Gettin' Ready~

Mt. Pilchuck ~

It was a simply stunning day - another of sunshine with a breeze.  We're now seeing so many days like these - there's no way not to think our weather is changing.

See the butterfly?

I wanted to do a long ride & get in some solid trotting - Farah is about as ready as I can make her for another ride at Mt. Adams.  Going, gives us something to work toward as far as our fitness is concerned.  This year I wanted to give her the faster work we missed the past couple years.

Far trails~

We went around the mountain, then headed down to the Main Line.  It's 2.5 miles from below the pumping station, to the turn for the lower trails.  They do need some work & are on the list for the June 6th trail-clearing.  No way to make any time here - I wanted to see if I could remember the way to the river.

Low~

We found it!  There was also a big pile of debris that mostly blocked the way down to the water.

Looking at the way we came down~

It is on a little bend in the river, so the natural place for things to pile up.  I was still surprised, since I didn't think the water levels were as high this year.  So shallow, we walked out to the middle & stood for a long while - I watched as Farah's heart rate dropped & dropped :-)  She yawned & would have gone to sleep I think!  :-)  We celebrated her ninth birthday this week!  Incredible to me that we're coming up on our fourth anniversary together!

In the river~

On the way back, I let her decide which way to go & she chose a way that ended with a dead-end.  Then, we found another trail took it to a old road.  We heard voices!  These ladies didn't know much about where they were either & would have sent us the wrong direction.  I again gave Farah a choice & she took a trail that put us right up at the gate on 15th!  Good girl.  Coming back up the big hill she likes her run & this day we flew!  Hitting her top speed ever!  At the top, we scattered four guys on bikes who'd been in the middle of the intersection :-)

It took us longer than I'd expected, but our average moving pace was up where I wanted to see it - I think we're as ready as we can get :-)