First Trillium of Spring!

Perfect Trillium

Lynn & I met at Kathryn Taylor Park - first trailers there.  It was a sunny, perfect morning, after starting out in the low 30's.  We planned to get in some miles & Lynn had a plan!  Once we'd started out, I realized that we were riding our longer loop - only in reverse!  Funny how just a change in direction can make the views fresh & interesting.  My surprise though - was finding blooming Trillium's!  The first few were beat by the heavy rains, but finally my search was rewarded when I found the one above!

Daffodils line the drive~

It was such a gorgeous day that I tried to overlook Farah's antics...  Head tossing, threats to buck - her usual arsenal of ornery behaviors.  The miles rolled by - we headed down the the Sammamish Valley Trail along the slough in Redmond.  We were surprised by the many people out enjoying a real spring day.

Farrel-McWhirter Farm

 Next we rode the long way around Farrel-McWhirter Farm.  All forested trails, we found a couple men surveying at the edge of one, they were unlucky enough to be working near a large patch of skunk cabbage!

 

Lots of water flowing everywhere!

From the park, we connected with the Powerline Trail & started back due east on the straight shot of rolling Big hills that we followed all the way back to Kathryn Taylor.

Powerline Trail looking east at the Cascades

 This gave us the opportunity for some trotting & a couple gallops too!  Sophie as usual set the bar high - with her good, fast working trot, so Farah had to reduce her antics to keep up.   The bikes found that while they excelled on the downhills, two galloping horses would pass them handily on the up!  :-)

As we rode back into the parking area at KTP, there was a woman who had her horses tied to the trailer while she was stripping hair, cutting the mane of a Fiord etc.  There were piles of manure - so it looked like they'd been there a while.  As she started to pull out - I looked over & noticed that all the mess still on the ground!  I had to run - but cut her off & asked her to stop.  She did & unhappily put her window down, as I asked her to pick up her mess.  She said;  "The manure?"  I responded;  "Yes & the hair too!"  Next - she asked me if I was the "horse police?"  I replied;  "No, just a horseman who wanted us all to be able to continue to have these amazing & few places to RIDE!"  UNREAL!  How can someone pull into a pristine parking lot & think that leaving a mess is OK?  

We covered just over 21-miles of urban trails in under five hours.

By day's end - we'd made plans to meet-up with Amanda in Woodinville for an impromptu birthday dinner!  Jack drove over & Butch met us too!  Farah was so surprised when he pulled in next to the trailer :-)  What fun to get-together & good time we had catching up!  The perfect way to end a perfect day of riding!