Photos & article by Allanna Jackson 

May 2nd was warm and sunny with a light breeze, perfect weather for a horseback ride. I hitched the horse trailer, packed a sack lunch, and took Cinnamon up to the Los Burros (LB) campground at trailhead No. 1.

When Cinnamon backed off the trailer, she immediately noticed two mules in a portable electric tape corral at the Camp Host campsite on the other side of the campground. I tied her to the trailer and let her study the mules while I ate my lunch.

When I opened a bag of baby carrots and walnuts, I suddenly had a brown and white nose snuffling at my fingertips. Cinnamon wanted a carrot. I gave her one, which she ate in one chomp. She came back for more, but I told her the rest of them were mine and ate them myself. Cinnamon took one sniff at my peanut butter and jam sandwich, then resumed watching the mules. She was not even curious about my Thin Mint cookies.

After lunch, I brushed the dirt from the trailer ride off Cinnamon and saddled up. The camp hostess stopped by briefly to comment that there was no rain in the forecast, but the clouds that had appeared looked like they might rain. She asked if I was riding by myself, then commented they’d ridden the trail the day before. I told her, “Yes, but Cinnamon’s a good little trail horse.”

We set off along the trail from the trailhead across the slope above the northern edge of the meadow to the gate at LB1. My GPS, which claimed to have two-thirds of its battery capacity when I checked it at the house, chirped its low battery warning and turned itself off before we’d gone an one-eighth of a mile. The Los Burros trail is quite popular with mountain bicyclists, so a new rollover gate has been added beside the old horse gate. Cinnamon expertly helped me open and close the horse gate as we went through. We crossed the power line and headed up the Shortcut at LB36.

We met two hikers with two dogs near LB37. They were going toward the campground. We exchanged pleasantries about the lovely weather and continued our opposite directions. Cinnamon and I had the trail to ourselves for the rest of the 8.25-mile ride. For the first half mile, the shortcut trail gradually climbs up Low Creek Canyon, which has aspen, spruce, fir, and white pine trees in addition to ponderosas pines. The New Mexico Locust and Gambels Oaks were still looking like dead sticks, not yet convinced that spring had arrived. Between LB39 and LB40, the trail makes a short, steep climb up the slope in a series of switchbacks. My camera, which claimed to have three-fourths battery capacity at home, suddenly complained of low battery and shut itself off. I tried it again a little while later and got another picture before it shut itself off again. The camera continued this erratic behavior for another three miles and 30 pictures before the battery was truly empty.

After LB40, the trail tops out of the canyon and begins a more gradual descent through Ponderosa Pine forest for the next mile, where it crosses Forest Road 9. The trail markers clearly indicate the junction. We crossed the road and continued along the shortcut to its junction with the main loop trail at LB22. From there, we turned east and went down the diamond numbers, looping back toward the trailhead.

The trail wanders up and over the shoulder of another hill after LB20. It then angles south toward the Fort Apache Reservation boundary fence. We had such a dry winter; I was pleasantly surprised to see the small stock pond at LB17 had water in it. Cinnamon got her taste of the trail snacking on grass growing beside it while I got my water bottle out of the saddlebag. The trail approximately parallels the reservation boundary with one excursion away from the boundary between LB12 and LB11.

The clouds blew away, and we had sunshine for about half an hour. Cinnamon suddenly stopped at full alert when she spotted three gray horses grazing on the reservation side of the fence at LB10. They were equally interested in her. All four horses stared at each other for a minute. One of the greys blew loudly. The youngest, a steel gray, trotted away and one of the white greys followed it. The other white grey stood its ground, staring at us. Cinnamon pranced a few steps, then resumed walking down the trail. The two greys circled back for another look. Cinnamon stopped and stared, then pranced again. Two of the greys again trotted off, then circled back. Then all three grays trotted away, but didn’t go very far before stopping to turn and watch us again. For the next mile, Cinnamon watched something over her right shoulder, though the grey horses were on our left. She stopped abruptly to stare at something across the meadow. All I saw was a red truck proceeding slowly along Forest Road 9. Cinnamon was watching something else, though I never figured out what.

A Great Blue Heron was standing in the water at the edge of the stock pond near LB6. The trail loops around the pond, so the Heron flew off when we got too close. The Chipmunk Connector trails joins Los Burros trail near marker LB6, where the Los Burros trail turns northeast to complete the loop back to the campground.

Cinnamon stopped abruptly between LB4 and LB3 to stare at a flock of six turkeys running up the slope to our right. We watched them until they disappeared, then continued down the trail. The clouds had returned and started to sprinkle, though I heard more drops in the trees than I felt. Cinnamon stopped again near LB1 when a lone turkey ran across the trail. We didn’t see the rest of the flock, but I heard them. Cinnamon again helped me with the gate into the campground. The sprinkle of rain tuned into a sprinkle of sleet that put tiny drops of ice on Cinnamon’s mane as we rode the last quarter mile back to the trailer. Cinnamon stared at the mules, who were now wearing blankets, while I quickly unsaddled and prepared for the trip home. The rain stopped as I loaded Cinnamon and drove home.