Ride to the Cave B Winery!

We leave Bishop Ranch~

It was another absolutely beautiful day!  Warmer than the day before, but with a nice breeze.  I was really interested in how on earth we could find a winery of any kind out in this country, let alone a winery that welcomed horses!

Welcoming Vista~

From our camp, looking way to the south, we could just see a white building that was near the amphitheater at the Gorge.  The Cave B Estate Winery - was right in the same area & would be our destination.

Another waterfall as we get closer~

We heard Meadowlarks singing, saw a little bevvy of quail & a white tail deer!  The flowers were beautiful & with wine on our minds - we were following shinny ribbons that someone had tied to the sagebrush to mark the correct trail in an area where many trails crisscross the landscape.

Looks like we'll have a steep climb to the top!

Looking ahead, we see ribbon heading up the steep trail ahead.

Purple Sage

Though it all wasn't in bloom, I did get to see this bush in flower!  Remember - Riders of the Purple Sage?

Farah admires the view~

 We've climbed quite a way & the views are amazing.  Barbara was reading her directions & the horses had dug in & brought us almost to the top!  We were looking for what was said to be a small trail off to our right, but instead - only saw a small cliff house.  Ahead was a paved road - steep & going right past a swimming pool!  We took it!

Farah at the Vineyards~

We knew we were in the right place...  but had no idea which way to go from where we were?  About the time we decided to send one of us to check things out - a van pulled up & very nice lady told us to just continue on up the hill & we'd find hitching posts near the building that housed the tasting room!

Yurts too~

What a beautiful area!  Like an oasis in the desert!

The view from the hitching posts

We tied the horses & headed up to the tasting room.  I'd left my camera on the saddle, in a hurry to wash up & enjoy lunch on the patio!  Everyone we met was so welcoming - very few visitors yet on a Friday, the perfect time to come.  We enjoyed talking with a group of motorcyclist - all of whom had to go visit the horses :-) 

Barbara with her goodies!

We did some shopping - I had my first & hopefully not my last taste of iced wine!  Soon - it was time to start back. This time, we had directions on how to avoid the paved road & ended up going past a rockery & on the edge of the lawn that was in front of the little private lodge!  Guess it wouldn't be too private if a large group of riders went by!  :-)

Our camp, in front of the lower group of trees -  Columbia in the gorge between~

I stopped on the last section of the ridge - before we started the drop down & zoomed all the way in to get this photo of our camp - far to the north of us~

Heading back~

The day had really warmed up - but was still far from hot.  The Google Earth image below was recorded by my Garmin.  About a 14-mile round-trip.

Our Route to the Winery~

Another fun, amazing ride!  After Barbara shared her iced wine with us, as our after dinner dessert -  Butch & I plan to make reservations & spend a night or two at Cave B!