Rough Ride

Went on the most interesting trail ride yesterday about an hour south of here in a National forest. Parking only 1/2 mile or so from the interstate, the territory got very real very fast.

Remember several posts back when I talked about rain, and when we had a lot of rain, the bugs were just terrible? Well, add that to a very hot, VERY humid day, and the deer flies were just almost unimaginable.

But the area was beautiful: sandstone formations, red soil, rough and mostly unspoiled. Due to the heavy flooding that occurred here a few weeks ago, we expected the trails doing up and down to be washed out some, but I'm not sure we expected them to be as rough as they were. We were up to the challenge though!

It starts off simple enough: wide, cleared trails along the ridge then eroding to the sandstone foundations as you moved off the ridge. We quickly found it behooved us and our mounts to break off a long twig with plenty of leaves so we could almost constantly brush our horses ears, necks, sides, and hips to keep the blood-sucking flies off them. As we descended into the woods though, it slowly became cooler. We were riding to a small waterfall down at the bottom, close to the river and I had been warned the trail to it was pretty treacherous and washed out.

She wasn't kidding. The last part of the descent was at least 1/4 mile of very steep, rocky, washed out trail. It made our horses be very careful about where they put their feet, and the going was slow, as they had to stop and rest often, especially my mare who isn't in the best shape, and was also carrying a heavy rider. Did I mention the trees over the trail haven't been trimmed in some time, so the entire ride was spent ducking under and around, and even through tree limbs? That's fun when you're also heading straight downhill on a rough trail.

Finally, we get to the offshoot trail that runs along a creek. After about a 3 foot ledge drop, we are at the waterfall. It's small with a lovely pool underneath. The territory here looks very close the way Daniel Boone found it, other than the evidence of the trail itself being cleared. After resting the horses here, we made our way over another rock ledge and along the creek for quite a distance. It was so lovely and cool down here, it was easy to forget the heat and humidity a couple hundred of feet above us. This was definitely worth the treacherous trip down, although my mare, who was already soaked in sweat and tired, might have begged to differ.

After riding through the bottom of this incredible, natural creek, (while dodging tree limbs and sweeping deer flies) it was time to begin our ascent. When we got to a certain point where one fork went up more in the sun, we chose the other fork, not realizing how badly it had washed out in the flood. Through another creek and up through the lower part we went, until we reached the point where the trail had one short stretch going straighter up the hill.. and we stopped and stared. It looked like a snowboarder's half-pipe! With huge boulders and rock ledges in the bottom of it.

We let the horses the rest, and made a plan. We needed to stay up on the left side of the "pipe", on the soft slope. My partner and her horse made it up just fine, but my mare was already so tired, plus carrying me, AND she is blind on the left side.. we made it about 1/3 of the way and then she dropped down in the bottom of the pipe between ledges. Luckily, it was an easy task to go back downhill here, so we went back to the bottom, and I dismounted and led her up this part. Once I was walking it myself, barely able to keep on my own feet, I was really glad I was leading her and not riding her. We made it up through the wash just fine, panted and puffed, and rode on.

A bit further we had to work our way through a downed tree, and some very tenacious vines, and we were back up on the ridge. What a ride!!

It didn't hit me until later that this particular ride was a metaphor for life. There are some beautiful parts, some scary parts, some aggravating parts, but even with the bad stuff, the good stuff makes it so worthwhile in the end!

And I am so humbled by my QH mare, who worked sooooo hard and was so exhausted by the time we got back to the truck. I'm sure this wasn't how she had envisioned spending her day.. and yet she worked so hard, and carried me around the hills and rocks safely, just because I asked her too. What a good, good girl. Horses are such a gift....