Hit the road fairly early, again trying to beat the heat of the day. Made a quick stop for breakfast on the way, then straight east on 64, then north on I-79 until our exit. Stopped the the Tractor Supply for oats and few sundries, then decided to skip our planned Walmart stop in favor of a Kroger that was next to the Tractor Supply. It didn’t have all we had hoped, but enough for the weekend. Stopped at the Headquarters for the forest to get some maps and a bit more information, though once again, the office folks don’t get out much, and weren’t very helpful about specifics. I had had a long conversation with a ranger in the district where we were heading, and he recommended the Grady Creek area. It’s not generally known as a horse area, but he insisted the horse area would be so crowded, even on a Thursday, that we might have trouble getting our vehicles in comfortably, and that Grady Creek was suitable, so off we went. It wasn’t too far out of the way, and in fact, was in almost a direct line when we would be leaving, so it seemed the perfect place. After a long and scary twisty downhill ride on County Road 12, we made a sharp turn to the left on Forest Road 162, which was a reasonably maintained gravel road, except for a few notable sections when the potholes were too plentiful to miss. I guess I misunderstood the ranger, I thought he had told me there was an area at the end of the road that was a campground, but instead there was simply dispersed camping all along the Forest Road, which paralleled the creek. We went all the way to the end, only to discover a small cul-de-sac that was just barely large enough for me to turn around. Having seen all the spots coming in, we selected one near a clearing that was a turnout (of which there were several along that road, leading to vault toilets), just on a corner. There was some gravel there, although not completely graveled, but we were close to the creek access and there were several good trees from which to highline, so we got busy and got settled in. The BEST, most immediately relief was from the heat! We were now at a considerably higher altitude, and the temperature was a good 15 plus degrees cooler than it had been, thank goodness! We got the horses watered and highlined, didn’t even bother with the satellite dish as there was a mountain and a forest between us and the satellite signal, and we had the awning up and the lawn chairs out in no time. We really set up a nice cozy corner for ourselves, and were really looking forward to our ride tomorrow!
Hit the road fairly early, again trying to beat the heat of the day. Made a quick stop for breakfast on the way, then straight east on 64, then north on I-79 until our exit. Stopped the the Tractor Supply for oats and few sundries, then decided to skip our planned Walmart stop in favor of a Kroger that was next to the Tractor Supply. It didn’t have all we had hoped, but enough for the weekend. Stopped at the Headquarters for the forest to get some maps and a bit more information, though once again, the office folks don’t get out much, and weren’t very helpful about specifics. I had had a long conversation with a ranger in the district where we were heading, and he recommended the Grady Creek area. It’s not generally known as a horse area, but he insisted the horse area would be so crowded, even on a Thursday, that we might have trouble getting our vehicles in comfortably, and that Grady Creek was suitable, so off we went. It wasn’t too far out of the way, and in fact, was in almost a direct line when we would be leaving, so it seemed the perfect place. After a long and scary twisty downhill ride on County Road 12, we made a sharp turn to the left on Forest Road 162, which was a reasonably maintained gravel road, except for a few notable sections when the potholes were too plentiful to miss. I guess I misunderstood the ranger, I thought he had told me there was an area at the end of the road that was a campground, but instead there was simply dispersed camping all along the Forest Road, which paralleled the creek. We went all the way to the end, only to discover a small cul-de-sac that was just barely large enough for me to turn around. Having seen all the spots coming in, we selected one near a clearing that was a turnout (of which there were several along that road, leading to vault toilets), just on a corner. There was some gravel there, although not completely graveled, but we were close to the creek access and there were several good trees from which to highline, so we got busy and got settled in. The BEST, most immediately relief was from the heat! We were now at a considerably higher altitude, and the temperature was a good 15 plus degrees cooler than it had been, thank goodness! We got the horses watered and highlined, didn’t even bother with the satellite dish as there was a mountain and a forest between us and the satellite signal, and we had the awning up and the lawn chairs out in no time. We really set up a nice cozy corner for ourselves, and were really looking forward to our ride tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment