Picture Writing Challenge #16 – Horseback Riding in Yellowstone

Submitted for Picture Writing Challenge #16

Image Source: DJMatticus

In reading the description of this photograph provided by DJMatticus, I know it is in the Sierra but for me, it reminds me of my family’s trip to Yellowstone National Park.  In particular, I remember our horseback ride and cowboy cookout adventure.

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you probably know that I refer to my family’s trip to Yellowstone National Park as the trip of a lifetime.  One of our many activities during that trip was horseback riding from Roosevelt Corral.

One unfortunate note about this part of our trip was that my husband was getting a head cold and due to the need to blow his nose, he didn’t think he could also handle a horse.  My daughter and I were on our own.  We found out later that my husband could have joined in the cowboy cookout portion by riding out on a stagecoach but we didn’t know at the time.

I don’t have a lot of photographs as we were extreme novices when it came to horseback riding so letting go to snap pictures was not in the cards.  I will post our photographs first as they are all before the trip began.  I will supplement this story with photographs found on the web.

Maryann and Shannon at Roosevelt Corral before the horseback ride.

Shannon’s introduction to Spud, her horse for the ride.

Shannon and Spud.

Maryann and Paco, her horse for the day.

Our friendly guides introductions and pre-ride instructions

Once we were all saddled up, the guests of about 20 plus 4 or or 5 guides headed out on the trail.   The following description is from the website and I added the photographs from the internet or if I had one from our other touring.

This ride heads up a wooded hillside behind the corral.

http://www.wyomingtourism.org

At the top of the hill, the ride goes through sagebrush flats and meadows.

It then reenters a wooded area and travels along Lost Canyon and over Lost Creek.

It then climbs up to and around Lost Lake, coming out by the Petrified Tree.

Lost Lake

Petrified Tree, Yellowstone National Park

I like the way that the website describes the activity, so I will quote it here.

Grab the saddles and hitch up the wagon for an evening you won’t soon forget. You can ride out to Yancy’s Hole on a horse or in a covered wagon. When you arrive you’ll find those cooks dishin’ up some real cowboy grub at our popular Old West Dinner Cookout. The coffee’s brewin’ over the open campfire, and our wranglers love talkin’ your ears off over a strong “cup o’ Joe!” When we ring the “dinner bell”, you’ll line up for real western beef steaks cooked to order, our signature Roosevelt Baked Beans, potato salad, coleslaw, cornbread muffins, and fruit crisp. And if all this is not enough, you’ll find your boots tappin’ to old western songs sung by our singin’ cowboy. You may have come here as a city slicker, but you’ll go back as a regular cowpoke!

After the horseback ride, sitting down to a delicious cowboy cookout was wonderful

Coffee!

The ride goes through Pleasant Valley on the way back to the corral.

Bison in Pleasant Valley,
Yellowstone National Park

The end of a wonderful day.