Yellow Pine Trail

Back to business as usual here in the States.  We did take a short ride to work out the kinks from the horse crew on Saturday and I happily went off to the Great Basin Fiber Festival (more on that in a later post) in the afternoon.  Sunday, however, found us back in the Uinta's which are rapidly becoming one of my favorite places to ride. 

The day was perfect - sunny, 80s, light breeze and a bright blue sky.  The trail we picked this time was the Yellow Pine Trail, which we understood was theoretically "easier" than the Shingle Creek Trail which is just a few miles to the east of Yellow Pine.  Both of these trails, however, are technically difficult and not something I would put a totally green horse or a very inexperienced rider on.  The trails run through what must be the rock graveyard of the world.  Trails here in Utah tend to be rocky, but Yellow Pine has a LOT of rocks.  There are also several steep grades (22% or so) and quite a few of these tend to be on narrow trails, some with drop-offs into the canyon.

The trail winds up through ponderosa pine forest and aspen groves along the creek.  We started about 7600 feet of elevation where just a few trees have the edges of their leaves turning, but by the time we reached the summit at approximately 9650 feet, fall is definitely gaining a firm grip on the trees.  Our goal here was an alpine lake and after a hard pull uphill, the crew (we rode again with Pam, John and Daniel and respective horses) reached the summit and then, after a short downhill, found ourselves on the shore of a lake with absolutely pristine, crystal clear waters.

The edge of the lake is a bit mucky, but it was fun to see the hoofprints of some very large elk around the water's edge.  There is an area where you could camp, I suppose, if you brought in supplies for yourself and the horses, as there is no grazing in this area.  There are, however, large boulders perfectly situated for a resting spot to have lunch.

The horses, after their hard climb uphill, were glad for a rest.  Digger hung out with me (that's Shahara supervising Daniel's lunch) and he got a nibble of my oatmeal raisin cookie after lunch.  Happy put her head down, cocked her back leg and took a nap.  Only when she realized we were getting ready to head back down the hill did she look around at all.

The ride down had some difficult negotiations around the loose rocks and the steep incline, but all the horses did very well.  Digger and I led on the way out and I have to say, I was really proud of him.  He negotiated creeks and bridges, and did a long flight of stone stairs all by himself.  He was a little worried about some of things we ran across on the trail (what looked like the tread of an old snowmobile - neither of us were sure what that was at first), but he took a closer look and kept going past the scary boogie monsters when I asked him too, so all in all, we had a great ride.  There are some other trails in that area we are going to try to explore before the snows come (which is not too far off at these higher elevations).

All for now...

Comments

[fleur]

What a beautiful ride!

[PJ]

I just love hearing about your rides! (and the beautiful sights you see) Your horses seem to be a very close part of your family...(not just a horse out in the field to look at) your resting spot looked absolutely perfect..oh, and that lake you found...what peace! what a contrast...mountain horses/castles.....you live a good life!

[kathy]

I love your knitting AND your horsebackriding posts. This sounded like a great dayride. My sis used to live in Texas. She could ride at night under the stars when she got home from work. Ever done that? She was in an outdoor arena....