Pottery Mesa

We had one guest left and on his last day he didn't want to ride in the afternoon so Seth drove us up to the Pottery Mesa. He had told me about it previously but I had never been there so I was super excited. It was absolutely stunning! It is a Forest Service archaeological site but because its so remote its not really visited. That means its wide open for us to explore and we had a blast.

Variety of shards

The ground is filled with pottery shards so everywhere you step you are seeing pottery. A variety too-corrugated, black and white, red and white, red clay, and more. I also found some obsidian. It really boggles your mind to have access to such a site and have free rein to explore. What was even cooler was that our guest brought along his Native American flute so we sat down and he played us a tune. The sky was building up with storm clouds so it was a haunting experience. We walked over to the other side of the valley to the rock wall to see some pictographs.

Pictographs

On the drive out we drove past the neighbors free range horse herd.

Neighbor horses

We also stopped at Ant Hill on the way back to the ranch. Once again, it was cloudy and stormy up there but I its still always awe inspiring to see.

Ant Hill

We got back to the ranch just as it started to rain. It was one of my favorite afternoons so far. The views, the history, the weather, all added up to an amazing experience.

One of those Days

We just said goodbye to a great group of guests. One of my favorite things about the ranch is how small it is and how that fosters camaraderie and friendship between the disparate groups of guests. All of our rides were great but one had a lot more drama than all the others. It started out with a cow chase through the canyon. The calves are still learning we are friendly so they took off running when we passed by and then they didn't listen to momma cow to come back so she had to go running after them, bawling all the way.

After getting out of the canyon, a guest accidentally snapped off a big tree branch when we were passing by it causing the horses to startle. A little while later as we were coming back down into the canyon Seth's horse lost a front shoe so he had to get off and walk him back while the rest of us continued on.

Seth on foot

As we were taking our lunch break I ripped my left contact (which is my worse eye) so I had to ride back with blurry vision. Also on the ride back we encountered Big Red, the neighbors bull who has been trespassing for a couple months. He was in the trail and was not in the mood to move so we had to maneuver around through the deep mud. 2 days later the neighbor stopped by with Big Red loaded in a trailer. Him and his daughter had spent the entire day dragging him out from Beaver Canyon to take him back home again. Hopefully never to return.

Big Red

Despite all that, our ride was through Beaver Canyon which I think is my favorite ride so far. It is very peaceful to me (usually ;) And the guests were all a very fun bunch so lots of laughter got us through.

The Keeper of the Canyon

The Heat is On

Swimming hole

When the guests arrived after our long break the temperature got turned up and it was close to 100 degrees. After a long day of riding and chores I joked to Meris asking where I could find a cold pool to jump into. She suggested we drive down to the dam by the lake and duck under the small waterfall there. It felt so amazing! It was the perfect way to cool off. The hot weather stayed around for a few days and the subsequent rides we went on we made sure to stop near a swimming hole and
cool off. I found another way to cool off by making homemade watermelon popsicles. I also ordered myself a straw hat since I'd been wearing my old black felt hat (which is not ideal for 90+ degrees).

Road to the ranch

Finally the clouds came back and it cooled down again. One evening it was cool and breezy and the sun was peeking out after being cloudy all afternoon so I decided to walk down to Wall Lake and take some pictures. The other day on a ride I had seen  javelinas running across the meadow. I had never seen them before so I was hoping to see them again as well as all the elk that I keep missing out on.

Alas, I only found some tourists who were trespassing. So instead I focused on taking pictures of the pretty light and flowers. It was a very relaxing evening.

Wall Lake

Hiking the Gila

I was able to get off the ranch a few times as well in the past few weeks. One day I headed out for a really nice hike. Seth had told me about a place near where we ride where you can get a good vista of Taylor Creek Canyon, Wall Lake, and Docking Head and also see a lot of pottery. 

Looking back up Taylor Creek Canyon

It was very neat to poke around and see all the different rocks and shards. I wandered around the top of the canyon for awhile which was pretty neat since usually I am riding through the bottom of it. 

View down to the trail

Up on top!

After lunch atop the canyon, I made my way down to the bottom of the other side to check out Akes Meadow which we also ride by because I wanted a closer look at the old foundation of a homestead. 

Homestead

The meadow was filled with lots of desert poppy which was pretty. For being so dry I am constantly amazed at all the different wildflowers that pop up. 

Jumping for joy among the poppy

For the remainder of the hike, I hiked back up to the top of the cliffs and followed our normal horse trail back to the ranch, doing some trail maintenance along the way. On the rides I usually take pictures of the vistas but this time I was able to stop and take my time and get close to the flowers and get some nice pictures. 

My second outing started out in my vehicle. I realized I hadn't started up my car in the 3 weeks since I'd been back so I took a drive down the road to give it some exercise. I drove to a pullout where I hiked up to Ant Hill. I had ridden there once before with Meris but its a hell of a view so I was glad to revisit it. The vista is 360 so it was neat to see the clouds and sun. I was hoping the rain would move towards us but it only rained for a few minutes. 

Ant Hill

The Mazda surveying the territory

Back at the Ranch

Driving back from the whirlwind surprise party weekend I encountered prescribed burns on the road back to the ranch. I had to stop and get clearance before proceeding. It was slightly terrifying to drive through smoke with fire burning just off the pavement. I arrived safely back at the ranch though and there was more than a week with no guests. That meant it was time for some ranch maintenance. I love to clean so it was no hardship to get all the saddles and bridles cleaned and oiled and the saddle pads and cinches power washed. I was also able to stain the benches, swings and porches so everything had a nice shiny glow (for the dust to adhere to :) . The hay barn was also filled with a load of grass and a load of alfalfa.

Clementine relaxing on the rocks

However, some of the cows have decided that the hay barn is their personal dining room so I've been fighting every night with different methods to keep them out. I never figured cows for being smart but I guess when alfalfa is involved, they are pretty motivated. So far I haven't found a fail safe solution and now I feel like they are spiting me because they are shitting all over my barricades. I am determined to prevail however!

The enemies

Anniversary Party

Now I can finally talk about the surprise party! Normally my siblings and I do something small for Mom and Dad's anniversary but this year I had the bright idea to do a surprise party. They are celebrating 35 years of marriage this year so I figured it would be slightly more unexpected. We threw ourselves into planning and then a month ago I decided to go work in New Mexico for the summer. Luckily, I was blessed to be able to come home to celebrate with everyone. After riding horseback all day Friday, I drove 4 hours to Albuquerque and hopped on a red eye back home. Kyle and Felix picked me up and as soon as we got to their house, Mom texted to say she was coming over. So he shuffled me back to my house until the coast was clear. We spent the rest of the day shopping and preparing. Amber had the great idea to grab some photos from their wedding album for a collage so it was really nice to go through and see all the old pictures.

It was really odd to sleep on Kyle and Devin's couch since my house is only 3 miles away but Dad had shut off my water and closed down my house. I got to spend lots of quality time with Felix though which was awesome. Sunday dawned humid and cloudy. Luckily we had booked the pavilion at the local park so we were under shelter. We got everything set up and the guests started arriving. I was just planning on standing around and waiting for them to notice me but my neighbor thought it had to be more of  a surprise so I waited in Amber's car and after they saw everyone else I hopped out. So not only were they surprised by the party, but I was an additional surprise.

 It was a great party and it was amazing to celebrate with everyone. I am so blessed to have such amazing siblings (with amazing wives). We make a great team!