We finally had a nice weekend. So I loaded up my 15 & 16 year old daughters and headed off to meet several friends for a ride in Utah's Color Country of Southern Utah. We drove down friday after work and camped out. Got up and met my friends and got on the trail around 9:30 am. You have about 1mile ride from the area they make you park horse trailers to the edge of the canyon. The trail here is pretty level and lined with a nice rail fence. We all had Foxtrotters so we got them gaiting and listened to the "Chunk of Meat, Chunk of Meat" cadence that they produce on the hard packed earth. 
 

At the canyon rim we picked up the horse trail that descends down into the canyon. You go from an area of Ponderosa Pines to Red/Pink earth and Bristol Cone Pines as you drop over the edge of the canyon rim. 
 

The trail descends down into the canyon folowing ridgelines or draws. You occassionally have to wind down some switch backs to get off some steep hillsides. 
 
 

 
Some places the Switch backs are very steep 
 

And some are cimb up between narrow canyon walls. 
 

We rode this trail across just under the rim and passed through the hole in the wall that you can see the light through. 
 

Trails are narrow and they drop off a long ways on the sides. For some reason my horse always likes to walk right along the edge. So we got to work on moving away from leg pressure a lot that day as it always seemed I was asking him to get away from the edge. I think the edge of the trail is softer and all our horses were barefoot. So they all prefered to get over to the edge. 
 

The trails are usually not real steep. They just meander along following the contour lines with easy climbs. 
 

There are a few places the trail passes through slots or natural tunnels in the rock walls. The horses din't seem to even worry about this closed in spaces.
 

It was about 65*. we were at 8000 foot elevation. The skies were clear and the warm sun felt great. It was a wonderful day to get out and enjoy the beauties of the area I live in. 
My girls at the lunch stop

ALL of Utah is Cougar country. Cougars follow the deer herds.

Cougars are very secretative animals. People rarely see them in the wild. I frequently see their tracks, I see the half eaten deer they have killed. But I rarely see the actually cat unless we are chasing it with dogs.

Where's "Color Country?"  The area looks like Bryce Canyon National Park.  Is this where you were?  What is the rail fence for?  You can't go off the trail?

Nice photos.

Beautiful.  Thanks for the pix an story.

I have a Mustang from Utah....I know she must be homesick after living down here in the flat-lands of West TN.

Color Country is the nick name for Southern Utah. Zions, Bryce, Capital Reef, Arches area.

That part of the state has so many vibrant colors. The reds and pinks of the slick rock, the black volcanic and Basalt rock, All various levels of the earth exposed by wind and water errosion. This particular ride was in Bryce. But I could have found similar colors in many other areas.

The area they make us park our horse trailers in is about a mile away from the rim of the canyon.  It is also the area that the Dude Wrangler keeps his horses and mules at. The rail fence is pretty new, It wasn't there 3 years ago when I last visited.  I suspect they installed it to keep the outfitter mules and horses from wandering off the trail as they are herded from their corral to the place where they stand waiting to take tourist for rides. Once you get to the rim of the canyon, all fences and rails are gone.  But you are not supposed to leave the trail. They don't want hoof marks in the sandy hill sides.   The dude wrangler has priority for the trail use. If you encounter the dude string going the opposing direction that you are headed, you have to turn around and return to another intersection in the trail where you can get out of their way.  They don't want a tourist from a foreign country screaming that her horse has turned around and is following your private horses back to the trailer. They worry that the tourist don't have the horsemanship skills to control their horses. They depend on the horses to follow the leader. And they don't allow you to just move off the side of the trail and leave hoof marks just anywhere.  So we always ask the wrangler when he has rides out and what time he expects them to pass through certain areas where we might encounter them.

Fabulous photos as always and love the commentary.  We are all so jealous of you and cowpony... 

Have you ridden the comb ridge west of Cortez and east of Mexican Hat?  I did a week long riding trip out there in '91 and we also rode in a canyon that was spectacular.  I thought it was so neat coming upon watering holes along the way and finding Anasazi (sp?) ruins at the end of the canyons.   sigh.... would love to ride that area again sometime. 

thanks again for sharing. Your girls are very lucky!

I've ridden several canyons around Blanding Utah, but I couldn't tell you the names.  I was there with a friend who lives in the area and I just went where he lead.

Thanks for the comments, I'm glad to share.