Friday - first day of work?

I use the term "work" loosely.  At least for today.

 We arrived at the Sanctuary a little early today so we took the dirt road past the Welcome center to the natural amphitheater we had driven by yesterday.  We parked and walked up a small hill which opened to a large grassy area bounded on the back side by a huge, stone cove.  I'll show you some pictures in a minute, but I want you to know that these pictures can't possibly show the enormity of this place.  As I said, it is a natural amphitheater that BF uses for meetings, social gatherings and fund raisers.  At the back of the overhang is a flowing stream with trees and bushes growing along it.

We spent more time than planned listening to our voices echo off the curved walls, then the absolute silence, then and following the clear stream along the walls.   We hurried back to Horse Haven to report for our work shift.

We met our fellow volunteers, got a quick safety talk and all got into the 5 person Polaris Ranger ATV thingy along with 5 manure forks.  Guess what we were going to do...    Our volunteer coordinator, Diane, drove around and into the various paddocks where we all got out, grabbed a fork,  and commenced scooping manure!   Yesterday, on the tour, I was impressed with how immaculate the corrals were.  Now I know why.

"fruits" of our labors

best friends snoozing in the sun
(note the immaculate paddock)

our clean up crew meeting Missy, the miniature horse.
Missy came to BF with a broken leg, which has completely healed.
She was being taken on a walkabout for strengthening.

River

Cowboy
you met Cowboy yesterday, he is the horse with the terribly swayed back
he was born that way

Chuck was found wandering down the road, no one claimed him

Next to Horse Haven, is Piggy Paradise, so we strolled over for a quick look.

meet Penelope, she has dementia

all are welcome at Best Friends

nice shady wallow for the piggys

When we finished the last paddock, Diane said she wanted to show us something.   We piled back in the ATV and she sped off on a deep, sandy track.   Up we went, around curve after curve on to the other side of the canyon.   We could see the horses and corrals on the other side as we drove on.  We could see the BF restaurant high on the opposite cliff.

see the restaurant up top?

We drove over a  cut in the rock where the Kanab Creek flowed through a narrow slot.

interesting marks on the rocks below

We continued along the dusty, sandy road.  Finally, she parked and we all got out and walked a short distance to discover what Diane called Hidden Lake.

Inside the mouth of this cave is a large, clear, lake!   The temperature outside was 80+ and once we entered the darkness, it dropped immediately, probably only around 50 degrees.

On our way back, Diane had a few more surprises to show us.  These treasures were just hidden away in plain site.   No tourists, no tour buses, only the 5 of us.    Incredible, absolutely incredible.

Next, we got out and scrambled up a hill and through a copse of bushes that revealed a tiny, red rock dwelling.   Its ceiling was blacked by years of fires.

a tiny hidden Hobbitt house

A few more miles of dusty riding, talking about what we saw, who we were, where we came from and how we felt about this experience.

One last time, Diane stopped and we got out and followed her to an ancient Anasazi grain storage under another overhanging amphitheater like formation.

long ago a rancher put up this makeshift fence to keep his cattle out

one of a few pictographs we saw on the grain storage's walls

Some first day of "work" eh?    Tomorrow we go to the dogs.