Coyote Canyon Camping

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about our half-day horseback riding trip with Coyote Canyon Adventures.  We had a great time and the kids were dying to go back and take Ben this time, but he wasn’t too keen on the idea and to be honest I was starting to wonder if we were pushing our luck, having survived one trip already.  I like horses but I don’t have a lot of experience riding, and although Rodrigo told us that most of their 8,000+  riders have been inexperienced and only 35 (now 36) have fallen off, the trails into and out of the canyon are definitely not “beginner” trails.

The kids finally won me over and I agreed to an overnight horseback riding / camping trip and scheduled a date with Rodrigo.  He called me the night before to say that the weather may not cooperate and that he’d call me at 8 a.m. to let me know if he was going to pick us up at 9.  At that point I was thinking that the threatening weather might be “a sign”, and Ben was grumbling about flash floods and landslides.  It had poured in el Centro that day and the streets turned into rivers, but by the next morning it looked clear and beautiful.  Rodrigo called to say that we had a date, and we grabbed our bags and headed to Starbucks.

When we arrived in el Jardin we met another family – a mom, grandma, and 2 little girls from Texas, who were there for the full-day ride but not the overnight.  In Rodrigo’s van we met another family – a mom, dad, and 11YO son from Toronto who were going camping with us.  Rodrigo also had his daughters – Cristiana (11) and Monique (13), who would be helping the cowboys for the overnight portion, as Rodrigo had to leave with the full-day family and then head out to a meeting the next day.

We drove out to the ranch and the kids milked cows and chased sheep around, then we got a refresher from Rodrigo, got our horse assignments, and off we went.  There were a lot of riders and I was way in the back, but there were so many cowboys plus Rodrigo and his daughters that I just let them worry about the kids and focused on not becoming #36.  The trail down into the canyon was a bit less intimidating than last time because I knew what to expect, but then we continued riding along the river and out onto the road.  I’m still not completely confident that my horse will listen to me and not take off down the road at a gallop, but he was fine.  Crossing the busy road was a little scary but the cars couldn’t possibly miss seeing us – there were at least 20 horses.

We rode down to a little store and bought snacks, then back down the road and into the canyon.  When there was an opportunity to gallop, all of the kids moved into the galloping group (I did not), and took off.  Then the boy in front of Adlani lost his hat, Adlani’s horse jumped over it, and Adlani flew off and scraped his back and hit the back of his head.  Rodrigo was right there to pick him up, and we continued along the river to a swimming hole.  We had brought bathing suits but of course the kids all jumped in wearing half of the clothes we had with us.  They had a great time jumping off the rocks and then we walked back down the river to the campsite.

The campsite was in a beautiful spot and after a snack we got our tents set up just in time for a little rain.  I laid in my tent alone and tried to take a quick nap while the kids yelled and ran around (they were already soaked, so the rain had no effect on them).  The cowboys made dinner – chicken wings, beef, onions and cactus (like peppers), and quesadillas.  Then we sat around the campfire and vegetated until the kids got bored and we played Heads-Up with my phone which was a lot of fun.  I have no idea when we went to bed – I don’t have a very good sense of time here, especially in the canyon.  Aliya and I were in one tent, and Ben, Adlani, and Norah were in the other.  It wasn’t too cold, so we were pretty comfortable, although the ground was a little hard.  During the night I heard hooves going by my tent and someone eating grass…I found out later that one of the horses got loose but the cowboys took care of it.

In the morning, the cowboys cooked breakfast – scrambled eggs, hotdogs, and quesadillas.  It was nice to be camping and have someone else do the cooking and clean-up, as well as hauling all of the stuff – that was the donkeys’ job.  The kids went swimming again, we packed up our stuff, and started back up the canyon a little after noon.  We took a different trail this time and a few parts were very steep and a little scary.  At the top Monique wanted to pose us for a photo op on the edge of the canyon and I was having no part of it.  I know the horses won’t go over the edge, but it’s a LONG way down.  From there, the ride back to the ranch was uneventful, and we had some time to relax before the van came (driven by our new friend Andres from the ceramics class) to take us home.

The land is absolutely gorgeous, the horses are well-trained and healthy, the cowboys are very competent, and Rodrigo and his family do a great job of keeping everyone safe and happy.  Even Ben admits it was a great experience, although we were a little sore and a lot tired afterward.  But we’ve recovered and I know the kids will be talking about it for a long time.

There aren’t many photos of us actually riding horses, but hopefully I’ll get some from Rodrigo.

Monique:

Cristiana after being sprayed with milk by Javier:

New babies:

Ben had nothing to do with procuring this milk:

I never thought I’d see Adlani having this much fun without a video game in his hand:

Break time at la tienda:

The swimming hole:

Rodrigo:

Chato:

Monique:

Heads-Up:

Hummingbirds:

Reviving the campfire:

Hunting for tadpoles:

A skink:

The kids went off on a ride without the parents:

Don Rosa (AKA Mr. Pink) demonstrated his lasso abilities…he told us that he once lassoed a coyote!

Ben needs some lessons:

Ben with Javier’s daughter Fernanda:

Cristiana driving us back to the highway: