Goat Park

On our third day in the San Rafael Desert, Daisy was tired from the previous days.  She didn't protest when we left her at the trailer.

We rode on an old two-track down Goat Park.  Above, Steve checks his GPS.

Boss's ears pricked up as he saw something moving maybe a quarter of a mile ahead.  That alerted me to this group of donkeys.  We rode very close to them before they ran away.

We rode along the rim of Blue John Canyon, checking for water where we had seen small pools before.  Surprisingly, in spite of a rainy spring, we didn't find water in the usual places.  We rode to the Red Nubs before turning back.

Daisy, of course, was glad to see us return.  Boss and Coco took us 50 miles in 3 days, a good workout for all.

Head Spur

On our second day in the desert, we rode toward the pyramid-shaped Head Spur.

Daisy enjoyed a dip in a pool.

Steve pointed out the Princess pictograph, which is faint now, faded by with sun and weather.

Behind some brush, a pour-off marks the entry of Moqui Canyon into the Spur Fork.

These small pictographs, only a couple of inches tall, have amazing detail.  The 4 figures on the right wear elaborate headdress.  They seem to be under some kind of tent or overhang.  On the right, we see 3 figures, a bird and a couple of insects?  It's always interesting to try to interpret ancient drawings.

On a rock wall near the Head Spur, we saw this rock art.  Someone in 1924 made his/her mark.

We rode back to the trailer at a trot, covering some rough country.

Shifting Sands

In early March, we squeezed in another trip to the San Rafael Desert.

 It's lonesome territory out there.  No wonder train robbers and other outlaws hung out there a century ago.

We rode toward the Chimney Rocks,

and down to Outlaw Springs.  The tip of Boss's ear appears in the photo.  Taking pictures off a horse's back doesn't provide the best quality.

The word is that the water is quite alkaline.  Our horses didn't drink much.  Daisy didn't mind swimming in it, though.

We explored some rock outcroppings, and found a few petroglyphs.

Underneath the hand prints, you might be able to see the shape of 2 horses and riders pecked into the rock.  This rock art isn't very old.  It might be the work of outlaws or cowboys.

Upper Pasture

We saw a wild burro herd on the next day's ride.  The bad burro was not among them.  Note that several of the burros have deformed ears - maybe from fights, or from frostbite.  This group ran from us, so Coco was not scared.

This beautiful desert spring was not on the map.

While we were exploring the water source, Boss walked into a pool and started pawing.  We had to catch him before he decided to lie down in the water and roll around a bit.  That would've been pleasant for him, but a little hard on the saddle.

The shaded pools were partially covered in ice and snow.

Our destination was an area known as the Upper Pasture.  An old brush fence had been built to keep livestock on one end of the plateau.  It doesn't look much like a pasture now, but it's probably been overgrazed.  Once, it may have had good grass.

Most of the "pasture" is bordered by cliffs, making access difficult. Rumor has it that Butch Cassidy and gang spent time here, training horses in between train or bank robberies.  His gang was known for having an excellent string of horses that could outrun a possee easily.  We looked around, but saw no sign of an old camp.

This is the view looking down from the Upper Pasture to a spring-fed canyon below. In a pinch, outlaws may have been able to skid down the sandslide on the left.  We didn't try it. We'd already had a 25 mile ride with 2800 feet of elevation gain and loss, over some very rough terrain.  That was enough adventure for one day.

Desert Pool and the Bad Burro

We finally got in a spring trip to southern Utah.  Above is a view of the Henry Mountains from across the vast San Rafael Desert.

Down the sandy hills we went,

riding past domes

and other formations,

past a brush corral built by cowboys (or outlaws, or cowboy outlaws, depending on which stories you hear).

up to cliffy overlooks

and down to a beautiful emerald pool below a sandstone pour-off.

From above, you can see the deep cut water has carved into the sandstone as it flows into the pool below.

Here's the bad burro.  He scared the socks off of Coco, who whirled and ran away at light speed, unfortunately with Janie aboard, going downhill over rocks and dunes, then halfway up a slope, before finally deciding to stop.  Deciding, I say, because the reins and frantic screams of "Whoa!" did no good at all.  The good news is, neither horse nor rider were hurt, although both were a bit trembly at the end of the run.
The lone bad burro didn't run away.  He stayed close, braying at Daisy and generally being obnoxious for at least 15 minutes.  That's unusual.  Most burros stop, stare, then run off, all within a minute or two. A loner is also unusual, since we've only seen the burros in groups before.  Maybe he was having a bad day, but we'd rather not encounter this particular jackass again.

Speaking of Daisy, here she is, post burro experience.  Unperturbed, she took another dip in the pool, came out clean as a hound's tooth, then quickly corrected the cleanliness with a vigorous roll in the sand, groaning with pleasure.  This is Daisy's version of a luxury spa.

Enchantment in the Hinterlands

Reaching our favorite San Rafael Desert trailheads involves driving over an hour on dirt roads, but the scenery along the way makes up for slow travel.  Above is a stitched photo of the Henry Mountains as seen across the vast San Rafael Desert.

Here's a close-up of the red rock formation on the right hand side of the first photo.  Does it remind you of anything?
Steve thinks the one on the left looks like a locomotive.

Highway 24 is the nearest paved road.  I always look for this landmark as we near the turnoff.  What does it look like to you?
I think of an enchanted castle.  Certainly, it marks the turnoff to a most enchanting part of Utah.

Trail Spring

Riding cross country to Trail Spring proved more challenging than one would think, considering it was only a round trip distance of 3 miles from our Brush Corral trailhead. 
The first part was an easy trek along an abandoned two-track. 

Then the going got steep and rocky. 

And even more so.

Finally, we gave the horses a break and continued on foot. 
Steve went all the way down to the pools of water.  Unfortunately, he didn't have the camera and provided no photos.  But he did say there's no way he'd bring a horse down there, for fear someone, horse or person, would get killed.  Although we've heard tell of horsemen riding to the spring, we won't be among them. 
Here are some pics from our hike back up:

  The light wasn't great for detail, but maybe you can see the indentation and scraped rock indicating decades, perhaps centuries, of travel along this steep trail.  The burros are almost certainly using it, and perhaps some cattle make it down to the spring.  Deer and antelope could get down easily enough.  Smaller creatures, such as a coyote we saw in the area, must be watering there, too. 

That wasn't the only steep section. 

We had been in Trail Spring Canyon just the day before and could have approached the spring itself that way, which would have been a lot easier. 
No doubt the horses were glad to skip the whole spring thing.  After all, why bother?  They had plenty of water back at the trailer. 

Spring Loop

The sun's early rays bathed the desert and distant mountains in golden light.
Steve loves trying out new routes, so the day's plan was for a loop ride starting from the Brush Corral trailhead.  Brush corrals are numerous in the area.  Cowboys of old piled up dead juniper tree trunks and branches in a circular fashion to create a corral for collecting cattle.  The trailhead I refer to is near the Hans Flat Ranger station, with a relatively new brush corral (maybe only 50-75 years old) at the end of an infrequently used two-track.

From there, we rode across the desert to the vicinity of Cowboy Cave, into the Spur Fork of Horseshoe Canyon to the Blue-eyed Princess, and back through Lower Pasture and Matt Warner's outlaw camp , down into Horseshoe Canyon and out again to the trailhead.  Other than an unexpected fence that forced us to take a 2 mile detour, it all went pretty well. 

Here's one of the "gnarly parts" I didn't take a picture of on our last trip to the Princess.  That time, we followed another rider straight up the steep shaley slope, probably not the wisest move.  This trip, we traversed to the top.  Much safer and easier.

This pool in a sandstone cut provided a nice drink for the horses.  You may notice my new stylin' headgear.  I finally figured out a way to wear a helmet and not get sunburned.  Save brain and skin, that's my new motto.

Case caddis fly larva roamed the bottom of the pool.  In a month or so, tadpoles will swim here, too.  This indicates moisture, if not actual surface water, is present year round. 

The Princess panel was still impressive, and easy to find now that we knew where to look.

Some people call this the Blue-eyed Jesus and describe a beard.  I do see a dark line down the figure's chest.  Maybe it was once part of a beard.  What do you think?  Is it a he or a she, god-like or royal?
On the return part of the loop, we explored a few springs that are unnamed on the topo maps. 

This small pool is below Matt Warner's outlaw camp, which I posted about here. 

We climbed to the spring's source and found a much larger pool.  We hereby dub it Blue Spring, because of the bluish tint of the sandstone surrounding it. 

A little further along, we came to this small stream, where Daisy played on an earlier ride.  (We left her at the trailer this time, because the day was warm and it was a long way between waterholes.)  We climbed into the box canyon to find where the water seeps from the contact zone between porous Navajo sandstone above and impervious Kayenta sandstone below. 

The pool formed here is a generous one for desert country.  Since the spring is unnamed, our faithful lab, lover of water everywhere, gets the honor.  We call it Ms. Daisy Spring. 

As we rode away from the spring, this little bull rose from his resting place under a pinyon and stared at us.  He didn't seem inclined to leave, so we gave him a wide berth.
Besides a few errant cattle that aren't supposed to be in this canyon, we also saw a small herd of donkeys, a coyote, a squirrel-like critter, rabbits, and a few early insects.  Only an occasional flower bloomed, but it's early yet.  The leaves are just coming out on bushes and trees.
We dragged into camp about 5 PM, having completed 26 difficult canyon country miles and 2500 feet of altitude gain and loss.  Both humans and horses had earned their supper, don't you think?