Wild Burro Trails - Day 1

Last Tuesday, we packed up dog and horses and headed out for five days in southern Utah. The photo above shows the Henry Mountains, 50 miles in the distance, over desert red rock.
Our first destination was the Hans Flat Road, which leads to thousands of acres of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land adjacent to and just west of the Maze district of Canyonlands. The drive was under five hours, so we had time for a ride that first day.

The above photo shows the LaSal Mountains in the background, 80 miles away.
Steve had been researching the area for weeks and reading the journal of a cowboy who ranched there in the 30’s. The journal described Cowboy Cave, a dwelling in which a subsequent archeological dig found baskets, sandals and figurines dating back 7000 years.
We had a great ride on sandy terrain that allowed for some nice gallops and great conditioning for all. Along the way, we saw this unusual corral, made of pinon-juniperl logs piled up.

The last part of the trail into the rugged canyon where Steve believed, from the old cowboy's description, we would find the cave, consisted of a wild burro trail. We saw lots of small barefoot hoofprints and manure, but didn’t actually see the burros.

We explored as well as we could in the time we had, but saw no sign of a cave. Since the day was nearly done, we cantered back to the trailer and returned to a spring where we planned to camp.
Here’s our rustic motel:

Comfy-looking, huh? It contained a couple of packrat-chewed mattresses, and broken lawn chairs out front. And there was even a rotting burro’s leg with hoof attached to add to the aesthetic effect.
(Actually, we slept in the gooseneck of our trailer on our own clean and comfortable mattress.

But the details about "motel 6" are all strange but true.)
The horses had a nearby cattle tank to drink out of, and plenty of hay. We'd ridden 10 miles that day, over rough terrain only wild burros had traversed before, (at least recently). Man and beast welcomed a night's rest.
Tune in tomorrow for the second day's tales and more photos.

For adventures from other worlds, click here.