A winter getaway is always nice, especially when the sun never stops shining, the views are incredible, and you get several hours of quality time in the saddle almost every day! I spent 9 days in Apache Junction, Arizona, visiting my mom earlier this month and lucked out with amazing weather and good horses to ride. I rode all over the Superstition wilderness area, hiked up the mountain (more on that later), soaked up the Arizona sun and -- of course -- took a ton of photos. I didn't take the "big camera" with me on the rides, since they were pretty rough, instead opting to take a little point and shoot camera. It got the job done! Sure, quite a few photos turned out blurry, but I did get some cool shots, and memories are forever. Here are a few quick shares from "between the horse's ears:"
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| Heading out on my first ride of the trip -- 5 hours in the Superstition Wilderness. After not riding for 8 months, let's just say I was sore the next day! |
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| BLUE skies. |
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| Rojo -- my ride for day #1 |
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| Shirley led all of the rides -- she knows the trails around Superstitions like the back of her hand! |
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| Looking back as we climbed one of many mountains. The Superstitions are peeking out in the distance. |
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| Admiring the view at one of the many overlooks! |
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| One of the narrow, winding passes where I wasn't afraid of dropping my camera! |
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| Riding into what our group called the "Gene Autry Canyon" It was beautiful! |
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| Riding up an easy leg of Hackberry Trail. We ended up climbing about 4,000 feet on this ride. |
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| Lots of green this year! |
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| Yet ANOTHER vista -- note the tiny ribbons of trails down below. |
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| Heading home on my last ride. |
