Washes

We went out for a ride this morning and I want to tell you about my favorite spots when horseback riding: the washes. They are numerous here and no matter where we go, we get to cross some. When I first started riding here they were a bit intimidating as some are 30 feet deep, with steep walls consisting mainly of loose rock. Dan was still wrangling, so Bueno and I would ride along the side of some wash trying to find a way across. Whenever I would stop, Bueno would look back at me with this look of " Cross here?? You must be joking!".

The washes are certainly not the horses' favorite parts. It takes coordination and strength to manage them with a load on your back (us, as riders), and when that load then specifies that you cannot run through them so your momentum will carry you back uphill and you have to use those huge butt muscles, well, that's a pain. However, there is usually some grazing reward at the top.

But the washes are cool because of the diversity of life. All kinds of plants will grow there because if there is any water, that's the place, and you can ride through some of them and get enveloped in heady fragrances provided by some of the plants, such as the bee balm. Plants grow there that do not grow anywhere else in the desert, and that is where you find the majority of the trees.

On our windmill ride there are washes that are steep and narrow, as well as one huge one that is like a road when you ride down it. There was evidence this summer of large quantities of water having rushed down it, like a true river, but we have never seen that in person. There can be lots of water when it storms, but an hour later there is hardly any of it left.

The washes sometimes appear out of nowhere. You are riding along a depression and suddenly, for no apparent reason, there is a drop off of a couple of feet and in a matter of a couple of yards, this little rivulet has become a huge canyon with towering walls.

The desert has all kinds of surprises.