Sore Butts

Saturday, July 23:  Rachel titled this one - just so you know.  Today is our Mule trail ride.  In case you didn't know (Ellie did but the rest of us didn't - way to go Cedarcrest);  Mules are bred from a female horse and male donkey.  They are larger, heavier (1,100 to 1,300lbs) and have more rounded backs than horses.

Our ride was scheduled to begin at 1pm, so we packed our sandwiches with us late morning and headed via the shuttles back into Grand Canyon Village.  We were required to wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, and hats.  Cameras and all glasses had to be on a string, lanyard or croakies.  No backpacks.  We were provided our own new personal Bota Bags for water.

We were in a group of 20 riders.  Our guides were Dallas, Kenny and Utah.  These were real cowboys, chaps, spurs, dusty 10 gallon hats and all.  Ellie mounted first onto Cracker Jack a small white mule.  Rachel was next onto Buckshot.  Followed by Mom on Charlotte (in the photo below I am in the pink shirt and white hat next to Rachel) and Dad on Lucy - Lucy was one of the biggest mules in the group.  They have 150 mules at the barn.  As everyone mounted, the Mules were anxious to get going many pushing their way to the front of the "line".  Despite the best efforts of the guides, we all got separated from our families and they decided it best we just go in the order the Mules decided and they would reshuffle us into our families on the way back.

We rode through the Kaibab Forest.  About half way to our destination, on a hill, Kenny yelled out "Pitstop" - Ellie's mule, CrackerJack, had stopped and spread his legs to take a long leak - we all put our mules in "park" until instructed to ride on.   After 1hr and 15min of riding we made it to the Vista called The Abyss because it is the longest drop straight down the Canyon - 1 mile.  It is also the widest part of the Canyon - 18 miles across.  We dismounted our mules and walked out to the vista where we stayed for 20 minutes - and had a snack provided by our guides and took some more pictures.  Did I mention Ellie took 127 pictures on Friday?  We have over 750 photos now loaded on the laptop.

Then we remounted our Mules, with the help of our guides, they organized us into family groups and took family photos.  It was a hot and dusty 1 hour and 15 min back the same trail through the forest to the Mule barn.  The Mules were very well behaved.  Much less temperamental and unpredictable than horses.  However, Rachel's mule, Buckshot insisted on trying to eat anything and everything he passed including bark off trees.

We dismounted back at the barn around 4pm on shaky legs and sore butts.  But it was a great time and an authentic way to see the landscape.  The way travelers have since the early 1900s.  On the way out of the park we stopped to shop - We all bought souvenirs especially Ellie's set of miniature cacti with pot to plant.  We went back to the RV and roasted pizza pie dies over the campfire.  Then spend 90 minutes updating this blog for you all - it takes a bunch of time - that's why we aren't current every day.  But we will keep trying.  Thanks for following us on this trip of a lifetime.  Tomorrow is a travel day onto Mesa Verde. :)