Truly we are blessed

pictures

Saturday we loaded up and headed into the wilderness. Lynn has been wanting to ride into Lander's Lake, a trail that branches off  from the Swift Creek trailhead. We rode through highly scented wild azaleas and wild flowers of all kinds. We were surrounded by purples, oranges, yellows, and lush, lush greens. High on the surrounding granite mountains were patches of snow. The sky was a beautiful blue. We saw quite a few deer out grazing and the smallest fawn I've ever seen--it was barely larger than the rabbit we watched running (hopping) down the road when we drove out.

The trail was alternately rocky, silty, and peaty. The dust was at a minimum because it is so early in the season, so it was a pleasure to ride in any position: front, middle, or back. Much of the trail going in to the lake is an incline since the elevation at the lake is approximately 7200 feet. There were some rocky step-ups and some really steep places, but the boys never faltered going either way. Although Buster is incredibly boring and walks too slow according to Shirley, he powered uphill and took the steps back down like an old pro. Both Ziggy and Jupiter did really well also and although Lynn feels like Ziggy corners too wide and she is stretched out over the abyss--picture it kind of like Coyote and Roadrunner cartoons--they looked good all day from where I sat.

I teased Lynn about always underestimating how close we were and about her memory from 30 years ago, we made it and there really was a beautiful meadow and pristine lake. The boys loved the high mountain grass and we had a little picnic that the dogs ate more of than we did; however, they probably needed it more than we did. Those two dogs ran at least 2x the 16 miles we traversed. Although they slowed down a little on the way back and stayed closer to the trail, anything that caught their eye had them chasing off through the trees. Haylee was super tired, but she made it! Both dogs slept most of the way home.

The trail was very diverse and once we got to the first meadow we had to look for rocks piled on top of each other like cairns. Lynn remembers having to pick her way through the bog in one spot, but the CCC has since added a causeway which made the trail easy for the horses and less stressful for the riders. There many water crossings and both dogs and horses had lots of opportunities to drink. Haylee doesn't like to get her feet too wet and she's a little cautious of water since her surprise dunking at the pond, so she created her own trail hopping onto rocks and logs or completely over it.

We ended the day with a preventive squirt of Absorbine JR on the boys' knees and ankles and Jupiter got a little "minty fresh" on his nose when he reached down for scratch. He made some great faces that I did not catch on film! Then we ravenously ate hamburgers at Marinos in Weaverville and got home about 8pm. It was a glorious day!

Sunday we did a short ride around the meadow on the Hennessey to make sure they were loosened up and not standing around getting stiff. When we got back home and let them loose in the field with the other boys, they had a group hug! (:  It was cute and I wish I could have taken a picture. Great weekend!!