Ain't Nothin' Better

Friday was a holiday/vacation day for us so we headed for Quincy. Odie was ecstatic to have company and ran all over his field. He looked beautiful as he ran and stretched out ahead of his friends to show everyone who was boss of the meadow. That boy has some wheels!

We had a relaxing, pretty ride across the highway from Alisa's house. We saw lots of bear tracks and some distinct mountain lion tracks, but did not see any wildlife. We rode the dirt road up and around and took some paths through the trees. While we were trailblazing, Ziggy sunk at one point all the way up to his chest in the soft dirt and peat, but he did not panic. He calmly got his feet under him and they plowed on. Lynn made sure we all went safely around that spot. Jupes got in trouble for trying to bite Zigs when were trotting on the road, but everyone else was good.

The next morning we headed for a wide spot in the road. For years, Lynn has wanted to ride out from this spot. Two weekends ago, Alisa and her friend did just that! So we came over to do it, too. It is a few miles east of Child's Meadow on National Trails Association trails. When Alisa went before, she took the Meadow route; so we went on the Canyon route--the west fork. The idea was maybe/hopefully there would be fewer hunters in the vicinity.

The trail did not seem to have been used recently and we had to traverse off the trail to go around a few downed trees. The ground was soft and peaty and there were many limbs and general forest detritus that made the going a little treacherous. We hit a dead end at a creek bed with a huge log blocking the path so we turned around and headed back to the Meadow route. It was a pretty trail with canyon views and valleys that stretched forever. The horses all did really well and the dust was minimal. There were many bear tracks in the soft dirt of the trail and when I was in the lead, I was sure we would come upon a bear--however, we didn't. Shirley said Star may have smelled one or two because he seemed to really be paying close attention to the forest around us.

We turned onto the Meadow route where it was much dustier; however, it was open and really pretty. We didn't go real far on the trail because it was becoming late afternoon and we were going to drive home. We stopped at good grassy area for the boys to eat and for us to get off and stretch. We had not really stopped anywhere or gotten off to stretch or eat a granola bar until then, so we were all a little stiff legged. The Canyon trail was more narrow and did not really have wide spots for stopping everyone together. Some really nice people hiked up and had a map (!) that showed the two trails actually loop into each other. Although that is cool--I personally would not have liked to have met anyone coming out the Canyon route.

Ziggy made history on the trail and got himself in trouble. Instead of Jupiter or Star being the aggressor--Ziggy turned on Odie. He bared his teeth at him for trying to drink out of the same water hole and for eating grass too close to him. He also gave serious thought to going down the steep sidehill to the trail he knew was below us somewhere in order to get back in the lead. We tease Lynn all the time for being just like him: "laid back, easy-going, nothing bothers him;" but she also has that side to her that's competitive and knows when she should be in charge of things and he's no different! They are two peas in a pod. (Except he has long legs!)

It was a fun day. It was the epitome of the saying by Lonesome Dove character Augustus McCrae, "Ain't nothin' better than ridin' a fine horse in new country." The only thing I would add is "in the company of good friends."

*It was dusty on the trail and we were all pretty dirty. Lynn said Alisa and I could have tied, but I think I won the dirty contest for the day. Jupes had rubbed his head on my shirt front and I was pretty bad all over. Well we stopped at Arby's in Cottonwood for dinner. There was a lady in line. She told me to go ahead, she was waiting for her husband. Shirley and Lynn stood and talked to her while I ordered. She told Shirley she "didn't know you got dirty riding horses." Ha!