Death Valley Encounter, Day 4: Nadeau Springs

Hoss now doing quite well, I felt it was safe to leave him alone for several hours while Demon and I rode. The vet check was back in camp, and Cheri Briscoe was parked next to us, so I knew he'd be well looked after.

Since it was New Year's Eve, I had gotten party hats and head bands. I taped a party hat on Demon's crown piece and a head band on my helmet. We were ready to party!

Not feeling super amused by the party hat

This day is pretty flat through the desert without the extreme climbs and drops of the previous days. It's not as picturesque as previous days, but there are some spectacular views of the valley as the trail rises up away from camp. It's also a little repetitive, as the second loop is the same as the first loop with some bits cut out.

The first loop went quite well. I had to pull Demon down to a walk for some of the uphill stuff. Between wanting to make sure I had enough horse for the afternoon and my hip starting to burn, I made quite a few gait changes.

Heading up the hill from camp

The first loop took us close to the Nadeau Spring, where we had to get a question. In this case, "What was the color of Emperor Hirohito's horse?" I have no idea. I didn't even know the guy had a horse. But that's not the point of the question, more that you know it and it proves you didn't cut trail.

Coming back toward camp goes through a sandy wash. It isn't as deep as some other places, but it was easier to have Demon walk the whole thing than go back and forth between walking and trotting at irregular intervals. It's pretty there, anyway, so going slow and appreciating it is nice.

Looking toward Great Falls

We made it back to the Stockwell Mine Road, which heads back to camp. Except we had to go the other way and loop back a couple of miles on other roads. When we got to the turn, Demon was chugging along so fast I missed the notes on the pie plate. I got him pulled up and took out my GPS to find we were off track. He was mildly annoyed when I made him head the other way, away from camp, but trotted along amiably enough.

We finished the first loop and had our hour hold. I looked at my watch when we arrived and promptly forgot what time it was, which I didn't realize until I was sitting in my camper, looking at my watch, and contemplating if it was time to leave again or not. Was it 11:15 when we came in, or 11:25? Maybe 11:05? I don't know. Regardless, we didn't leave camp until 12:30, by the time we passed the vet inspection and got back on trail.

Demon was feeling particularly good. Maybe the extra time in camp did him good. He kept up a good pace, not really wanting to slow down. I did make him walk some of the longer uphill, just on general principles.

He was going so well, I didn't want to interrupt his groove. So rather than slow him down when my hip started hurting, I took a two point position, grabbed mane, and hung on. We did slow for particularly rocky sections, and when going through the wash the second time around.

Heading back toward camp

The only thing worse than getting super close to camp then turning away is doing so twice. We got back to the Stockwell Mine Road, and Demon was utterly convinced this time we should be going straight back to camp from there. It took some convincing on my part to get him going. It helped two horses were not far ahead of us, so he decided I couldn't be entirely stupid if they were going that way, too. Still, this time he was much more annoyed than the first time around. Once we reached the point of heading generally back toward camp, though, he eagerly picked up the trot, and we finished the second loop in just about 3 hours, not counting our extra time in camp.

Happy New Year, Ya'll