It doesn't get much better than this. . .

After a lightning storm that set a fire too close for comfort on the mountain above Lynn’s home, Fourth of July weekend finally arrived! Alisa and Odie showed up at Lynn’s on Thursday night and we began the packing of our camping gear. Unfortunately, when we went to move the horses so they would be easy to catch early the next morning, we found that Red (whose name could be changed to Ziggy because of his tendency to zig and zag across the trail) had been caught up in some barbed wire the night before and had a deep cut in his pastern. The smells and sounds of the fire and the men fighting it all night stirred up the horses and somehow, Red ended up tearing down a section of fence and hurt himself in the process. Shirley and Lynn looked him over and decided that Lynn should ride Star for the weekend since Shirley wasn’t able to go with us.

Friday morning came early and we took off. We arrived at Cuneo Creek Campground about 9 am and we were easily saddled and on the trail by 9:30. We rode up and around the Indian Orchard loop. It was pleasant and there was a still lot of water along the trail for the horses to drink. They were wound up and moving at a good clip until we reached the trail portion that winds downhill. Indy was a little confused by the switchbacks and kept stopping to look back up at the horse above him like, “What are you doing up there? I thought you were behind me!” He never did seem to understand no matter how many we did.

We rode back into camp in a little over two hours. We got the horses settled in their corrals and pitched camp and relaxed. In the late afternoon, we saddled up the boys again and headed out to the redwood trails which are 10 degrees cooler than the rest. We rode for a little over two hours enjoying the cool air, the redwoods, and the company. It couldn’t have been a better day.

After a dinner of surf (yummy shrimp scampi!) and turf (perfectly cooked fillets!) and dessert of wing-dingers, we headed for the tent. Unfortunately, we had a late night visitor. Not the usual four-legged kind—but a young male wandering the campground. He said he didn’t mean to “creep us out,” but he sure did. We warned him off, but then we worried about it most of the night and slept little.

The morning found Indy stiff and unhappy about downhill trails. We tried to find the Baxter trail because on the map it looked like an easy ride, but we took a wrong turn somewhere and had to come back the way we went. We finished the ride early and turned the horses back toward camp, where we cleaned up and came home.

On this trip, we learned that Star is a mother hen; he kept track of me and Indy both days. He wanted everyone together, so he would stop and watch for us to come up the trail. Odie is just a sweetheart who got along with everyone and did everything smoothly and easily. He didn’t care if he was in the middle, the front, or pushing the Indy from behind. Indy and I did well together and although he is a slow walker, he was a pleasure to be with all weekend.

As for my fellow campers, what a blast! You make me laugh even when I shouldn’t. When are we going again?