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| Trail Gone~ |
With the rest of the week a busy one for me & the weather supposed to turn - I wanted to get out again today & knock off the ten-miles, that stood between me & a very big mileage number! Pat & Donnie were game to ride, Sharon & her daughter Beth were too!
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| Another trail gone~ |
Bracken seemed a good idea. I'd been told that it was being logged like "crazy", but as we started out - everything seemed
normal... We rode over to the far side of the power lines, where there
were a couple very nice, long trails for trotting. One minute we were on the trail, in the next was a sign saying that logging would be heavy between 12/27 & the first week of Jan. Then - beyond that - we hit the actual work area.
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| Pete's trail too - Gone... |
It was very treacherous going - through the slash on the ground & heavy track from the excavator... We were thankful that things were frozen - because otherwise I doubt we could have made it through. With warmer temps it will all turn to very deep, heavy mud. After all the years we've ridden here, all the time that's been put in on maintaining these trails - to have three very nice, long used ones torn to bits is really - by anyone's reckoning - devastating...
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| On Tin Bridge |
So, we headed over to the Whitehorse trail & Tin Bridge. The level of water in the Stillaquamish was really low! The week plus of dry weather shows here!
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| Top dressing the rock~ |
Another surprise waited for us here! At least it was a positive one - the heavy rock on the trail is being top dressed with dirt & fines. Very
fine fines... I'm hoping not so fine that they turn as hard as concrete when they settle? More questions for our Snohomish County Park Rep. We'd discussed this at the Centennial Trail Coalition meeting last week, but I had no idea that the work would commence so quickly! Sadly though - the hole that I've wanted filled for a long while now - will probably be put off until spring.
We headed back, the sun was sinking & the temperature dropped. I was watching my Garmin & just at the break spot - it rolled over the ten-miles I needed to top 1,400~ Yippee! So much fun to reach the goal & have friends there to share it with you!
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| Pat, Beth, Sharon, Donnie & Connie |
As we were coming back to the trailers, Sharon said; "Gosh it would be nice if someone was there to take a photo of us." Luck was with us & there were two other riders just loading their horses to leave. They were nice enough to take our photo!
One of days where I would have normally been saddened by the logging & loss of such beautiful trails, but the upside is the continuing work on the
Whitehorse & having such good friends to ride with!
Congratulations on your achievement! That's an outstanding # of miles!
ReplyDeleteThanks VERY much Liz! It feels like a big accomplishment to me anyway :-) I've found that what I really like is pretty simple... & goes right back to my favorite quote; "Ain't nuthin like ridin' a fine horse in a new country - Augustus McCrae – Lonesome Dove"
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