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.