Every July for the past three summers we have gone on an 8 day pack trip with some friends to the upper Pine River area. We left on a Saturday morning from the Poison Park Trailhead northwest of Pagosa Springs (Williams Creek Reservior area). We call the trail the Poison Park trail, but it's proper name is the Weminuche Trail. Here is Todd just a few miles into the trip:
Some flowers just past the first photo:
Each time we make it further in, this time camp was about 15-18 miles into the wilderness. Our camp was an hour up the La Osa trail (2-3 miles?):
The creek that runs through this canyon is great fishing, all native cutthroat. This pic was taken from camp, the meadow behind Todd is where our horses grazed:
Our first ride from camp was to Flint Lake and back. This is along the La Osa trail a few miles beyond our camp:
This is on top of La Osa near the Continental Divide (The Wilson Family, Brindo the Dog, and Todd my husband pictured):
Heading toward the pass we saw this buck:
The view towards Silverton on the way to Flint Lake (that might be Ute Lake, not sure):
Here's Jerry and Cindy as we head along the trail towards Flint Lake. That's the Window and Rio Grand Pyramid in the background:
The horses had the next day off, and after a morning of grazing they returned to the highline on their own and rested without being tied:
Our next ride was back up La Osa to the Divide and then east on the La Vaca trail for a fantastic loop ride. Here is Jypsi and I along the La Vaca/Continental Divide Trail:
Some sunflowers:
The traverse to La Vaca canyon:
Jypsi and I under the Window:
Jerry and Cindy on the steep descent down the La Vaca trail (this is a good trail to go down, not up):
Where the La Vaca trail joins the Pine River trail we saw a cow moose with two calves. At first we only saw the cow, so my husband got a little closer to get some photos as she ate in the pond. Lo and behold, two calves were in hiding and swam across to their mother:
She then left the water and trotted off across the meadow:
The next day was another day off for the horses (and riders!). There was plenty of time to fish, sleep, read, and remark on how fantastic the trip was going. That evening Todd went down to the fridge-creek behind our camp to get a beer. When he stood up to return a bull moose blocked his path. He said they just stared at each other, and the bull gave him the trail and walked off. We heard him shouting "Moose!!!! Moose!!! and saw the bull sneeking behind our camp and then pause by the highlines. It happened so fast I couldn't get a photo. About 20 minutes later the bull reappeared in the meadow. We were able to watch him for quite awhile from our camp, until it got dark:
After another ride and another day off it was time to leave. Here is Todd and Jerry packing up:
Here's me ponying Jasper (I hadn't ponied a horse at all until this summer, now I have two packtrips worth of ponying):
Here's Todd with Indy and Brush (TWHs) overlooking Granite Lake on the return trip home:
It's amazing we got so much riding in and never got caught in a storm. We put in about 90 miles total in five rides, and saw 7 moose. Each packtrip we go on seems better than the last, and this trip was the best of all :) I've come a long way from someone who *hated* her first few packing adventures. I think I might actually really like them now.
We are probably going to go on at least one more, maybe two. Todd and I want to go out by ourselves, and then one of my brother's wants to on a short one for fishing purposes only :)
I am also still plugging away on the new ASB mare, and still shooting for a mid-August completion. I am doing a lot of tedious sanding and detailing which takes weeks, but the finished product is worth this extra step as it removes and surface roughness and makes the castings nice and smooth to show off any painting techniques and mediums.
Speaking of that, she's calling to me to add some epoxy, so I must go....
