April 13, 2009

Big Pack Mountain



On Friday, we trailered the horses south of Ouray, Utah (named after a Ute leader of the late 1800’s, now part of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation), and across the Green River to Willow Creek. This area is all BLM land, with a lot of oil and gas wells and a few active pumping units. We parked next to a bubbling spring that adjoins a small pond, saddled up, and headed out across a dry desert landscape.
The roads were sandy and allowed for easy cantering for miles at a time. In the first hour, we covered 10 miles.
After that, not only Daisy, but even the horses were ready to cool off by eating snow.

Our destination was Big Pack Mountain, at 6600 feet. At this time of year, we can’t go much higher without reaching a prohibitive amount of snow on the trails, so desert rides like this one are our best, and warmest, option.

We rode along this ridge. (Enlarged, you can see Steve, Boss and Daisy.)

This trio reached the top first.

From the high point, the view was of vast, wide open spaces, one of Utah’s greatest features.
On the way back, we had views of the High Uintas, our summer riding heaven.
Clocking in at 21 miles, 1600 feet elevation gain, in about 3.5 hours, this was our most ambitious ride so far this season.
For visions of more worlds, click here.

39 comments:

  1. Always beautiful there. It amazes me how often you get to go out. Your horses must love it!

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  2. Great open wild west landscape, hope you had a great time:)

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  3. Thanks for taking us on that wonderful ride with you through your great shots.

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  4. Wow---21 miles in 3.5 hours, Janie. That's incredible... You are just so fortunate to live in such a fabulous area. It's just SO different from here. I'm jealous!!!!!

    Keep on sending the wonderful pictures.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  5. You have pretty horses. What a wonderful and vast scencery!

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  6. That is a lot of open spaces and quite a wild landscape too.

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  7. Beautiful country. Though for me I prefer two legged travel you get to see a lot more country. I couldn't hike 21 miles in a day.

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  8. so beautiful, looks like everyone had fun

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  9. A lovely excursion. Grea to have trails where you can canter for miles, it is such a comfortable stride.

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  10. Great ride you had. And the view is amazing. Fantastic photos.

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  11. What a beautiful ride. Thanks for taking us along. Interesting how the horses use the snow to refresh themselves.

    Nebraska Birding

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  12. Wow, great trip.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Have a wonderful week
    Mary ElizabethBlog.

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  13. What a beautiful ride in an amazing landscape! Thank you for sharing! Wonderful pictures!

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  14. Your world constantly amazes it's landscape is just awesome.

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  15. Beautiful shots and countryside.

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  16. How beautiful! Thanks so much for taking us along on a great ride! Being a former horse owner, I still miss them and the chance to explore, but your lovely pictures take me along and I love it!!

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  17. Janie: What a neat look at wonderful lanscape of your beautiful country.

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  18. Hello Janie I am passing this wonderful space, that beautiful work, congratulations. "Big Pack Mountain" What beautiful photos and great, great work and performed with great excellence. Very good, indeed, even better! Too good to be here, I invite you to a tribute, with all brilliance and refinement, is in there, or in http://www.valdemireis.blogspot.com; http://www.valdemircantinhopaz.blogspot.com, we offer together, we have posted a text developed especially for you, I deserved the opportunity give their "prize", you won, but its light and be generous with their distributing their friends. We extend the festival ... Today the party is yours, come now! I am waiting for you. So life is a unique opportunity. Each person in our life is not going alone, being single, let a piece of you and takes a piece of us. We will meet always here. Very Obrigadoooooooo ... For his kindness and friendship! I also wish a happy and blessed week to all families. Many blessings and brightness, success, prosperity, protection and peace. Godspeed.
    Come again!
    Valdemir Reis

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  19. what a wonderful ride you had...the area is beautiful and wild...love it.
    thanks for sharing your photos and commentary.

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  20. There is so much open space and sky in your world. Beautiful pictures.

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  21. Unbelievable! Any other words that come to my mind can be sum up by this.

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  22. I had a wonderful entertainment looking at your spectacular pictures. Really they must be enlarged to be able to admire the full, stunning scenery.

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  23. I love the way the land in between the ridge is all scrunkled up like a duvet. Can't believe you still have snow either.

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  24. You were at 6600 feet and hadn't hit snow yet? Or was it just not much snow? Then again, you have to have moisture to make snow, and this is the high desert after all.

    But so is Denver, and there's no shortage of snow there. Hmm... must have been the eastern face, huh?

    Sure is beautiful wherever it is.

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  25. Thanks for sharing your ride with us. Wonderful vistas.

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  26. Now that's dry country that's supposed to be dry. Florida's very dry now, but it's a tinderbox with so much dry vegetation. Beautiful vistas you show, and no way better (and perhaps the only) way to see them then on horse back.

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  27. Janie, what a spectacular day. You are all troopers.

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  28. An absolutely stunning view! Wow, such a long time in the saddle. And Daisy! What a trooper.

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  29. Beautiful photos and beautiful mountainscape

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  30. Thank you for taking us on your ride through the desert, in the wilderness,and on the mountains! I enlarged your photos and loved the details of each one of them!

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  31. What a beautiful ride, thanks for taking me along. The colours are so lovely. Thanks for sharing.
    Have a great week.
    Smiles

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  32. What a great post! What a wonderful way to enjoy a day.

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  33. Beautiful, that must have been a wonderful ride!

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  34. Awesome landscapes! Big spaces and big skies. I so love this about North America. Thanks for sharing.

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  35. A first class My World post. Loved all your photos, the scenery is as always spectacular but the photo that spoke to me was the one of you, Mischief and Daisy on the hillside. That one is a classic shot!

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  36. yes the wide open spaces strike me every time i visit, and i get a fresh breath of clean air...aaaahhhh.

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  37. Great photos and i loved the ride, No saddle soars here HA!HA!

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  38. Great photos! I didn't know there was a Ouray, Utah. Ouray, Colorado is near us and where my parents took me on vacation many times since I was a baby, which finally brought me to moving to this part of the state!

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