Out West Wanderings II
We met a couple, Chris and Jerry, from Idaho. They are long time Catalina Park campers. It has been riding horses out west for 19 years. Dan and I had heard of the Sheep Tank last year, but never found out where it was.
I thought they meant sheep. But what they meant was Big Horn Sheep. We have never seen any riding, but they are around. The tank is a watering place to try to help them through the dry season. The water comes from a falls at the top of a mountain and collects at the bottom. The park rangers have run a pipe from that pool down the mountain to the Sheep tank. Chris said some years there is no water at all in the tank.
We left on the trail at 9:00 with Chris and Jerry. Al came along, since he is new to Catalina and wanted to experience some more trails.
The trail took us the opposite direction than what we had been riding and crossed the black top road. We saw the Ranger’s station and passed behind some very nice homes. Then we started to climb.
It was steep and rocky. We had to stop twice to give the horses a breather. The views were wonderful. As we got to the higher elevation we took a trail that branched off to the left and around the corner was the Sheep Tank.
I would never have believed it was going to be so big. It was like a really large swimming pool and deep, too. There was an overflow pipe that filled a watering trough. The horses really enjoyed drinking
millspap
64 chapters
16 Apr 2020
Day #16
February 01, 2020
|
Catalina State Park
We met a couple, Chris and Jerry, from Idaho. They are long time Catalina Park campers. It has been riding horses out west for 19 years. Dan and I had heard of the Sheep Tank last year, but never found out where it was.
I thought they meant sheep. But what they meant was Big Horn Sheep. We have never seen any riding, but they are around. The tank is a watering place to try to help them through the dry season. The water comes from a falls at the top of a mountain and collects at the bottom. The park rangers have run a pipe from that pool down the mountain to the Sheep tank. Chris said some years there is no water at all in the tank.
We left on the trail at 9:00 with Chris and Jerry. Al came along, since he is new to Catalina and wanted to experience some more trails.
The trail took us the opposite direction than what we had been riding and crossed the black top road. We saw the Ranger’s station and passed behind some very nice homes. Then we started to climb.
It was steep and rocky. We had to stop twice to give the horses a breather. The views were wonderful. As we got to the higher elevation we took a trail that branched off to the left and around the corner was the Sheep Tank.
I would never have believed it was going to be so big. It was like a really large swimming pool and deep, too. There was an overflow pipe that filled a watering trough. The horses really enjoyed drinking
their fill. Jerry said that the Rangers had wildlife cameras set up. I bet there are a lot of animals that use that drinking spot.
The trip back down the mountain was actually much easier than the climb up. We looped around and rode on quite flat trails with only one super steep rocky descent.
We think this was one of the best rides we have done. But it was probably because it was all new to us.
Tomorrow morning we are packing up and traveling to Wickenburg to stay at the Horsepitality camp. It has water hook ups, electric and sewer. We are really spoiling ourselves by renting at this horse camp!
Check back tomorrow to see what Horspitality is like.
Blessings on you, Pam
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