Wyoming in July - Day 2

I miss my friend, Kathy.  She should be on this trip but it was spur of the moment and she couldn't get off work.  I love sharing the trail with her.  Especially new trails because she gets it all figured out before we get somewhere and all we have to do is ride along and enjoy it.  Stupid jobs anyway!

I had found some maps of the area but somehow they didn't make the trip.  Joni had even given me her tracks from when they rode here but without cell service, I couldn't pull them up.  So we headed out without a real plan and kind of wandered aimlessly to nowhere.  The trails either petered out or there was so much dead fall that we couldn't get through.  I was starting to think we should go back to the area we are familiar with.  (I have a habit of giving up easily).  

We decided to ride back to camp, have lunch and then drive the main road to see if we could find the trail head.  That paid off in spades.  We found the trailhead and got a lay of the land and had a plan for the afternoon ride.  

Back on the horses, we rode down to the Pelton Creek Campground and picked up the Douglas Creek trail into the Platte Valley Wilderness.  We found ourselves riding above a beautiful blue creek, big enough in my book to be considered a river.  

Before long, the trail took us right down to it.  It was a perfect place for a photo op.  Clear stream with the sun rays catching the small rapids.  I could have stayed there all day.

The rest of the ride just kept getting better and better.  We'd follow the creek and then we would be way above it, looking down.  We caught a glimpse of an eagle which seemed so appropriate.  The trail was an up there and back trail.  Since we started later in the day, we knew we couldn't see the whole thing on this ride, so we decided we will pack a lunch and go for it tomorrow.  

This is truly one of those rides where words do not do it justice and pictures can never quite capture what the eye has seen.  America the beautiful.