Geronimo!

Friday morning it was finally time to head to the ranch! I stopped first to vacuum out my car to clear out the detritus from spending a week inside. I also stopped and bought a sunshade at Wal-Mart since I knew my car would be baking all summer. Finally we headed west! I had tried to warn my parents how remote the road out to the ranch was but I think they were still surprised. The terrain varies a lot in the 90 miles between T or C and the ranch. We made it in safely and were greeted warmly by Meris and Seth. Seth took Mom and Dad out on tour to show them the place. I'm glad they finally got to see it and envision where I would be spending the summer. After three hugs from Mom, they headed back to town and I got to unpacking. Not for long though as it was time to ride! There were two new horses that needed a test drive so we did a quick ride out. It was great to be back in the saddle again!

Overlook

Elk cow and cow cow

Sunday we had our first guests in so we started out slow on Monday by doing a morning and afternoon ride. After that, it was on to all day picnic rides.

Dwelling Canyon

 In the past, I hadn't been able to ride as far out so it was really nice to be seeing some views for the first time and experiencing it alongside the guests. At the first picnic spot there was a nice swimming hole but it was only in the 70s so I didn't jump in.

Swimming hole

Carp

 I went up on the rocks to spot the carp Meris was telling us about. The creek is so shallow and narrow that it was amazing to see a 3 ft carp and several catfish in this little swimming hole. We saw some great wildlife the rest of the week as well. Several elk, including one bull with an impressive rack , a couple coyotes, turkeys, quail, a great horned owl, and numerous birds. Also bear and mountain lion tracks! I was pretty saddle sore after spending 6 days in the saddle but I expected that after being a desk jockey for the past 5 years.

Pretty clouds