Here Comes the Sun

We were up with the sun the next morning, the second day of our trip. A light frost was on the ground.  Once the sun shone on our camp, we all warmed up rapidly.

The horses grazed in a green meadow beside a small stream. Mischief and Boss are near the center, and Coco is off to the right. (If you enlarge, you can see our blue tent in the distance among the spruce trees.)

We left our camp intact when we saddled up and rode out, planning to return that evening to spend another night. We were able to ride faster without carrying all of our gear. Here's a scene as we broke out of the trees and headed up a meadow complex:

We rode about 16 miles round trip that day, all the way across Painter Basin and up to the highest part of Gilbert Basin.  Here are Steve and Eric approaching the high end of Gilbert Basin:

You can see Daisy riding just behind Boss, her face in the swish of his tail.  She often gets in this position. She likes being close to Boss, and borrowing a tail is convenient to keep the flies off one's face. 

Almost there!

At our destination (11,600 feet, or about 3500 meters), we took a short break and admired the scene:

Such grandeur was well worth the long ride, don't you think?

Roughing It

After we went over Fox Queant Pass, (or "passed out" as Steve likes to say - and at this altitude [11,400 ft], Steve's term seems almost literally apropos)  we came to Fox Lake.  As we rode by, we were treated to reflections in the still water: 

Near the lake, we saw the remains of an old cabin, origin unknown,

and continued through a series of open meadows to our camping spot: 

We had a nice view of Gunsight Pass, which leads into the Henry's Fork drainage on the north slope of the Uintas:

The sun set soon after we were settled for the night, leaving a glow over the mountains: 

The full moon rising was a beautiful sight: 

Eric chose to sleep outside in a sleeping bag:

After we had our freeze dried fare and the horses had grazed for their supper, the equines spent the night on a highline:

  We put cow bells around their necks so we could hear if something made them restless.  Unfortunately, Coco is not accustomed to a highline and was restless most of the night, which we could hear clearly from inside our tent! 

Oh well, I guess we just had to consider it our own musical concert. 
As we rested out tired bones (and backsides), we anticipated riding even further into the backcountry the next day.