Slept like a log last night, the first time in a long time! Feeling more refreshed, we saddled the horses up after breakfast, and headed out toward the group camp, where we picked up the blue Shore-to-Shore Trail that runs through here. In fact, there are horse camps every 20-30 miles along that trail, from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan, which the Michigan Trail Riders Association organizes several times during the summer. Anyway, we came to the fork, one to McKinley, the other to Oscoda, essentially west and east on the trail. We headed west, as we had been told the trail followed the river and had some nice overlooks. We soon came to a water crossing with a nice bridge, where people were fishing and boating at the "watering hole." We crossed over and headed through woods, then across a field where we could see the river (not realizing at the time this was what was considered one of the overlooks), then continue on for about an hour. Footing was find, but honestly, we thought the trail was a bit boring, at least compared to what we're used to. There was one section of deep, cool, eerie pines, but it only lasted for a couple of minutes. Eventually we turned around, then on the way back we turned onto a trail that headed straight for the river, and that was much more interesting. I was pretty sure this was the river trail one of the ladies had told me about, though we were coming at it from the opposite direction, but was soon vindicated when it came up right where I expected it to. It was a lot muddier than the other trails, but not too bad, and it certainly was a prettier ride, with narrower trails, all single file. We got back in about just over two hours, covering about 5.5 miles, just right for our first day, exploratory ride!
Slept like a log last night, the first time in a long time! Feeling more refreshed, we saddled the horses up after breakfast, and headed out toward the group camp, where we picked up the blue Shore-to-Shore Trail that runs through here. In fact, there are horse camps every 20-30 miles along that trail, from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan, which the Michigan Trail Riders Association organizes several times during the summer. Anyway, we came to the fork, one to McKinley, the other to Oscoda, essentially west and east on the trail. We headed west, as we had been told the trail followed the river and had some nice overlooks. We soon came to a water crossing with a nice bridge, where people were fishing and boating at the "watering hole." We crossed over and headed through woods, then across a field where we could see the river (not realizing at the time this was what was considered one of the overlooks), then continue on for about an hour. Footing was find, but honestly, we thought the trail was a bit boring, at least compared to what we're used to. There was one section of deep, cool, eerie pines, but it only lasted for a couple of minutes. Eventually we turned around, then on the way back we turned onto a trail that headed straight for the river, and that was much more interesting. I was pretty sure this was the river trail one of the ladies had told me about, though we were coming at it from the opposite direction, but was soon vindicated when it came up right where I expected it to. It was a lot muddier than the other trails, but not too bad, and it certainly was a prettier ride, with narrower trails, all single file. We got back in about just over two hours, covering about 5.5 miles, just right for our first day, exploratory ride!
No comments:
Post a Comment