July was a great month of riding! I am sure since I am doing this so late, I will forget things that I wanted to share. 

Cobweb Alley

First of all, we got to ride with Alisa twice! The first ride, Lynn took off Friday and rode up to Little Happy Camp. It was great fun as always. We could see the burn scar and stayed out of it; thankfully it did not affect most of our trails. It was warm enough to just wear our tanktops and the road wasn't too bad. We did do some logging, but the rocks weren't too bad and we didn't need the chainsaw. On Saturday we rode up Underwood. It is always one of my favorites. (or was this the following weekend?)

Alisa left her trailer and Keota to hang out with our boys for the next week and the following weekend, Lynn took another Friday off and we drove over to Dead Fall Lake trailhead to meet up with Cathy & Roany and Karrie & Noah. The Forest Service Road 17 was awful--it was narrow and rocky. The ride itself was enjoyable. We had plenty of water for the horses and Noah went down in the lake with Karrie on him and then at the last lake, she took off his saddle and he really got in and got wet. Trail is the Pacific Coast Trail, so there were lots of hikers. The horses all did just fine and with the exception of one cranky, unfriendly older man, all the hikers were friendly, talkative, and did not appear to mind stepping off the trail. Thankfully it was not too dusty or hot and although there were tight places on the trail, overall it was easy and wide open. T/C did pretty well with the water crossings, but the first one on a tight turn on the trail with rocks and little margin of error, Lynn jumped off and walked him very quickly through the worst part of the trail (probably where she hurt her knee!).

Riding with Cathy and Karrie is also a treat. We ate lunch at Dead Fall Lake and visited. It's a little hard to hear each other on the trail, but when you're close enough, there is much laughter shared between us. The following day, Alisa and us rode together at home on our trails. I wish both she and Cathy lived closer so we could ride together all the time.

The Tevis 100 and the Hennessey 10

The last weekend of July it was just Lynn and I. Saturday we rode our trails along the Gray's Falls area. We did some trail clearing (which is probably where I tore a little of my bicep tendon!). All along the trail is the evidence that the Forest Service has been there and made big burn piles. It is awesome that they are clearing brush and protecting our area from fire! T/C wasn't so sure though. We did not hear the big swarm buzzing, so hopefully they are GONE! We rode our long loops and considered which trails we could take Cathy and Karrie on. Our trails are nothing like what they ride. AND they ride big horses--tall and wide. Would they like horse yoga? Would their horses do okay on our sketchy trails? We are not riding Back Country Horsemen boulevards.

Sunday we rode out on the ranch planning to do the original Hoop-de-doo trail. It was the kind of morning that had a little of everything. First we saw turkeys and their babies--probably eight all total. That's always fun. Then we saw cows. Hmm. Not as fun. lol. T/C was snorting and letting those big bulls know he did not like them. The cows took off and disappeared, but Lynn said T/C was tight. We rode to the little messy trail that we used to take to get us to the road crossing. Nope. No go. It was always a mess; it was always skinny and included lots of knee jabbers and leg scrapers and clothesline opportunities, but this time it was impassable. So we turned uphill and rode the driveway/road to the County road and crossed over to the property where the old Morgan horse lives (who wasn't in view).

I teased about T/C, but Jupes was pretty sure the boogie man (or cows?) were behind him, so he was a little tight, too. We trotted out the trail, jumping logs and tiptoeing through boggy, scratchy tight spots. We reached the water crossing, which is one of the reasons why Lynn rode T/C instead of Big Zigs, and the trail was impassable due to a yew tree across it just above the creek. The bank on the opposite side has also deteriorated. I couldn't tell if our trail is still up there. That was always a fun ride, so we plan to hike it with chainsaw and clippers after our riding season is over. We turned around and trotted back out and over to the meadow. We went up the trail backwards and found the cows. We didn't get too close, but T/C blew the biggest snort out I have ever heard him do. 

So there it is. July is gone! It was the best month so far. I hope we continue to have great weekends in August.