A weekend to remember

Memorial Day Weekend! Nope not going camping; nope not hanging out on the lake; nope not fighting traffic and packing and unpacking--well, I take that back: I packed granola bars, refilled my water jugs, and went through a lot brush and swinging branches that slowed us down. But what a weekend! It was perfect. The weather was awesome: vests in the morning and tank tops in the afternoon.

We took our lunch on Saturday and rode for over four hours on the Hennessey. It was so much fun!
We now have a bypass trail. It starts on the left of the trail we used to call our "new trail" that is now simply the first leg of our ride up the hill. There is a small opening on the left hand side of the road; Lynn always says, I came through there once--I know there's a way. . . well, she came out and worked to clean a new trail a couple of weekends ago (was it only last weekend?). It's funny because the trail's not real clear, yet and she and Ziggy fight the whole down because he gets irritated that she doesn't listen to him and go the right way the first time! There's swinging stuff everywhere and Jupes just follows along behind, waiting for it stop.

It takes a ton of road off our ride. I love it. We miss the dump area completely--including some shooters who were there last weekend. We ride behind and below that area. Then we went over to the right from the top and down to meadow, down the Hennessey Hoop-de-doo to the road and then out to the Gray's Falls side of the mountain. Jupiter, a boy who loves his "high cotton living" and who has a big belly, was like, "Really? This is steep! Dang it!" But we all motored on. It was beautiful over there. We even got to see an eagle fly over and pose on the top of tree for pictures.

Then we came down and went on the trail that goes off our beat path to the creek's path. It is a little treacherous in a couple places, but the boys were surefooted and fine. We have been super lucky with tree fall--there are lots of dead trees on the ground, but none that ruined our ride. :)  There were gun shots above us (maybe in the meadow) when were coming out. We hollered, but I doubt they heard us. We trotted out and away from there and it was fun weaving in and out of trees.

Sunday we rode Underwood. Both of us have been wanting to--it was great. No trees down that caused us difficulty. It was a quick one so we could run over and visit with Shirley, who is not feeling up to par, then go to church. It was fun. Lynn saw a coyote cross the road ahead of us when we headed for the granola bar stop, and while we were driving up to the trailhead, we saw tons of jackrabbits.

Monday was another day of adventure. We went on Lynn's favorite trail--then one with the log across it. We haven't ridden it for at least a year. She keeps wanting either Lee or Gary to come and cut it out. She decided we would check it out, so we came from the bottom. She did lots of trimming and we walked the horses by the log. It's a little sketchy by the log, but the boys were fine.

It was a great weekend! I had so much fun. The horses were good and the dogs stayed right with us. Last weekend, we saw a momma bear and two cubs, but we didn't see them this weekend. All the trails were good and there were no cars/trucks on the roads. Jupes is getting better with the swinging stuff as long as it doesn't slap him on the rear. :) Here's the get on rock a month later.

What a great way to spend time--two girls with their horses and their dogs. The only thing you need besides that, is a little disinfecting wash, a technu shower, and some granola. :)