A Golden Day

Saturday we loaded up and went to Little Happy Camp. It was a smoky morning to our north and east, making the sun glow orange. Everything it touched turned gold. It was pretty. 

But the day was golden in many more ways: First of all, we started with high heads. Both Jupes and TC were very interested in the brush. We could not see anything or hear anything, but they could. We got saddled and headed up the hill without incident. It has really grown over. 

Gold grass!

Lynn saw three deer, but I was too far behind or too busy looking elsewhere and missed them. We checked out the big pond, which made TC nervous--all that water and he's never sure if Lynn is going to make him get in it! We turned up the road that we used to be able to loop around to the campground. It is still too brushy to get through. 

Lol. Ya think? Love this sign.

We tried to go cross country to bypass the road. I had a bit of a ride when Jupes started crow hopping sideways. I thought bees, but Lynn said it was probably that he kicked up some Chinkapin balls and the thorns got him. Yikes! She told the story of how Cathy's dad hated these trees. We thought of all kinds of things he might have had issue with. She laughed over the good memory. She also said they are good eating. She opened one up, but it wasn't ready; the nut inside was still a green unformed, sticky mess. 

Chinkapin tree

We couldn't get through, so we went as far as we could and doubled back. But the best was yet to come!

We saw two Tiger Lilies still blooming and three Dogwoods that still have blooms on them. We stopped for Lynn to take pictures and a Digger Squirrel started teasing KD. She was off! She must have seen it run from the trees to a pile of brush and she was on it. Ziva realized what she was hearing and went to help

KD. Talk about happy dogs. They had a blast trying to flush it out as it keep up its chatter. When Z came back, her entire head was wet. I guess it was marshy over there, but she was smiling big.

We did the long uphill pull back toward the truck and although both horses thought it was time to stop and get off, we convinced them to pass the trailer and go down the road to the campground. Well at least part of the way. We stopped and stood listening. There was definitely something in the brush ahead of us and they knew it. Thankfully Lynn already had her camera out! It was a bear! 

She came out on the road ahead of us and looked at us. She took a few steps toward us and then turned back into the brush. She came back out and stood looking at us. Both horses were high headed and coiled to spring. Lynn said she could feel TC's heart pounding and then nothing--like he was holding his breath. 

The bear stepped out a little further and called quietly. It was a baby! The two of them ran down the road to the campground. We let them go. KD thought it was a new friend, but when we took off at a good clip and were yelling for her, she came on a dead run to catch us. We don't need to mess with a young mama. 

It was awesome.

See the baby in the left corner?

Best day so far!

Woohoo LCH (Relive video)