Our Local "NO Hands Bridge" ~

Today's "V" shaped ride!

Art was early, he put new shoes on Farah's front feet!  The backs are only a week old & we were back on the trail.  The day had stayed mild, but heavily overcast.  I wanted to park at Haller, go over the Trestle bridge & head north at least as far as the Hwy 9 crossing where we'd stopped on our ride down from the Nakashima Barn.  

Looking South from the Hwy 9 crossing toward the Bryant Store

 It was 3.54 miles from Haller Park.  I thought about going on up to the barn, but had forgotten my rain coat, so decided to turn back & go explore the Whitehorse again at the Arlington end.  Back to the arch was 3 miles & our speed went up almost 2 mph!  :-)  

We're almost back to the arch!

I'd heard at the meeting that the bridge over the Stilly from the Whitehorse trail was again open.  Diane & I had ridden it years ago, but shortly after - it had been cabled closed.

The start of the Whitehorse

The trail here is a somewhat "heavy" rock surface, it had compacted a little from the last time I'd ridden it, but still nowhere for speed if you want to keep a sound horse.

Views of the river abound~

Even with the heavy going, it's so beautiful & fairly quiet, just some noise from 530.  Before long I knew we were coming up to the bridge.

Crossing Tin Bridge~

Tin Bridge is #1 on the Whitehorse, leaving Arlington & going toward Darrington.  It crosses the north fork of the Stillaquamish river.  Far & away our favorite. Beautiful, historic & challenging if the Salmon are jumping!

Our GPS track over the bridge & back~

 It's like going through a gate to a different land!  From the dark high cuts on the side of the trail along the river, to the wide open green fields on the far side!

Farah see's excessive grazing options here!

I knew that unless the County had been spending $ I hadn't heard about, that we would come to the temporary end shortly, we did in 3.35 miles

The "end"

The first time, Diane & I had found a way around, but now the blackberry that had been cut then, had re-grown over the trail.  It was only maybe another mile past this point - that we'd found the first of many bridges with rotten planks.  All will need repair before the remaining portion of the trail can be opened.

White pins show the distance between completed/ open trail portions

After a short grazing break, we started back.  There were places where the rock was so heavy that the only safe speed was a walk...  but before long we were back at the bridge.

Bridge from the east end~

Farah checks out the river~

 About a mile from the arch, we could see a jogger up ahead.  Farah picked up the speed of her trot & we caught him!  :-)  Really nice kid & he knew he was being run down!  :-)  Again our pace on the return picked up almost 2 mph!

Back at the Arlington Trestle

A couple was admiring the view just before mid-way across.  Farah was so nonchalant that when they spoke to us, she stuck her head in the mans chest to see if he might have a cookie?  I'm going to have to remember to keep her back from people a bit further - since she is so people friendly!  :-)

Back at Haller, we felt the first of the rain drops.  We'd covered just shy of 14 miles - the gold girl hadn't broken a sweat.  We're ready now!