back - Kayla, Estefan, Brian, and Victor
My dad inside the Horse Trailer unloading our horses and mules.
That's my mule, Whitey. We got along fairly well, although he wanted to be in front of everyone, all the time. 
That's the wagon and Ashely following behind on her horse, Blackey. Her horse knew the drill and would almost ride with his nose touching the back of the wagon. Mohamed is the mule that is tied to the back of the wagon, without a rider. My dad was going to ride him the last 3 days, but on the first day, Mohamed was having trouble just walking behind the wagon, and we figured out that when he had gotten shod, his nails were cut too short and his feet were sore. So my dad drove the entire way in his pickup and trailer with Mohamed in the back. Bummer for us, but not for my dad's butt!
These mules are Milly and Molly. Their job is to pull the wagon. They were so sweet. My Uncle James made all of their tack by hand, see the cute little hearts dangling on their foreheads?
This is a typical lunch on the trail ride... Vienna Sausages (these are the Jalapeno version), juice, chips, cookies, string cheese, crackers and a boiled egg (not in this photo). The next couple of days also included leftovers from the last nights dinner, so hot dogs and hamburgers, fried chicken, or grilled pork loin. Yum Yum!
Jon, Michelle, Dustin & Ashley
Yup, that's me... I figured I'd show you proof that I actually rode. By the end of the trip I was able to get on my horse without a foot stool, and stay on him. I do have to tell you the first day I was pretty scared. I tried to stick to people I knew had a lot of experience and could potentially save me if I needed saving. Luckily I didn't and I had a pretty good handle on my horse, and learned his quirks pretty quickly.
Ashley giving her horse a good drink of water. Ashley has been on the trail ride 3 or 4 times before and Blackey has been her horse each time, they seemed to fit well together. She could do anything on him. My mule seemed to like Blackey and so Ashley and I stuck together for the majority of the trip.
This is a livestock shoot at the first corral we stayed at, we piled up our saddles and stuff next to it for the night.
That's my Uncle James, and my dad. James is the mastermind of this trip, that started doing this 6-7 years ago when his grandkids were young and he wanted to provide them with a life experience. Lots of people can ride horses for an hour or two, but not many get a chance to ride them for 4 straight days and camp out in the boonies with no modern conveniences (unless you pack them in).
That's my uncle's hand making the best dutch oven biscuit's ever! I tried to get his recipe, but I didn't have anything to write with. I should have recorded it on video with my camera. Oh well. That night we had hamburgers and hot dogs with biscuits, super yummy!
The next morning we fed our horses some yummy grain and got them ready for the longest riding day of the trip. Yup, my butt hurt, but surprisingly, my shins hurt worse. I had to make some adjustments to my stirr-ups a couple of times, but my legs stayed pretty sore. 
This was our break for lunch on the second day, and with lunch, normally came nap time. I didn't think I could nap laying on the ground, but eventually I was able to catch some zzz's! That's my brother Jon napping and Dustin trying to kill some time before we ride again. Dustin has been on this trip the most of all of the kids, I think he was just 5 or 6 when he first went on his own with my dad, he's a pro!
That's Uncle James catching some ZZZ's.
The place we stayed the second night was way in the middle of nowhere, just on the other side of the mountains my dad's ranch sits at the base of. This corral was huge, and had quite a few large pens. The most unique part of this corral was the windmill that pumped water for the troughs.
We all lined up our stuff along the fence of this corral and led our horses to their separate pens. Horses and mules have cliques too. What I was told is that if you let horses and mules that don't know each other or don't "live" with each other stay together all in the same pen, they will pick on each other and take turns running one or a couple till they are exhausted. Not good for a long trail ride. Interesting huh?
This is the windmill, there is a huge abandoned eagle nest below it. Pretty cool huh? This thing was running most of the evening and a pretty high speed. In the morning it was completely still. 
Allow me to introduce The Merrell Boys. Eldon is the dad and then you have Trey and Cale, they are twins, then their cousin Garrett and then Chase. What a good looking bunch of boys! Eldon used to hang out with my older siblings, Jon and Krista when we used to spend the summers at the ranch. I was roommates with his little sister Liz when I went to Eastern Arizona College. He and his family lived in Wilcox where they got to know my Uncle James better and started going on the trial ride. They now live back in Duncan, across the highway from my dad. It was fun having them along, they are quite the characters. Cale would do anything for my Uncle James' cobbler. I swear that kid could make himself sick on it and still ask for more!
This was my best attempt at a group shot. It's hard when there are so many boys and men totally not interested in pictures or cooperating, sheesh! I think they may look back at these pictures some day and be grateful for them, and maybe just maybe wish they would have been a little more cooperative, maybe not. The two people who were most elusive to photographs are on the far left for this photo. They are Phil and Smokey (Malcolm). Smokey is James' brother in law and Phil is a friend of James' and happens to be an uncle in law (or something like that) to Eldon. 
Jon and Michelle
Jon holding the flashlight so that Uncle James can make his dutch oven cobbler, yummy!
These are the dutch ovens doing their job, cooking cobbler and biscuits, double yummy!
Peach Cobbler, my absolute favorite! Come camping with us at Brentwood the first weekend of every August and you can have some peach cobbler!
The next day would be our shortest ride, so we weren't in much of a hurry. We tried to get a group shot of all the riders. My dad was trying his best to fit us all in, but when you get all the horses and mules saddled, they want to go. This is the best shot we could do!
This is Phil's horse, he was 'breaking' her on this trip. The first day she gave him some trouble, but she pretty much settled down for the rest of the trip. 
Isn't she pretty? She has one brown and one blue eye.
This is where we stopped for lunch on the third day. The sign on the back of the wagon says "Alternative Fuel Vehicle. Don't Step in the Exhaust!" Pretty funny huh??
Nap time again! That' Maybell looking over my uncle napping. She's another of my uncle's mules, and Smokey was riding her. She was huge and a little temperamental, but oh so beautiful!
The kids took dirt naps too! Not those kind of dirt naps, just naps in the dirt! Haha!
While dinner was being prepared and the sun was going down the kids all went off to have some dirt clod wars, unfortunately there are a few rocks thrown in from time to time as well. Ashley and Dustin found a pipe with black stuff/grease on it and decided that they needed to have a little face camouflage, this picture was taken after Ashley had already "washed" her face. Dirty kids!
Dinner that night was Grilled Pork Loin, super yummy! So much so that we have had the same meal a few times since then and will be having it when we go to Brentwood this summer!
Here's my mule again on the last day. I had noticed a bump on his back when I brushed him before saddling him on the second day. I asked my dad about it and didn't think much of it. Well by the last day the bump had gotten bigger, you can kid of see it in this picture, right before the big bump of his butt. It was very sensitive to even brushing on the last day so it was determined that he shouldn't be ridden that day. Poor guy! So I rode in the wagon with my uncle James and Eldon.
Uncle James with his wagon all ready to hit the road with Milly and Molly.
Here's my view out the rear of the wagon. That's Jon on Pistol and Smokey on Maybell following close behind. 
Eldon's daughter, Ashlyn, joined us for the last night of the trail ride and rode into Duncan on Eldon's horse. She's up in the front in this picture. For the last 5-10 miles of the trip we have to ride along the highway into Duncan and through town. I think it's the highlight of the trip for Eldon's kids, because they know everyone in that small town.
It was a great trip and a great experience. Maybe I'll be able to go next year too? Who knows. My dad is trying to figure out a way to do a horse/backpacking trip into one of his favorite places called Bear Wallow Creek. If he does arrange a trip, I will document it and share that with you as well!
1 comment:
wow how much fun! you should try to go again. One time we went backpacking on a trial for about 10miles it was a blast. I would love to do something like that with the girls when they are older.
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