Mustang 'n' Cowboys

DAY ONE...

Travis on Cahlibur leading his mare, Maggey. Tony on Coal leading his mare, Belle. Katy, the trail boss checking out everything!
Started at Mosquito Flats at 9:45am and headed over Mono Pass, took 2 hours to get to the top. We gave the horses a drink at Summit Lake. The trail to Golden Creek was all down hill and through some rocky and hard terrain. Before crossing the creek, there was a meadow where we stopped to adjust the pack saddles on the mares. While we were headed from Gold Creek toward the Hopkins Trail, a cowboy passed us with four head of mule headed toward Pioneer Basin to pick up a couple of guys.

Travis adjusting the panniers on Maggey. Katy is resting in the shade behind Travis.

Tony adjusting the cinch strap on Belle's load.

We made camp on the west side of Golden Creek below Mono Rock. After unsaddling everybody, we put the mares on a picket line, while we watered the boys. After the boys, we watered the girls. Turned the boys out to eat while we made camp; and then turned the girls loose. We had beans and jerky for dinner. Had to stop Cahlibur and Maggey from fighting, and put up a separate picket line for the girls.

It was a clear night and for the first half the moon wasn’t showing. You could hear the creek rolling past and every now and then a whisper of wind would caress the top of the pine trees. Coal was tied near a rock that barely broke the surface of ground and during the night he would paw on it or stomp on it, it felt like it was connected to a rock beneath my back. I could feel each stomp. Travis

Well, I made it...

I am now sitting in front of a fire on the Mono Pass trail, about half way between Third and Fourth Recess Lakes. Near as we can figure we traveled about 9.1 miles. We started out of Mosquito Flats around 9:45am, and made camp around 4:00pm. The trail was fairly decent, but there were some areas that were pretty rough.

The horses did really well the entire way. There was a spot though that both mares didn’t want to go down. Travis and I both had to get off, go back, and lead the mares down on foot. Katie did awesome, she stayed close and lead us most of the way. She is now dead asleep against a rock behind me. After we unsaddled, we lead both the guys back to Golden Creek and soaked their legs for awhile. We then turned them loose to graze with hobbles on, and lead the mares down to the water to soak their legs. After about 45 minutes, we tied the guys up and turned the girls loose.

Ok, I’m back…we just had to break up a fight between Cahlibur and Maggey. As a result the mares are now on their own picket line away from the guys. We’ve decided to stay in this site for at least one more day to give the horses a chance to recoup, and to do a little fishing. Well, that does it for today. Tony