April 25
We took a few pictures and said our good byes with me almost in tears. I hated losing my trail brothers as I had gotten accustomed to relying on them, but I had them on borrowed time. I appreciated the fact that they both had families at home that had their own agendas. I felt an immense loss when they packed up and drove off.

I called Burton and told him how I felt and he suggested that I get right out on the trail and I did just that! Issy and I drove to Tehachapi Willow Springs Road and saddled up to ride south towards Tylerhorse Canyon.

While we were at the trailer a gal pulled up in the next parking lot so I went over to see if they were also heading south but Deb said they wanted to ride on towards Hwy 58 (the section I did last year) so we just chatted for a few minutes with Deb telling me not to miss the wild horses.

I quickly mounted once I was safe from the road and came upon a camp of several tents set up right off the trail.

I had to ride very close to them to cross Oak Creek, but was rewarded with good graze and the shade of huge white oaks.

It was too nice to pass up so Issy grazed for 15 minutes and then we moved up along the canyon wall following it for about 3 miles.

We passed wind turbines and switchbacked our way upward as I looked for the wild horses.

All at once Issy’s head bolted up and I knew he saw them, but they were on the far canyon wall at least a mile from us. The dark brown horses are reportedly descendants of the survivors of horses lost by Spanish explorers and are the last of the wild herds to roam the Antelope Valley. I tried to get a picture but they were too far away for a good shot. I was able to catch a photo of a horned toad

and some California Poppies (the official state flower.)