Paria River Ranch - Continued

 

Monday evening we rode with two other equestrians staying at the ranch. Monte and Bonnie are local residents who were just taking some time with their two Paso Finos. Bonnie's horse is a mare. Three geldings all vying for attention and one mare, yikes! But the ride actually went pretty smoothly.

We rode past a vineyard and I didn't really think anything of it when all of the sudden the horses started to spook and we saw a herd of cattle stampeding in our direction. Then, an ATV chasing the cattle out of the field of grapevines and the guy riding the ATV yelling "HA! HA!"

Monte figured it out quickly - the cows were eating the grapevines and the vineyard owner was using his ATV to chase the cattle out of his fields. 

We hustled out of the way, but when I looked back the guy on the ATV had chased the cattle through the river bed we were riding in and gotten stuck on the muddy banks.

Bonnie shook her head and said to me, "Not much we can do to help him."

Well, we might have ridden back, dismounted and helped him pull his ATV out of the mud, but not without possibly creating panic among the horses - being close to a noisy ATV and dealing with stampeding cattle.

Bonnie & Monte are wintering in the next town over from us, so we hope to ride with them again.

We spent two of our days here trying to locate the rock formation called The Nautilus with no luck. Trails are not well marked and even with using a trail app on our phones we were not successful.

This bird was perched on the corral bars hoping to pick up some seeds from the alfalfa the horses are eating. He was squawking at the horses to finish eating so he could have a turn.

I was sitting reading a book in the lounge chair watching the action when a road runner  - a real live road runner! looking just like the cartoon - ran past me and disappeared out of sight before I even had a chance to pick up my camera.

Utah sure is a beautiful state. I am looking forward to being in St George - a real town - at least for a little while.

Paria River Ranch - Kanab, UT

 This is our last stop before we take a two week break in St George and then head down into Arizona for the winter months.

Mercy has developed a sore near his cinch and I would like to give him at least a week to heal before riding him, but it looks like he will have to hang in there a few more days before he gets his time off.

The horse corrals are set up in two packs with shade for guests at Paria River Ranch. The owner is currently selling the ranch and there is much consternation in the horse traveler community about the future of this place. It is a popular place to stop and ride. There are water and electric hook-ups for LQs and also small cabins for people who don't have an RV or LQ to stay in. 

We're about 20 minutes from the Arizona border. I drove into Page, Arizona to go grocery shopping at a Walmart (the closest place to shop). It was a little surreal crossing state lines just to go shopping.

Getting ready for our morning ride. 

Temps look to be in the mid-80s, hotter than Bryce Canyon, and the nights are warmer as well.

Our first ride was to Moonrock Canyon - just up the street from the ranch. It's called that because the rock faces are white, like moon rock.

The barefoot trim I gave my horse seems to have done the trick. He seems a lot happier.

On the way back, we had to ride through the Paria River.  Not that much water...it was more like a creek.

The chimney rock looks really cool.

A balanced rock also pretty cool.

Riding desert canyons is a different kind of beauty than riding in forests, but you still get a sense of awe.

Bullion Creekside RV Park - Marysville, UT

 From a primitive campsite to an RV Park with full hook-up. We are now at Bullion Creekside Resort, a very small RV park outside of Marysville, UT. There are three RV sites - two with full hookups and one with water and electric, but no septic. There is also a really nice cabin, with a bedroom for kids, a large kitchen, a full bath and laundry.  The RV sites are pull-through and can manage large rigs.

The horses are sharing a large corral close to the RV area. 

Ari and Lennox next to the entrance to the RV campground.

You can ride down the road from the campground to get to the Fishlake National Forest.

Here we are crossing the boundary into the forest.

Once you pass a large water tower, there is a trail on the left where you can go through the creek onto the trails.

The trails were a bit rocky, so both horses wore their boots.

Lots of shade and really a nice ride.

Our hosts are Bryan and Anna. They are lovely people. They let us use the washer and dryer in the cabin to do our laundry since there were no guests in the cabin during our stay.

This is a popular place for OHVs and ATVs, so this would be a really nice place to stay with your family if you are a mixed family - with people who prefer the motorized way to explore trails.