I parked in the usual day parking spot at the front of the campground. Unloaded Lily and sent Kathy a message that I had arrived and was tacking up. Her camp is at the back of the campground. Lily was quiet and relaxed when I saddled her. And she stood nicely for me to mount and we headed for the back of the camp. Our timing was perfect as Kathy was just coming around the corner as I neared the office. We talked a bit about where we wanted to ride. I'd asked her the previous night how to get to Mushroom Rock. It's west of the camp and I need to learn those trails better so we decided to ride out that way but with no particular plan in mind. Our plan was to have no plan and just wander as we pleased. Our mule traveled well together. Though they would pick at each other when we'd stop for a minute. We took turns leading. The first place we went to was Mushroom Rock. We each thought our mules would be a little excited with the cooler weather but they were actually both dogging us a bit. That didn't last though and they got into a good pace after a short time.
From there we decided to ride to Knight's of the Golden Circle.
After leaving there with no plan in mind we met up with some riders that told us that someone had come off a mule in Rice Hollow and broken their hip. It was 3 men riding together on two horses and a mule. They said the man was out of the forest and his wife had picked him up to take him to the hospital but the mule was missing. So, we decided to ride through Rice Hollow to look for the loose mule. We went through the hollow and didn't spot the mule. So we decided to go up over the ridge to the Tee Pee rather than ride back the same way.
As we approached the Tee Pee, we see a little animal there and it is running towards us. Kathy was in the lead and her mule Caroline immediately took evasive action. Kathy let me know it was a baby squirrel. The squirrel chased her.... and then it spotted Lily and me and came at us. Lily was also a bit freaked out by this and initiated evasive action. She crossed over a big log.... and the little squirrel clamored over the log and came after us. We went back over the log.... and the squirrel followed again, even though it was difficult for him to get over the log being so young. By now I was quite sure it was not rabid but just a little one in distress. I was afraid Lily would stomp it if it continued to chase us so I got off Lily to check it out.
Kathy declared it was a Sasquatch squirrel. The little guy ran up to me, climbed up on my shoe and sat there with his two front feet on my leg and gave me the saddest puppy dog look you have ever seen. What could I possibly do but tentatively scoop him up and hold him. No, he didn't bit my fingers off. He was just so desperate for someone or something warm to cuddle up with.
But now I had no idea what to do. Well, I just so happened to be wearing, for the first time, my one and only pull over hoodie with a nice big pocket right on the front. So, I tucked him into the pocket, then rolled the bottom of the whole hoodie up one turn to keep the pocket out of the squash zone once I mounted up on Lily. (the squash zone being the point of possible contact between my not so trim tummy and the pommel of my saddle. The little squirrel snuggled right in happily and stayed right there. We started out riding right straight back to camp. But, little Sasq (Sasquatch squirrel) was content and not moving around, Lily was neck reining nicely (as one hand was holding up my hoodie to keep Sasq safe) so we went back to camp by way of Cowboy Hideout. We came across another group of riders there. They'd heard about the riding accident but didn't have any new information. Lily Sasq peeked his head out of my pocket for a moment there but then snuggled back down in and didn't move again. When we got back to camp, we came in on the trail near the office. Kathy headed towards her camp and I headed the other way to my trailer. Lily is usually all snorty about riding through camp and sometimes will freeze up and not move at all. I only had one hand to deal with her but thankfully, though she was quite cautious, she didn't give me a hard time and we got back to the trailer with no incidents. I dismounted and removed Lily's tack and Sasq never moved in my pocket. Lily was, however, quite a naughty girl about loading into the trailer to go home. Oh well, she came though for me when I really needed it.
JoJo, the camp owner, was outside the office as we rode by so saw little Sasq. She loaned me one of her granddaughters little fleece blankets to wrap him up on for the ride home. Sasq slept the whole way home even though unloading Lily at the barn where I left my truck and trailer and the short walk home. Now, I have to get a crash course in how to raise a baby squirrel.
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