I decided to take the "Lower Rhyolite Trail" at Chiricahua National Monument (Arizona) to find some good rocks to climb, or if I couldn't, just tire myself out trying to do the 7 mile loop as fast as I could. Unfortunately, a party on horseback had gotten to the trailhead before me. There were about six of them, all apparently middle-aged, men and women; I figured they were from a dude ranch or something. The trail is pretty narrow and cut into the side of the canyon, so there wasn't any good way to pass them. I was following a few feet behind the last horse, who was being ridden by an older gent whom I guess was one of the leaders. He became aware of my following him, and warned me "don't follow too close, I'd hate to see him kick back and hit you" referring of course to the horse he's on. I told him "don't worry 'bout me, I'm fine" and was just biding my time until a wider spot in the trail came up so I could pass these riders. At that point the trail was sorta wider, so I shifted into high gear and bypassed these annoying equestrians (I mean, like one of the women is wearing one of those felt-covered horsey hats you see people wearing on fox hunts!), going up the side of the escarpment that bounded one side of the trail. This of course sent the party into a tizzy, the rear guide cries "everybody stop!" like I'm going to cause a stampede or something. As I pass the lead horse, I reach out and rub him on the cheek, and say in a soothing manner "hey there buddy..." Once I get in front of them, the guide at the head of the party says "you were really taking a risk there, miss!" I shrugged and said, "not really, I've been around horses a lot," which is not entirely true, but I'm certainly not afraid of them, and have done some risky things around them, like the time I jumped on one and tried to ride it bareback, so I kind of have an idea of what's dangerous and what's not. Plus I found these folks just so annoying. The guide shoots back "then why aren't you riding one?" I'm habitually non-confrontational and deferential, but this time I just couldn't help myself. "Because I don't like abusing animals," I said. The guide of course couldn't let that one go and started in on how horses were bred to be ridden and don't mind a rider, et cetera, et cetera, and I just wanted to say "gee, I bet you couldn't do the entire loop on foot without having a heart attack, you tub of lard!" but instead I put my iPod earbuds back in my ears and put distance between us.
About twenty minutes later I found a nice tower of rock by the side of the trail that I couldn't reist, so I slipped on my climbing shoes and did some dangerous free climbing on what turned out to be incredibly crappy rock. The volcanic tuff at Chiricahua is really flakey and even porous. No wonder the sign at the ranger station said that climbing and bouldering is not allowed!
So anyway, I'm about 50 feet almost directly above the trail, and I hear voices and the clomping of hooves. They've caught up with me, and pass by directly below me, oblivious of my presence. I can even make out their inane conversation: "...he's not making manure, he's fertilizing, haw haw!" refering, I suppose, to the horses. Then one of the women stops and points directly up to where I'm hiding in the rocks. "Wow, look at that rock formation! Isn't it lovely?" but she doesn't even see me! I quickly hide myself and sit tight until they pass by. I climbed down from the tower and put my hiking shoes (which are actually tennis shoes) back on. What to do? I was in no mood to have to come up behind these folks again and have to pass them, although I'm sure it would puzzle the heck out of them how I had gotten behind them AGAIN. So I just turned around and hiked back to the trailhead to try another trail.
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