Date: March 17 and 18, 2017
Location: Little Book Cliffs Wild Horse Area, near Cameo, CO
Distance: 17 miles round trip
Weather: Warm days (70s) and cool nights (low 40s/high 30s)
Group: Landon and Mat
This is an area I explored with two friends last May and is one of the few areas in the US specifically designated for wild horses. With some warm weather in the forecast, the need to backpack in my soul, and no desire to do a snowshoeing trip this time, we decided to go revisit the area. Landon readily agreed to skip school on Friday to make this trip possible (always a man willing to make noble sacrifices). This was his first “bigger mileage” trip and he did great. We packed up Thursday night and were on the road at 5:30 AM on Friday. Landon saw the first herd of horses about a mile or two into the hike.
I thought there might be more water going earlier in the year, but the creek was very low with the same reddish-brown sediment it carried last year.
After hiking several miles, the trail started to climb as we transitioned from Main to Cottonwood Canyon.
We reached our planned destination in the early afternoon. This is a big sandstone basin with some fun pillars/formations around it. Landon had a great time climbing and jumping around on them.
We actually ended up laying out our sleeping bags in 3 different spots. The first was within the stone basin on some soil next to some trees and bushes. After getting 3 or 4 ticks off of us from that area, we decided to move to an all-rock area (location #2 shown below).
We took off our shoes and socks and enjoyed the view in the warm afternoon sun.
We hiked around the area for a while and then Landon noticed another herd of horses across the stone basin from where we were. They ended up walking up to within 100 feet of our camping spot, but I couldn’t get any good pictures as they took off through the trees.
As the sun went down, we returned to our spot on the rocks. All the cold air in the area was funneled right down where we were. We got up to walk around and warm up and found a much warmer spot above the basin, near where Landon had been climbing and jumping. We relocated camp, and laid out the bivies for the third and final time for the evening.
The stars were absolutely amazing! While I’m still working on getting good star shots with my camera, the best part is that I took them all from the comfort of my sleeping bag. We fell asleep with Orion watching over us.
The next morning was chilly! We got up, packed up quickly and ate some bars for breakfast on the trail.
The highlight of the trip out was a horse trail I followed that took us near the top of the mesa instead of the path that would have taken back down to the confluence of Main and Cottonwood Canyon (just showing off my awesome route finding skills for Landon). So we had the chance to drop/ski/stumble/slide down about a 1H:1V slope for 500 feet (see below). Our spring skiing adventures are just a little different than most other people in Colorado…
The after effects of sliding/falling/hiking down the steep hillside can be seen below. After reconnecting with the trail, we hiked back out and saw another herd of horses before returning to the car. A fun trip and great adventure with Landon!
