Category Archives: On Horseback

Happy Trails at Rocky Mountain National Park

  By placeswithkids | February 7, 2012 - 4:46 pm | , , , , , , ,
2 Comments
Glacier basin Rocky Mountain National Park

Near Glacier Basin RMNP

With its amazing jaw-dropping scenery, it’s not surprising that Rocky Mountain National Park made it onto Frommer’s 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up. What was a little unique was the WAY they recommended seeing it – on horseback.

We’d already spent the morning driving the Old Fall River Road to what felt like the top of the world (at least for height-phobic me) and for our afternoon at Rocky Mountain National Park, I’d planned a two-hour trail ride with Glacier Creek Stables at 1pm, leaving us plenty of time to drive into our hotel near the Denver Airport before it got too dark.

Sigh . . . you know what they always say about the best-laid plans . . .

As you might have noticed from the pictures, when we reached the Alpine Visitor Center at Rocky Mountain National Park we were at a seriously high elevation – as in 11,799 feet high.

Alpine Visitor Center rocky mountain NP

Alpine Visitor Center

To get to the Glacier Stables we needed to descend about 3000 feet over a very short distance, and somehow, going DOWN the mountain was more terrifying than going up. I crept down the mountain, my hands gripping the steering wheel so hard I was white-knuckled – because in my mind the next gust of wind was going to send us right over the edge of road.

How bad was it? So bad I refused to let my son open a bag of chips because the noise was distracting. Needless to say, we didn’t make the 1pm trail ride.

Thank goodness for cell phones. When it became obvious we weren’t going to make the ride, I pulled over, let them know we would be late and could we please get on their next ride at 3 pm?

The rest, as they say, is history . . .

Trail Ride in Rocky Mountain National Park

We had our trail ride in Rocky Mountain National Park later than expected (which the boys claimed wasn’t as exciting as their ride in Wyoming) and checked another item off our “500 List.”

Horse Ride Rocky Mountain national Park

Happy Trails

Seventy-three places visited, 427 to go!

 

Riding the Trails at the Bill Cody Ranch

  By Anne Patrone | October 4, 2011 - 11:28 am | , , , , , , , , ,
Leave a comment

Getting ready to ride at the Bill Cody Ranch

Ever since my guys took their first horse ride in Canyon de Chelly National Park, they’ve been hooked on horses. And since you can’t really go to a dude ranch without riding a horse, I was thrilled that the Bill Cody Ranch offered trail rides of various lengths. 

We decided on a two hour trail ride since our horse experience is minimal, but this was plenty of time for us to enjoy the amazing scenery of the Shoshone National Forest surrounding the ranch.

I have to admit that I was a little wary when I noticed large rifle slung along our trail guides’ packs to take care of “friends” that had recently been spotted along the trail. But our guide reassured us that it was far too hot for bears . . .  the rifle was just a precaution.

Gulp.

Can’t see it, but the rifle’s on the other side . . . 

The horses knew the way along the trail, so there was little for us to do except admire the views and focus on keeping our horses from snacking on grass or drinking too much water . . .

Amazing views in the Shoshone National Forest

. . . or getting too close to the horse in front of you . . .

Keeping distance between horses is always good . . . 

. . . which unfortunately my youngest guy discovered when he got kicked in the ankle by my horse. Thankfully, he was wearing long pants and his hiking boots, so other than some hurt pride (and some good-natured ribbing by my oldest . . .), he was okay.

I don’t think he’s going to be a cowboy anytime soon, though . . .

For wanna-be cowpokes, the Bill Cody Ranch offers longer trail rides of four hours (lunch included), all-day (with a cookout), and overnight trips for the adventurous. All rides are open to the public, so you don’t have to stay at the Bill Cody Ranch (though I highly recommend this low-key, no frills dude ranch) to enjoy the trail rides.

Sixty-seven places visited, 433 to go!

Visiting Canyon De Chelly on Horseback

  By Anne Patrone | November 2, 2010 - 10:41 am | , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment

I wanted to experience our next stop, Canyon de Chelly  National Monument, in a different way.  We’d already done white-water rafting, hiking, and camping, so what was next on the list for our Arizona adventure?

Riding a horse to visit Canyon de Chelly’s famous White House Ruins.

The company we went with, Justin’s Horse Rental, has had some bad reviews and press, but we found our guide knowledgable and the horses in good condition.

We arrived just after lunch for our three hour ride (and trust me, if you’re a first timer, you don’t want to be on a horse for longer than that!).  We saddled up, got basic “steering instructions” and then headed out.

I think you experience Canyon de Chelly differently when you’re see it from the back of a horse.  For one thing, the park felt quieter.  The trail we traveled was accessible only by horseback or a jeep (only one of which passed us).

Another difference in our Canyon de Chelly tour was that it was a slower pace (especially since my oldest had a horse with a mind of its own and wanted to keep stopping).

We saw more petroglyphs (stone drawings) done by the Anasazi and some amazing scenery.

Canyon de Chelly feels more . . . female.  It has a delicate beauty rather than the more masculine, in-your-face power of the Grand Canyon.

There are still Navajos living in Canyon de Chelly, doing what their ancestors have done for centuries – raising sheep and living off the land.  Our guide’s aunt was one of those residents.

After almost two hours of riding, one ruined hat, and several mutinies by my oldest’s horse, we finally arrived at Canyon de Chelly’s White House Ruins.

The Anasazi built their homes into protected outcroppings and the White House Ruins are Canyon de Chelly’s best example of this lost civilization.  These ruins aren’t as spectacular as the ones in Colorado’s Mesa Verde, but they are beautiful and we were glad we took the time to see them.

Canyon de Chelly is one of the sites in Frommer’s 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up and I have to admit, I would have overlooked this treasure if it hadn’t been in the book.

I’m so glad we didn’t.

Thirty places visited, 470 to go.

Molokini Snorkel Trip & Whale Watching – Two for the Price of One!

  By Anne Patrone | June 2, 2010 - 11:50 am | , , , , , ,
Leave a comment
 


Snorkeling and Hawaii are such an obvious combination that I knew we needed to spend one of our days in Hawaii snorkeling Molokini crater off the coast of Maui.  

The day started off with hubby putting out  work-related fires over the phone.  That should have been an omen, but the day was sunny, the weather was great, and he was done by the time it took us to drive to Ma’alaea Bay.  
We found a parking spot FAR away from the dock and got on board with time to spare (okay, not a lot of time, but this was an early morning trip, as in departing at 7:30 am early . . .)  And yes, I know what some of you are thinking . . . isn’t she on vacation???  Why not sleep in?
Sigh.
We went with one of the bigger charter companies:  Maui Classic Charters because they seemed more kid-friendly and they had a bigger boat than some of the other charters.  (Bigger boat = more stable)  We wolfed down our complimentary bagels and cream cheese . . .
. . . and promptly threw them back up less than an hour into the trip.
Okay, my youngest, P and I didn’t toss our cookies, but P was green and M and hubby definitely fed the fishes.  Needless to say, I did NOT have happy campers.  Thank goodness, we soon had whales arrive to distract my guys from their upset tummies.
Whale watching was already on our agenda for the Big Island, but someone must have known there was NO way I was going to get my guys on another boat any time soon, so yea! we snorkel and see whales ALL IN ONE TRIP!
Whew!
We were lucky and saw a competition pod of humpback whales.  Apparently this often occurs at the end of their stay in Hawaii after the mommies have given birth.  In our situation, there were four males chasing around a female with her baby.
The males flip their tails, blow water, and arch out of the water trying to impress the lady.  Poor guys . . . I could have told them there was no point – she’d just had a kid for Pete’s sake!!!  You think she wants to get cuddly with a guy after giving birth??  No way!
Anyway, we finally made it to the crater and I managed to cajole my guys into the water.  P used a little flotation board with a see-through hole and M was brave enough to snorkel.  Once we were there, I must admit I was a little disappointed.  
First, there were tons of people.  Don’t expect a secluded spot where you can commune with nature.  There were at least five other boats there with us.  Second, the fishes were . . . blah.
I’ve snorkeled in BVI and wow! there you can’t go more than an inch without bumping into all sorts of interesting, colorful fish.  At Molokini, there was mainly water – few fish.
Was it worth it?
Yes, for the whale watching experience, no for the snorkeling.
I guess batting .500 isn’t too bad considering cookie-tossing was also involved.
Next:   Mutiny, Medicine, and Mount Haleakala