Ride at Crystal Mountain

Megan and I went horseback riding at Crystal Mountain Today. We were at the Sand Flats Camp to be exact. The land there was not exactly even, and we even had to do a 180 on 410 to try and turn back into the camp because we missed the turnoff the first time. Here's a pic of the truck and trailer on the slope we ended up having to park on.

At least in the beginning, the trails were pretty wide. We ended up going out with about a group of 8 at the start. 4 of them which were mules. They were pretty neat to ride with and they had really fast walking gaits. Here's Megan cheesing it on the trail with Arizona.

The view was really spectacular. You could see the crest and ridge of the mountain at every turn. Some of the slopes were pretty steep on the side.

Here's a pic of Bill and his mule Zelda taking in the sights.

Another mule named Gus. He's such a sweetie, although his owner said the name was short for 'disgusting'.

We finally reached our destination - Bouillion Basin. In the middle of the basin was a little spring (really little, probably only 6 feet wide) with fresh spring water. The trail guide said the spring is checked every year for Giardia and even offered us his cup to drink out of.

Megan and I took the smallest of sips, and I was a little repulsed as there were frogs and bugs pretty darn visible in the water. The neatest thing was that the sand would bubble from the underwater spring that was there.

Zena had quite the fun at the basin, although she looked for me constantly (I think she wanted a snack!) Here she is in one of her "Are you coming to get me" poses. Overall the ride was fun, the back country horsemen were a hoot to hang out with, but the ride was definitely not for the beginner. I hope to go on it again sometime in the future.