We knew that it was inevitable so we fueled up with another great breakfast in order to conquer the first section of our ride today – a six mile climb out of the Muddy Creek Campground to McKay Flats. You just really had to grit your teeth and start the grind, not realizing that there were many “false summits” ahead where you were sure the road would flatten out and then start downhill.

Once at the top, we stopped for a snack and then headed down an unexplored road towards Quandry and Chimney Canyons. We went about 4 miles then stopped for lunch then continued to the evening’s campsite near the Chute Canyon Overlook.

As we neared our campsite we saw the first of many wild horse herds. Very wary of people – we didn’t get a lot of real close shots but here are a few. The herds we saw today and also the ones we will see tomorrow are part of the Muddy Creek BLM Management Area.

Before we ate dinner we took a ride out to the Chute Canyon Overlook and took in the stunning view and a few photos. According to my tracker, we logged in 23.8 miles today.

We had an amazing campsite for the evening and a promise of stargazing aka no clouds. Tom talked a lot about the night skies and with no wind tonight everyone got a restful sleep!