La Vereda del Monte

Los Gatos Hwy #11

La Vereda del Monte

There is a barn and a house beyond that, just out of view, and someone’s planted this pasture and I’m sure they don’t appreciate the trespass, but then I look out and take a deep breath and exhale. In the distance I can see the ridge. If I had any courage I’d just walk up this guy’s driveway and ask him if he knew of a road up to Joaquin Springs, or Horse Thief Trail, or Spanish Lake, or anywhere Joaquin might have rode his horse. He might even have a story to tell about how he came through one year, back in the early 1850’s, when his great great grandaddy first bought this same ranch I’m trespassing on. He came up from the fiestas at Lake Tulare they used to have by the lake every year, not around any more, the lake, not since the canal and the water rights and all those shenanigans, but he’d made a bundle from winning at the Monte tables and was throwing it around and looking for a good horse, so they got to talking, him and my great-great granddaddy – he was raising wild mustangs out here – and they got to talking about horses and what not and then Joaquin went out to the corral and threw a rope around one and it wasn’t but a little later in the afternoon he came back to the house and said he had his horse, never been rid before till that afternoon, or so the story goes, rode him out of here that very day.”

But I don’t have the courage, mainly because I don’t want to get bit by this guys dog, who is yapping in the distance at this moment encouraging me to vacate, and so I give a silent prayer to the four corners and head back to the car. I’m still on Los Gatos Creek Rd, still headed headed east, if I cant find a trail head, I’m going to turn around and head back up the grade till I do – La Vereda del Monte