Rancho Picachos Ride on the Rio Grande

Your trip starts at the Texan/Mexican border town of Lajitas. We cross the Rio Grand by rowboat into Mexico and transfer to San Carlos where your ride begins. With Mountainous, rugged, sparsely populated, this is the northern most reach of the Great Chihuahua desert.  Sweeping vistas dare the eye at every turn.  Wildly colored canyons bisect a land where water is life.  And on the wind over it all... the sound of a Spanish guitar. The areas we will be riding through are remote, rural, and authentic Mexico, not an Americanized vacation spot.  Experience the unique charm of communities and farming ejidos in a part of the world only lightly brushed by the 21st Century.  Riding horseback into this wild region not only gives you access to special places, it allows you to form a bond of heart and spirit with the people who call this home.  Time slows and we step into a simpler lifestyle.

RTTX01
Rates include all meals, a total of 3 nights at unique B&B’s and/or hotels, one night home-stay on Mexican Ranchito, and 3 nights at La Gloria’s B&B in Mexico.
8 days/ 7 nights  $ 1,875  Single + $225
2008 Dates: 
01/27-02/03    02/24-03/02    04/10-04/17
11/09-11/16    11/29-12/06    12/15-12/22
Meeting:  Terlingua
Airport:     Midland/Odessa or El Paso
Transfer:   $210 per person (min 2)
Horses:      Quarter Cross
Tack:         Western
Pace:         Moderate with nice trots
and few canters, 4 to 6 hours of riding daily
Level:       Intermediate

Itinerary
Day 1:  Arrive late afternoon and check into the B&B near Terlingua. Meet with your guide and enjoy a nice dinner and a stroll through the ghost town before a good night sleep..
Day 2:  Enjoy a continental breakfast at your B&B before your guide arrives to get you mounted up and out on our Texas trails.  An all day ride and picnic lunch are a preview of what you will be seeing on your ride through Mexico, more than enough to whet your appetite for the adventure tomorrow will bring.  Depending on the lodging facility in which you will be staying, dinner will either be served family-style at the B&B or out on the town, ghost town to be exact!
Day 3:  Today begins the Mexico portion of this incredible trip.  After meeting at the stables, you will be transported to the “crossing”.  Any lingering doubts about whether you are off the beaten track is quickly dispelled as a rowboat takes you across the Rio Grande to a small working ranchito.  Your hosts for the next two days are Isael & Chela Tercero.  Here they raise goats and cattle on a ranch appropriately named Ranch of the Peaks – Rancho Picachos.  Today’s ride may involve helping Isael with ranch chores such as checking on cattle in one of the scattered pastures, bringing in the goat herd or possibly climbing up to look at one of the critical sources of water for his livestock.  The evening brings us together for dinner at the huge wooden table in the Tercero’s old adobe home overlooking the river.  Depending on group size, you will either stay in tents or one of several extra bedrooms.  There is a shower (ala ranchito style!) but no electricity – just the warm glow of kerosene lamps.  The opportunity to spend time in the home of people of the land makes this a very special and memorable evening.
Day 4:  After a hearty ranch breakfast, we will mount up for a long day in the saddle.  Our route today will take us up and over two mountain ranges, across the broken limestone desert between, and – finally – down into the village of San Carlos.  The ribbon of green that marks the path of San Carlos Creek as it cuts across the creosote desert is a vivid reminder of how important water is in the land of cacti.  Along the way, we will ride through candelilla camps, long abandoned ranchitos, and the faint traces of the ancient Indian civilizations.  Hard country...”La Frontera”, yet it has captured the hearts and souls of those who have chosen to live here.  You can see it in the permanence of the structures that time or circumstance forced them to leave behind.  Tonight we will arrive at La Gloria’s Bed & Breakfast in San Carlos.  With its spotless white tile floors, terraced gardens, spa tub, and immaculate rooms, your comfort for the next 3 nights is assured.  But the best part is and ice cold drink on her incredible porch after a long ride!
Day 5:  Our ride today is designed by the group.  The morning is spent walking up San Carlos Creek into the canyon.  The grace of water in the desert is always miraculous; however, this canyon holds another secret – its water comes from warm springs that line the walls creating an environment of lush vegetation that is totally unexpected.  Hanging fern grottos, vines, towering trees that hold their leaves almost all year long.  The afternoon is given over to another ride – possibly to another set of pools and waterfalls outside of town – or relaxing in the hammock in Gloria’s garden.  The itinerary allows for individuals to choose the activity that best suits their mood (or backside!).
Day 6:  Every adventure has what your outfitter considers the “piece de la resistance”, the high point of your trip.  Your ride today up San Carlos Canyon to “La Mina Grande” – the Great Mine – is that part of this trip.  Incredible scenery, unbelievably rough trails, and an almost other-worldly destination.  It has it all.  We begin by riding up San Carlos Canyon touring through the walls of twisted, crinkled layers of limestone loom above us as we splash through its narrow passage.  Turning off into a small side canyon, we wind our way upward.  “La Mina Grande” is a Mexican Machu Pichu.  Abandoned almost 70 years ago, its rock and adobe ruins stand as mute testimony to the dreams of man.  Only the wind remains.  Those riding our long-eared companions will be glad of their choice of mounts on this day!  Ahhhh...once again that cold drink on Gloria’s porch beckons.
Day 7:  Our last day in this magical place.  We mount up for a ride back across the mountains toward the border.  The view from the top of the pass lets us see just why our mounts are note quite as spunky as they were 5 days ago!  You can see in both directions for hundreds of miles across a land little changed by the hand of man.  Our van will meet us with lunch at a set of corrals where we will bid our trusty mounts and local guides goodbye.  We then drive to the official border crossing between Ojinaga and Presidio, TX.  After properly re-entering the US, we spend one last evening reliving our adventures over a farewell dinner.
Day 8:  Departure.

 Itinerary is subject to change without notice.  This itinerary is a sample only and may vary somewhat from the actual trip encounters.

General Info