Squatchsquirrels

It turned off quite chilly today and was cloudy all day. But, my friend Kathy was here at High Knob and our schedules finally aligned so we could ride together. Right with Kathy is a guaranteed good time. Kathy wasn't riding with anyone in particular today so she said to come over whenever I was ready. I hooked up the trailer and went over to the barn to get Lily. I loaded up my tack and then went out to the pasture and called to her. She came over and put her head right into the halter and loaded right up without a though. Lily was ready for an adventure too I guess.

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.

Poker Ride

Today Double M Campground was hosting a poker ride to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. I missed the ride last year so was determined to make it this year. So, I got up early and headed to the barn. I had not told Delbert that I was riding this morning so he had opened the gate to the big pasture and of course that was where Lily was. I walked out to the gate with her halter and called to her. Her head came up and she nickered to me and galloped right up to me. I gave her a treat and held out her halter.... and she galloped on past me on up to the barn and waited there for me. Well, that was fine.

I have not clipped Lily's mane for quite some time so she was looking pretty shaggy. I got my clippers out and clipped her mane off and neatened her all up. She was absolutely filthy from rolling in the mud and I cleaned that off the best I could. But, short of giving her a bath, she was not going to be white. I had to settle for a soft yellow. I did a practice trot out before mounting up and she did it perfectly. I mounted up and headed for Double M Campground. I decided to ride there by way of the road as it is only 1.5 miles from the barn that way. If I went by trail, it would be quite a bit longer. I was a bit apprehensive as Lily is not the steady Eddy on the road that she is on the trail. But, there is only one way she will get better is by exposing her to it. I rode down Cedar Bluff Lane to Thacker Hollow Rd. Right away we met our first car. It was my neighbor Shirley. She approached slowly and stopped to say hi so Lily had no issue with that. A 2nd car passed us from the rear and also went by very slowly so Lily wasn't bothered by that one either. When we got to the bridge, which usually bothers her, she did pretty well with it. She hesitated but then went right across. Lily was pretty relaxed over all and wasn't walking in the middle of the road snorting at the bushes on each side like she usually does. She was walking quietly on the side. Then we met with a white truck coming head on. It was not going overly fast and did slow more when I signaled it to but Lily still got worried about it and did a spin. UGH! But I got her moving again in the right direction. She did the same thing when the next truck passed us. UGH! When we got to camp, I rode into the driveway by the pavilion and right away Lily froze up and got all super snorty. I had to push her pretty had to get her moving again but I did get her going. And then it was flinch, snort, flinch, snort all the way to the restaurant. I don't know why she is such a dork about riding through the camps. Apparently we need to do it a lot more. I tied Lily up at the hitching rail and went to the restaurant porch to sign up for the ride and get my card sheet. Card were going to be drawn at 5 locations. At the top of the camp, at the spillway of Pounds Hollow Lake, Initial Tree, Black's Cabin and the final card at the restaurant porch. I was also told to keep an eye out for bandanna's tried in the trees. If one was found, you would win a prize.

 Lily danced and snorted the whole way to the top of the campground. We drew our first card there and then we were on the trail. Lily was now in her element and the fun began. The first thing was to decide which way to ride the loop and what trails to take. Black's Cabin was going to be the tricky stop as that is right near home and either way I rode the loop, we'd have to ride away from home from that spot and I didn't expect Lily to like that much. I decided to head east and go to the spillway first. So, I took trail 188 and headed there. There were a large number of people out riding again this weekend. It was hot today but not at all bad in the woods. Though the mosquitoes were once again pretty vicious. I drew my 2nd card and decided to take the trail that goes up beside the spillway. Not Lily's favorite spot but she went hugging the left hand side of the trail trying to keep from getting to close to the spillway itself. And there, half way up, was a bandana tied to a tree! I didn't know if I could get Lily to stop and stand long enough for me to get it but she was actually pretty good about it.

We rode up over the dam and took the trail alongside the lake. Where the trail turns to follow along the lake, there is a muddy spot full of tree roots. Lily got a rear leg sunk and caught last week and she definitely remembered that. She didn't fuss about turning onto the trail but at the muddy spot, she would NOT walk through that mud and dodged right up a slope into rocks and very heavy brush. She didn't care about the rock and brush but I was going to get knocked off her so made her stop so I could stop and untangle myself from the trees and lead her though the bad spot. She proceeded to crash though the brush along side the trail in that one spot but she went. I got back on and all we proceeded on our way. There was a pretty big group at the top of the long steep climb heading away from the lake. I let Lily stop and take a breather there and chatted with the other riders for a bit. Then we headed out along 183 and 106 out to Black Ridge Rd. Then we rode down along Indian Paint wall Bluff to Initial Tree. I passed 3 riders at one of the caves along Indian Paint Wall. One riders was an a lovely loudly spotted Appy mule. I stopped to chat for a moment. I told her mule mule had looked like her mule when I brought her up from the pasture this morning. Only my mule wasn't supposed to look like that. Then, they asked me if Lily was a champagne (color) I went with my, she's a cremello story. No one wants to admit they are simply riding a dirty white mule. There were a LOT of riders there. It was pretty crowded so I drew my card and kept going. I rode out 105 and now we were heading towards Black's Cabin and home.I took a short cut up a hill which didn't turn out to be the one I thought it was. I came out close to where 183 crosses Black Ridge Rd. I've seen this trail and wondered where it went. Now I know so that's a good thing. I decided to just ride right down Black Ridge Rd. to the Black's Cabin trail. There were quite a few riders at the cabin.

 I drew my card and headed right out. This is where I thought Lily would give me a bad time. She did express her opinion about heading away from home, but didn't make any big fuss about it and we were on our way back towards Double M. When I got back to Black Ridge Rd. I headed north and then took the T-Lick trail. I took another short cut that again didn't bring me out where I expected but did bring me out onto the wagon trail and that was as good a way as any to ride back to camp.

 Lily made a minor attempt to turn and follow a group of riders heading back towards home. But, it was a minor fuss and we were quickly going on our way with no more trouble. And soon we were back to camp. Lily was wonderful the while time out on the trail. But, as soon as we entered camp, she froze up and did NOT want to walk through camp. She spotted a covered wagon with a pair of gray mules and she wanted to go hang out with them. I think she thought it was our neighbor as they have the same kind of wagon and a pair of gray horses. It took some work to get her feet moving again but eventually I got her going and she snorted her way though camp down to the restaurant. I pulled my last card there, had a lousy poker hand but turned in my bandana to claim my prize which was a box of strawberry cupcakes!! Wooohooo!

I decided to ride the road back home. Lily was not at all happy with this decision. A couple riders were going a short ways down the road to get to their campsite. Lily sucked right in behind them for safety. When they turned up their camp road, Lily insisted we needed to follow them and we had a bit of a discussion about that. She was pretty adamant about it. I did eventually convince her to get moving down the road towards home. Lily walked along nicely and I was extremely grateful to not meet any traffic along Thacker Hollow Rd. And that the Alpaca's were not down near the road when we passed that far. The we came to the bridge that she had crossed quite nicely in the morning going away from home. She froze up again and just could not work up the courage to walk across. Now this is a very wide cement bridge that doesn't look, on the surface, much different than the road. But she knows...... I finally got her to cross that. I turned up Black Ridge Rd. to cut across my property to get back to the barn. A car passed us there and Lily paid no attention to it. But........ when I asked her to cross the little creek on our property that is dry and full of grass so you can't see the ground....Oh, no, she wanted nothing to do with that. Lily, Lily, Lily. Eventually, she did cross it and the rest of the way to the barn was uneventful.... well there was the dog kennel with the blanket hanging off it in Sally's back yard that was worthy of one snort. Once back in the barn yard, I asked her to side pass in both directions and she did good with that. I dismounted and did a trot out with her and she did that without hesitation. It was a great ride and overall a very good day. Lily and I had some challenging moments in places were Lily does not feel confident yet but we worked safely though them all.

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.