I am happy! We went to the Peralta Trailhead and rode the Dutchman trail again, but this time we went to Coffee Flats.
The Ranger at the sign-in station said that three days ago a group of horses had an accident on the Bluff Springs Trail. He had warned the group that it was steep and had drop offs. I guess a horse went over the edge and fell, but didn’t break any legs. It refused to climb up out. He didn’t know how they got it back on the trail.
Because we are still watching Pearl, we certainly don’t want any stress producing rides. Both horses were happy to go out today and appeared to enjoy themselves.
We had seen some buildings far across the valley and I was curious about it. I found out that it is the Quarter Circle U Ranch owned by Chuck Backus. This is the same man who leases the land where we are camping.
Chuck Backus is somewhat of a legend around here. He was a nuclear scientist who changed profession to a cattle rancher. He had worked on the space program’s Mars mission in the 60’s. In 1977 he purchased the ranch.
The ranch had not been well managed and no cross fences or water development had been done in the last 100 years. The 600-square-foot ranch house was built in 1876 and the stone barn in 1891 with a wire fence for the corral.
If we only had more time here, we would ride over to his ranch and take a look. But, we want to be back in Catalina for the last of our riding by Thursday, the 27th. So we will see what we decide.
Blessings today, Pam