Rough Riders

 

TC saw a good looking horse this morning. He fogged up the mirror admiring that guy. He's so cute.

I would put up our horses against any and all other horses in true trail trials! Sheeze Louise.  Our trails are pretty tough these days. From the huge mess where it was logged, to the almost heartbreaking mess the Forest Service/CalFire dozer left us. Saturday, we went backwards to West Hoop-de-doo. We just motored on and worked our way around the mess Mother Nature caused. Lynn thinks she has an idea about skirting around the tight corners the motorcycles carved into single track trails, so next time, we'll criss cross/zig zag our way above that area. 

We checked out the paper nest on the way up to the road (another mess of fallen limbs and trees), and sure enough: wasps were at home. We were able to swing wide, but TC still ended up with one following him and bugging him for a ways up the road. Lynn was able to discern that what looked like a ground nest was indeed inhabited and we missed it as well. 

She said TC was a little off all day, but when Jupes got in front to head for home, he sure trotted along with us. It was a fun trot along the roller coaster part of the trail and then we slowed down for the messy, boonie bouncing, trailhead. 

Sunday is another story. We checked out the right hand side of Hennessey and rode out the dozer road last weekend, but we didn't think about that he also gone to the left! We were going to go up Widowmaker Ridge and then to Brushy Balls. Well! 

Widowmaker Ridge trail is pretty much gone.

We detoured off the road and went straight up the rocky, dusty dozer road. It took us down to the fork where we come up from the boggy bottom of the turtle pond trail. Jupes was sad. That was one of his grass eating spots. Directly across from that fork is the start of the trail. It's not a trail. It's a dozer road--steep and dusty. We glimpsed sections of our trail off to the side. We went all the way up to the top of that ridge and back down. What a bummer. That trail was used to be so fun; it always had lots of flowers and old trees to keep an eye on. I liked how it meandered up the mountain. Gone.

After we came back down the dozer road, we veered to the left near Indy's frog pond and boonie crashed (and I mean boonie CRASHED)  our way to the good water hole for the dogs to drink. We came back out onto the road, which has been graded as well. We didn't see the trail's namesake. We bypassed the turtle pond and went down the boggy spot. TC did great.

We ran across bees somewhere in there and both horses did fine. I worried about TC because we haven't ever been riding with him when we experienced bees, but he handled it like a pro. They didn't seem to bother KD or Ziv. That's a relief!

Jupes skated, slid, and stumbled his way through everything today. It was a little wild. When we got to the end of the ride, I checked his feet and found a pretty big and pointy rock stuck in a shoe. Dang. I don't know how long it had been in there. 

Two days of riding through crap is better than two days of not riding. 

Last weekend in July

Saturday, we headed up to the top of Hennessey and this is what we found! A lowboy and a newly graded area along with a new cat trail (dozer trail the ambulance crew corrected me). Because of the Hill Fire across the river and the purported lightning strike on our beloved Hennessey mountain, the crews came over to build some fire breaks and check on things in general. This is now the "new" version of the former jeep trail. The dozer made several passes up to the ridge and around. The rescue crew told us that they would be coming back in to put trees across the dozer the lines so people couldn't use them. We looked at the them askance and basically said that a tree wouldn't stop us from riding on them. They quickly assured us that they meant, "motorized vehicles couldn't use them and thus couldn't tear them up." I had just been thinking our motorcycle friends would be loving the new open trails.  Although we smelled smoke last weekend, we did not see where there might have been a fire. This day, we saw where there was probably a lightning strike. Sure glad they put the time in last year and cleared all the brush and burned it!

We headed back from Gray's Creek area toward where we knew there was a small bit of water for the girls to wash the dust down. As we went along, several fire pickups drove on the road above us. When we reached the top, we could hear another one coming, so we stopped to wait for it. It turned out to be the emergency vehicle from Visalia. That's when they got out and visited with us for a bit. Then we headed down the hill toward the truck.

*Reminder: look before we head up the shortcut trail for the paper nest on the tree (head high!). I didn't see any bees, but. . . .

Sunday we went to the bottom meadow. We rode to the left loop and up the little ridge, but today we veered off and went east for a ways (I always think of it as the skunk trail!). Then back to the meadow. We headed over to the circle around the meadow and come up the west side. As usual, Lynn was hoping to see a bear in the briars. :) Nope. But we did see some big, fat cattle running up the hill in front us. Lynn said she could feel TC's heart pounding. It was a tough day for him. Cows and a boggy, muddy, water crossing.  

The cows had really made it deep mud in front of the actual water. TC did not want anything to do with it. Lynn told him that he had to go first. After much backing up and dancing around without actually touching the mud, Jupes had had enough and basically pushed past him and said, "Let's go! Sheesh!"

Sorry, Lynn. No control. 

I love riding the meadow and coming up the west side. It is so crazy to me how different one mountain can be. It was a beautiful, cool morning and a great way to end July's rides.

And a Sunday

We finished off the weekend with a short ride on Sunday. We went up up Widow Maker Ridge. Just saying: we are NEVER riding up there when it's windy. Geez oh Pete. Talk about limbs everywhere and more tree tops twisted off and slammed on the ground. 

We made our way down to road and then to the turtle pond. From there we went down to the bottom road and TC went through the boggy area at the base of trail with no problem. I had the only problem, but it is my usual problem: Jupes shot through the cedar and fir trees at the bottom before I could duck and once again my face got scraped by the branches. Sheesh, that horse.

I really like the new part of the trail down from the top. It has steep parts, but it's really different from just diving off the road and going around the motorcycle ruined spots on the trail. They created this one, but it's not rutted and it's more horse friendly. 

In the logging mess part of the trail, TC stopped cold and stared over toward the secret pond. Lynn was in the process of saying he thinks he sees something and then I am pretty sure I too saw something moving. Probably it was a bear. We rode over to see what we could see, but it was gone. 

It was another great day of riding!

Three Saturdays in July

 We have had three good rides early in the morning--beating the 100+ heat by starting about 5:30. Every ride has been been about logging and trimming as much as riding! Today's ride had the most, though. The other day Lynn texted me that she had 17mph winds. Well, it  must have been at least that up the Hennessey! Limbs were everywhere and we had to do lots of sawing and clipping in addition to finding new ways around large trees that twisted and snapped off. 

Ride #2 we checked out the motorcycle guys' trail off the top road. It connects to the new/old trail down the mountain back to the trailhead. It needs some trimming, but overall, it's a nice trail. Jupes keeps his eyes peeled and warned me that this is the area he always watches for monsters and whatnot. (I'm thinking bears.) However, we've used it twice now and have not seen any scary wildlife on the new addition to our trail.

TC is doing fantastic. He barely hesitates at running water and has navigated boggy ground without being led through by Jupes. He has had limbs hanging off him, branches snapping him in the face, and lots of "technical" stuff to walk through. Jupes (knock on wood) has not had his one day of misbehaving and has been a perfect gentleman. 

The little hitchhiker burrs are everywhere! At my house, at Gene's house, on the trails. Ziva is covered in them and I am continually picking them off her. And I can't find my good comb that pops them off! But that's the only negative in my life. :)

 

BBBBB

 

1. PLAN B

Lynn brought Jupiter up for me and as I walked up to him I saw that he had his left eye closed. Sure enough, it was swollen and he wasn't keeping it open. We decided to put them back in the field and see what tomorrow would bring. 

I thought our day was done, but nope! Lynn got the Side X Side out and we went to Hawkins Bar Grange and left the pickup. We drove up to Little Happy Camp to check out the road conditions. It wasn't too bad. Lynn did a little sawing and we swung some branches over the side. We didn't move any rocks because by the time we go back, someone else will either have moved them and they will be more anyway. 

We drove up some dirt roads and had fun. It was Ziva's first time and she did great. I'm sure KD told her it was no problem.

2. BBBB

Sunday came; Jupiter's eye wasn't perfect, but he had it open, so off we went to Hennessey. On the road up Lynn called out, "Bunny!" We watched bunny run/hop across the road ahead of us and go into the brush. Suddenly, I saw a black something running down the left side toward the road. I couldn't get any words out of my mouth, so I reached over and kept slapping Lynn on the arm. She got the message: a Bear was running across the road in front of us! Yay!  

Lynn brought Ziggy this time. He doesn't have shoes and was pussyfooting along--slower than he usually moves out. I said I thought we had Boots in the trailer, so we went back and put them on him.

 Unfortunately, the boots were tight on him and uncomfortable. We only went up to the rose bush. There we let them eat the wet grass and we visited. We were back early and then Lynn got put to work setting concrete and cementing their gate post. 

It may not have been the weekend we planned, but everything always works out when you're with your BFF!

Juneuary with Alisa

Alisa came to ride with us this weekend and Lynn took off Friday. We rode Lynn's favorite trail the first day and left the girls home (KD has a sore paw). Everything was smooth and easy until Lynn decided to do some logging while in the saddle. TC is not as calm or used to Lynn's antics as Big Zigs. Right at the fork to either Cobweb alley or Lynn's Elk trail was a tree that had come across the trail. We've been riding under it for awhile. Friday, Lynn decided it had to go. It was broken off already and just needed to be pulled down. Hmm. It came down on TC's rump. He jumped, bucked, kicked, ran into the back end of Jupiter who was not moving. Let the monster eat TC. It all settled down and we turned right to the Elk trail.

 

It was nice day, but cold. We all wore vest or jackets the whole ride. We sat in the sun and visited and let the horses eat good mountain grass.

 Gray's Side

Day 2, we went to our Gray's Falls trail (the actual name is Gray Falls or Grey Falls, but my whole life I've called it Gray's Falls and it's hard to change now). We visited Lynn's Big Tree (kind of joke since my out of town company wanted to see a Big Tree). We wore more jackets and our gloves. We were wishing we had brought our chinks, for Heaven's sake! Lots of cobwebs on those trails, too, but no incidents today. It was definitely breezy and the trees were getting louder, but no one got spooky (not even us). We took the dogs today and everyone did all right. Although we thought we would leave them home yesterday and ride a longer ride, we actually rode more miles today! It was fun and easy. 

Morning Adventure on Underwood

Day 3: Underwood. Jupes was willing and able and ready to be in front all three mornings. He trotted right out and was easy to get on and catch in the field. Lynn did some more logging. We didn't get to ride much earlier this year and everything is hanging down or leaning or just flat out brushed over. We need to do more ground work, but Lynn got us through.

 It was a little emotional on the top when I got to see our big snag on the ground and visit my dad on Father's Day. Cold again, especially in the shade or on the ridge, but didn't feel as cold as yesterday when the wind was blowing a lot more. I saw lots of bear scat, so I kept my eyes peeled--I just knew today was the day we would see one. But no.

The three of us had lunch together every day and laughed over stories. At night, Lynn, Lee, and Alisa ate ice cream under blankets in the cold cross breeze in her living room and then went to bed at 8pm. Although I didn't go to bed that early (I also don't get up as early), I would say we are quite the lively bunch. LOL

Knock on wood, but Jupes now has had several rides and been perfect with no attitude. I pray it continues. 

PS Our trail from last week is now renamed Brushy Balls. If you know, you know. 🙈

Two Great Days at Home

 

It was a big trees day! We rode up Widow Maker Ridge to our bushwacking trail. It was fun to see all the trees that fell down since I rode last November. We were definitely going through the brush and ducking through tree branches as we made our way, but we found the road that leads up to the trail out. There were bear tracks and scat along the way. As we made our way to the main road, we passed by something that caught our eyes. We both thought it was a big bone, like a femur. KD peed on it and I laughed, so I went closer to it. Then Lynn and I both burst out laughing.  No wonder Katie peed on it!

So that trail might be renamed the Penis Trail. LOL

Today we did Hoop-de-doo West and Cobweb Alley. Talk about webs!! There was one earlier in the day that I was surprised did not sweep Lynn off! Dang! It was like fishing line.  T/C did fantastic with the water and mud. Both of them did really well when Lynn and I got off to cut poison oak, branches, and Lynn did some heavy logging. That trail is ready.

It was a another great day of riding. Dogs were tired, but had plenty of water to drink and both horses were wonderful. I'm loving life.