Trail Log: 4-15-2026

Celia/Liberty - Me/Drifter

• Trail: Hassayampa River - Box Canyon
• Miles: 8.6
• Riders: Self - Celia - Nina
• Horses: Drifter - Liberty - Seattle
• Dogs: No

They went that-a-way! 

Notes: Nina had not been to the Box Canyon and we all needed a bit of a break. We unloaded off Rincon Rd and rode to and beyond the box canyon to where the fence crosses the Hassayampa. We encountered just 3 side-by-sides. It was fairly clean for this area. During the busy season, it can get littered up pretty good. The trickle of water is farther up from the Box than I've seen it but at least it is there. We left the river and rode up several off-shoot canyons and discovered some rock ruins. We stopped back at the Box and had lunch before heading back home. 

Celia and Nina

Trail Log: 4-14-2026

Shade - Hank

• Trail: Aguila - Tiger Wash
• Miles: 4.72
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Jack - Dirt
• Dogs: Groot - Harley

Notes: An eventful little ride. You know the snakes are out there and we kept watching for them. Made it almost back to the trailer before we ran into this one. I kept telling Celia what amazing snake radar Jack has...she believes me now! We were just crossing the wash to climb up the other side when Jack scooted backwards faster than he was going forward. Then I hear it. Somewhere on the bank a very agitated rattler let us know we were intruding. We skirted around it back to the trailers. Went back to dispatch the snake but it had disappeared. The horned toads are really out! My favorite lizard. They look like mini triceratops. 

Today was/is Shades birthday. I didn't know Hanks birthday so we celebrated them both on Shades. They are both gone now. Life isn't always an adventure. Sometimes it's a punch in the gut. 

Trail Log: 9-12-2026

 

• Trail: Aguila - Hood
• Miles: 5.5
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Drifter - Liberty
• Dogs: Groot - Harley

Notes: A ride around the hood. The first ride taking Harley out on the road. She did really good and stuck close like she usually does. There isn't very many people out here now so it was a good time to give it a try. 

Harley sticking close

Trail Log: 4-9-2026

• Trail: Aguila Hood
• Miles: 4
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Jack - Liberty

Notes: Ride around the hood. I walked and led Jack thinking I could use the exercise. It's hard to do any walking when you are leading a perfectly good horse. 

Trail Log: 4-4-2026

• Trail: Aguila-Hood
• Miles: 5.80
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Jack - Dirt
• Dogs: No

Notes: Saddled up and met Celia on the road between her place and mine. We rode around the hood. It's getting pretty quiet around as all the snowbirds are abandoning ship. Kind of nice really...

The snakes are out. Been seeing a few - mostly the Mohave...I've read they are more aggressive but I haven't seen much difference between them and the more common western diamondback. You can tell this is a Mohave by the mostly white band around the tail - it's very green (greener in person than this picture shows), the striping on the jaw and the scales between it's eyes. Mohave's have two large scales - diamondback's have a bunch of little ones. I'm not getting close enough to count and tell you how many. 

Trail Log: 4-1-2026

• Trail: Aguila - Back Gate
• Miles: 5
• Riders: Self - Celia - Nina
• Horses: Drifter - Liberty - Barbosa
• Dogs: Groot - Harley

Notes: A quick ride after shooting practice. 

Trail Log: 3-31-2026

• Trail: Aguila - Back Gate - State Land
• Miles: 4.32
• Riders: Self
• Horses: Jack
• Dogs: Groot and Harley

Notes: Finally cooled off a little bit. Took the dogs and Jack out for a hike and ride. Spit rain most of the day but just enough to irritate you. Could really use a downpour. 

Trail log: 3-26-2026

• Trail: N. Eagle Eye
• Miles: 4.63
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Drifter - Dirt
• Dogs: Groot - Harley

Notes: We decided to go back and remove a cache we set up earlier this winter and relocate it another time. We encountered a small rattler in the middle of the sandy 2 track. This one was a side-winder. They can move pretty fast! I've heard of them, but never seen one move. It wasn't aggressive so we left it be and moved on. 

Trail Log: 3-21-2026

• Trail: Aguila-Hood
• Miles: 5.10
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Jack - Dirt
• Dogs: no

Notes: A quick early morning ride around the hood to beat the heat.  

Trail Log: 3-19-2026

Celia and Liberty

Trail: Back Gate - State Land - Aguila

Miles: 3.80

Riders: Self - Celia

Horses: Drifter - Liberty

Dogs: Groot - Harley

Notes: Celia got her new filly back from Yucca where she was in riding for a month or two. She hauled to my place and we rode out my back gate. This was Celia's first ride on Liberty.  Steve and Celia know how to pick them...Liberty is going to be great! I rode Drifter - who usually grouches at other horses but for some reason, he seems to like Liberty. I guess horses are like humans...some you tolerate...others not so much. 

Drifter - the little black hellion

Harley and her new puppy-pool

Trail Log: 3-15-2026

Dirt - Jack - Shaunta

• Trail: Flagstaff Hunting Unit
• Miles: 12.97
• Riders: Self - Celia - Cole
• Horses: Jack - Dirt - Shaunta

Cole and Celia

Notes: With the extreme heat, we headed to the mountains! Celia picked me up and we hauled to her son Cole's house in New River. Cole hauled us the rest of the way above Flagstaff to scope out a potential elk hunt area and look for sheds. We didn't find any sheds but we did see a lot of elk sign including scat and rubs. It was awesome to get into the timber. The temperatures are drastically different between Aguila and Flagstaff. We left home sweating to death in tank tops and made it to Flagstaff wishing I'd brought a heavier coat! It makes me wish I'd bought property in that area where the seasons are milder but dang...I love my place. 

In lieu of the Beanee Weenee pic. BW's are MIA

Trail Log: 3-10-2026

Nina and Barbosa - first CSJ competition

• Trail: Aguila-hood 
• Miles: 5
• Riders: Self - Nina
• Horses: Drifter - Barbosa
• Dogs: No

Notes: Went for a little ride after shooting practice. This picture is of Nina and Barbosa on her very first CSJ shoot and Ben Avery. She did such a good job. Couldn't be more  proud of her and her horse Barbosa. 

Trail Log: 3-7-2026

Jim and Whiskey

• Trail: S. Eagle Eye - Tiger Wash
• Miles: 6.17
• Riders: Self - Jim - Celia
• Horses: Drifter - Whiskey - Dirt
• Dogs: No

Celia and Dirt

Notes: We unloaded at the spot formerly known as the first windmill and loped up the wash before popping out and heading toward Browns Canyon. It was gusty at times and more so on top the ridges and hills. Celia and I carry apps that track our mileage. Jim does not - but if Celia and I rode 6 miles - Jim must have rode 12. He's like taking along your bird dog that lopes out a head of you and circles back now and then. A couple times I thought we lost him but we'd hear his whistling in the distance and he'd eventually pop back up. 

Loping down Tiger Wash

Trail Log: 3-6-2026

Trail: E. Hwy 71 - Mile Post 99 - South

• Miles: 5.12
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Jack - Dirt
• Dogs: No

Notes: Finally, we get some time to ride. Celia has been busy with her Canyon Cowgirl Leather business and I've been busy doing other stuff. We drove east on 71 until we found a State Land gate that looked promising. We picked a good one! Cool rock formations and lots of vegetation. It was windy outside of the canyon we rode up but as long as we stayed between the hills, it was nice. We explored the area and marked it for further exploration. Celia saw one little snake but didn't get a good look at it to tell what kind.  

Trail Log: 3-3-2026

Drifter waiting patiently for the videagraphy to end

• Trail: State Land - Back Gate - Tank
• Miles: 5.19
• Riders: Self - Jim H
• Horses: Drifter - Whiskey 
• Dogs: Groot - Harley 

Notes: I have been helping Jim shoot videos for his Webcast "Hansons Horse Sense." I took him behind my place to the tank. It is a nice spot with pretty views. Other than shooting at the wrong time of day (sun glare) they turned out pretty good. 

Jim and Whiskey 

Trail Log: 3-2-2026

The "bromance" continues LOL

• Trail: State Land - Back Gate - Aguila
• Miles: 6.10
• Riders: Self - Dan L. - Mike D
• Horses: Jack - Bullseye - Big Drifter
• Dogs: Groot - Harley - Boo

Notes: Mike came to visit so we took him on a ride out in the desert. He rode Big Drifter - who was originally his horse before Dan and Robyn bought him last year. Mike hasn't ridden much outside the arena  and is a fairly new rider at that. He started mounted shooting and riding at the same time. He is super competitive and has moved up quickly and just one his first overall-overall at the last ACMSA shoot...which is amazing.  

Harley follows along very well!

2-26-2026

Flag pole looking good! 

• Trail: Aguila - Back Gate - State Land
• Miles: 5.5
• Riders: Self - Celia 
• Horses: Jack - Dirt
• Dogs: Groot - Boo

Notes: About a week prior to this ride, I found an odd, Styrofoam  item that turned out to be a sensor/detector/meter for atmospheric monitoring. About a quarter mile east and a week later, I found the weather balloon it was attached to. Weird...

Watering the dogs

Weather balloon

Trail Log: 2-6-2026

• Trail: Robson's Mining World
• Miles: 6.18
• Riders: Self - Jim H
• Horses: Drifter - Rowdy
• Dogs: No

Mining World

Notes: Played tour guide again and took Jim to Robson's Mining World. We tied up outside the town entrance and took a tour of the facility. Machelle was busy with a large group so she attached us to "Gary." I'm not 100% positive his name is Gary but he looks like a Gary. He was a great tour guide and I am happy that Machelle has a helper and is not up there alone. After the tour, we rode through town up the canyon to the end before looping back. 

The sheep! I forgot to mention that on the way in, we saw a band of mountain sheep just before coming into town. I've hear they are in the area but have not seen them until now. Gary was surprised they were that close  as he had never seen them that far off the mountains. It was pretty cool. The horses were convinced it wasn't nearly as cool as we thought but they managed OK. 

Horse eating sheep

Trail Log: 2-5-2026

• Trail: S. Eagle Eye - Tank
• Miles: 6.5
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Jack - Smoothie
• Dogs: Groot - Boo

Notes: Celia took her filly Smoothie for an outing. She is turning into a really nice ride. We rode toward Browns Canyon to the watering hole and looped back a ways past the wilderness boundary. 

Trail Log: 1-30-2026

Rudy looks more like a shrunken apple-head named RUBY

• Trail: N. Eagle Eye to Rudy Pass
• Miles: 10
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Dirt - Jack
• Dogs: Groot

Notes: Rode up N. Eagle Eye toward the Sleeping Giant through Rudy's Pass to the top. We checked on the geo-cache we left a couple months ago. It's still there!

Snags and Nags GC

Trail Log: 1-29-2026

• Trail: Wickenburg Stagecoach Massacre Site
• Miles: 7.83
• Riders: Self - Jim H. 
• Horses: Drifter - Rowdy
• Dogs: None

Notes: Jim spends most of his time giving lessons and clinics and hasn't explored much beyond where he spends winters outside of Congress. I took him to the Wickenburg Stagecoach massacre site. I have been there several times but I've never gotten to it the same way twice. I left my GPS at home to see if I could find it without it. I figured if I got us lost I could tell him anything and he wouldn't know: "See that pile of  rocks right there..that's where they buried one of the bodies. Cool, huh?" 

Jim and Rowdy

Trail Log: 1-24-2026

• Trail: Back gate to Sheep/Donkey Ruins
• Miles: 12
• Riders: Self - Jim H. 
• Horses: Jack - Oakie - Whiskey 
• Dogs: Groot - Boo

Notes: I have been taking mounted shooting/horsemanship lessons from clinician Jim Hanson while he is in Arizona. I took a clinic from him years ago when he was at the Diamond P shoot in West Yellowstone. I learned more in that one short session than any clinic I've done before or after. I normally hold practice at my arena on Wednesday's but everyone had other obligations so I offered to take Jim on a tour of the sheep/donkey containment ruins. 

Hanson's Horse Sense website

Trail Log: 1-16-2026

Celia on Smoothie towing Dirt

• Trail: Hwy 60 - NW Wickenburg
• Miles: 4.86
• Riders: Self - Celia
• Horses: Jack - Dirt - Smoothie
• Dogs: No

Notes: Celia's little filly Smoothie is back from the trainer and ready for miles under saddle. She rode Dirt in and Smoothie out. So far she is a nice little filly and should be a good one. Nothing seems to bother her. She looks to be taking to mounted shooting well too as we worked with her last week exposing her to gunfire. She didn't bobble an ear. It is warmer than normal here in AZ and the weather has been awesome. 

Finally got a flag up

Trail Log: 1-12-2026

Ruins...whether sheep or burro

• Trail: Eagle Eye - Sheep/Burro Ruins
• Miles: 4.18    
• Riders: Self - Robyn
• Horses: Jack - Big Driffter
• Dogs: Groot

Notes: Roby needed a break and she has not been to the ruins. We hauled to Eagle Eye and rode in to the ruins. I've been told in the past they were built for sheep but recently was told it is a burro containment for the mines. That actually makes more sense as there are mines all around the ruins and burros were used in the mines. Not much can be found on them but I'll dig deeper when I have time in an attempt to find out more info on them. Whatever they are...it's one of my favorite spots in this area.

Robyn  and Big Drifter