Horse Mountain Road
We had big plans to redo Red and White Mountain and map out the trails around it. It was our last day camping at Sylvan Lake, and this was one of our goals. We were really looking forward to it. When we got to the airdown spot for Red Sandstone Road to go up to Muddy Pass, we found that it was closed. We had a discussion and decided to map out the new trails around Bocco Mountain instead. We headed over to Horse Mountain Road, finding the trailhead easily enough. The weather was perfect for our last day of vacation.
It was an easy road, and there were people all over the place. We found a full staging area less than two miles down the road, and there were campers and cars here and there. Just past the staging area we headed right and uphill.
Things were pretty mellow and we were caught behind a camper slowly working its way along the trail. When we saw the spur that looked like it did some climbing, we took it.
That ended up being a lot of fun. It was a bumpy climb, and though it was short we had a good time. It ended abruptly, and we circled the vehicles and got out. The views were really nice, so it was definitely worth the side trip.
Then we headed back down and kept along the main road. We saw people in every available camp spot. The trail was a bit narrow before and after the bridge, and the campers were much smaller on the other side.
We went past the trailhead for Welsh Reservoir, planning to come back to it later. When we got to the parking area at Blue Lake, we were disappointed to see a smoking campfire and people parked behind the signs noting the trail ended at the parking area. The signs were pulled out and laid down on the grass. They had a loose dog running around, so we didn't stay long.
We did Welsh Reservoir and then on the way back out Horse Mountain Road we found a large truck towing a big trailer at the bridge when we got there. Instead of waiting at the wide spot for us to come down, he tried to pass us on the narrow hill. It was a bit of a mess, but we managed to miss him by a couple of inches. It was definitely a busy trail.
