Johnny Moore Mountain

Meadow Creek Reservoir

Looking northwest towards Walden

Bear & Zoe

Copper

On this trail ride, I rode Copper, my husband Scott's horse.  Copper is a 12 year gelding.  He's registered with the American Paint Horse Association even though he's a buckskin, but maybe buckskins are considered paints as far as the A.P.H.A. goes?  His registered name is Star Buck Moon and he was born on March 29, 2000 in Spragueville, Iowa.  We bought him and my horse, Duster, from a couple outside of Ault.  I don't know how he got from Iowa to Colorado.  


The pictures today were taken with my old Canon Power Shot A410 camera.  It's a good thing that I brought my smaller camera and not my Leica because the latter one would have been smashed on the tree trunks trying to get through the wooded part of this ride.  I rode here about two years ago and it was a nice trail, but now the amount of deadfall trees made it almost impassable.  At one point, I couldn't even tell that I was on the same trail and thought I had missed a turn.  Copper is a big horse, well over 16 hands, but even he was having trouble climbing over the downed trees.  He hadn't been ridden for a long time and wasn't used to being by himself, so he was whinnying and wanting to go back to the trailer.  It was rather frustrating trying to pick a path over and around all of the tangled trees and branches, constantly urging him forward, and trying to steer him so that he didn't crash my knees into the trunks.  We got stuck in one spot, hemmed in by trees on all sides, and I had to get off and lead him up, over, and around the dead wood.  The toppled trees looked like a box of giant spilled toothpicks going every which way with no rhyme or reason.  I had my cell phone with me and I don't know if I even had any  reception, but I so wanted to call my husband and ask him to bring some chainsaws and a couple of friends and cut us a path out of there.  


But we pushed on and eventually picked our way out of the woods onto the top of Johnny Moore which is only covered with sagebrush.  The views from up on there were beautiful.  I could see east and west along Highway 14, ranches at the base, Meadow Creek Reservoir, and east to the Rawah Mountains. It wasn't too windy on the crest and we followed a two track road down and back to the trailer worn out but in one piece.  I didn't see any wildlife on the trip except for some birds and a couple of antelope.  


Johnny Moore Mountain is a State Trust Wildlife area which means it is maintained by the B.L.M. (Bureau of Land Management).  I'm planning on writing the Jackson County ranger a letter to inform him/her about the condition of the trail and ask if they are scheduled to do any work on it this summer.  Maybe I could even find some volunteers and we could help?  I'm pretty sure they lease out the pasture on the mountain and maybe the ranch that runs cattle on it could send a few guys?  I know it would sure be hard to gather up your cows in the fall through all of those tangled trees.