Exploring new territory

Yesterday, Lynn, Shirley, and I tried out a new trail system. We drove to Weaverville, had breakfast, and turned up Hwy 3. We drove a few miles out of town to East Weaver Creek Campground. Lynn easily turned the truck and trailer around and we parked in a turnout near the campground and a trailhead. I say "a trailhead" because there are many possibilities to choose from!

It's October, so the colors around us were phenomenal: the yellows, pinks, and reds up against the evergreens and browns took my breath away. The boys were in high spirits--they love a new place to see. We rode along the creek for a ways and came to a fork; we chose not to cross an interesting-looking bridge and headed up a little farther where we made a creek crossing. We rode through lots of bright yellow grapevines climbing up fir trees and varying shades of pink dogwoods, mixed in with orange oaks and some brillant yellow ash (?) trees. The trails were clear and we didn't have cedar trees or madrones slapping us in the face or hanging over our heads and dropping their water down our necks! The trails were beautifully maintained and easy on our horses.

After the creek crossing we rode on a nice, soft road and enjoyed many different views; we were to the west of, and way above the town of Weaverville. We could see the regenerated burn area off west highway 299 that we drive in order to reach Weaverville. We could see Yolla Bally and the clouds that covered the mountain range to the east were an awesome sight. Unfortunately, there was one spoiler--hunters. It was the last weekend of hunting season and we heard shots fired that didn't seem as far away as they should have been! We rode around the corner to a clearing and sat, so if they were above us they would see us easily. Brady was nervous, as was I.

We continued down the road, looking for our next trail sign. We came to a road that headed back toward where we thought we should be heading, but we weren't sure, so Lynn rode into a nearby yard where a man was out working. We heard his horses calling to our horses, so we figured he must be a good guy. Anyway, he told Lynn we should travel on down the road a bit and we would see another trailhead. He recommended it as a good ride that would take us back to the campground. He was surprised and impressed we had come all the way around the top. Well, we are "cowgirl tuff."

We found the trail and headed back toward the campground area. It was indeed a great trail. There were so many signs for other loops that we became very excited to return. We rode through many different types of terrain and felt safe and comfortable all the way. We met people with dogs on leashes, others out hiking, and even two hunters who mumbled and freaked out the horses a little. We eventually found ourselves at the bridge we had seen on our way out in the morning. All three horses crossed it easily and eagerly in order to get away from the mumbling men in camouflage with guns.

All in all , I think we rode a little over four hours. Ziggy's head was hanging a little, but the other two were high stepping and happy. The three of us were filthy (of course) but as happy as we could be! Our next idea is to find out about camping there: we could get camp set up on Friday night; Alisa could meet us there and then we could spend all day Saturday and maybe a little Sunday exploring the trails. Sound good?

This is a definite redo!

(Lynn, leave me a comment with the trail committee information, address, and/or website to use in my article for Trailrider. Thanks!)

It's fall in more than one way!

Fall colors were all around us today. The poison oak was red and pink and salmon-colored; it was especially beautiful climbing up trees. The dogwoods were in various stages of pink and green and hopefully I will get some pictures from Lynn since she stopped every little bit and took some. She also took movies of us--on purpose this time--so maybe I'll see about downloading them as well.

Last weekend, we all met up in Red Bluff and went riding at Jelly's Ferry. It was a pleasant, breezy day. We traveled all over that flat and even went through a deep little creek. Brady and I almost took a header when he caught his foot in deep groove left in the hard ground, but somehow I stayed on and he righted himself. Thankfully he wasn't hurt. It was good to have all of us together again--Alisa and Odie; Shirley and Star; Lynn and Ziggy; and me and Brady. It had been a while since all us of rode together and it was fun.

Today was an odd day on the Hennessey. It was foggy and drippy. The branches seemed to hold their water in little cups for us and it wasn't long before we had it running down our necks and off our helmet visors. There were hunters out and about and everything sounded differently. Once again, it was me and Brady doing tricks. I never really know what happens. I just find myself in the position of hind end in the air and top-heavy helmeted head hanging over his neck! But, I guess he shied and then slipped and fell onto his knees. He scraped his nose on the ground and I squealed in his ear, but I stayed on and I helped him get up a little by getting back in the saddle and up off his neck! I guess I'm getting stronger or more balanced or something since I didn't go off. Although I will say that both last weekend and this time I got a cramp in my leg so I must be clamping on tight. (:

Anyway, he was positive there were scary monsters out in the brush today. Finally he was proven right--as we were walking out the last bit like we always do, a covey of quail lifted straight up, flapping loudly over the big clump of blackberries directly in front of us. I felt the reins lift from my shoulder where I had them draped and Shirley, who was behind us laughed and said I should have been on him that time. I guess he jumped straight up in air and landed to our left. Good grief! Then he settled down--it's good to be right.

Catching Up

Well, there has been a lot of excitement and wet blankets in last few weeks. For example, on Sunday when Lynn and Shirley went riding without me they came upon a group of kids camping after an obvious all-night party. They didn't wake them up or take down license plates, but worried about it just the same. When they returned to the meadow, the kids were all gone, but there was a campfire blazing!

Once again, Shirley and Star took off on a run for help, while Lynn dug up a squirrel hole and used the dirt to try and stifle the fire. The little bit of water they both had left didn't even make a dent. Pretty quick, Shirley and the closest neighbor were back to help fight it while Forest Service was on the way. They had it almost completely out by the time official help arrived. Armed with the description of the vehicles, the local Forest Service guys thought they might know who the culprits were. The potential for a huge fire was there and many people and animals could have lost everything.

On another Saturday ride up the Hennessey, I had a surprise--we were tooling along and suddenly, I was laying across the saddle horn, Brady's neck, and one of my feet had flown out of the stirrup. I thought he had tripped and we were going down! All I could see was the ground coming up at me. As I pulled back to help him back up--I looked up, some bicyclists had very quietly come around the corner and startled Brady. He had shied--both front feet stretched out into a wide V. Once the men spoke to us, he was fine. That's what we get for being too complacent, I guess.

One Monday night, Shirley, Lynn, and I went to the rodeo grounds with another friend, Toni. She wanted to work with her young horse, Buckwheat. While Lynn and Toni worked with saddling, bridling, and eventually riding Buckwheat, Shirley and I rode around in the arena.

I walked Brady all around the arena so he could see everything. Then I came out and got on him. When I took him back in, he had a fit. Feet high stepping and whirling around. He saw the gate and made for it. We walked around outside and then when Shirley got on Star, we went back in. We just walked them side by side so they would calm down. Then we cantered a little and trotted and I worked on being more centered and balanced.

After they both settled down, we worked on reining. We trotted in figure 8s. Then I walked Brady and took my feet out of the stirrups, closed my eyes, and held my arms out. I want to be more in tune with his gait and sit more balanced. Brady sensed there was no one in control, so he took it. He started walking faster and faster and heading for gate. Finally I took back the reins and we stopped to watch Toni ride Buckwheat. It was a fun evening and we almost got to ride in moonlight by the time we finished. Next time, maybe I'll be brave enough to try bareback!