Tee Pee's and Circles

Well, I got an unexpected day off from work today. And, it was a lovely day, low 80's and LOW humidity! So, of course I had to take advantage of this and go riding! I was up fairly early this morning but didn't get going until after 10:00 am. I wandered over to the barn and chatted with Ruth and Delbert for a while. Then finally got Lily and attempted to make her looks somewhat clean. It was a futile attempt but I tried. She was a good girl and stood quietly to be saddled. Lily just loves attention and being brushed.

Now, my plan was to ride over to High Knob Campground by the shortest route possible. I had studied the map last night intently and decided that I needed to get onto 185 south until I got to 180C which would take me to Circle Rock and from there I would take 180 to R2R trail into High Knob. Great plan right? Ok, So Lily and I headed out. I led her down to the bottom of the big hill out of the barn and mounted up in the stream due to the availability of good mounting rocks there. Lily headed out quietly though was pretty intent on snacking for a while. When we got to Black's Cabin, Sally's three horses were up there hanging out. Lily thought for a moment that maybe she might just want to stay there with them. I persuaded her to move on down the trail. I decided to take Black Ridge Rd. to trail 183 instead of dropping down the steep hill to the creek to 185. 183 would get me there also.

Not too far down 183 from Black Ridge Rd. we came to our first blown down tree. It was big and a bit tricky to get around but we managed it and continued on our way to where the trail meets 182 then we went north on 185 and came to another big blow down. This one not so easy to get around. In fact, I decided to back track and see if I could find a trail around. And that's when I got kind of lost. I had crossed the creek and was on a trail marked 104 but there was no trail 104 on my trail map. I saw a marker for 180C but wasn't sure where on the trail I was at this point and when I saw a marker for 180, I followed that as it would also take me right into Circle Rock..... except I got off that somehow and next thing I know, we are heading to the Tee Pee. Lily knew right where we were and what was coming up as she stopped on the trail several time to let me reconsider my direction. The climb up to the Tee Pee is a long, hard, steep climb. I didn't want to turn around and Lily finally agreed to lug my fat butt up the hill.

From there we took trail 146 south to the R2R and went on into High Knob Camp. It was very quiet there. David Borntreager is holding a colt starting clinic there this weekend but that was in the morning and there was no signs of activity in camp. Lily was all silly and snorty riding through camp and got super boogered about all the things around the camp office. Silly mule. She kept all feet on the ground so we had no incidents and we headed back out on the R2R trail Other than her silliness at camp, Lily was very quiet and relaxed today. She did have a few strong opinions on what trails she though we should be taking but didn't fuss for long at each disputed intersection.

I decided to try riding the originally planned trail on the way home to see if we could get it right. I got to Circle Rock with no problems and I stopped for lunch there. I was able to pick up 180C with no problem from this direction and made it down to where the downed tree had stopped me before. I didn't want to back track so I looked the situation over a bit harder this time. I could not go around on the left hand side and the ground dropped right off very steeply. The right hand side was very overgrown with small trees very close together. I got off Lily and led her through this. I didn't want to get all tangled up in the trees and get dragged off her. Lily had to pretty much bulldoze her way though which she happily did. She didn't care at all. I mounted up on the other side and we continued on our way.We stayed on 185 on the low trail by the creek. I wanted to go all the way down the creek as far as I could and go up over the hill close to the barn. We came to a trail intersection with the creek on our left and Lily just made an abrupt turn and marched very determinedly into the creek. I thought she was indicating she was thirsty so I let her go. She did take a sip of water but then tried to cross the creek. I was sure that was not right and was surprised she's take a wrong turn. We got out of the creek and headed north on the bank and soon ran out of trail. ???? I knew we had to be close and was a bit confused so we bushwhacked our way to the top of the hill and did hit our trail but not as far down as I'd planned to be. That's when I realized that Lily had been correct. We did need to cross the creek and ride a short section along the left bank and then cross again to finish along the right  bank. I should have trusted her.

Lily is turning out to be a wonderful solo riding mule. She is solid and steady on the trail and pays no attention to other riders and their horses and mules that we encounter. Today we only saw one other couple on the trail and Lily only stopped for a moment to look when she first spotted them, then quietly continued on her way. And while she did fuss briefly a few times at turn gong away from home today, it was fairly minor and once moving she was fine. And when heading towards home, she does not rush or get anxious. She just keeps a nice steady pace in both directions.