the Spanish word for woodlands. In the arid southwestern United States, the bosque is an oasis-like ribbon of green vegetation, often canopied, that only exists near rivers, streams, or other water courses. The most notable bosque is a 200 mile long ecosystem along the Rio Grande in New Mexico that extends from Santa Fe down into Texas. One well know bosque area is the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge.”

 I have driven past this area for over 20 years now, and I am ashamed to admit that I have never stopped, parked and explored this area.

 

But I am very grateful that my riding friends suggested we ride here. I thoroughly enjoyed riding beneath the tall, green cottonwoods.

 

It was very peaceful and calm in the shade of the cottonwoods and we all enjoyed just strolling along quietly. Even Apache seemed to enjoy herself, too.

 

Interestingly, Karen grew up in this area and as a child, rode her ponies along this Bosque and in the hills above. Karen hadn’t been back to ride here since she was a teenager, and it was easy to see that she was enjoying the experience. She shared her childhood stories with us and it was fun to walk down memory lane with her. 

 

When I invited Colleen to ride with us, our original plan was to ride up to Sandia Crest, but we changed plans because of a forest fire in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. I was happy that Colleen didn’t mind where we rode, and that she was as pleased as I was, to discover these Canyon Bosque Trails, too.

 

The entire day we were there, we only saw one other person walking his dog. Other than that, we had the entire area all to ourselves.

 

Apache appreciated the creek crossings and being able to stop for a drink of nice refreshing Spring water.

 

Colleen couldn’t convince her mare Pepper to take a drink or even get close to the creek, even after Apache and I took our turn.

 

We continued to ride along in the Canyon Bosque in a westerly direction. The horses seemed to enjoy the flat sandy path and were very relaxed and content to mosey down the trail.

 

As we rode further west, we began to see houses on the hills above us and realized that we were riding below the Four Hills Neighborhood of Albuquerque.

 

There were several creek crossing opportunities, which is a rare and wonderful thing for our high desert equines. Water training is difficult to do when we’re lucky to get a few sprinkles of rain once every 6 months, and we’re sorely lacking in the creek, stream, pond, lake and river department.

 But our horses were all eager to get their feet wet and take a drink from the creek. Even that shallow bit of water must have been a joyful sight for them, as much as it was for us. 

 

I still kept a close watchful eye on my Apache mare while we stood in the cool creek. My mare has happy hippo tendencies and enjoys a wallow in some water now and then. (Even with me on her back!)

 

Even Pepper decided that the creek was a lovely place for a drink and a rest.

 

As we rode further west, the Canyon Bosque narrowed and a great wall of rock rose up on one side.

 

It was late afternoon when we decided to turn around and ride back to the trailers. We rode up above the Canyon Bosque for a short ways and were treated to views of some of the professional buildings along Route 66.   

 

And then we dropped back down into the cool shade of the Canyon Bosque again.

 

I still can’t believe this wonderful place is only 15 minutes from my house. I have to drive past it every time I drive into Albuquerque!

 

This area has everything a trail rider could want: Beautiful scenery, challenging, interesting and diverse trails, hills for climbing as well as staying down low out of the wind, sandy arroyos for cantering, shady paths for hot summer days, and because it’s just far enough out of the mountains to not get large amounts of snow, it would be possible to ride during the winter, too.  

 

Oh! And we can’t forget water crossings, too! (And water for your horse to drink on a hot summer day, too!) 

 

The path that leads from the trailer parking area passes right by the Rodeo Arena.

Apache was fascinated, especially by the cattle chutes.

 

Gosh! I had such a good time with these awesome ladies and their terrific horses!

 

Town & Country Feed Store has always welcomed trail riding folks to use their parking lot and have hosted many horse events over the years. I have bought chicken, goat and horse feed here and I have bought chicks, too.

Sadly, the Feed Store and Horse Rental has shut down and the building is up for lease by the owners. I hope this facility will be a feed store again and continue to be horse and trail rider-friendly from whomever decides to lease it.

 

I look forward to riding there as often as I can in the future.

But it was time to remove tack and load up our horses. Bye Loeta and Profe!!

 

Apache and I shared a ride with Colleen and Pepper.

 

Apache says, “Ok, you can stop taking photos now, and get this saddle and gear off me”

 

And here’s the GPS Map from our Manzano Open Space and Canyon Bosque Trail Ride.

Manzano Open Space and Canyon Bosque Trail Ride

EveryTrail - Find the best Hiking in New Mexico

Manzano Open Space and Canyon Bosque Trail Ride (Part 1)

 

Someone commented on my previous blog post that it seems that I’ve made horseback riding a major part of my life. I really wish that was true. I wish I had more time to ride, but I’m lucky to ride once a week. Most of the time I am only able to ride once every two weeks, or even just once a month. I rarely ever ride at home, but I do try to plan a ride away from home with friends at least once or twice a month.

It may seem that I ride all the time from reading my blog, but it’s just that the rides I have the opportunity do are so special to me and such a wonderful and rare event that I like to showcase them the way they deserve to be. I love to ride in new places and with friends most of all.

Someone else commented that they wished they could ride as often as I do and to such beautiful places. And their excuse is they don’t have enough time or money. Well, I could say the same thing, too. Because it’s true. But I choose to make horseback riding one of my priorities because it’s healthy for my mind, body and soul…and for the health of my horse, too. My family encourages me to ride, and for the cost of gas and sometimes food, the time I spend on horseback is priceless. 

I don’t think you have to ride every day or even 2-3 days a week, unless you want to. For me, it’s not about quantity, but quality. And quality doesn’t have to mean expensive either. Any overnight weekend rides I have done are either at a campground or at one of my friends‘ ranches. So, they cost virtually nothing. But the majority of trail rides that I do are local, all within 20 minutes to an hour from my house. So they are typically day rides.

Like this one that I did last week at Manzano Open Space and the Canyon Bosque in Carnuel, NM, just 15 minutes from my house.

 

My awesome riding buddies on that day were Karen (riding Rio), Colleen (riding Pepper) and Loeta (riding Profe).

 

And Apache and I even got included in the group photo taking, too!

See those two hills behind us? Our goal was to ride up between those two hill and check out the saddle ridge and enjoy the views.

 

The chain link fence with barbed wire across the top belongs to the Kirtland AFB. That’s military property on the other side of that fence.

This little bridge was a disappointment. It was much too flimsy for a horse to ride over.

 As we rode higher and higher, the views got even more amazing. We were far above the city of Albuquerque.

 

We were planning to ride up the trail to the saddle ridge, just to the left of that steep hill in front of us.

 

But first we discovered a smaller hill to ride up and explore. Karen was the first to ride up to the top of the small steep hill. So I made sure to take a photo of her and Rio before we joined her up there.

 

After riding to the top of that steep hill and enjoying the views, we rode back down again.

 

Then we rode uphill again.

 

Lots of awesome huge boulders to ride beside. 

 

It was a steady steep uphill climb, so we stopped several times to allow our horses to catch their breath.

 

After riding up to the saddle on the ridge, we had great views out towards the east. Sandia Mountains rise up from the left (north) side of the photo and the Manzano Mountains ride up from the right (south) side of the photo. We could see Tijeras Canyon with I-40 down below in the center, the smaller Coyote Canyon on the right, and off in the distance, South Mountain, which I live only 10 miles away from, as you crow flies, and can also see from my bedroom window.

 

I had my riding buddies, Colleen, Karen and Loeta pose for a photo while we were up on that saddle ridge, too.

In the background is the southern portion of the city of Albuquerque. Directly behind is Kirtland AFB. And between Karen ad Loeta, if you look carefully, you can see the runways of the Albuquerque Sunport International Airport.  

 

And then we headed back downhill…. 

 

I was playing with my camera settings and chose the Sunset Mode, hoping to warm up the photos and remove the grey-ish, washed out tint.  It warmed up alright!

 

Apache loves to ride in the high places and really enjoys stopping to take in the views. 

 

We found a nice flat area on the trail and took turns taking photos of one another.

Karen and Rio.

 

Loeta and Profe

 

Colleen and Pepper

 

Me and my Apache mare.

 

Soon, we left that photo taking spot and rode up to a great little hill top with awesome vistas.

And down below us we could see I-40 snaking along below the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. And if you look carefully, you can see a small green roof just under I-40, just slightly left center in the photo. That is where we parked our horse trailers and started our ride. 

 

This great little hilltop, with just barely enough room for our 4 horses, was not only perfect to enjoy the views, but it is where I decided that Apache and I would lead our group for a little while.

And downhill we went.

Hard to tell, but this was very steep.

 

So, to give a better idea of the steepness of this section of trail, I asked the ladies to stand on the hill so I could take a photo.

 

But we came to a point, where it felt like the trail was just going to drop straight off the side of a hill. It looked the same way a roller coaster track looks just before you zoom down that first super steep downhill.

Karen and Rio were the bravest and went first down that section, followed by Loeta. 

 

Colleen and Pepper went next, followed by Apache and I.

Our horses were all sure-footed and brave, but I’m pretty sure I held my breath on that downhill section, and didn’t take a breath until we had made it all the way down.

 

And at the very bottom of that steep hill was a lovely, deep-sand arroyo lined with large juniper and pinon trees.

 

We all spread out and relaxed as we wandered through the arroyo and trees.

 

Loeta and Karen found a juniper perfect for playing Ring-Around-The-Rosie.

 

And when the arroyo opened up, we all broke into some fun cantering! 

 

And we explored another uphill area, but decided to ride back down so we could check out Tijeras Creek and the Canyon Bosque further down the sandy arroyo.

 

We were looking forward to riding in the shade beneath the big Cottonwood Trees that had just recently leafed out. This riding area is just 15 minutes from my house and something we don’t have much of in the mountains are big deciduous trees. We have plenty of evergreens, such as junipers, pinons and ponderosa pines, but the closest place to ride beneath tall green cottonwood trees is along the Rio Grande in Corrales or the Albuquerque Bosque. But those trails are an hour from where I live.

So, I was thrilled to discover that we have our own Canyon Bosque, basically in our backyards! 

 

To Be Continued………………..