The Quest to Find Knights of the Golden Circle

My friend Sandy was staying at High Knob so I was thrilled to get the chance to ride with her today. It was hot today but not bad at all in the forest. We planned for a 9:30-10:00 AM ride time. I haven't hitched my trailer up in quite a while. And I didn't get up any too early. So, was dismayed to find one of my trailer tires flat. I know it has a slow leak but had forgotten about it. I hooked up and took care of the tire over at Delbert's place. I fed the mules and loaded my gear while they were eating. Lily jumped right into the trailer eager to go on an adventure. We did get to camp by 10:00 but just barely and most everyone was saddled up and ready to go. Lily got a quick grooming and it only took me a few minutes to get ready. Lily was very quiet and relaxed.

We started out as a group of I think 9 riders. Sand and I were the only mule riders. The plan was to start out by way of the Twin Towers and head over to Knight's of the Golden Circle. We rode by Twin Towers and stopped for a break at Buzzard's Roost. It was there that Rhonda felt her horse wasn't quite right. She was not sure just what was wrong but a person knows their horse. And on of the other horses was having a bit of trouble with high respiration and not cooling down well enough. So, 4 riders headed back to camp. Five of us continued on in search of Knight's of the Golden Circle. We headed south when we shouldn't have but ended up riding the very nice 009 trail. We came back by the Twin Towers in the opposite direction and rode along the top of Buzzard's Roost. We stopped there at the high line to rest and have a snack.

We then rode around to the bottom of Buzzard's Roost and headed west looking for trail 155 that goes to Knight's of the Golden Circle. We found that as it's just past Buzzard's Roost and headed north on 155 and in there is quite a spider web of trails. There are signs but it was a bit confusing and we again turned south when we shouldn't have and ended up back on the River to River trail. At this point, we had passed a sign for the trail to Garden of the Gods and one of our group had never been there So, we headed for Garden of the Gods. Sandy's grandson was riding a borrowed horse that was said to not be in great shape. A lovely teen aged mare that did just great with the ride and recovered at each rest stop almost as quickly as the mules did. But, we still went slow and took many breaks just to make sure the mare would not get too tired. We saw one ground bee hole. I was 2nd in line and noticed the hole but didn't see bees. The 3 riders behind me saw the bees but they didn't get riled up enough to come out and bother us thankfully. We passed tow riders that said they got into a nasty bunch of bees by Whiskey Cave and got stung. We reached Garden of the Gods and tied up the mules and horses in the shade. We rested at the picnic tables and had lunch while the two boys went to explore the rocks. We stayed there quite a while not realizing how late it was getting. There was a deer that kept circling the tie up area very close to us. She must have had a fawn there somewhere. When we did see it was a little after 5:00 PM and knowing we had a 2 hr. ride back, we quickly cleaned up and got back in the saddle. I put Lily in the lead on the way back to move the group along a little faster. We still took several stops to make sure all the horses were doing ok. We got back a little after 7:00 PM and all mules and horses were looking great. We were out over 9 hrs. and did 18.5 miles. It was a great ride! The Knight's of the Golden Circle will have to wait for another day.

I sponged Lily off at the trailer and gave her water. We had gone a long stretch on the trail with no water available and they were all thirsty when we got back. Lily drank down 1 1/2 buckets. Then she put up a little bit of a stink when I went to load her to go home. She didn't fuss for long though. We were stopped by a cow on the way home. It was loose and there was some grain spilled on the road. It was not at all worried about my approaching truck and trailer and took it's time deciding to get off the road. Life in the country.