Horseback Riding

On the 5th day of our trip to Yellowstone, my dad, uncle, sister, cousin, and I went horseback riding at Bear Paw Outfitters.

When we arrived at the correct place, we waited for a few minutes and got our stuff ready for the trip. Soon one of our guides came out with a horse and taught us the proper ways to control our horses. When she was done she called someone from our group of nine to climb up on that horse. Then they started to bring out more horses, some were white, some were brown, and some were white with brown spots. When it was my turn, I walked up put one foot on the stump and stepped up and put my other foot on the stirrup. I climbed up and sat down. The guide adjusted a few straps and then sent the horse to wait in line with the other horses. Eventually, everyone was in their saddles and ready to go.

We first rode out of the driveway and onto a dirt trail. Shortly after, our group was riding up a mountainside. We spotted many deer and rocks that were overturned by a black bear because it was looking for food. Most of the time the party was going up but at some points we were going down. My dad told me to stand up a little bit on the stirrups so the pressure would go to my feet and my behind wouldn't hurt when we were going down. After about an hour we were in the woods surrounded by trees. Sometimes my horse would go really close to a tree so my leg would scrape against it. Occasionally I had to whack my horse with the straps because it was falling behind the other horses. When we came to a stream, the horses took a good long drink and then we continued on our way. Two hours after we started our journey we came to the half way point. It felt magnificent to get off the horse and walk around. I also felt very small compare to the enormous horses. After our 15 minute break we got back on our horses (with more difficulty than the first time because we didn't have a stump) and got on our way.

The journey back was a little bit different and much hotter. I had forgot to put on sunblock in the car so I was a little bit worried I might get burned but miraculously, I didn't. We saw a few more deer and fawns. After two more hours of riding we got back to the ranch. It felt weird walking around but good.

I had a great time horseback riding and I hope I can go again sometime. Maybe in a few years.

Yellowstone

Two weeks ago my family and I went to the famous national park, Yellowstone, home of the well known Old Faithful.

When we arrived in Livingston after a two day trip, our family came to a KOA campground. There we saw our relatives. The campground was quiet nice, it had a pool, a stage, and lots of nice cabins. Our family stayed in a tent while our relatives stayed in two of the cabins.

On the third day we went to the actual Yellowstone Park. We hiked up a lot and saw many ponds full of steaming water. Off the boarded walkway there were some footprints and it tempted me to step off but I thought about it and decided not to. I later read a sign that said many people have died here because they have been burned by the boiling water under the surface.

The next day we went back to Yellowstone and saw many cool springs. I think Emerald Spring was the coolest spring we saw the whole day. It was blue and deep with yellow on the edges. It was steaming and it smelled horrible. I think it was the sulfur or something like that to make it smell literally, like rotten eggs. After that, we drove another half an hour to the distinguished Old Faithful. After waiting for several minutes, The little mound of steam started to steam some more and then it spurted a little fountain. After a few seconds the geyser had reached it's full height while the people were cheering.

On the next day of our trip, my dad, sister, cousin, uncle, and I went to go horseback riding. I had a great time riding around the mountains, through streams, and into the forest on one of the horses named Hercules.

I had a excellent time in Montana and Yellowstone and I hope maybe I can go back again.