Our Grand Adventure: Twelfth Stop

Next up: Missouri! We drove another 350 miles or so to Dry Fork Recreation Area, part of the Mark Twain National Forest, where we primitive camped for two nights and one day.

 

The campsites were nice and shady.

 

And we set up pens again for the horses.

 

One of my horsey high school friends lives in Columbia, MO and was able to bring her horse over to camp with us for the weekend.  We haven't seen each other in 5 years - it was great to catch up!

 

Mom, Jessica, and I went for a lovely 10 mile ride while my dad took a truck tire in to be fixed.

 

Jessica and I were on the high school equestrian team together and we took a trail riding trip to TN in 2003.  Here is a flashback photo to compare then and now!  We both have different horses, but still love riding just as much.

 

Then...

 

And now.

 

The trails were nice, well-marked, and shady.

 

After our ride we hung out in camp playing games for a while before taking Jessica out to dinner to celebrate her upcoming birthday and her almost-completion of her PhD program.

Our Grand Adventure: Eleventh Stop

After leaving Colorado we finally made it back to some trees and a little humidity.  We stayed two nights and one day at Kanapolis State Park in Kansas.

 

This campground was unkept and the bathrooms needed  a little cleaning but we enjoyed having power and water again.

 

The horses had extra large pens and shade though.

 

Mom and I rode for about 12 miles on the well marked but also neglected trails.

 

There were a few interesting rock formations along the way, although they weren't particularly impressive after riding at Bryce!

 

And since the trails were not mowed, we picked up LOTS of ticks.  I probably pulled over 200 large ones off of Mow's legs and we found several on ourselves and Casper.

 

In the evening we headed into town for groceries and stopped at Mushroom Rock State Park along the way.  This tiny park had a couple of unique, large rock formations.

 

Our Grand Adventure: Tenth Stop

Driving through Colorado was both beautiful and a little nerve racking.  We crossed the Rockies on interstate 70, where snow still littered the road side - a big change from the 99 degree temps!

 

 Can you spy my parents' trailer in this one?

 

We stayed the night near Denver at a horse motel that was less than wonderful but the horses had stalls and we had a place to park the trailers.  The only wildlife we saw were the prairie dogs across the street and this hawk eating a road kill rabbit.

 

Elise, Matthew's sister, met us for dinner and then we called it an early night.  I took Matthew to the airport at 4:30 the next morning and my parents and I packed up and left by sunrise.

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Our Grand Adventure: Ninth Stop

After leaving Bryce Canyon we drove north and then finally turned back east on I-70. We stayed two nights and one day just across the Colorado border at Rabbit Valley, part of the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area.

 

We set up camp in a gravel parking lot with no amenities (no water, power, or facilities).  It was scorching hot here - 99 degrees with no shade and not much of a breeze.

 

The horses had nice pens but no shade.  We sponged them off a couple of times during the day.

 

To avoid the heat of the day, Mom and I left early for our ride. 

 

The trails here were challenging and beautiful.

 

Mow and I doing a little rock climbing!

 

Overlooking the Colorado River.

 

After riding we lazed around the trailers until it cooled off enough to go for a short hike.  We walked the Trail Through Time hike that has dinosaur fossils in the rocks along the trail.  Here are some vertebrae from a juvenile dinosaur.  (these bones were about a foot tall each, the photo doesn't show scale well)

 

Matthew and I along the trail.

 

The dig site at the start of the trail where they have excavated many dinosaur remains.

 

Finally, Casper enjoyed exploring the parking lot before we departed.

Our Grand Adventure: Eighth Stop

Next stop: Utah!  Bryce Canyon was our ultimate goal for this trip and we could hardly believe that we had finally arrived. We camped here for five nights and four days.

 

We stayed at a nearby campground named Ruby's where we had full hookups for the trailers. 

 

And a beautiful view!

 

The horses were about a quarter of a mile away at the rodeo grounds in good-sized pens.  The first night we were there one of the locals helped me find an amazing farrier that put new shoes on Mow's hind feet.  This seemed to fix his lameness almost instantly and he was fine for the rest of the trip.

 

The next morning we gave the horses a day off and all headed to the park.

 

The views were spectacular as soon as we entered the park!  Beware: lots of photos ahead!

 

 

Our first hike took us along the rim of the canyon to a couple of overlooks.

 

Bryce Canyon is full of these rock formations called Hoodoos - they were my favorite!

 

Then we headed down into the canyon to get an up-close view of the amazing rocks.

 

We went through a few tunnels along the trail.

 

We met some wildlife along the way too.  Here is a golden-mantled ground squirrel.

 

And a Uintah chipmunk.

 

Near the end of the hike we went through "Wallstreet", a narrow, tall canyon.

 

The hike back out of the canyon was pretty impressive.  We walked up 28 switchbacks in order to reach the top of Wallstreet.

 

But the view at the top was definitely worth it!

 

After hiking at Bryce in the morning we headed over to Red Canyon for another hike in the afternoon. This one took us through some different rock formations around the visitor center.

 

More hoodoos!

 

Explorer Matthew!  We were whooped after these hikes and all headed to bed early.

 

The next day Mom and I rode the horses along the Peek-a-boo trail in Bryce Canyon while the guys rested.  This was definitely the most spectacular trail I've ever ridden on!

 

This trail had quite a few switchbacks as well and had about 2000 feet elevation change over nine miles.

 

Part of the trail is horse-only and part is open to hikers.  Everyone we met on the trail was courteous and curious about our horses.

 

We even met a hiker that was willing to take our photo in front of the Wall of Windows.

 

The tunnels here were a little larger to accommodate the horses.

There were also several steep drop offs along the way.  Good thing we trust our horses!

 

After our wonderful ride, we took the horses back, collected the guys, and did some more hiking.  This time we drove to the end of the park and then stopped at every overlook along the rim of the canyon on our way back out.  The highest elevation was just over 9000 feet.

 

Many of the overlooks had ravens hanging out and waiting for a hand out.

 

A huge arch at one of the stops.

 

We saw many pronghorn during our trip but none were as close as this guy.

 

The view from Inspiration Point at sunset.  This might be my favorite place on Earth!

 

We liked Inspiration Point so much that we came back the next day and hiked along the rim all the way back to where we started our hike the first day.  Here Matthew and I pose with the Silent City rock formation.

 

A panoramic view of Inspiration Point, taken with my phone. 

 

Zooming in from this overlook we could see parts of the horse trail that we rode the day before. (the light-colored line along the ridge right through the middle of this photo)

 

Mom and Dad.

 

I never got tired of this view.

 

A mule deer that was browsing near the trail.

 

After a picnic at one of the overlooks we headed to a little waterfall at the other end of the park and also walked to Mossy Cave where the water drips through the ceiling of the cave.

 

Mormon settlers dug this waterway 100 years ago to help bring water to their nearby settlement.

 

For our last day in Utah we took the horses up a hair-raising sandy road to a trailhead by another canyon.  Mom and I rode while Dad and Matthew hiked.

 

We followed a creek for about half of the ride but it was so hot and dry that the creek dried up along the way.

 

This canyon was different than Bryce but still impressive!

 

Here we are in a section called a slot canyon where the walls were narrow.