Cherry Creek Falls~

Ride to Cherry Creek Falls

I'd been waiting & waiting for the opportunity to ride to these falls, after seeing a photo that my friend Lynn posted on facebook!   I'd received a email from Dena, she had a day-off & wanted to ride on Tue.    I contacted Lynn & asked if she'd be willing to guide us to the place in the photo?  Being the super person she is - she agreed!  Of course I had to mention this upcoming ride to Brandi over the weekend & she too was excited at the prospect of new trails & a waterfall!   So!  Our ride was set!

We met-up at Taylor Landing - then drove from there to a wide place in the road where we could leave our trailers, saddle-up & head in.  Lynn warmed us that these trails were not for the faint-of-heart.  Logs, drops, mud, etc. - all the usual stuff, common when riding western, WA trails :-)  Before we were too far in, we came up on the largest of the obstacles that Lynn had warned of!

Riding her very nice QH mare, Bizy - Lynn sat her on her rear & slid down like a pro!  I've had issues in the past with this type of thing, so dismounted.  Farah slid down - I followed her while she waited parallel to me at the bottom - landing with my hands on the saddle to stop!  Next was Dena with her young somewhat inexperienced mare, Bella.  Dena too decided to dismount & let the mare go down on her own.  That worked, until Bella decided to bail & jumped back up the hill - passing Brandi at a trot & taking off down the trail...  Not far!  :-) 

Bella & Dena

Brandi grabbed her up & offered to pony her down, doing a perfect job of handling her mare & Bella too!

Brandi ponies Bella down as Dena watches!

After we were all safely across, Dena mentioned something about having a "collar" in her trailer but not wanting us to use it on her!  :-)

Since Bizzy is a bit slow - this day Farah was allowed to take the lead & lead she did!  It only took to a fourth consecutive day of riding & over 40-miles for Farah to to finally settle in & give me just a stellar ride!  Collected, slowing her gait enough to keep her companions with her - she never hesitated & led like she'd been doing it for years :-)  (I really think the Saddlebred is coming out!)  :-)

First view of the falls!

As you can see from the photo above, the first view alone was well worth the ride!  It was actually only about 3-miles in.  From up here we could hear voices!  As we dropped down the last steep little bit of trail, I hailed - to let several hikers know that that horses were coming down!

Linnea, Brandi, Dena & Connie

They were kind enough to take photos for us with my phone!   Somewhat surprised to see horses in the area, even though it was plain that the local riders do use the trails.  We all said that next time we'll bring some pruners etc.., & do some trail clearing on our way through.

Lynn's photo of our three smiling faces :-)

We did some exploring - as in taking anything that looked like it might be a trail.  We found one that went quite a long way - hopeful that it might circle around - but NO!  We came to a dead-end with a old small fire circle.  We'd done some brush-whacking just to get here!

Finally - after a couple loops - we headed back!  Total mileage wasn't impressive, but the ride sure was!  Once back at the trailers, we settled on lunch in Duvall before heading home.  Again - we have Lynn to thank for guiding us to a really beautiful place & taking us on a Very Enjoyable ride!