Old Spanish Arena and Arches National Park - Moab, Utah

 

Ari says today's ride was the best of our trip so far, so it must have been a pretty outstanding ride. We got up extra early to try to beat the crowds and get a decent parking spot for the trailer. We arrived at the Arches National Park Visitor Center just a few minutes before they opened at 8 am. Horses are allowed in the park - mostly on the OHV trails, but the website has no information about staging areas - places to park with a horse trailer.

We met with the head ranger - who was very nice. She even had a print out from the website listing all the trails where we are allowed. She agreed with me that they didn't have anything on the website on where to park, so she suggested we park in the small lot next to Balanced Rock.

We drove up the road (about seven miles) through beautiful views to the small parking lot.

The horses were fine although a bit confused by all the tourists.

They were treated to lots of petting and horse cookies from people thrilled to see horses.

Our parking space had a great view of Balanced Rock.

The map was a bit confusing as to where the trailhead was. The trailhead was on the other side of the street and before the parking lot.

You can see some of the famous arches just above and to the right of Ari on the far side of the Balanced Rock.

We rode the Salt Valley Trail. The trail was mostly soft sand, but we did put boots on both horses just in case. We rode a couple of miles past Elephant Rock - a large rock formation that looks like a sleeping elephant. Temps started in the 60s as the sun was still coming up but it was in the mid 70s by the time we were finishing the ride around noon.

This was definitely a bucket list ride.

We were passed on the trail by one vehicle with tourists and two tour jeeps. At the trail head, there were vault toilets and picnic tables. One of the tour groups stopped there to use the toilets. The guides approached us and tried to tell us horses aren't allowed in the park. We corrected them. Horses are allowed in most national parks - thanks to Congress which passed legislation allowing equestrian use as a salute to the contribution horses have made to the history of this country.  Starting with Brown Beauty, the mare Paul Revere rode when he alerted the rebels about the British attack.

Horses were used to build the railroads. The pioneers used horses to reach the Western territories. Horses have been used in just about every war on American soil.

This is where the horses are spending their nights. The stalls are on the small side, but I think the horses feel safe in there and they are definitely out of the heat.

During the day, we have been putting the horses in a turn out area so they can move around and take rolls.

Thanks a million to Tammy Tucker for loaning us a trailer. There is no way our LQ would have made it into the Arches National Park.

Tomorrow we head for Goblin State Park.

Old Spanish Trail Arena - Moab, UT

 Moab has been on my bucket list for a while now. Arches National Park is a "must do" place to ride for me. It just looks so amazing in all the photos and videos I have seen.

I had tried to book the OK RV Park (which allows horses), but they are fully and completely booked until the end of October. So, we ended up at our second choice - the Old Spanish Trail Arena, which is just a fancy name for the rodeo grounds. Hilariously, the OK RV Park is right next door. 

We arrived on a weekend when a barrel racing competition was going on, so the place was pretty packed. We ended up staying in Barn E on the south side of the property. We didn't really mind because it was quieter and less people.

Our horses are in tiny tiny stalls - with just enough room to turn around and lie down, but the ground is soft, soft sand. They have shade and it is pretty cool where they are...which is important because the temperatures have been in the mid-80s. I did not think it would be this hot at the end of September.

Our LQ has a nice flat area and we have water and electricity. Cell service is not that great, but we were able to play Zoom Bridge AKA Trickstercards with two of our favorite people and we are expecting the connection to be good enough for us to virtually attend Yom Kippor services with our congregation in Santa Cruz. 

When I had planned this trip, I had worried about how we might find High Holy Day services on the road - especially since we are probably the only Jews in just about any small town we find ourselves in. With COVID-19, our congregation is hosting virtual services on Zoom, so we are able to pray and join in from wherever we are. It feels like a little bit of visiting home, so it is really nice.

There were three things that were stressing me out once we arrived in Moab. One, we are running low on hay and we needed to replenish our stores. Two, I wanted to rent a small trailer like we did in Jackson, so we could trailer out to Arches National Park and maybe one or two other rides. Three, the transmission on our truck makes a terrible sound whenever we go in reverse and the truck is struggling to change gears when we go up and down mountains. We are pretty sure that the transmission is slipping and needs to be replaced. 

We are hoping it will hang in there until we get to St George, Utah in mid-October. We are planning to spend at least two weeks in St George because it has been recommended as a great place to winter. We are hoping that we can put the truck in for repairs and just chill at the Reinmakers Stables where we will be staying with our LQ and horses. Hopefully, the local dealership will give us a loaner vehicle while the truck is in the shop. My big nightmare is for the truck to break down when we are going up or down a mountain on a narrow road with the horses in the back. We have US Rider (this is like AAA for horse trailers), but I am hearing that the company is not as good at service as it used to be.

I asked Angie Book, the arena manager, for recommendations on how to locate a small trailer to rent. She recommended that I join a Facebook group that is local to Moab. So, I joined the group and posted asking if anybody would be willing to rent me a trailer. Two women responded. The first woman had a four horse gooseneck stock trailer that appeared almost as big as our LQ. The second woman, Tammy Tucker, had the perfect trailer - a three horse, slant load bumper pull Charmac. It is almost identical to our stock trailer that we left at home.

Tammy was really wonderful and we went to her home to pick up the trailer. 

She moved her tack out of the trailer and into her truck. Her little goat wanted to help, so jumped into the back of the truck to inspect what was going on.

The goat was absolutely charming!

I have never been a fan of goats, but Tammy's goat is wonderful.

Some people have been leaving their horses at the rodeo grounds and staying elsewhere. They come in the morning and evening to feed and water and then take off again. The horses are not happy in the heat.

Tammy recommended several places to ride that are south of Moab. They are doing roadwork on the northside of Moab - an hour delay going through the north side of town. It is legendary among locals. So, we drove to the trailhead for Picture Frame Arch. The parking area is HUGE. We went super early to avoid the heat and the lot was empty.

From the lot, there is the trailhead to get you started, but no signage to point you the direction of the arch

The scenery is very different from what we have seen previously, but it is beautiful.

If you look very closely at the picture, you will see the Picture Frame Arch above Ari's head near the top of the mountain above him. Finding the arch was like looking for a puzzle. When I finally spotted it, I was greatly relieved - mission accomplished!

Camping is free in this area and there were dozens of campers in the camping area - many with large RVs. The road is gravel and pretty rutted, so it wouldn't be a great drive to get in there and camp, but you could come in and camp with horses - if you have a high line or portable corral. You are basically boondocking.

This is a popular place for off-road vehicles or OHVs. We were worried about OHVs on the trail spooking the horses, but we were riding early enough people were still having breakfast and figuring out their days. One group of campers offered Ari some bacon. He graciously refused. We had already eaten breakfast, plus we only eat Turkey Bacon.

So, we got a small trailer to use to visit trails (one problem resolved), but we still needed to round up food for our horses. We were down to a couple of bales. We kept asking local equestrians about a source. We heard horror stories about driving two hours to Colorado to get bales of alfalfa. I called the local feed stores and the only thing available was cubes or pellets. The last time we fed Lennox alfalfa cubes, he urinated over them and then stomped them into mush to show his utter hatred of what was being offered.

Someone mentioned that there was an alfalfa farmer who lived next to the rodeo grounds, but didn't recall the name or how to contact him. So, we decided to drive around looking for an alfalfa farm. We would drive up to small houses and Ari would knock on the door. "Excuse me, I don't want to bother you, but we are looking for some alfalfa for our horses." The second house we got our best lead..."We don't sell alfalfa, but we buy from Gary Wilson. He lives right down the road there." I phoned Gary Wilson - he was listed as Wilson Farms. His wife answered the phone and said they would sell us the bales we wanted.

We drove in and bought eight bales for eight bucks each and paid cash. So far on this trip we have paid as much as $15 a bale, so we considered it a bargain. The alfalfa had just been baled, so it was fresh and clean. The horses love it. Problem Two solved.

Then, Sunday afternoon when I was making dinner our microwave died. I was cooking potatoes in the microwave, planning to serve them with the left over BBQ brisket I had made the day before. The AC was working, lights were on, circuit breakers in the correct position, but the microwave was dead.  Then ten minutes later - while Ari and I were still discussing what to do about dinner - the microwave pulled a Lazarus and revived itself. I was able to continue cooking the potatoes and dinner went forward as planned. Apparently, this is a known issue where the microwave will overheat and turn itself off as a safety feature. SMC offered to replace the microwave, but I am not sure whether to accept the offer if it will not resolve the problem of overheating. Some people suggest running the stove exhaust or putting in a better vent to the outside as better solutions. Since this is the first time it has happened, I may backburner this issue (there is a pun in there) and wait and see.

So two of our three problems are solved. As for the truck, Ari and I are hoping that the transmission will hang in there until we get to St George.

Return to Green River, Utah

 

We visited Green River, Utah ten years ago on our way to Bryce Canyon. Back then, we didn't have an LQ - just the stock trailer. We stayed at the River Terrace Inn, which was lovely.

This time we stayed with the horses at the Green River Stables.

The horses were put in the same stalls Laertes and Oberon used a decade ago and liked them a great deal. They were shady and roomy with soft sand.

We parked the LQ parallel to their stalls and had electric and water hook-up.

No trails to speak of and we only spent one night before moving on to Moab.

 

Oak Hills Stables - Salem, Utah

 

Another horse motel, another disappointment. 32 acres of trails and access to mountain trails from facility was an exaggeration at best. 

In order to access the mountain trails, you were required to ride along a dusty canal road and it is easily a one hour ride before you actually get to the mountains (30-45 minutes if you trailer to a trailhead).

There are some trails behind the facility on their 32 acres - very little shade and not all that pretty. However, the trails were soft dirt, so it was an easy ride.

Maryann provided us this 20 quart bucket to hold water for our horses. 

I scavenged around the property and put these water buckets in the stalls which hold closer to 10 gallons. Horses drink 10-12 gallons of water per day. The small pail that was provided was only enough water to cover half a day's worth of water.  If people don't drink enough water, we can get sick. If horses don't drink enough water, they can die. Temperatures here were in the high 80s.  

It may sound like we are being whiny, but it stresses us out when we think our horses' health is being threatened.

The horses each have a 10' x 10' stall. Not a lot of space compared to those palatial pastures they have experienced, but shavings were provided, so they had some soft bedding.

Plus, it was pretty cool inside the big barn and they were in shade.

In the horse motel ad, it says hay is available for sale. However, all the horses here were being fed pressed alfalfa pellets, no forage. I didn't see any hay barn at all. Our horses were fed grass hay/alfalfa 2-string bales which we purchased from Valor Stables.

For some reason, the Smart Truck Route app I use on my cell phone took us on a winding tour of new housing developments. Maybe someone paid the app to do that in order to sell some houses? I have no idea, but we switched to Google Maps in frustration and then were directed correctly to the stables.

We parked next to the barn, so we were close to the horses. There was electricity and water for the trailer. The electric was a standard 110 connection, so we tripped the circuit breaker a couple of times running our air conditioning. The water pump had a leak, so we just used it to fill up the tank in our trailer as we didn't want to waste a bunch of water.

We have figured out that a 30A connection works best for our trailer, but we have adapters so we can use a standard household connection, 30A or 50A.

Oak Hills is a vaulting barn. Every afternoon a bunch of little girls come into the ranch and practice gymnastics on horseback.  We would have watched, but we would have had to haul out our lounge chairs and sit in the sun in 80 degree heat. Instead, we opted to hide in our trailer in the air conditioning.  Some days I feel like a cranky old lady.

Heading to Green River, Utah today, but it appears temperatures will continue to be in the high 80s. I was expecting it to be cooler this time of year. This is our second visit to Green River. We stopped there on our first horse trip to Bryce Canyon about ten years ago. We have fond memories of Green River, so I am hoping our next stop will be better.

North Fork Park - Weber County Utah

 

Well, the drive into the North Fork park was a bit harrowing...we went over a mountain and the incline was so steep we were afraid our truck was going to die from the effort of pulling the trailer up the mountain. We made it, but when we left we took an entirely different route that avoided the mountain road.

Our first night we parked by the camp host because we didn't know where to go, but a county employee came by and told us to camp in Loop B, which was a mile inside the park. The next morning when I got up I walked to the campsites to figure out where we were going. Then, walked back to our trailer and directed Ari and where to go.

Our horses got two good sized corrals. All the corrals are bunched together in the middle of the campsite.

No manure pile - so campers were putting the manure on the outside of the corrals.

There are dumpsters located around the park - but none at the campsite.

We were the only equestrian campers, so we had the campsite to ourselves and our pick of where to park, so we picked this nice flat asphalt site. No electricity and poor cell service, but there was water for us and the horses. A county employee stopped at our campsite to collect our money - $40 a night for the two horses and the campsite.  She also told us we could use water from the spigot, but we weren't allowed to hook up to our trailer.

Since we were the only campers, it was quiet and lovely.

I was tired the day after we arrived and experiencing shortness of breath. I think it was probably the altitude because as soon as we came down the mountain I felt a lot better.

So, we didn't ride on the day after our arrival. We did our ride the morning of our departure.

We rode the Mules Ear trail and did a nice 2 hour loop ride. The trail was well maintained, no downed trees. Some cyclists on the trail, but other wise an easy ride.

On our drive to our next stop, we saw this fabulous waterfall.

This was a really nice place to stay and so glad those equestrians recommended it because it did not come up in any of my searches.

 

Antelope Island State Park - Utah

 

Several equestrians had recommended Antelope State Park as a great place to camp and ride with horses. There are only two campsites available for equestrians on the entire island. The island resides in the middle of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. You reach it by driving over a causeway and a bridge.

The landscape on the island is rather sparse. The island is about the same size as Catalina Island - and it boasts  it's own herd of buffalo.

"Twelve bison, 4 bulls (males), 4 cows (females) and 4 calves were taken by boat to the island on February 15, 1893, by William Glassman and John Dooly." These 12 animals apparently came originally from a small private herd in Texas and became the foundation for what has grown into the Antelope Island bison herd.

At this point, it appears that there are a couple hundred bison on the island.

Our campground was the White Rock Campground and we rode the White Rock trail - which basically takes you around the southwest end of the island. Horses are not allowed on the beaches.

Bison would slowly and nonchalantly walk through and by our campsite. They weren't destructive. They were pretty calm. They didn't appear to be afraid of people  nor were they that interested in people.

This is our campsite. No water or electricity is available at the campsites and we had no cell service.

We had a nice picnic table with a shade.

A corral was provided, but we set up the portable corral as well so we could separate the horses. My horse got the camp corral and Lennox got the portable corral.

This is a short video of how Lennox reacted every time a bison showed up at our campsite. He was extremely noisy and agitated about the interloper.

I had been warned that the mosquitoes and flies on the island were something awful and that September/October were the best months to visit the island. 

Well, we can attest to the awfulness of the insects. We used OFF. Skin So Soft, AND Equine Fly Spray and we were still covered in bugs. Fly sheets were put over both horses to protect them from the insects. 

Between the lack of internet and suffering insect bites pretty much everywhere on his body, Ari was not a happy camper. I liked the quiet and the barren beauty of the island, but I agreed with Ari that the bugs pretty much ruined the experience.

We were in the process of packing up to move on to our next place when we met a couple of equestrians who had come onto the island for a day ride. They recommended we check out North Fork County Park, so we decided to head there.

Antelope Island State Park did have a dump station for RVs, so we stopped at the dump station before we left the island.

The park is located fairly close to Wasatch View Ranch. If we had known it was an option, we would have skipped Wasatch View Ranch and stayed at the park.

We are boondocking at the park. The camp host hasn't shown up to the camp host site, so we have no idea if we are OK or not. The horses are in a couple of corrals next to us.

Wasatch View Ranch- Ogden, Utah

 

Took this picture at a rest area before we got to the ranch.

Wasatch View Ranch is not a fancy place to stay and most people only stay for a single night. There are no trails off the property. The horses get a nice stall with a small run. Hay and mucking is included - $35 per horse and the LQ is free. We have electric hook-up for our trailer and water close enough by that we can fill our tank. The Maverick gas station at the end of the road has a free RV dump, so we plan to stop there when we leave Saturday.

We parked next to the corrals so we can access electricity.

Lennox peeking out at us from his stall.

We did a walking tour of the historical district of Ogden. It was pretty darn depressing. There was some public art, but not a lot going on and a lot of empty storefronts. Nobody wearing masks - not even people in the stores and restaurants.

We decided to drive our LQ 15 minutes away to the Equestrian Park so we could get a ride in. The parking lot is a good size - plenty of room for us to park and turn the trailer around.

There is a large arena, a picnic area with shade, and corrals. No bathrooms.

From the Equestrian Park, we rode up the road maybe 1/10 of a mile to the trailhead. We rode the N Ogden Canyon Trail. It was a bit rocky in sections, but overall a pretty trail.

Lots of fall colors and some wildflowers.

Altogether it was about a 2 hour ride. We could have ridden longer as there were other trails off the main one, but a two hour ride is about right for us

Tomorrow is Rosh Hashana so we plan to attend services over Zoom with our Santa Cruz congregation and then head to Antelope State Park.