Cathy and Roany come to play

Cathy made her first haul to Lynn's place. Roany stayed in the corral and got hay and special treatment as the guest. Jupiter and TC looked at his set up and wanted to know what he got that they didn't. Roany was treated to some oats when they got theirs, too. He likes staying at Lynn's, but it's a little lonesome being all alone, so he kept eye on Cathy through the windows.

Saturday, we took her up Hennessey. Of course it is bow season and there were guys in camo hanging out on top and guys shooting guns getting ready for regular season down on the meadow. It wasn't a simple ride, but everybody handled it. Lynn made sure the shooters, who also had motorcycles (and may have camped down there?) where we would be going and they were nice. We made them nervous when we told them about the big, rogue bull off to the south of their camp.

Friday we got over two inches of rain in some places! So it was a little slick in places and the horses skidded down the trails. We went down Hoop-de-doo west and down the deep water creek area and then up through cobweb alley. We didn't go far and did a lot of stopping and hanging out to visit at the some of the regular granola bar stops. However, they shooters started to really go for it about when we came up on the road below where they were. Everyone got a little high headed, so we didn't stop at the snack bar flat, instead trotting up the hill to the main road. Roany did really good and likes to lunge up hills. TC went through the mud like a champ. It was a good day.

Sunday we headed out to the ranch. Again we started backwards (I really like coming into the ranch that way). We showed Cathy how the bulls knock over trees making their dirt beds. Lynn got glimpses of our bear running through the trees toward the creek that borders the south end of the meadow. The boys kept an eye on the berry brush, but we didn't see him again. 

We rode backwards (north) through the forest toward the berry patch and around and back to the meadow. We made our way back to the road from there. No cow/bulls to be seen and no bears were heard. It was uneventful, but fun. 

We are so glad Cathy and Roany came to play. Another great weekend in the books (and on the blog). 

 

Backwards

We had a great weekend of riding--again! Saturday we went up Hennessey and rode Cobweb Alley to the lower, Deep Creek trail from the south end and went west to east and up the trail instead of down. It was the opposite of our usual way and although I worried that the branches would all be sticking into us instead of flowing with us (the way we cut them!), it was a piece of cake. 

Saturday it was forecasted to rain and thunder and lightning and the sky was getting darker and darker, so we headed out. There were a few tiny sprinkles on us at the granola bar spot, (I know, which one?!!) but not enough to get wet. I think the horses heard it coming on the leaves as they were really staring off into the brush. By the time we got down to the pickup, there were drops and when we pulled into The Place, it was raining. Lee said it had really poured a little bit earlier.

Unfortunately, we have bees on two different legs of our trails. Ziva got stung and had three bees burrowing into her hair. I got them out without them reaching her skin, so she was trembly, but fine. Jupes crow hopped and let me know they were getting him, but I don't think he got stung. I didn't either. We bypassed where the paper nest is on the upper trail and on the way back, we bypassed the ones we encountered in the morning. We are hoping the rain ruined the paper nest and drowned the ground nest. Dang things.

So while the dogs got baths and the burrs pulled out, then their hair groomed (thank you Lynn!), and they turned back into the beauties we know and love, it rained outside. Yay. I had a little thunder at my house later that evening, but we were spared from fires.

On our way to ride Sunday, we saw a big bear on the side of 299, waiting to cross and go up into the blackberries on the ranch. We also saw turkeys and their young both on the Hennessey road and later when we were riding. 

We have been trying different trails to go in and out of the ranch; today we went another new way and headed down through the cow trails above the westside meadow and toward the mud and creek area that TC despises. We saw tons of bear scat and runny cow poop (too many green apples?). Jupiter's head was on a swivel watching for cows and listening for other horse eating boogeymen.

TC did great going through the boggy mud that was once more of a creek. He did jump, but he didn't balk. We went along backwards toward the hill and headed out more on the western side making our way up to our trail. The whole way we watched for the bear. We headed down through the blackberries and the whole way I was thinking, "I just want a little notice if we see the bear. I really don't want him to just pop up in the middle of berry patch." As we headed down the road, back toward the meadow, Lynn said, "If he pops up suddenly, I'm sorry, but we will probably run right over top of you." I laughed and said, "You'll have to catch us first!" lol

We stopped to look in the trees as we were leaving the upper meadow. Suddenly, both Jupes and I heard some brush crackling. I saw what looked like the outline of good sized black bear move in the trees in front of us. We all kept watching and listening, but he disappeared. I do not think it was a black cow, but we did come upon about six brown ones running across the top meadow when we neared the road. 

It was a short ride, but so enjoyable. The air was fresh and clean from yesterday's rain. Going backwards always makes everything look new. Being on the lookout more than usual for a bear (or bears) made it exciting as well. The dogs got to run without tape and they were happy, too. 

As I was riding out, I just kept thinking about how blessed I am. I am so happy to live here and be surrounded by beauty and have the companionship of friends and animals.

Jupes was sort of afraid of the little humans jumping on the trampoline down the road. lol

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)

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. :)