Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - Computer and Rest Day

I spent the day on the computer taking care of numerous business chores, while Hubby did a few things around the house and campsite. A nice, uneventful day, looking forward to a ride tomorrow.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Monday, August 30, 2010 - Drive Day to Dru Barner Horse Camp, Georgetown, CA

Had a much less eventful drive day today (thankfully!), at least once we got off the mountain. I was naturally concerned about getting down the last descent without losing brakes, but fortunately, since it was still cool when we left, the brakes stayed cool as well. Easy freeway driving most of the way. Stopped at a Wal-Mart Supercenter and did some shopping, and was solicited by a rather nice fellow in the parking lot to take some of the dents out of the pickup, something that had been offered before but we refused. This time, we accepted, him having made an offer we could hardly refuse. It was finished and looked quite nice, even had a layer of wax on it to polish it off, a great improvement. Then we headed off to the Georgetown Ranger Station where I finally got to meet Cindy, who had graciously answered numerous questions during several phones calls previously. We spent about half an hour looking at all the trail maps (they even have a bandanna with the trail maps on it! What a great idea!), finding a place nearby where we could dump (expensive, but worth not having to go farther), and getting us out to the campground. With 48 campsites, and so many trails, we were sure the place would be quite busy, but other than one family tenting, no one was here! We were surprised. We were told that ORV's do use some of the multi-use trails, but some trails here are equestrian only (though we were also told sometimes the dirt-bikers ignored that sign), so now we're curious why this place is so underutilized. Guess we'll find out better when we go riding. Anyway, Cindy sent another ranger, who is their local horse expert, out to visit with us, and she chatted with Hubby while I was off dumping a few miles up the road. Despite the fact it is almost completely forested, clever and resourceful Hubby managed to find the ONE site that might be able to get a satellite signal, and it was plenty big enough for both vehicles, with room to spare. No corrals, but plenty of trees to highline the horses comfortably. Got set up, grateful we were in early, relatively speaking, even got the satellite dish up before we settled in. AND I'm getting 3 bars on my cell phone... Yeah!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sunday, August 29, 2010 - Rest Day

Only did a few things in preparation for our departure tomorrow, otherwise watched movies and relaxed all day, taking a much needed day off!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Saturday, August 28, 2010 - Ride Day at Mendocino

Much of the National Forest is dedicated to ORV's, in fact, from the look of the place, this would be the place to train if dirt bikes were an Olympic sport, but the wilderness is off-limits to them, so that's where we headed. The ranger station had a fabulous, expensive, water-resistant map of the ORV trails, but nothing on the equestrian trails. I had managed to persuade one of the workers down at the ranger station to photocopy a map of the wilderness they had hanging on the door, just enough so we could plan our trail day, but it wasn't terribly revealing. At least it would (hopefully) keep us from getting lost. We headed out around 11:00. The first mile or so was pretty good, not too stony, fairly wide trails with just ordinary hill and dale kind of riding. Once we crossed the creek, it was another story! First there were two adolescents shooting off a gun or fireworks or something within 20 yards of the trail (in spite of a very visible sign at the trail head about having to be 150 yards off the trail), but some hikers we met earlier had warned u they were there, and we heard them as we approached. They didn't hear us, though, and there was a couple of exchanged with them getting them to quit while we passed, which they did for about 10 seconds. Fortunately our guys are getting so used to hearing gunshots in the forest they hardly pay it any mind anymore. Then, we started climbing... and climbing... and climbing. No pesky switchbacks here, most of the trail went practically straight up! The further we went, the narrower the trail got, and in some places, we were literally hugging the side of the mountain, with the trail only about a foot wide, and in some cases, sloping DOWNHILL, with a precipitous dropoff an inch away. The trail had gotten rocky, so we had stopped to put boots on, and parts of the trail was loose rocks and dirt, making the liklihood of a slip much greater. Five miles of uphill climb! Not fun unless your horse likes to pretend he's a mountain goat! We finally reached a point where we could stop for lunch, where I climbed up to a peak for a better view. It was an okay view, nothing as spectacular as many others I've seen, and certainly not worth all the work to get there. We hadn't quite reached the crossroads where several other loops joined this trail, and appeared to be more level on the top of the mountain, but frankly by this time, we had had enough. We headed back down, down, down, slipping and sliding a lot of the way. Going straight down isn't fun for anyone, but our guys were troopers the whole way. Thank goodness they're so good! If there had been even a little bit of a fuss, someone would have been down the slope at the bottom of the mountain, bleeding or dead. By the time we got home we were exhausted again. We gave the horses an extra ration of grain as a reward, then flung ourselves into our recliners. It was then that we made the decision to leave on Monday, although originally we were going to stay until Tuesday. Neither of us wanted to ride these trails again, and not being able to have a cell phone signal nearby was problematic, as we had so many irons in the fire work-wise right now. Freedom is wonderful, it certainly allows for last minute changes without any fuss!

Saturday, August 28, 2010 - Ride Day at Mendocino

Much of the National Forest is dedicated to ORV's, in fact, from the look of the place, this would be the place to train if dirt bikes were an Olympic sport, but the wilderness is off-limits to them, so that's where we headed. The ranger station had a fabulous, expensive, water-resistant map of the ORV trails, but nothing on the equestrian trails. I had managed to persuade one of the workers down at the ranger station to photocopy a map of the wilderness they had hanging on the door, just enough so we could plan our trail day, but it wasn't terribly revealing. At least it would (hopefully) keep us from getting lost. We headed out around 11:00. The first mile or so was pretty good, not too stony, fairly wide trails with just ordinary hill and dale kind of riding. Once we crossed the creek, it was another story! First there were two adolescents shooting off a gun or fireworks or something within 20 yards of the trail (in spite of a very visible sign at the trail head about having to be 150 yards off the trail), but some hikers we met earlier had warned u they were there, and we heard them as we approached. They didn't hear us, though, and there was a couple of exchanged with them getting them to quit while we passed, which they did for about 10 seconds. Fortunately our guys are getting so used to hearing gunshots in the forest they hardly pay it any mind anymore. Then, we started climbing... and climbing... and climbing. No pesky switchbacks here, most of the trail went practically straight up! The further we went, the narrower the trail got, and in some places, we were literally hugging the side of the mountain, with the trail only about a foot wide, and in some cases, sloping DOWNHILL, with a precipitous dropoff an inch away. The trail had gotten rocky, so we had stopped to put boots on, and parts of the trail was loose rocks and dirt, making the liklihood of a slip much greater. Five miles of uphill climb! Not fun unless your horse likes to pretend he's a mountain goat! We finally reached a point where we could stop for lunch, where I climbed up to a peak for a better view. It was an okay view, nothing as spectacular as many others I've seen, and certainly not worth all the work to get there. We hadn't quite reached the crossroads where several other loops joined this trail, and appeared to be more level on the top of the mountain, but frankly by this time, we had had enough. We headed back down, down, down, slipping and sliding a lot of the way. Going straight down isn't fun for anyone, but our guys were troopers the whole way. Thank goodness they're so good! If there had been even a little bit of a fuss, someone would have been down the slope at the bottom of the mountain, bleeding or dead. By the time we got home we were exhausted again. We gave the horses an extra ration of grain as a reward, then flung ourselves into our recliners. It was then that we made the decision to leave on Monday, although originally we were going to stay until Tuesday. Neither of us wanted to ride these trails again, and not being able to have a cell phone signal nearby was problematic, as we had so many irons in the fire work-wise right now. Freedom is wonderful, it certainly allows for last minute changes without any fuss!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Friday, August 27, 2010 - In Search of a Cell Phone Signal

Spent the day trying to find a cell phone signal. I actually found just up the hill from the campground, but for some reason I couldn't call out on it. Maybe it was roaming, or a competitor or something, but I just couldn't get through. One of the rangers had told me that sometimes you can get a signal down by the lake, which was another 5 or 6 miles further up the road, so off I went. The road quickly turned to gravel, in some places very rough, mostly narrow. Again, it took a long time to get there. Once there, I couldn't even get a signal, much less a usable one. Rather than let the trip go to waste, I took the time to refill the horses' barrel, as we had already used up a third of it, and I didn't want to make that trip again! I headed back to the campsite, filled all the buckets and tubs again, then headed down the mountain, still searching. I finally received a signal... about the time I got to the ranger station! I've never seen such a dead zone! Well, I filled up the barrel again, then went down to the local general store (one of about 3 buildings in town), bought some tomatoes, then found a shady spot to get online, which, at last, I could do. Did some work, even got a phone call from a potential new client, would you believe! After about an hour or so, I headed back up the mountain, which only took 45 minutes in the pickup truck. I only hope the trails are worth it!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Thursday, August 26, 2010 - Another Long and Windy Drive Day

Got out by 8:30, after putting the 5-gallons of gas into the van, which was in the red and dinging at me, drove through the Redwood Forest, which, of course, is gorgeous, but it was a narrow road, and although it was paved, it was rough, like there was no foundation, which seems to be typical in the area for some reason. This area of California has the worst roads we've ever seen, and it's not just a recent phenomenon, they show signs of long-term neglect. Things improved somewhat once we got onto 101, but even that was only freeway part of the way, some of it was windy, twisty back roads. Stopped for gas and a sub at the first place we could before pressing on. We arrived at our crossroads before noon, trying to decide whether to go to Jackson State Forest, 17 west, or Mendocino National Forest, which was east, then north, then west. A lot farther, but at least it would be at a higher elevation, so probably cooler. It didn't make sense to stop that early, so we decided on the latter, also knowing it would be hotter in the valley. So off we went. Route 20 across the south end of the forest was a good road, and it didn't take us long to get to I-5. Though Gracie was telling me to take a shortcut, I had already spoken to the woman at the ranger's office, and she said that shortcut was twisty and gravel and hilly, so we took the longer way. We arrived at the ranger station just after they had closed, but had been told we could help ourselves to the hose outside the office, so we filled up the RV, the big horse tank, and everything else we could get our hands on, as there was no water at the campground, not even for the horses. Then things REALLY started getting interesting. The road into the forest was by far one of the scariest, twistiest, and more heartstopping we had ever been on. The first climb was very twisty and steep and narrow, but fortunately, not too long. The subsequent descent was not as steep, but still narrow and twisty, so we took our time. The next climb wasn't quite as steep as the first, but it was LONG and twisty, very narrow, and had dropoffs that put the fear of God into us. You remember "the bus to Cartegena" that Joan Wilder climbed onto in the movie Romancing the Stone? When she looked out her window and it went straight down? It was like that, only without the comfort of a jungle to land on, only rock. Just when we didn't think it could get any worse, the last mile or so had potholes big enough to swallow a VW bug, absolutely impossible to get around. So needless to say, it was slow, slow, slow going. Although it was only 12 miles from the ranger station to the campground, it took us over an hour to get there. A white-knuckle drive like this one wasn't exactly what we had in mind for this late in the day, but we didn't have any choice. In for a penny, in for a pound! The entrance to the campground was down about 20 yards, then a sharp switchback for another 20 before entering. None of the campsites were really big enough for us, (or anything in the form of a camper, really), except one site that was fortunately next to the corrals, which was really a two-sided group corral. We managed to fit in well enough to not block any traffic, got set up and tried to relax. What a couple of tough days!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Wednesday, August 25, 2010 - Bad GPS, Bad Day

Got up by 7:30, had a quick breakfast, then ran up to my cell phone spot to try to confirm our plans for the day. Turns out there is a new horse camp in Mendocino National Forest, despite the convictions of the woman I spoke to yesterday. I found it on www.horseandmuletrails.com, but wanted to get it confirmed, which I did this morning. I also called the Jackson State Forest, which is on the way, and learned much more about their horse camp as well. Both seemed suitable, so now we had choices. I looked up a few others, and called to get enough information to be confident if something changed our plans. Boy, was I in for a surprise today! Our plans changed big time. We followed the directions to the Mendocino Horse Camp provided by both Gracie (my Verizon GPS) and Google maps. There was only one road into the Mattole Beach, and at the crossroads, only two ways out, north and south. We came in from the north, which was really hairy, and now were had to go south. After many miles of windy, twisty, mostly paved roads we arrived in the tiny town of Honeydew, where we had a choice to go northeast through the Humboldt Redwood Forest to 101, or southeast, which was a direct route to Mendocino. All maps pointed southeast, so away we went. Within a few miles, we started climbing, and before long, the road turned from pavement to gravel, then suddenly went steeply uphill, then into a very sharp switchback with very soft ground. It was so bad, Hubby couldn't even make it up with the pickup truck hauling our little two-horse trailer. We knew we were in trouble. The road was very curvy before we got to that point, and the gravel made it quite slippery, so we knew we couldn't just back down the hill. The only saving grace was that there was another, rougher gravel road going straight out of the switchback, but was so steep I didn't have a chance. So Hubby managed, struggling, to turn around and go down the hill to a narrow pullout just below me. We unloaded the horses, unhooked the trailer, then attempted to use the pickup to help me up the hill like we did in Wyoming that time. No go. Part of the problem was that I had so overheated the engine that it didn't have any power, making me fear I had blown the engine, plus I had been low on gas, and with the nose pointed upward, the gas had fallen out of reach of the pump. So we used our container of generator gas to shore up my gas supply, and popped the hood hoping to help the engine cool. Hubby then drove the pickup back to Honeydew to see if he could find help. The nearest tow service was two hours away, but we figured if we could get a good four-wheel drive truck up there it might do the trick. Hubby returned relatively quickly with just the truck, Bob, who owned the little grocery/hardware store and gas station (the only center of commerce) in town. He hooked up, and was soon pulling me up the gravel road off to the side. After several attempts, I managed to back up the RV without falling into a ditch or off the side of the mountain sufficiently up the hill to turn around. Whew! Another close call! Filled our 5-gallon gas can with regular gas (all Bob had besides diesel), and went on our way. We tried to give him some money before we left, but being a true good semaritan, he refused all offers. All said and done, though, it took several hours, and as it was already going to be a long day, we had to skip Plan A (Mendocino) and Plan B (Jackson State Forest), and go to Plan C, Cuneo Horse Camp in the Humboldt Redwood Forest. We were avoiding that one because it was $35 a night, plus $8 for a second vehicle, and worse, less than 30 miles as the crow flies from where we started in the morning, but under the circumstances, we were just too tired and stressed out to carry on, particularly as there wasn't any place else we could find. Fortunately, it was right on the road we were on, and the camp host, Sharon, met us at the end of the driveway (she'd been alerted we were coming when I called for directions), and after some dickering, she agreed to give us the senior discount (a whopping $3 off), and not charge us for the extra vehicle. Apparently, it used to be $20/night, but the state raised it to $35 last year. We discovered later that that had caused a precipitous drop in attendance, so whatever revenue the state had hoped to gain actually resulted in a drop of income. Typical tax and spend thinking, I'm afraid. Anyway, Sharon helped us get settled in, we put the horses in corrals, wrote a check, was told dogs must be on a leash at all time because of baby deer and bears and other various wildlife they covet at this park. Then we were told our generator would have to be off by 8:00 pm and we couldn't put it on again until 10 am, a moot point as we would be long gone by then. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to turn the inverter off this morning, so the batteries didn't charge very much (we have an energy drain on the system somewhere, we haven't been able to find it yet), so by 8:30, in the middle of a movie, the batteries died. Hubby read for a while, I worked on my computer, but we were asleep by 9:30, exhausted from the stresses of the day.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 - Birthday and a Tough Ride

Today was my birthday, rec'd lots of unexpected greetings on my Facebook page when I checked my email. Then I started making calls, trying to confirm where we were going next. Turned out the "camp" I thought we were going to wasn't really a horse camp, and couldn't be reached with a rig our size anyway. That left me scrambling to find an alternative. Everywhere I called seemed to say no, no, no. I left a message at Jackson State Forest (there office was only open from 9-12 Tuesday-Thursday, with Fridays off, so I missed them. I left a message, then continued to keep calling other possibilities. Several hours later, I was no further ahead and feeling very frustrated. I didn't really want to spend my birthday hearing nothing but negatives. I finally gave up, leaving it until tomorrow, because I still wanted to get a ride in today. Got back around 3:00, managed to saddle up quickly and move out, but both horses were not in the mood. We struggled with them for several miles on the southbound trail before finally giving up and heading back up the beach northbound again. My gelding was a bit more cooperative, but Hubby's mare was entirely not interested in those thundering waves. Passed a couple of intriguing clam beds, though, almost considered grabbing some, but didn't want the horses to get any more anxious than they already were. Got back to camp, and decided to give them a quick wash, as the sticky stuff from the local weeds had really been destructive on their faces and below their chins. Had a decent lamb meal after that, then decided to again ride the horses up to see the sun set. Hubby has never gone bareback before, but decided to try it out for that short ride up the berm. He hopped up from the picnic table, and after just a few moments, his horse made a tight circle and, not being used to it, he came tumbling down. I helped him up, and he insisted on getting back up, so we tried it again. This time I stayed with him longer until both he and his mare had gotten used to the idea. Then I fixed up my gelding and jumped on him and off we went. It was another beautiful, clear sunset, and the horses did a great job, behaving themselves despite their earlier obstinance. Headed back afterward and relaxed for the rest of the evening, not sure what tomorrow will bring!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Monday, August 23, 2010 - Cleaning Day

As we had a source of water, we decided it was high time to do a good cleaning of the vehicles. They all had a cover of dirt months old, so we scrubbed and scrubbed, getting everything looking sharp. How long it will last is anybody's guess, but it was worth doing. It took most of the day, added to a short trip to check email and phone messages, so we were exhausted by the day's end. We had just enough energy after dinner to go watch the sun set, although this time, I decided to ride my gelding bareback without a halter, while Hubby walked his mare up. My gelding did a wonderful job of standing still while we watched the sun set, again on a beautiful evening, then, as we turned to head back toward camp, we discovered a nearly full moon rising above the opposite landscape, atop the hills behind us. It was spectacular! A quick walk back, a movie, and then to bed.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010 - Short Ride North

Only took a short ride today, heading north along the edge of the Mattole River, which was quite wide, but with low tide there was a sandbar across along the beach side. We didn't go too far, only to a large rock in the water, to see if it was birds or seals sitting on it. Turned out to be birds, seagulls. The horses don't really like the hard slog in the sand, and the crashing waves weren't the most calming thing for them either. Plus the beach on that side was littered with driftwood the size of redwoods, so we had to keep them close to the shore, and they fussed a bit about that. Only stayed out about an hour, but it was pleasant enough, being another crisp, gorgeous day, all sunny and temps in the low 70's. At sunset, we once again sojourned up the berm to watch the sun set on another beautiful day.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Saturday, August 21, 2010 - Ride to the Lighthouse Day

Woke up again to cloudy and misty skies, a bit of a cool wind coming off the water. While the rest of the country is suffering heat waves, we're wearing sweatshirts here! Thoroughly enjoying the temps, though, they're perfect for riding. Saddled up and out before noon, headed up the trail at the base of the hills the track along the beach. The trail was pretty sandy, but slightly firmer than the sand at the last beach. While Wild Mare had a light-colored sand, this beach is dark gray, turning black when it gets wet. There was also enough vegetation to walk on, making it a lot more comfortable for the horses, although is some spots we had no choice but to walk on the beach to get around atolls that pushed out toward the sea. A very dramatic coastline, with big rocks along parts of the beach, and cliffs that go almost straight up from the beach. We headed south toward the Punta Gorda lighthouse, which turned out to be a rather short stubby lighthouse that hadn't been in use since 1951, but it had a placard that explained how difficult it was to have been built, how the materials had to be highlined from a ship, and how it was being built after a tragic shipwreck that took 80+ lives. Interesting. I climbed a very narrow circular staircase with a very small opening at the top (they were definitely small in those days!) to view the sea from above. Took a few pix, then headed back down and back down the beach. Just before reaching the lighthouse, we came across a small homestead, all wood and few amenities, with two or three out buildings, tucked up in a small cove next to the largest stream we had passed since we left camp. At first we thought it must just be someone's vacation cabin, but we both saw someone moving around inside. Obviously someone who truly likes isolation! We didn't see any vehicles or animals, though I guess there might have been one in one of the outbuildings. No signs of electricity, no TV antenna or satellite dish, and I can imagine it gets mighty cold in the winter! Maybe it is just a summer place. Also, just south of the campground, there was an area fenced off with a couple of placards describing the archeological significance of the place, the remains of an Indian encampment. Apparently, the local Mattole tribe came here every summer dating back several thousand years, and evidence shows the shoreline has been receding over that time due to the movement of the tectonic plates, because the older remains are farther inland. We love these places that provide a bit of history! It was a lovely ride, we passed several hikers and the goat guy along the way. Got back in fine shape after about three hours, just right. Relaxed the rest of the day, ran out once to check email and phone messages, and walked up to the beach to watch the sun set (a ritual shared by virtually everyone in the campground) before settling in for the night.

Saturday, August 21, 2010 - Ride to the Lighthouse Day

Woke up again to cloudy and misty skies, a bit of a cool wind coming off the water. While the rest of the country is suffering heat waves, we're wearing sweatshirts here! Thoroughly enjoying the temps, though, they're perfect for riding. Saddled up and out before noon, headed up the trail at the base of the hills the track along the beach. The trail was pretty sandy, but slightly firmer than the sand at the last beach. While Wild Mare had a light-colored sand, this beach is dark gray, turning black when it gets wet. There was also enough vegetation to walk on, making it a lot more comfortable for the horses, although is some spots we had no choice but to walk on the beach to get around atolls that pushed out toward the sea. A very dramatic coastline, with big rocks along parts of the beach, and cliffs that go almost straight up from the beach. We headed south toward the Punta Gorda lighthouse, which turned out to be a rather short stubby lighthouse that hadn't been in use since 1951, but it had a placard that explained how difficult it was to have been built, how the materials had to be highlined from a ship, and how it was being built after a tragic shipwreck that took 80+ lives. Interesting. I climbed a very narrow circular staircase with a very small opening at the top (they were definitely small in those days!) to view the sea from above. Took a few pix, then headed back down and back down the beach. Just before reaching the lighthouse, we came across a small homestead, all wood and few amenities, with two or three out buildings, tucked up in a small cove next to the largest stream we had passed since we left camp. At first we thought it must just be someone's vacation cabin, but we both saw someone moving around inside. Obviously someone who truly likes isolation! We didn't see any vehicles or animals, though I guess there might have been one in one of the outbuildings. No signs of electricity, no TV antenna or satellite dish, and I can imagine it gets mighty cold in the winter! Maybe it is just a summer place. Also, just south of the campground, there was an area fenced off with a couple of placards describing the archeological significance of the place, the remains of an Indian encampment. Apparently, the local Mattole tribe came here every summer dating back several thousand years, and evidence shows the shoreline has been receding over that time due to the movement of the tectonic plates, because the older remains are farther inland. We love these places that provide a bit of history! It was a lovely ride, we passed several hikers and the goat guy along the way. Got back in fine shape after about three hours, just right. Relaxed the rest of the day, ran out once to check email and phone messages, and walked up to the beach to watch the sun set (a ritual shared by virtually everyone in the campground) before settling in for the night.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Friday, August 20, 2010 - Rest/Computer Day

After such a long drive yesterday, we were all pretty tired, so we decided to let everyone rest today. We woke up to misty clouds, which seems to be perpetually present here, at least until late afternoon when it all finally burns off. I went out in search of a cell phone signal that was good enough to get broadband, and found a turnout on the road just half a mile from the campground. Spend a few hours working in the pickup, getting maps of the area and tide information, since one trail was marked "impassable at high tide," as well as making a few essential phone calls. Took a walk down to the beach, and met up with a gentleman who was walking a couple of goats. I waited until he came close and said "I have to ask..." and he responded "Pack goats." Apparently he was training the animals to carry packs for hikers. It was then I noticed he was wearing a prosthetic on one leg. We had a nice chat about the goats, and had the dogs introduce themselves as part of the training. It was a fascinating concept. Later, Hubby and I walked down to the beach to watch a beautiful sunset over the Pacific.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Thursday, August, 19, 2010 - Drive Day and Change of Plans Day

Set the alarm for 7:00, not knowing what the day would bring, hoping for the best. It was a pretty good drive to the Redwoods, and since we weren't sure what would be greeting us there, we wanted to get an early start. Out by about 8:30, heading down some beautiful sections of 101. Arrived at the Redwoods Information Office in Crescent City, only to discover these were the same people we had spoken to on the phone who only knew how to say "NO" to everything. I don't know how they can say "Horses Welcome" and at the same time have no horse camps, no trailheads that a horse trailer can reach, essentially, no access, period. They claim to have an arrangement with the rodeo grounds at Orick where you can park, just not overnight, unless you want to pay $10/night per horse to put them in their corrals. Sorry, but we didn't come all the way to ride in the Redwoods only to camp in a parking lot along the road. It's a mystery to me, they have 14 campgrounds in the Redwoods, and not one of them allows horses! Anyway, despite their claims to the contrary, I found the office "help" to be very unhelpful, so much so we simply decided to skip the Redwoods entirely and head straight for our next stop, Mattole Beach outside Petrolia. It was another two hours, and we still had to stop to dump and to shop, so we hit the road quickly, knowing it was going to be a long and tiring day. We discovered a Texaco station with an RV dump behind it, and also stopped at a Safeway just off 101, then headed out. We left 101 at 211, which turned out to be the shortest way, but it was all 20 mph or less for almost 30 miles (no wonder Gracie had said 1:44 for a 54 mile trip!). Though the road was paved almost the entire way, the pavement was very rough, lots of potholes and missing chunks, and the twists and turns were harrowing in places, not to mention narrow, with tiny shoulders on occasion to allow traffic to get by. It was a long climb up the Rainbow Ridge, then we were meandering through grassy fields with lots of cattle and horses and few houses. After staying along the ridge, we were finally met with some spectacular views of the marine layer cover the Pacific. While we were under clear blue skies, the mist/fog layer was obviously just above the shoreline and stretch backed into the ocean as far as the eye could see. It was stunning! Eventually, we started descending, and the grade was so steep in some places, my brakes started that characteristic burning smell. I had to stop once to let them cool, then started using my trailer electric brakes much more often. Just before dropping down to the beach, there was a short section labeled 8% grade, but I guarantee it was steeper than that at the end. I felt like I was practically standing on end! At last we safely reach bottom (and would you believe, there was one point when we met a semi-size moving van coming the way? Thank goodness for those turnouts!), and followed the coastline, practically right on the beach. It was beautiful. We finally crossed back inland a bit to the tiny town called Petrolia, then followed Gracie's instructions to Lighthouse Road, which ended at the Mattole Beach Campground 5 miles later. The road was "paved" almost the entire way, with just a few patches of gravel repair, but lot of potholes and one section of really washboardy road just before the camp. The camp was right on the beach, except there was a large berm separating it from the tide-line, which provided excellent shelter from the strong ocean breeze. Two of the fourteen sites had highlines for stock, and were big enough for both our units, thank goodness. Despite the difficulties in getting here, there were at least five other campsites already taken, mostly with tents, but everyone was friendly, generous to the dogs and curious about the horses. It was obvious that no horses have been here for a while, the highline area was seriously overgrown with what I later learned were mustard plants. Our neighbor, a professor from UCLA, pointed out the water spigot, and we moved the RV up to fill up our tank. (I had confirmed, twice, that there was potable water here.) Afterward, having given the horses time to get the shore legs back, I set up the highlines for them. It was then I discovered another spigot at a cement water trough just behind our site! It was close enough that we could have filled our tank without moving, but it was so buried in undergrowth we didn't even see it. Anyway, we put a short hose on it (the trough was full of filthy water, so we weren't about to use that), making it a perfect way to fill our water tub without have to lift and carry. Yeah! This looks like a perfect spot to spend a week, maybe more! Despite the fact we didn't arrive till about 7:00, we were all settled in and walking down to the beach, drink in hand, to watch the sunset race down into the Pacific, peeking out from under the marine layer before sliding into the sea. Gorgeous! A long hard day, but with the perfect reward at the end, a place we can stay for a while! Hopefully I'll be able to find trail maps for the area (according to one website, this is the northern trailhead for the King Range, and has a seven mile loop to a nearby lighthouse as well), but I'll have to drive back up the road a bit to find a cell phone signal. Just out of reach, unfortunately! Enough signal for my phone to know what time it is, not enough to make or receive calls. Looks like a quiet weekend coming up!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - Another Ride Day on the Beach

Before our ride, I decided to call our next stop, the Redwoods National and State Parks, to get more information about their horse camping. Their website declares that horses are welcome and that there are several areas for horse camping, some with access from a road, others in the backcountry. Well, that didn't really turn out to be true. The women at the office said that none of the horsecamps were near a road that was easily accessed, and that parking at the trailheads was prohibited. This contradicted everything I had previously read about the Redwoods, and what had previously been told to me on the phone, so now we were stuck. I spent a couple of hours frantically trying to figure out alternatives, but all took us way out of our way. This was a big problem. Finally, we simply decided to go there and check at the ranger station, as we have had so many experiences where the people in the office really had no idea what was actually out in the woods. Having made that decision, we saddled up and took another ride, this time heading out under bright sunny skies and warmer temps (low 70's), toward Bluebill Lake, which supposedly had a trail around it. Well, we never found the trail, but we did follow a road and cross the dunes, a rather boring landscape, actually. The footing was tough on the horses, as the sand was deep, so we tried to stay more on the vegetation. Again, my gelding pitched a fit or two (his way of showing his unhappiness with the extra work he was being required to do), but settled down once we headed back toward the beach, having backtracked and circled through the campground. They were much calmer on the way to the beach today, though they still had a bit of trouble getting near the waves. Going southbound was worse, going northbound causes less problems. Obviously we need to work on the other side of their brains (as anyone who's done any training can attest, you have to teach the same lesson twice every time, because horses truly have two sides in their brains, and both have to be taught the same thing. Really!) After heading south for a while, we crossed back over the berm and came back across the dunes, which had firmer foot over vegetation off the trail, and were back in camp in no time, having had a couple of lovely trots, and a few short hair-raising gallops across the open fields and up the sandy trail. They really don't like this soft sand, and I can't blame them. I tried to take the dogs for a short walk up the trail, and it was really tough! Anyway, we're off the beach and back to the forest (hopefully!) Tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 - Laundry/Feet in the Pacific Day!

Well, the time has come to do laundry. Though the RV has a stack washer/dryer, one must have water and a drain for it to be useful, and we've had neither for months, so we've reached the point of running out of clothes, so a trip to town is a must. I went to a laundromat (having acquired a bunch of quarters at a car wash change machine a few weeks ago), only to discover they used plastic cards that you had to buy from a machine with bills (no quarters). The price seemed very expensive for the machines, the process seemed too complicated, and there was a stern woman who worked there looking over my shoulder, so I decided to move on to another laundry. Gracie (my Verizon GPS) led me to another laundromat, one without a sentinel, but that was also plastic cards. I guess that's all the rage these days. Anyway, the price of the machines was considerably less, so I was happy I moved. Several hours later, and after a side trip to the hardware store, I was heading back to camp. Even though the weather was damp and was sprinkling intermittently, we decided to take a short ride to the beach just to see if we could persuade the horses into the ocean today. After all, it has been since last October since they've been on a beach (on Assateague Island, Maryland), and they had to be persuaded there, too. So we saddled up, happy we didn't need boots, and took the mile trail to the beach. The sand was soft, and the footing so different, the horses were snorting all the way, with my gelding pitching a fit or two on the way. They just about settled down when we crested the berm where the beach lay. They were all a-twitter for a while, but it didn't take long for them to relax a bit, at least until we tried to get them nearer to the water. That took some patience and time, but eventually, success! Feet in both oceans! And in less than a year! Pretty cool! We headed back to camp, delighted with our results, looking forward to a little celebration. As we were putting the horses away, Judy came by, and we invited her over for a drink. She came by a bit later, and we sat at the picnic table and chatted for several hours, getting so involved that she apparently missed dinner, which she had planned to have with her son and his family at the next campground over. He arrived with a covered plate, then he got involved with the conversation and we chatted for a while more before he had to get back to the family and Judy left to have dinner. We did the same, had a pleasant evening before landing in bed, content with the day.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Monday, August, 16, 2010 - Drive Day to Wild Mare Horse Camp, OR

Having been in sight of the beach for several days, Hubby and I are anxious to get our feet wet in order to fulfill our objective, and today is the day we're going to the place that will let us do that. After the usual shopping stops, we found the Wild Mare Horse Camp (again, no thanks to the office staff whom I called for directions), a well appointed campground with tarmac pads and plenty of corrals. We selected a site large enough for us, although we were disappointed to discover that the previous occupants hadn't bothered to clear out their corrals (shame on you, whoever spent time in #6!). Water was nearby, but wasn't a spigot, so we had to become creative, using a tub to fill with water, then using the drill pump to get it into the RV tank. Didn't take long to get settled in, one of the advantages of a more developed campground. Met a backcountry packer name Judy who shared pix and stories about her adventures, looking forward to swapping more stories tomorrow.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Sunday, August 15, 2010 - Another Ride Day

We decided to take another, shorter ride today, leaving on Horseshoe Lane, a trailhead heading east out of the camp. It was an old roadbed for a while, with some gravel, but it wasn't long before it petered out and became another nice trail. It weaved throughout some of the oldest trees we've seen yet, obviously having been missed in the conflagration much of the rest of the area suffered 70 years ago. We took every loop, having learned by now that every trail here has a purpose to it, not just trails for the sake of trails. We weren't disappointed. This trail's end loop took us to a well-placed bench (of which there were many in this forest) with another fantastic view of the shoreline. Truly a fantastic spot, and being just off 101 makes it even more convenient. Highly recommended!

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Saturday, August 14, 2010 - Top of the List Ride Today!

Wow! What a fantastic ride today! We were out about 4 hours, covering the 10 mile outer loop, with great views of the Pacific Coastline and one looking right down 101 for miles. The trails had just a few spots with some stone, but mostly they were dirt and pine needles. Again, the forest seemed ancient, with moss hanging from limbs and covering all the stumps, but this time there were very few cut stumps. Apparently there have been fires and wind storms that all but flattened the forest back in the 1930's, so the oldest trees were more than 70 years old, which around here makes them a good 30 inches in diameter. The trails had placards at every intersection, making it impossible to get lost, and there were even informational placards discussing points of historical interest and one that showed animal tracks so that you could get to know who you're sharing the trail with, from muskrats to bears. Be sure to take the short loop up to Cape Mountain, there's a regular little museum exhibit up there, with blown up pix of what the forest looked like in 1934 after it had been razed by Mother Nature, not to mention a great place for lunch. The trails were well groomed, no problems at all. We even passed through the Dry Lake Trailhead, which, in addition to a parking area for day use, also has an area with multiple corrals, a group camp as it were. All in all, this one definitely goes to the top of the list for trails, making the only drawback the lack of easily available water and the lack of knowledge on the part of the folks at the ranger station.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday, August 13, 2010 - Barrel Day

After breakfast, I headed down to the nearest town of Florence, and found a hardware store. I explained my problem, that we wanted to remove the top of the barrel (it was melted on), and she referred me to their equipment/tool rental place a block away. A very nice man on a scooter chair named Bob helped me. He whipped out a skilsaw and was soon cutting through the top like butter, then he wouldn't let me pay him (his Friday the 13th present). After thanking him profusely, I went to the Safeway next door to get Hubby the dark chocolate we had forgotten early, then back to the hardware store for drum liners (55-gallon garbage bags), then down to the car wash to wash out the barrel. Fortunately, though it looked and felt like oil, it washed down easily under high-pressure soap and water. Then I found a 76 gas station with a handy hose, lined the barrel, and proceeded to fill it to the top. My plan was to twist-tie the top to keep it from spilling, but there wasn't enough left at the top, so I bungeed the lid from the metal grain can on top, and put the top that we cut out from the plastic barrel and bungeed that as well, both fit well enough to do the job. Drove slowly back to camp, spilling very little. After filling their two big tubs about halfway up (three portable buckets apiece), we still had almost two-thirds of a barrel left, so this should be plenty for the weekend, especially since there's likely to be water on the trail. Had hoped to get a short ride in, but too much work to do, and Hubby had the need to take a nap from his exertions while I was gone, so we called it quits by 4:15, opened the bar and settled down for the night.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Thursday, August 12, 2010 - Drive Day to Horse Creek, Siuslaw National Forest

Got up about 7:00, got out by 8:30, heading west until we picked up 101, the famous Pacific Coast Highway. A little while later we saw our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, in effect completing our cross country trip, from sea to shining sea, though I said it doesn't count until the horses get their feet in the Pacific, the way they did in the Atlantic on Assateague Island last October. That will have to wait till next week, when we'll be actually camping on the beach. Meanwhile, we had more immediate challenges to solve. We knew that the campground we were going to had no potable water, and the stock water was somewhere 1000 feet from the camping area. Though I tried to find out from the local ranger office whether we could reach the water with our truck, I couldn't get a straight answer. I spoke to two girls who didn't know anything other than what was on the website (which I had already read, thank you very much), then got transferred to someone's voicemail, but who didn't call me back until after we had already arrived. We stopped in a small town to try to find some kind of storage tank for water, but all the local farmer's coop had was a 63-gallon one that fit into the back of a pickup, which would have been perfect except it was over $200 (yes, I'm the thrifty type). As we were leaving, though, I saw a plastic 55-gallon drum by the front door with a sign asking for food donations. I went back in and asked if they sold those drums, and was told no, but the lady at the desk asked around, even getting on the phone to find out who had them, and discovered they were from a feed store just up the road. So she called them and handed me a phone, and sure enough, they had one. If we wanted it, it would be sitting by the back door of the loading dock, and we were free to take it, no charge! So we ran by and picked it up. It was dirty, looked like it had some kind of oil stuff in it, but it turned out to be something they use of cow teats for some reason. We put it in the back of the pickup, not sure whether we would need it or how it would work, but convinced it would be useful at some point. We continued to head south on 101. Though we were driving right along the coast, the turn into the forest took us up a narrow road that climbed into the hills (it's hard to call something 1370 feet above sea level a mountain). I let Hubby go first to scope out any problems, and he started out rather disappointed at the campground, and particularly in the distance to the water, which, in fact, was actually down a switchback on the trail, better than a quarter mile away, with no hope of being able to lug any up to the campsite. Contrary to what the ranger gals told me, it was not a pond or lake, but a trough with a hose coming out of a spring to fill it. It would have to be walking the horses there until we could modify our newly-acquired barrel. We found a pretty nice spot facing a bank of trees, and after getting the horses in their corrals, spent an hour getting the satellite dish set up. Afterward, when the horses had had time to eat some of their hay, we decided it was time to get them to the water. They had had a long drink when we filled the RV tank at a campground up the road, so they weren't desperate. Anyway, I put my bridle on Apollo, and swung myself on to his bareback, something we had never done together before. He wasn't quite sure what was happening and pranced a moment, then settled down when he discovered he could now reach clover. I let him graze a bit, letting him (and me) get accustomed to this new feel. Hubby handed me his mare's lead, and off we went! I sensed that both horses were a bit curious about what this new thing was, but were on their best behavior, almost like they were trying to help me out! Good horses! We made our way to the trailhead, then down the trail, which has a pretty good grade to it. Made it down to the trough without incident, and they both had a good long drink. Back up the hill (I'm not ashamed to say I had to hold onto his mane to keep from sliding back too far), and got back to the campsite in one piece in just a little over ten minutes. Everybody happy at the new experience! Off to bed with a list of things to do in the morning!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 - Great Ride at Tillamook State Forest, Except...

Excellent trails, soft footing, almost no rocks. Beautiful old growth forest, with huge stumps covered with moss. You can practically see the burly lumberjacks in red plaid flannel shirts, hefting long-bladed two-man saws on those giant trees, a mule team hitched to a wagon nearby. Some areas were almost primordial, with moss hanging, lots of moisture, the ground on both sides of the trails completely covered with green ferns and low bushes, at times growing into the trail, which, surprisingly, had only minor and old signs of use. Really a beautiful ride, except... the trails frequently crossed the gravel forest roads, which were constantly in heavy use by these loud, mosquito-like motorbikes. Fortunately, the motorized and non-motorized trails were almost never the same, unfortunately they sometimes paralleled each other, and often crossed each other. This wouldn't be quite so much of a problem if the riders adhered to the 25 mph speed limit, but they rarely did. We were lucky to have only one incident, when Hubby and I had stopped to look at a map kiosk at a trailhead, and he had gotten off his horse for a minute, when suddenly we heard the telltale buzz coming from up the road. Before we even had a chance to react, two cycles buzzed by at top speed, sending his horse toward him, stepping on his foot and knocking him over (which, at least, is better than having her bolt with him on top of her), and my horse snorting in a tizzy for a few seconds but with no place to go. They were gone so fast they didn't know what to do, which I guess is a good thing. It's a dangerous place, and though it's obvious the forest people have tried to reduce conflicts, there is still major room for improvement. I would suggest a Horse Crossing sign and 5 mph limit at every crossing, at least that might minimize the racing that seemed to happen constantly on every straight-away of the road. And this was during the middle of the week, I would hate to see in on the weekends! It's easy to see why the horse camp was empty and pristinely clean of any signs of horses ever being there, though it was a lovely setting. Not many large sites, though, and the one we used (#10) would have been perfect if it hadn't been for the immovable fire grate placed right smack dab in the middle of the best place to park an RV. Oh, well, maybe someday we'll find the perfect horse camp. We'll keep looking! Packed up all the extraneous items in preparation for tomorrow, then relaxed for the evening after our 5-hour ride.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 - Dreary Day

Slept even later than usual, didn't get out of bed till past 8:30, having heard the sound of a vehicle pass us, evidently the park workers came in to clean. I went out to feed the horses and discovered it was wet outside. Not exactly a rain as much as a collection of humidity dropping from the trees, and it was quite cool, in the low fifties. I covered up the hay with a tarp to protect it. After breakfast, Hubby finished re-working the drill pump setup, even adding a makeshift filter to keep the hose from clogging up, then we finished filling up the horses' tubs plus a spare. It being so cool, they aren't drinking much anyway. Though we had planned to ride today, with the weather being so damp and chilly, we thought the better of it and stayed in for the day, mostly reading and watching movies. Good idea, actually, helped us recover from last weekend's long rides!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Monday, August 9, 2010 - Travel Day to Stagecoach Horse Camp, Tillamook State Forest

Didn't get up too early, as the trip today is only about 2 ½ hours long, though we did need to stop and shop for groceries and to buy some green coffee beans (Hubby roasts his own) in Portland. Found a Safeway store before we got on the highway with relatively inexpensive gas, did our food shopping and jumped onto I-5. Stopped at the rest area to dump, then went into downtown Portland to get out beans a the Portland Roasting Company. They didn't ordinarily sell green beans, but did make the occasional exception for folks like us who roast there own. It turned out to be a rather circuitous route, but we did get a good look at Portland, trolley cars, storefronts and derelicts and all. Finally got back on the highway, and after a bit of climbing (we're only at about 2000 feet, so it's not at all like really climbing), we turned onto the gravel road that would lead us to the Horse Camp in about 5 miles. We arrived to a narrow camp road, with only 11 sites, most of which were only suited for small rigs. There were a couple of larger sites, but they were a long way from the water source, which is a makeshift trough with a hose that gravity feeds off a small creek. I had forgotten about filling up our RV tanks until we were halfway up the gravel road, so we figured we would have to conserve, and maybe use the stock water for washing dishes, and skip our bi-weekly shower until we got to our next location, thinking at the time the stock water would be from a spigot like the last camp. No such luck. The best site for us would have been perfect, right next to the creek, except it had a huge set-in fire grate right in the middle of the area we would like to park. Not to be deterred, we backed in over the top of it as far as we could, and just managed to barely be back far enough to be off the road. Had the silly fire grate not been there, we could have gotten another 6-8 feet back, not blocked the corrals at all, and had plenty of room for the pickup as well. I really wish the Forest Service would have an expert come in and look at their campsites, it would be so easy to improve them in a way that would make them much more attractive, and bring in more user fees. Of course, I should mention this is a state forest, but nevertheless, why build a horse camp without understanding what horse campers need? I will give them credit, though, about one innovation we hadn't seen before. The corrals had high crossbars on them, and at first I couldn't understand why, but then I realized that the middle one was higher, and that if you put a tarp across it, you would create a temporary roof for when it rains. A good idea for an area like this, where it apparently rains a lot. Anyway, we had to spend another hour rigging up the generator, the drill pump and a hose system so that we could pump water from the creek to the horses. It was too steep to carry up tubs, so in the end, we felt this was the best solution. The only other one would be to walk the horses to the trough, which isn't far, but we like it better when the horses can drink for themselves. We weren't sure our little drill pump would have the power to push water that far and at that much of an incline, but it managed quite well. As it was getting late, we only filled the tubs about half full, with plans to finish it off tomorrow. Had a bite of dinner, watched a movie, off to bed, still tired from our two long rides over the weekend.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Sunday, August 8, 2010 - Another Ride Day

The day started out a bit misty again, but cleared up nicely throughout the morning. We had decided to take another, shorter ride today, and on the suggestion from one of the folks from last night, we decided to head to the Kalama Falls, which were supposed to be lovely. When I asked this morning how long a ride it was, one of the ladies said two miles, but was contradicted by one of the men who said five miles. Not wanting to take a long ride today, I hoped that five was the outside, as that would still make it almost 3 ½ hours, the max we wanted to be out. We got out about 11:45, heading out the same trail as yesterday, but with a quick turn to the right that headed us out toward the Falls. Again, we were thankful for the extra signs and ribbons left behind by the Fun Ride group, as the regular trail markers were sorely inadequate. Part of the problem was that Kalama Falls wasn't actually part of the National Forest, so it wasn't on any of the maps we had, so it was guesswork the whole way. It started out nice, but again turned rocky before long. We eventually came to a dispersed camping area with some young men misbehaving in the woods, and almost lost the trail but for the ribbons. We crossed Forest Road 81, and continued on through more rocky trails until we came to a gravel road that had no signs and no ribbons. We noted hoof prints scattered around, but most of them seemed to go kitty corner across to a berm of gravel, then on to a grassy road behind it. We made the same choice, and were rewarded about 100 yards up with another ribbon. That was the nicest part of the trail, mostly grass and a good place to get some trotting in, though it began to climb again. That eventually rolled into another gravel logging road, and we had now been out for more than two hours, already past our point of no return if we wanted a three hour ride. We made the decision that if we didn't hear the falls soon, we'd head back. Well, shortly thereafter we heard the falls, and the ribbons indicated a right turn. We could heard the falls off to our left, but then the ribbons indicated a right turn onto a lava field. We followed the ribbons, but they petered out, as did the trail, and the sound of the falls diminishing. We stopped at a campsite and had lunch, planning to head back immediately. As we came out of the lava field on to the road, however, I noticed a trail across the road. I suddenly remembered something one of the folks from last night had said, "Leave your horses in the lava field and walk down to the falls." So I persuaded Hubby to let me hike down the trail to see if, in fact, we were in the right place. Indeed we were! I came back and we led the horses to a little grassy area along the trail, then hiked down a very short ways to the river. Going left to the end of the trail, I found a beautiful view of the falls and the two streams that came together at that point. There was a huge tree that had fallen (or been put, though I don't know how!) that had obviously become a much used footbridge across the lower stream, so we crossed it and followed the trail to near the base of the waterfall. Had we wanted to climb across rocks, we could have stood under it, but we were already taxed from the long ride, and knowing we had a long ride back simply took a few pix and headed back. It was a beautiful spot, it was just that it was more live 6 ½ to 7 miles each way, something we really hadn't wanted to do, but hey, we were there, we made it, we made the best of it! The trip back ended up being shorter, partly because we did a bit more trotting and even cantering along the grassy road (as we were descending now, it wasn't as hard on the horses), and followed the road for the last bit, avoiding the rockiest part of the trail. We did eventually turn back onto a trail that seemed to head in the right direction, and sure enough, it brought us right to the campground trail. My gelding immediately turned left, knowing he was almost home, though I couldn't have said for sure which way to go. Minutes later we arrived at our campsite, exhausted after another long ride. We didn't go socializing tonight, we were just too tired and a bit sore. Looking forward to a good night's sleep in preparation for our travel day tomorrow!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Saturday, August 7, 2010 - Ride Day at Kalama (Mt. St. Helens)





Slept rather late, nothing like a patch of peace and quiet to get a good night's sleep! We headed out on the trail about 11:00. The trailhead has two separate trails leading out, one is Fossil Trail on the left, the other is Toutle Trail, which forks out later into Cinnamon Trail as well. We took Toutle Trail (328) toward Red Rocky Pass, which was a lava field with a great view of the mountain. We had heard Cinnamon Trail was very difficult, so we took a pass on that one. Toutle Trail took us past some huge pine trees, even larger than the ones we saw at White Pass. I guess the further west we go, the bigger the trees will get! The day was a bit misty, with a forecast calling for afternoon rain, but that is obviously quite typical here, as these massive trees also had moss hanging from their limbs, something we haven't see since Louisiana. It was quite a nice ride to Red Rocky pass, albeit a constant climb, though the trail was a bit more rocky in places than we would have liked. The first part of the trail was covered with a fine gray ash, obviously a remnant of the volcano exploding some years back. We passed McBride Lake, circling on a rather narrow trail with steep drop that I wouldn't recommend for an unseasoned horse. The climb ended at the trailhead near the lava field, which was a bit harrowing. Though some effort had been made to create a path on top of it by filling in the gaps with gravel, there were a few spots that were straight sharp-edged black rock. Thank goodness for Easy Boots! The unfortunate thing was that it was still so misty, we couldn't see anything but the base of the mountain, and a quick glimpse of a bit of snow during one brief moment when the clouds moved a bit. We stopped for lunch shortly after at the junction of 238 and 231, where Hubby inadvertently left behind his gloves on a stump, then headed back toward the camp on 231, a decision we somewhat regretted, because there were long section of very rocky trail, including two lava flows we had to cross, that were nothing but big boulders and sharp rocks, and almost no trail to speak of. In fact, we never would have found our way across if it hadn't been for ribbons someone had put up for a "Fun Ride" a few weeks earlier. I'm not sure I would consider taking my horse across a quarter mile of rocks "fun", but trooper that he is, we made it with minimal discomfort. The trail was very rocky most of the next few miles, with signs that the last explosion of Mt. St. Helens everywhere, dead trees and large black rocks that had obviously just landed hither and yon. Eventually the rocks diminished a bit as we slowly descended. We reached a steep section, and part way down we started hearing firearms, as though someone were target shooting at the bottom of the hill. As we got closer, I yelled to hold your fire, horses coming, but the firing continued. Between earplugs and a radio blasting rock and roll, there was no chance of them hearing me until we were practically on top of them. I finally did manage to get their attention (there were three of them, two men and a woman), and they were kind enough to stop while we passed, though they started up again before we even left the parking area where they were set up. Fortunately, the horses were only mildly concerned, they've heard guns before, just not that close up. We crossed the road where the trail go a little less rocky, and were back in the camp in no time. In all, the ride was about 4 ½ hours long, a good length, though everyone was tired. Gave the horses an extra ration of oats, then made a quick dinner for Hubby (I'm dieting :-) before we went down to visit with the folks down the road. We spent a pleasant evening chatting, with a bit of theatrical entertainment provided by Hubby, which met with warm enthusiasm from the group. Having not made a habit of socializing, it was a nice change. Came back around ten, to bed soon after.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Friday, August 6, 2010 - Runaround and Repair Day

Hubby left in the van to go hunt down the parts he needed to repair the hitch among other things, while I remained behind to clean house and so some little repairs. Our gas water heater had stopped working last night, so I cleaned that out good with a wire brush and that eventually did the trick. Did a whole bunch of stuff, kept busy until just before Hubby got back, then helped him with the hitch repair. Later in the evening, I took a walk around the campground in search of information about the trails here, eventually finding a group of three couples who are local, but hadn't been here in years, but they did their best to answer my questions. I had a good trail map, it was just a matter of which one would afford us a good view of Mt. St. Helens, which is the centerpiece for this area. Relaxed the rest of the evening, looking forward to our ride tomorrow.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Thursday, August 5, 2010 - Drive Day to Kalama Horse Camp, WA


Decided to take the long way around, via I-5, because we were concerned about the Forest Road being gravel, and didn't want to travel 70 miles on gravel, and also because we had some shopping to do. Stopped in the city of Longwood to do that, then traveled (with some construction delays) to the little speck on the map called Cougar. Fortunately, the gas station there had a water spigot outside, so we were able to fill up before backtracking to the horse camp (just a mile out of the way). We were pleasantly surprised to find that the road to Kalama Horse Camp was completely paved the entire 8 miles, making it a very easy journey. After touring the camp, we decided on site 24, as it was large enough and right next to one of only two water supplies (non-potable, for the horses only). Every site had corrals and was nicely wooded, though ours had enough clearance for Hubby to get a satellite signal. It wasn't exactly level though, so after some discussion, Hubby decided to unhook the RV from the van to make it more level. In doing so, he discovered that one of the two huge bolts that attached the trailer hitch to the van had sheared off completely. It was a wonder on the windy twisty road up here, we didn't lose the trailer entirely! Thank goodness we noticed it before reaching US 101 (the Pacific Coast Highway), one of the twistiest roads with the sheerest drops around! That meant our schedule for tomorrow wouldn't include a ride, unfortunately, but maintenance is a must to keep things safe.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Wednesday, August 4, 2010 - Ride Day




Slept late, still feel like we're catching up on zzzz's, I guess we need a day that we REALLY take off, completely! Nevertheless, we were out of the campground, with boots, by 11:45. The only maps I could find on the internet in this area were cross-country skiing maps (there's a ski lodge just across the street), which also happened to be good for horses, too, and the Pacific Crest Trail which apparently runs the entire length of the North American continent. We took a few of the short loops, then finally found the intersection for the Pacific Crest Trail (though it was only marked no bicycles at that point), where a pair of hikers assured us it was the right on, and they were kind enough to let us go first so we wouldn't have to pass where it was more narrow. We climbed and climbed (again) in search of views of Mt. Ranier, which we never quite found, before heading back down to a lovely area full of lakes and grass for lunch, then back by 4:15. The trails were fine, mostly dirt with some areas of rocks, and the trees were magnificent tall firs, many of them hundreds of years old. The trail was well maintained, with quite a few foot bridges over muddy spots and no trees across, all had been cut up. Really pretty, and the weather was perfect, partly cloudy in the seventies. We even passed a surviving patch of snow, would you believe! The first week of August and it was still holding out! Settled down for the evening, catching up on the blog while I have a good signal Not so sure I'll have one tomorrow!

Sunday, August 1, 2010 - Travel Day to Ellensburg, WA


Uneventful travel day, found a dump at a rest area, then traveled to our overnight stay at a wilderness area called Robinson Canyon. Conveniently close to the freeway, but the last half mile was on EXTREMELY rough roads. Discovered the creek that ran through it was dry, so we had to use every spare gallon of bottle water we had, plus some out of our diminishing RV tank to satisfy the horses. Too tired to do much of anything but crash. A well-used spot, though, lots of signs of equine activity.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - Work Day

Though I hadn't intended to work all day, that's what I ended up doing. Hubby decided he had had enough of mountains, so I started revamping the tour, which originally had us in mountains for the next few weeks before hitting the coast. After an afternoon of effort, I managed to rearrange everything so that we would have just one more stop in the mountains before heading west. Hubby did a few little chores, then spent the rest of the day reading a new book he just can't seem to put down. Looking forward to having the time to do that myself.... Can't get a satellite signal here, but the cell phone has 3-4 bars, so getting broadband was easy enough. Still time consuming though. Anyway, to bed, for tomorrow we ride!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Monday, August 2, 2010 - Breakfast with a Friend and Travel Day to White Pass

Had arranged to meet an old friend for breakfast at the Perkins at about 10:00, enjoyed catching up with him for the next 3 hours, a bit longer than intended, but then again, that always happens when we get together :-). The headed out towards Yakima, stopped there for gas, groceries, water and Home Depot before heading up to White Pass Campground, which has a loop for horses, conveniently located right off state highway 12. Stopped at the Ranger Station looking for maps (which they were quite happy to sell me, but didn't have any freebies, so I declined.) We arrived later than we had hoped, but in plenty of time to get everyone settled quickly enough. Had to take a run down to the lake for water for the horses (none on site), then we crashed quickly, still feeling exhausted from our busy week.