Day 21 – June 8, 2024 – Cannonville, UT
This morning, we headed out about 7:50 to Bryce Canyon City to check in for our horseback ride. We took a 20-minute ride west of the canyon and met our guide, B, as he liked to be called. We chose the Thunder Mountain ride on the Thunder Mountain Trail which starts at the bottom of Red Canyon and ends at the top of Red Canyon.
There were six of us plus B and he went through some quick instructions then assigned us our horse. John got Little B, and he was a black and white and I had Mellow, he was a blonde. B told us there would be some narrow spots in some areas and to just let the horse do it’s thing. We all saddled up and got on our way.
The trail went up and down and some parts were very rocky and others just sandy. The horses have been doing this trail for some time, so it comes naturally to them. I was behind John and if there was any significant space between him and I, Mellow would gallop to get up right behind him. B jokingly said that if Little B went off the cliff, so would Mellow as he likes to follow him. Apparently, they are good buddies. As long as no one goes off the side, I’m good! B was very good about watching out for bikers as they use the same trail. The bikers are supposed to give way to the horses when meeting up on the trail. B tries to head them off early as to not spook the horses.
The scenery along the way was beautiful, but I didn’t take too many pictures as I was paying attention to what the horse was doing, lol! I have always been comfortable on them, but it’s been a long time since I have ridden for that long and with some of the trail being very narrow very high up, my attention was focused on that. We rode for about 3 hours, though it didn’t seem that long. I could feel it in my knees and hips once I got off! The total trail is a little over 8 miles.
B helped all of us dismount, tied the horses up and then we got back in the van to be taken back to the check in point. It happened to be at Ruby’s Inn, so we ended up having lunch at the Cowboy’s Buffet & Steak Room. We both had a Hoodoo Golden Ale and the BBQ Brisket Melt. It was slow roasted beef brisket smothered in BBQ sauce with sauteed onions and Swiss cheese on sourdough bread. It was very good! I only ate half of mine so there will be some leftovers to go with dinner tonight or lunch tomorrow.
We headed back to the BNB, cleaned up and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. John made us Aperol spritzes for happy hour and we had salmon, sweet potatoes, and sauteed broccoli for dinner.
Tomorrow we will check out Willis Creek Slot Canyon, suggested to us by our host. Our last full day here at Bryce, it’s been great so far! Nite all!
