Montini's Cabin and Sugar Loaf

Our second day from Diamond Basin and Blue says is it time to go home yet?

We headed up to Milk Springs.

This time we tried a little different trail out of camp which was a nifty motorcycle trail that went up and over the hill and dropped down to a dry creek with trees and green. 

Wild Yarrow

The trough at Milk Springs provided the horses with plenty of water/

Our favorite place! Montini's Cabin, owned and maintained by Joyce Ranch.

Blue patiently waiting outside the outhouse :)

We unsaddled Blue and Indy and put them in the round pen which has a huge Juniper tree in the middle that is hundreds of years old. They got a nice break while we had a picnic.

A mystery berry on a bush near the old loading ramp and corral. 

History of Ernesto Montini 

After lunch we headed up a trail that the map showed as going over Little Sugar Loaf. The trail forked with no numbers or signage. Hmmmm. Turn left and the trail goes up and up! 

Wild lily

The views were spectacular as we climbed up and could see for miles! And the trail dead ended on the mountain side. So then we had to go back down and track back to the fork, and this time go the other way. You could say "wrong again!" but we were exploring. :)

It was a great trail up through the Junipers and Bitter Brush. Not too steep but gradual uphill. But as we got higher and higher, it suddenly started getting steep and then we were in these big huge Fir trees!

The Firs were gorgeous and the trail was shady, but Indy was getting tired. He's still pretty unconditioned and only 6 yrs old, so Trish stayed back and i went on up the hill for about 5 minutes. It continued UP and I was pretty sure it would eventually meet up with road 400 and swing us around but not today. So I went back to Trish and Indy so we could head on back to camp about 2 hours ride away. 

We'd had a great day of exploring and planning more rides. A person couldn't ask for more! Camp was a good two hours back depending on our pace. We watered horses again at Sinker Creek and Milk Springs and rode on to camp. It was time for barbecued hot dogs and then drive home. What a great weekend!