Days 3 & 4: Bear Basin & Underwood

Wednesday morning started in the dark and with little sleep, for most of the humans anyway. The horses were ready to go--they knew it was going to be fun. Unfortunately, Zigman has not been himself so Lynn took Buster to ride. We stopped in Weaverville at Marino's and had a good breakfast and then we headed up Highway 3 for 29 miles to the Swift Creek turnoff and then a looong, teeth-rattling, bone-jarring six miles into the trailhead.

It was a gorgeous morning! The azaleas were still blooming and made the trail smell wonderful. There were Tiger Lillies and Columbine and Pitcher Plants and lots of other unidentified, but pretty wildflowers blooming along the trail. There was a lot of water and the horses and dogs were able to drink whenever they chose.

We saw deer, but no bears. We met horse-eating monster backpackers with long antennas meant for fishing that scared the beejeebers out of Buster. We traversed up and down steep, rocky paths and rode along beautiful green meadows. In fact, the horses thought maybe they were in Heaven again eating all the grass their hearts desired (as fast as they could!).

I think Lynn said it best: Bear Basin is magical. We discussed whether to go ahead and ride up to the peak, but a cold wind came down off the snow and the sky was getting a little dark that way, so we decided to get down off there before either lightning or snow fell on us.

The horses did fantastic. They paid attention to their feet and chose good places to put them. No one slipped badly or seemed worried about the trail. Buster is not used to being in front and he was a nervous wreck--sweating and pooping--but he did just fine. Lynn learned just how quick he is a couple times when he turned all the way around on the trail before she even knew he was going to do it! He also was quick to climb straight up a bank to get away from the backpack monsters. She said where Ziggy is the Cadillac that floats along and makes wide corners, Buster is the sportscar with quick handling and road hugging performance.

After hamburgers at Marino's, Lynn gave her own show of "flinging it out the window" by making her riding bra a bright green flag as we pulled out of the parking lot. We were all punchy and silly, but it couldn't have been more fun.

Today, we took the boys up Underwood for a quick, loosen-up your legs and backs ride. We did some steep climbs, but found a cool loop we can make to hook two of our trails together. It has a great view of the valley to the west as well and I am sort of surprised we can't see the ocean we are so high! Again, this is a great time of year to ride as there is a lot of grass and water available.

Alisa and Keota put on a show by performing like jumpers on TV--we came up to downfall log with some water running alongside it. Keo decided not to get his feet wet. Just as I turned back to see if they were fine, he picked up both his front feet, curling them just like he was going over the big poles, then he kind of coiled, and sprung forward off his back legs all in one motion as he gracefully jumped out and over the obstacle. Alisa said it was smooth and lots of fun! She wanted to go back and do it again. It sure looked neat!

In the afternoon, we took Zigs over to see Dr. Branch. He said maybe we should give him something to clean out his belly to make sure there's no sand rubbing in there. He said there are 85 feet of intestines in a horse! They have lots of hills and valleys and the sand can settle in them. So all the boys are going to have some! (I wasn't there to give it them, so I hope it went okay!) The blood work will come in tomorrow, but everything else tested okay. We are all hoping he will get over whatever is making him be "off" and be fine soon!