© May 2022
May 2, 2014, was warm and sunny with a light breeze so I trailered Cinnamon to Los Caballos trail. A little boy and his grandfather were at the trailhead and watched me unload Cinnamon before going on their way. While saddling up I realized I’d forgotten my trail map. Then I discovered my GPS was malfunctioning. I mounted Cinnamon and crossed Joe Tank Road to trail marker LC64. There is a sign warning about falling trees. This trail was damaged by the Rodeo fire in 2002. Twelve years later the burn scar still revealed how close it came to Show Low. 

Los Caballos trail descends into a canyon within the first quarter-mile and then follows roads in the canyon. This is supposed to be a non-motorized trail, but it is used as an all-purpose trail. In spite of logs blocking a junction and a sign saying it was closed to motor vehicles, we had to move off the trail near LC58 to allow a pick-up truck to pass. Another sign said this is not a shooting area. A spider web of ATV trails goes every which way. 

Around LC56 the trail climbed out of the canyon and up a ridge. Gambel’s oaks were just leafing out in pretty contrast with the darker green Ponderosa Pines on the ridge. Lupines, daisies, false lupines, and paintbrushes were in bloom. There were views to the west and north. 

After cresting the ridge near marker LC50 the trail followed the ridge to the junction with the Chihuahua Pines Connector trail. Just past LC49, we stopped for lunch. There wasn’t much grass for Cinnamon, but she had lunch in the trailer on the trip out. While I was eating lunch, we heard a vehicle coming. I held Cinnamon’s reins to reassure her while a bright yellow ATV went by on the trail beside us. Cinnamon stayed calm so I rewarded her with horse cookies. 

After lunch, we continued along the trail which turned onto a single track for an eighth of a mile before joining another road that descended into another canyon, then climbed over another ridge, into another canyon. From that ridge, I got a glimpse of the Juniper Ridge fire Lookout tower. The trail zig-zagged between undamaged forest and the burn scar. Climbing out of a little valley we found a weathered wood sign confirming that we were on Los Caballos trail. The trail passed some pretty red rocks. 

After climbing over several more ridges the trail joined yet another road and followed it, still wandering in and out of healthy Pines and recovering burned areas. Just past LC43 Cinnamon suddenly stopped to stare at six elk! They galloped across the trail in front of us, stopped to look back, then dashed off through the forest to our left. A hundred yards after the first elk sighting Cinnamon alerted to a second herd of elk who crossed the trail at marker LC42. One elk stopped and turned back to look at us from behind a tree, while another elk doubled back on its tracks and returned the way they’d come. The elk sightings excited Cinnamon into hurrying along for a short distance. 

Between markers LC42 and LC41, the trail crossed a road, then lost itself in the brush. From LC41 to LC39 we made our way from marker to marker before finding a visible trail tread on the ground again. Fortunately, I could easily see the trail diamonds from Cinnamon’s back. At LC39 the trail crossed a shallow wash, then climbed onto a grassy roadway. We passed a corral on the road to our left. The trail suddenly turned left onto a single track, wound through a few trees, and then climbed onto the dam of a tank. The trail markers follow the top of the dam, but there were several ATV trails in, through, and around three puddles. The winter had been so dry I was surprised to find water. 

A coyote trotted across the trail in front of us between LC38 and LC37, then paused to watch us watching it. The trail became single track again and crossed some downed trees, then wandered over another ridge, past LC36 around a turn to Joe Tank. At the base of one tree, somebody had created a memorial for “Raven”. A pick-up truck was parked on our left with no one around. As we crossed the edge of Joe Tank Cinnamon suddenly balked, then danced sideways twice. I couldn’t tell whether she was frightened by the reflection of a piece of metal in front of us or the dead raccoon near the water. 

After we passed the raccoon carcass and turned away from the shiny thing, she walked nicely up to Joe Tank Road/Forest Road 136. We turned onto the road. 

We’d strolled half a mile when Cinnamon alerted at a grey horse being ridden up the road toward us. The horse noticed us at the same time. When she got close enough to be heard, the other rider greeted me by name! It was Sylvia Weber, the originator of Los Caballos trail. We stopped in the shade of some pines to talk horses and reminisce about the beginnings of the White Mountain Horsemen’s Association and the White Mountain Trail System. Sylvia asked if I’d seen the feral horses. There was a herd of seven, with two mares that looked ready to foal. I’d seen hoof prints, but no horses. 



Then Sylvia led us to Fence Tank. We dismounted and led the horses from the road to LC10 where Sylvia turned toward home, leaving Cinnamon and me to follow the trail back to the trailhead. I rode Cinnamon to LC3 where I dismounted and led her again. Somewhere after LC2, I lost the trail. We came out on Joe Tank Road beyond the trailhead so we walked the paved road back. At the trailhead, a truck pulling a very rattly trailer down Joe Tank Road scared Cinnamon. I held her rope and reassured her. When she calmed down, we loaded up and went home.