One of the most beautiful places in California's High Sierras is the Emigrant Wilderness surrounding Sonora Pass. Having ridden at Clark's Fork, my friend Sandy wanted to check out another location that she had packed to many years ago ... Coyote Meadow. On short notice, I grabbed my sleeping bag and saddle, along with a little food and water. The plan was for me to sleep in the back of Sandy's truck and for her to sleep in the horse trailer. This area is known for its black bears, and I'm not taking ANY chances!!! A close encounter with a grizzly mother and cub in Yellowstone, put the fear in me (but that's another story) and NO WAY was I sleeping on the ground.
Heading up Highway 108 past Sonora, we turned off at Herring Creek down a one way paved (not really) road, which turned to gravel and after an hour, became a Rubicon Jeep trail with huge rocks and even bigger gullies. At the trails end was the horse camp ... well not really ... a fire ring was the only indication of a camp site. There are no facilities of any kind.
We rode out the first day on a five mile loop to the top of the ridge and returned on the rode we drove in on. In the "old" days, my family had government grazing rights to the southern Sierra Mountains and drove 2-300 head of cattle to the mountains every year. Literally 50 years later, the same grazing is allowed in this area. To make it easier to find the "leader of the pack", we placed a bell around the neck of one or two cows. These days, they bell almost EVERY cow ... you can imagine my surprise when I rounded a sharp corner and heard a clatter like no other ... running head on into 30 head of belled cows!!! The horses didn't appreciate it much either.
Back at camp, it's time for feeding the horses and us. A little boiling water for coffee along with a package of mac and cheese was a quick dinner for us. We spend more time taking care of the horses than ourselves!!
Next morning we headed out bright and early for what would be about a 15 mile trip. We are pretty heavily loaded with food, mosquito spray, water for us and for the horses, side cutters, hoof picks, grain for the horses, first aid kit, more water, jackets, ponchos, pain killer for horses (just in case), extra ropes, kleenex (there are NO restrooms), a collapsible water bucket for the horses, matches, maps, lights and a couple of pocket knives. When you are this far back in the high country, you need to be prepared. You would be surprised how many times you need a poncho in a downpour, extra water and food for people you meet on the trail that have none and are lost, side cutters to cut the wire your horse stepped in and extra water because the creek dried up. Here's Sandy and Patches!!
The first meadow was Horse and Cow Meadow (don't ask me how these places get named ..... ) then on to Cooper Meadow. The meadows up here are huge and seem to go on forever. The only problem is a lack of water, this being a drought year. We did find pockets in small creeks with enough water for the horses. A collapsible cup came in handy to fill the bucket so the horses could drink.
Hay Meadow was next ... the largest that we saw ... with a wide creek meandering through the middle. Although there was plenty of water for our horses, the creek was not running. I imagine in the next couple of weeks it will dry up completely.
Riding over the last mountain pass, we ended up in Whitesides Meadow. On the way, we caught site of two huge deer, but they didn't hang around long enough for a picture. Thankfully we didn't run into any bear on this trip, although we think we found a large cave-like den in the side of the mountain. We THINK because I wasn't about to go near it to find out for sure!!! Good ole Petey here, and me of course, letting them catch their wind on a steep hill. The return trip was uneventful but the scenery spectacular. We ran into one cowboy pushing some cows off the ridge and two elderly hikers in 15 miles ... that was it!! Just the horses and us ..... good times!!!
I'm still medicating my horse at home and he seems to be doing better, so I'm packing for the trip to the Grand Canyon. I'm so excited to be meeting up with my friends Patty and Dan!!!
Until next time ..... Happy Trails!!!!!
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