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Shouldn't a Cowboy Go With Ya? (part 3)

After finally crossing the third ford and passing the Sorrel Mule Mine, the route was no longer confusing.  The majority of the tamarisk trees were behind us.  The more difficult part of the rest of the journey were the river crossings.  By this point, the horses were charging into the water without much hesitation.

A mile below the Sorrel Mule Mine we crossed Salt Wash.  This is a wide, sandy bottomed wash that enters the San Rafael Gorge from the south.

Ebony is a gaited horse and can go long distances.  She doesn't tire as easily as the others.  We had spent several hours getting to the Salt Wash and the day was quickly passing and it was time to pick up the pace.  This is where my horse shows why she is special.  When she leads out, she sets a pretty fast pace causing other horses to trot frequently to keep up.  Ebony and I led out for most of the remaining ride to Virgin Spring Canyon and also on the return to camp.

Just a few pictures to show you the beauty of this ride.





One drawback to having my horse lead out is that the other horses will wear out sooner.  This was evident as we were trying to come up out of one of the many river crossings.  Matt's horse was tiring and as she tried to come up a steep embankment, she fell backward into the water.  I watched in horror.  Miraculously, Matt stayed on that horse as she righted herself and made a second attempt.  This time, she succeeded.

Around 3:30 that afternoon, we finally stopped to have lunch.  We debated turning back at this point since we still had a long drive to get home.  It was nice to stretch our legs.  The conversation was mostly about the beauty of the ride.

Matt's horse, Sunny, is pretty worn out.  This was shortly after she had fallen into the river.
Taking a break and having some lunch.  In this very spot on our return, we encountered four Big Horn Sheep.  They may have been checking us out from above.
In looking at the maps and GPS, we realized from our lunch spot we were only a couple of miles from Virgin Spring Canyon.  We decided to continue on.  It is definitely worth it to do so.  Just before reaching the spring, we encountered ancient pictographs.  They are about a quarter of a mile from the mouth of the canyon on its west side.  It is high on the canyon wall, about 15 feet from the ground.  The spring is then only 150 yards further up-canyon from the pictographs.

Some ancient pictographs.  Glad we continued the journey to see these.

Taking one more look at the pictographs on our way back to camp.
Once you point your horses in the direction of home, it doesn't take much motivation to get them going.  It seems they cover the same ground in half the time.

On the return in the very spot we had lunch, we encountered four Big Horn Sheep.  I had my camera out and ready to take a picture but I was hoping to get just "a little bit closer" to get an epic shot.  Those animals have amazing agility and skill and they quickly bounded up the rocks and were out of site before I could get the picture.

This was a fun trip and one I'd like to do again.  We never did cross paths with another group or individual.  I thought this time of year other people would have the same journey in mind.  I'm not sure that much later into the summer this would be a pleasurable experience.  It was plenty warm the day we rode.  Take plenty of water and bring your camera.

I'm not sure if I earned my "cowboy" badge, but perhaps our wives will be convinced that we did.
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