Today was a long one-- actually the longest day hike I've done. I had a blast. We started at the southern Houston Brothers TH and found within the first couple miles much more fall color than expected. This is a great hike with nothing but amazing spots from Houston Draw to Aspen Springs. We ended at Pinchot Cabin and head back the western route via the Fred Haught trail. Another nice trail though not as great as Houston Brothers was. We took the side trail to Fred Haught cabin and then continued back to the main trail.

It began looking like rain so we weighed our options on how to get back once we got to Gen. Springs Cabin. We opted to hike back to Rim Rd. 300 and take that all the way back to the Houston Bros TH. Honestly, General Crook trail is a total pain and we didn't feel like squinting looking for chevron if a downpour started and hiking the road would allow for some nice views.

We took the road from the cabin and as we reached 300, four beautiful horses were hanging out on the corner unattended. They must have gotten loose. We wanted to call someone about it but there was no cell phone reception. They seemed happy where they were and someone must be looking for them-- and I really don't like messing around with other people's really expensive animals. We then got a mile or so up the road and turned to see what the commotion behind us was, and the horses were running in our direction. I momentarily thought I might be able to stop them but that was very quickly proven not possible as they picked up speed and we scurried off the road before getting trampled.

We saw them a litle later down the road heading towards the rim with someone in a car unsuccessfully trying to wrangle them. We continued and soon had the pleasure of meeting chumley who was kind enough to stop his truck and introduce himself. We finally made it back to the car without being rained on and duct taped RachelT's car together. Lesson for the day: take your Prius gently on forest roads. We also saw a group of almost ten elk on the drive back down 300. Awesome day!