Hackin' Our Way Through~

Here's where we started~

Original plans were to ride, but it was raining...  Then - the day started clearing off.  Joyce sent a text to say that she'd decided to ride, but by the time I saw it - it was too late to meet her.

I'd been wanting to try to ride out from home & see if I could still go north.  I took my hand pruners & heavy gloves.  As we went around the corner to get on the trail - the blackberries were in our face.  That was OK, I felt like doing some hacking!

The woods~

It's easy to make yourself forget something that you know you're going to lose...  Then it's in front of you & all your senses tell you that you're home...  When I think of what we used to have & that only this small bit is left - well - it hurts.

To the power lines

Up on top, it was just a gorgeous day - I was glad I'd left all the stuff I was doing to ride.  Of course the cutting to get through was a chore, but Farah got pretty good at stopping for evey overhanging bunch of blackberry & letting pieces fall on her while I cut.

Fireweed going to seed~

 I wanted to see if I could still get all the way north, so we kept going.  Our four-mile rock was almost hidden with shrubs since the last time things had been cut under that line.

Lots going on at the Power Sub-station

 This was just up the road from our break spot.  While I let Farah graze, a ATV came down the road toward us - going really slow...  He threw his hands up in the air as he saw us & asked if it was OK to go past.  I turned Farah to face him & that's when I saw what he had across the front of the vehicle...  A huge bow & arrows.  That scared me senseless...  You can bet money that next time we go out - whether it's warm or not - Farah will be wearing her orange rump rug.  I'm going to try to find an orange halter too.

The climb back

After that encounter, I was ready to head back & hustle.  So we hustled...  I saw one more ATV go by - but couldn't tell if he was hunting.  I was on alert all the way back...

From the other direction

We were out of the woods & headed down the hill past the cattle.  Farah looked, but took it much better than I expected.

Pilchuck with a little cloud drifting over~

We stopped to talk to Pat & Donnie on our way home, planned a ride for later in the week, weather permitting.  Butch was home, working on the cover for the camper.  Nice end to what ended up being a really nice almost first day of Fall!