Dead Horse Ranch Campground

It was so quiet at the Meteor Crater campground and I slept well. The showers were also very clean. After breakfast, I mapped out a route to Sedona. I wanted to visit Sedona and hangout for a couple days. This proved to be way more difficult than I expected. I learned that this was the start of spring break for students in Arizona and that Sedona was a big destination. This meant that most camp sites were full. In fact, many campgrounds didn’t accept tent campers. I finally found one night available at the Dead Horse Ranch Campground.

Dead Horse Range

The Dead Horse Ranch State Park near Cottonwood, was named after the historic Dead Horse Ranch, which was a working ranch in the late 1940s. The park is located on the site of the old ranch, which was used to raise horses and cattle. The name probably comes from a dead horse that was found on the property when the ranch was being purchased. Another theory is that the name comes from the practice of ranchers bringing their horses to the ranch to die, as the land was considered to be a peaceful and beautiful final resting place for the animals.

Regardless of the true origin of the name, the state park is a popular recreational area that offers camping, fishing, hiking, mountain biking and other outdoor activities.

I took the last site on top of a hill looking westward into the distance. I didn’t unpack everything, knowing that I would be leaving in the morning.

Around 2:00 pm I pulled the bike off the car and rode a few hundred feet to the mountain bike trail entrance. The trail was 8 miles and rated as moderate, but at the beginning I found it to be very difficult. The start of the trail was very easy, but it quickly became rocky, steep and narrow. In addition there were cacti and other thorny plants on all sides. It also didn’t help that I had chips and salsa for lunch.

After about 30 minutes, I found my riding legs. The trail slowly became less rocky. There were a few times when riders went sailing by me like I was standing still. I had to dismount a couple times to pass people on the side of a hill or to avoid flipping over going down very steep terrain. I’ve become more adverse to breaking bones. There was a very short section of the ride where there was a very bright green ground cover which was fed by a small stream.

I left the trail to ride around the park and visit some of the waterways.

Back at the campsite, a woman walking her dog noticed I had a tent and let me know the temperatures would be dropping. I told her that I was used to the temperature drops and that my sleeping back was very warm. She was from Ketchikan, Alaska, an island, and she owned the gift shop called The Cedar Chest.

I had dinner and checked the sky as I ate. I was hoping that the sky would clear and that I could make some photographs of the night sky. There were stars visible, but far too many clouds. I crawled in the tent and did some things online, periodically checking if the sky had cleared. It seemed to only get worse.