Snowline~

Fresh snowline below Three Fingers~

Saturday - a truly stellar day - again, Murphy's Law struck!  I had a commitment to attend a trail planning meeting in Darrington.  The Forgotten Children's Fund fundraiser was held at Rhodes River Ranch on the same day.  BCH held a pack clinic & a Draft Horse pulling contest was scheduled to end the day.   We drove up & met Linda, who also wanted to attend the meeting.  We had lunch, then Linda & I drove on to Darrington. Butch took in the Clinic & wrangled us a reservation for dinner - we had perfect seats for the Draft Pull! 

Yesterday, I took Farah for her vaccinations.  When I went up this morning - she greeted me with her head over the stall door, ready to go.  Once we'd made the drive & I was in the saddle, I could tell she was a little under the weather.   After her little run-away episode last week, it was sort of pleasant to have her so mellow today :-) 

Cow Parsnip

 We left about noon, sun breaks & a wind that came & went - again making maybe 50 degrees feel much colder.  I even wore my gloves.  So nice to see the tinge of light green, buds bursting open, Salmonberry blooming & even the Cow Parsnip!

What's that sound~

 It was really quiet, the sound of the wind of course, but that was about it.  We'd seen three rigs in the parking lot when we left, plus several cars parked off to the side.  Even so, we only saw one hiker with his dog when we were trotting up the hill to the top.

View from the climb~

 We took our usual lunch break at the Monument.  Farah's neck is stiff, when she tried to lower her head to graze, she pawed in frustration - but finally, taking it slow - began grazing.

Mt. Washington

 I know that logging is an industry here & I was riding on a tree farm after all, but I have to say;  watching as the DNR land on Mt. Washington is clear-cut, makes me sick.  Such destruction of habitat...  Sad for the wildlife;  Coyotes, Bobcats, Deer, all the animals that appreciated that habitat.  Many streams flow down the mountain & from what I've seen, only a narrow buffer along the bank is left.  It doesn't take long for the wind to take those trees down too - leaving the streams without shade.

Having ridden to the top & beyond - I know first hand that there were some beautiful older stands of timber.  Now, it looks as though there will be no trees at all... 

Mt. Pilchuck

 I love this view of Mt. Pilchuck, looking at the mountain's north side.  Our view from home is of the west side, which presents itself as more of a peak.

Heading back down~

We did no galloping today, no head shaking, no spooking or displeased neck curls...  What we did do, was quite a bit of slow for Farah trotting :-)  She wanted lots of loves & I provided lots of peppermint treats :-)  Once home, she did go down for a roll, but it wasn't with her usual gusto.  A friend gave me a box of apples, she enjoyed a couple with her dinner :-)