Horse Riding
"The only sport where your equipment
can choose not to cooperate with you."
"Ride the horse in the direction that it's going."
~Werner Erhard
Cowboys ride horses.
Shouldn't they be called Horseboys?
"One day you'll wake up and there won't be any more time
to do the things you've always wanted. Do it now!"
~Unknown
One of my early ideas when I created my Updated Bucket List for YEAR 77 was to repeat some of the activities I had enjoyed in the past but hadn't done for a long time. Riding horses is one of those activities. My memories of riding horses are all from when I was a boy and spent time during the summers in Star Valley Wyoming. My original plan for Year 77 was to arrange to go horseback riding in Star Valley. That became a little difficult to coordinate, so I changed plans and was going to ride at Beaver Creek Lodge up Logan Canyon. Covert agreed to ride with me in June so that was my plan for many months. Then at the Mini-Zonk gathering in Mesquite during April I mentioned my plan to Paul R and he said he had a better plan. He works for the Forrest Service in the mountains west of Tooele and said he could arrange for three horses, and he would love to take Covert and I on a ride. This sounded great to me and we eventually agreed to do it in late June.
Bonnie & I drove to Draper, Utah on Saturday, June 23rd and met Quent & Barbara at the Fairfield Inn there. Several of the meaningless Seven coincidences happened during that evening. When we registered at the hotel, the desk clerk assigned Bonnie & I to Room 127. For dinner that evening we walked next door to the Leatherheads Sports Grill. The Sevens kept coming! They sat us at table #7. As I looked around the restaurant I noticed a neon advertising sign on the wall for Jack Daniels "Old No.7 Brand." To celebrate my last Year 77 activity (the horseback ride), Quent and I each took a shot of Old No.7 before dinner.
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We had a good dinner (the food was delicious) and a fun visit before retiring for the night. The girls made plans to do some shopping for the next couple of days while Quent and I went horseback riding.
Quent and I drove to Tooele on Sunday afternoon, June 24th and met Paul R at his home, where he had arranged for us to spend the night. He and Geneal have lived in Tooele for over 50 years and he said the town was basically a bedroom community for Salt Lake. Tooele is the county's largest city (the population was 58,218 as of the 2010 census) and took its name from the valley, which Captain Howard Stansbury spelled "TUILLA" on his surveying maps in the mid-1800s. The way he spelled the name is the way it is pronounced today. Recent historical research reveals that the name “TOOELE” comes from the native Goshute word “bear”.
Tooele sits in a valley with the Oquirrh Mountains to the east and the Stansbary Mountains to the west. The name Oquirrh comes from the Goshute Indians and has many meanings including "Wooded Mountain," "Cave Mountain," "West Mountain," and "Shining Mountain." The Stansbury Mountains were named after Captain Stansbury. Paul R drove us on a brief tour of the area. In the photos below the first photo is of his Forest Service shop/office in Tooele, next is looking west toward the Stansbury Mountains, and the last is a drive we took into the Oquirrh Mountains on the east.
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That evening we had a bite to eat at a local Mexican restaurant (La Fountain) and retired early. Monday morning we were up before 6:00 am and Paul R treated us to his special sourdough Cowboy Pancakes and eggs. He said that's the only meal he cooks -- Quent and I agreed that he sure does a good job on that meal.
By about 6:30 am we were on our way into the Stansbury Mountains to the Park Service cabin (officially the South Willow Guard Station) where he keeps the horses. The station was constructed by the CCC's (Civilian Conservation Corps) in the mid-1930s. Paul R is a Range Technician for the Park Service and included in his responsibilities is to ride the range and ensure that the grazing allotments, as permitted under the Taylor Grazing Act, are being followed. There are currently permits for 1,000 cattle to graze on the east side of the mountains, and 300 on the west. The photos below show the drive into the Stansbury Mountains, the Park Service cabin, and a few photos inside the cabin.
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When we arrived, Paul R rounded up the horses, which were in a pasture behind the cabin. Paul R keeps two Park Service horses, Julio and Dusty, in the mountains. The third horse, Carl, belonged to Steve Howard, a friend of Paul R's son-in-law Matt Vowels. They were kind enough to take Carl to the mountains the prior week so we would have three horses to ride. One-by-one, Paul R saddled up the horses while Quent and I, cowboys that we are, basically watched. In the photos below:
1st row- Dusty and Jolio in the stable; Paul R leading Carl out of the stable; and Quent holding Carl (waiting for further instructions).
2nd row- Paul R putting saddle on Carl (while Quent watches); a good shot of Carl; then me and Carl as I was told Carl would be my horse.
3rd row- Quent on Dusty; Paul R on Jolio leading us toward the trails; Paul R giving us some instruction regarding the South Willow Canyon trails where we were headed.
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The mountain environment during the ride, including the scenery and aroma, was wonderful. In certain areas we were riding through stands of Cedar and Cottonwoods, and in other areas we were in Pines, and in the higher areas, Quaking Aspen trees. Paul R said there were Bristle Cone trees at the top. There was an extensive variety of wild flowers along the trail, but I didn't get photos. The photos below are out on the trail ..... I must admit that I'm not an expert at taking photos with a cell phone while on a moving horse.
1st row- Quent coming along as we're on the road approaching the single-track trail; Paul R leading us onto the singe-track trail (it's really Jolio's butt and Carl's head); the pines we went through in many places.
2nd row- Paul R explaining different areas of the canyon and of the view into the valley; a scenery shot; Quent and I with the valley view in the background.
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The first photo below is Quent and Paul R at our turnaround point at what is called "Polyg Ridge." The story goes that the Park Service contracted with a group of Polygamists to build a fence from the foothills up to this ridge in the early 1900s. After the job was completed the terminology adopted was the Polyg Fence and the Polyg Ridge. These names now show on Park Service maps. Polyg Ridge is at about 7,500 feet, but Deseret Peak is the highest peak in the Stansbury Mountains at 11,030 feet. Fortunately Paul R didn't plan for us ride to that ridge. The next two photos are looking north into North Willow Canyon.
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The first photo below shows Carl and I following Julio and Paul R on an off-trail shortcut back to the Ranger Station. We were out on the trails for three hours - definitely a long ride for amateur cowboys like Quent and I. Once at the stable I was able to take the saddle off of Carl and throw it up on a saddle stand (shown in the 3rd photo below) that was higher than my head. This was to prove I had gained a couple of cowboy skills.
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After we had taken care of the horses, Paul R took us on a quick tour of some of the South Willow Canyon we hadn't seen while on the horses. The forest is beautiful, there are many flowers I should have photographed, there are some interesting rock cliffs, etc. The photo below is of the Upper Narrows. There are campgrounds nearby and many rock climbers use these cliffs to practice and to challenge their climbing abilities.
I am really happy that we did this horse riding adventure and many thanks to Paul R for making all the arrangements. Quent says it's his last horse ride. That's probably true for me also, but I wouldn't turn down the opportunity for a ride that would be a new adventure.
A Little History: As a young boy, during the years between 10 and 14 years old, I spent a significant amount of time during the summer months in Star Valley Wyoming, staying with my mom's brother and his wife on their ranch in Etna and my mom's sister and her husband on their farm in Grover. I never knew why we called one a "ranch" and the other a "farm." I loved the times I spent there, doing some farm work, but mostly playing with my cousins. It was during those years that I did some horseback riding. At the farm my two cousins (Stewart H and Stanley) and I would all three ride a workhorse (bareback) to the fields when we were "haying" or to milk the cows. I remember several times when one or more of us fell off when the horse would trot and we had nothing except each other to hold on to.
I need to give a little background about the ranch before telling my horse riding experience there. My mother always worried when I went to the ranch because she said her brother Dean was not careful and she was always afraid I would get hurt. I liked going there because he would let us kids do things (i.e. to help him run the ranch) that I couldn't do at home. One morning he told me to jump in the jeep and go to the pasture and bring the cows back to the barn for milking. I had never driven a car before, but like all young boys, wanted to drive. So I jumped in the jeep, figured out how to start it and went to the pasture, rounded up the cows, and brought them back to the barn (all the time looking through the steering wheel because I was too small to see over it). That's exactly the type of thing my mother was worried about, so of course she never knew about that story. Anyway, at the ranch they had a feisty riding horse named "Goldie" and my most memorable ride was on Goldie. Uncle Dean told me one evening to get on Goldie and drive the cows back up the lane to the pasture. Although I had ridden a couple of work plugs, I had never been on a horse like Goldie. Anyway, Goldie was fine as we drove the cows up to the pasture, but when we started back home I was no longer in control (horses can sense when their rider is a novice). Goldie broke into a full run all the way back to the barn and it was all I could do to stay on. Fortunately for me, Uncle Dean had put a saddle on Goldie so I had something to hold on to. It was quite a ride!
I took the photo below during one of our summer family vacations at Bear Lake. We drove to Etna, Wyoming where Uncle Dean allowed each of the girls to take a ride on one of his horses (not Goldie). In the photo on the back row is my mother, Jenny, Uncle Dean, Julie and Aunt Adell. In front is Heather, Tracy, Jerilyn, Jill, and a couple of Aunt Adell's grandkids. As an aside, the beat-up old house in the background on the right of the photo is where my mother was born.
I found the image below on the internet and thought it would make a good lead photo for the horse riding blog. I never got a better image on our actual ride so I kept using this one.
