East of Double M Campground

It was a lovely day today so Lily and I headed out on an adventure on our own. Today I decided to ride past Double M to the east. I have not done that much and want to get familiar with the trails in that direction.

Lily seemed happy to hit the trails today. We met quite a few other riders which was no surprise being such a lovely day and a Saturday. I rode 184 over to Double M. Then took trail 188 to what I think is called Vultures Bluff. I rode along the bottom of it and then took an unmarked trail that circled around the top. That eventually brought me back around by the fire road. So, I took that towards Pounds Hollow Lake. I took the trail to the left that goes by the spillway. Lily was not thrilled about going up by that big gaping hole spewing water (actually, the water was quite sluggish) out of the hillside. She didn't refuse but did hug the left side of the trail pretty hard. We went across the dam and took the trail that goes along the west side of the lake. Just as you get on that trail, there is a muddy spot right close to the water that is full of roots and Lily sunk a leg down in a spot and got bogged down for a moment. She managed to get herself out and keep us both safe. Good girl!

The mosquitoes were vicious today! I've never seen them like this here. Lily's face was covered with them. She ignored it for the most part. She's amazingly tolerant of bugs. I came out to trail 183 and followed that back to 185 and on home. Lily was a wonderful girl today.

Labor Day Ride

Yesterday, I stayed home to catch up on some yard work. So, today it was play time!! It was a hot day but the humidity wasn't unbearable so I figured I'd head out and play it by ear on how long I rode. When I got to the barn Lily was no where in sight. I stood at the stall door and called and pretty soon she came strolling in and stuck her head in the halter. I just love Lily's willingness to be with me. Lily is so good now about being tacked up. She stands so quiet and relaxed. Before mounting up, we practiced our in hand trot out again. Today she did it as soon as I asked. I was SO pleased with her. I mounted up and she left the barn nice and quiet today.

I decided to measure mileage on the trails today so planned to stick right with the marked Forest Service trail. I had my GPS, pen and paper to take notes and was ready to record some information. I took the north trail to Black's Cabin. There weren't any riders there today but Sally's crew was hanging out by the fence.

 We went out to Black Ridge Rd. and took Trail 184 to 185 to 184 to 005 into Initial Tree. There were quite a few riders there. I followed on group out of Initial Tree on trail 150. They were moving kind of slow so they let me pass them when they found a spot to move off the trail to let me by. I rode to the Memorial high line and lost my pen some where. So, now, all bets were off on staying on marked trail and I decided to do some exploring.

I followed 150 for quite a while then headed west on an unmarked trail over some rocks and eventually came to Circle Rock.

From Circle Rock I followed 180 to River to River, went west to the cabin and took the cut over trail to 146 went by the trail to Hurricane Bluff and rode to the Little Tee Pee. From there I went down the big hill that comes out on 180 at the Red Horseshoe high line. From there I stayed on the west side of the creek until I came to 185 the High Country Trail. I kept to the west side of the creek until I was almost home. The trail crosses the creek twice. At the first crossing, Lily always wants to walk up the creek to the next crossing. It's a fun spot to ride in the creek so I let her.

We ride 12 miles and it was a wonderful ride. When I got back to the barn I practiced side passing in the yard then did another trot out in hand. Lily trotted right away. She is such a good girl! After I took her tack off I hosed her down to cool her off then let her out in the pasture so she could do what all mules love to do best, take a good roll in the dirt!

Wandering at Will

I slept in this morning, then did a bit of house work before heading over to the barn. It was quite warm today but I knew it would be comfortable in the forest. Lily seemed to be ready for an adventure when I got there. She eagerly met me in the barn and stood quietly to be groomed and tacked up.

I had absolutely no plan on where I was going to ride or for how long. I was just going to wing it. Before mounting up, I did a bit of practicing with Lily on trotting in hand. She thought that was kind of stupid but when she finally figured out there were treats involved, she decided to humor me. I mounted up and practiced side passing. It took a few tries but Lily seemed to be getting the idea. I rode out the north trail and Lily was a tiny big jiggy right at the start but settled right down within less than 1/4 mile. I rode up to Black's Cabin as I knew there would likely be a lot of people there being a holiday weekend. And I was right. I tied Lily up, took a few photos and talked with a group just getting ready to ride out. There were 4 mule riders in this group that had ridden out of High Knob. I asked if I could tag along with them for a while and they said yes.

 I mounted back up and followed the group at the back. The group was moving slower than Lily likes to walk but she is so very good about chilling out and just going whatever speed the equine in front of her is going. The other mule were also wanting to move a bit faster so the group split up and we 5 mule riders went on ahead. We rode along the creek and got onto trail 180 into Circle Rock and rode on out to the River to River trail. It was a real fun group to ride with and I had a great time.

At the River to River trail, I separated from the group and headed back by myself. Lily didn't hesitate for a moment leaving the others. She really seems to enjoy it when it's just the two of us. I rode east down the River to River to trail 185. I rode that for a while then sidetracked and just took whatever trail I saw that I wanted to go on following some very pretty bluffs for a while. I finally ended up back on trail 185 and took that back towards home and cut up over a steep hill that comes out on the Black's Cabin road and came home that way. Lily is turning into a great trail partner. I haven't enjoyed riding this much since Luke mule passed away. Lily and I did about 10 miles and it was a wonderful ride. It's still so hard to believe sometimes that I have such great riding right from my home.