Back in October, Jared and I loaded up our horses and spent 2 weeks wandering the "wilds" of West Texas. We stayed at a few of The Nature Conservancy Preserves, Big Bend National Park, and at a few other unexpected locations. It was pretty much the coolest trip I've ever been on, and though it was stressful to be hauling two horses across the state in an old trailer, it was well worth it. Granted, I wasn't the one driving, so maybe Jared feels differently. He kept referring to the trip as our "Last hurrah"... little did I know, he was right! Well, sort of. We'll just be having different kinds of hurrahs now. At any rate, it was fun and it certainly made me love my horsey more.
Independence Creek Preserve was our first main stop on the trip. We were pretty psyched to get there, particularly since the night before we had camped at a truck-stop on the side of the I-10. (Long story, but a funny memory for both of us... maybe not for Rosie and Cheyenne!) The preserve is pretty much an oasis in what is otherwise considered the scrubby desert. There's a really clear creek that runs through the preserve (hence the name), and as a result, much of the wildlife in the area congregates there, so there was lots for us to see!
The horses are still unsure of this so-called "adventure" we've brought them along on. Rosie looks extra sleepy and Cheyenne just appears annoyed. They might not be showing it in this photo, but they were really having a good time. Honest. Well... I think.
Ahh, Davis Mountains Preserve. *sigh* This was by far my favorite stop and it was the place where we spent the most time. Our cabin is the building in the meadow, and the meadow is in the middle of a valley surrounded by mountains. We had a separate corral for the horses to stay in and we went on daily trail rides in the mountains. (Unless we were too sore-- and that goes for all 4 of us!)
We spent most of our days on horseback here. In three simple words, it was awesome. The girls were very well-behaved and much more willing than I expected them to be. And the scenery was quite aesthetically pleasing as well! Jared says I romanticize this place too much, but I don't think so. Given the opportunity, I think I'd move there in a second.
This little piggy did not make it to market. This particular preserve has a really bad problem with feral hogs, and though they set out traps on a daily basis for them, the hogs are rarely caught and killed. They root up around trees and kill a lot of the vegetation that way. In some places, that's not a big deal, but when you get very little rainfall each year, it takes MUCH longer for things to grow back. While driving around one morning, we spotted this guy enjoying the morning sunlight, so much so that he didn't even realize we were there. Jared (excitedly so) took advantage of the opportunity to practice some invasive species control. Bye bye little piggy.
Big Bend was the last of our major stops on our adventure. The park claims to be horse-friendly, but the horse designated trails were much narrower and steeper than we (and the girls!) preferred AND we had to pack-in, pack-out all of the horse poo. Not so easy, my friend. Not so easy.
This "little" guy was trying to cross the road in the park in search of some "loving", shall we say. We got excited because he was the first one we'd seen on this trip. By the time we left the park, I think our tarantula count was up to 12. Pretty cool!!
Look at my hubby on the 4-wheeler to the left. He's a certified wildland firefighter, so he gets to play with prescribed burns quite often. (I'd call it work, but they all love it so much that it's more like play-time for grown men.) And the cool part is that they get to LIGHT the fire with these nifty drip torches, as opposed to put it out. AND these burns are generally done on preserves throughout the state, so they get to travel to some cool places too. How is that not fun?
