On Trails, High and Low

There's nothing Daisy loves better than a spring fishing trip on the Green River.  Look, she caught a trout!

A ride to the top of Split Mountain provides sensational views of the Green River  (about 3000 ft below) running through Dinosaur National Monument.

Craggy peaks loom over the split in the mountain.

Yesterday we rode in Tabby Mountain Wildlife Management Area.  The above photo looks down on Red Creek Reservoir.

The best thing about riding on Tabby is sighting the abundant elk and deer populations.

Yes, that's a golden eagle soaring over a scampering deer herd.

It's tough to get a good photo of a soaring eagle, especially while on horseback, but this time, we got one!  The white in his tail feathers indicates it is a subadult.

Spring on Split Mountain

Split Mountain, located in Dinosaur National Monument, makes a great spring ride. 
The above photo stitch marks the trailhead and the mountaintop.  Round trip, it's about 12 miles and 2200 feet altitude gain and loss. 

The horses had a nice grass break about halfway up. 

This twin bladderpod (physaria, of the mustard family)  camouflaged a butterfly so well that we almost missed it. 

Phlox was in bloom,

and a few barrel cactus sported their yellow flowers.

A couple of horned lizards scurried through the junipers.  We assumed they were a couple contemplating a spring fling.  Females are larger than the males in this species.

A lot of these pesky critters buzzed around us and sucked a little blood whenever they had a chance.  Unfortunately, we weren't expecting flies and didn't spray the horses beforehand.

At the top of Split Mountain, we paused to take in the panorama of Green River's path through a deep gorge directly below the peak to its lazy bends in the basin beyond.

On the way down, the expansive view encompasses the desert floor,  red hills, and the snow-covered Uinta Mountains, about 40 miles away.
 Daisy report: No dogs allowed in the monument :(  And since there was no water on the ride, she couldn't have made the distance anyway.

Split Mountain Views

Split Mountain is located within Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal, Utah.  We ride to the top (about 7600 feet) at least once every year. 

Google Earth provides a view of our trail (in blue).  As you can see, the mountain is split by the Green River passing through. 

The photo above, taken from the top, looks down on the river as it passes through the split. 

We ran into snow patches in the Ponderosa pine forest that starts a few hundred feet from the summit.  We forged ahead.

To the northwest, the Uintas loomed.

The view to the northeast looks down on the meandering path of the Green River after it passes through the mountain and into the Uinta Basin. 

Here's a panorama of the scene to the east, looking toward the mountains of Colorado. 
We had a great ride, about 14 miles with 2700 feet of elevation gain and loss, completed in about 2.5 hours of working time.  We were moving fast, but the horses are in great condition and didn't seem to mind.  Daisy had to stay home, poor girl.  No dogs are allowed in the Monument.

Split Mountain

In Dinosaur National Monument, one of the most spectacular viewpoints is from the top of Split Mountain.  No roads lead there, but it's an easy horseback ride, only 12 miles round trip.  The photo above, taken from a distance, shows our trailhead on the right.  We ride up the ramp-like slope on the west side of the mountain. 

Here is a panorama from the summit:

Near the top, a Ponderosa forest looks like a park. Fires removed the underbrush, leaving most of the thick-barked, mature trees intact:

We saw this marker near the 7600 ft summit.  It's apparently a secondary USGS marker, with the arrow pointing to the primary one, which we did not see.

We  looked down on the plains surrounding the Green River below.  The Dinosaur quarry is in the valley near a big curve of the river seen just behind Steve's hat. 

The 1869 Wesley Powell expedition noted that the Green River cuts a deep gorge through the mountain, which he named Split Mountain Canyon.  Today, float trips through this canyon are popular with summer rafters. 

To show how the plant communities change at different altitudes, I took these photos as we descended.  We rode through Ponderosa pines:

through a pinion-juniper zone:(Instead of using reins, Steve is pointing a turn for Boss, who responds surprisingly well to hand signals.)

We continued down through flat meadows rich with native bunchgrass:

and finally through sage flats decorated with a rainbow:

We were parked near the rocky crags knows as The Reef, where we've often seen raptors perched on the rocks, keen eyes sweeping the landscape as they wait for an unlucky bunny to appear: