 |
| Heading out the trail Linda cleared~ |
I wanted to get in some miles on our own today, so headed up to Victoria with the
plan of doing my long loop & finding all the miles I could. So we started out this way - then headed up the climb to the Monument.
 |
| Thistle Everywhere |
|
The Thistle has just gone crazy with the heat! Where all the seed comes from I have no idea - but it proliferates in ALL the clear-cuts.
 |
| Sending out more seed~ |
When you see the huge amounts of seed that these plants send out - it's crazy. An interesting look to a hillside.
 |
| From the Monument |
Once up on top, the sun started trying to break through the cloud cover... I didn't want it! I was so enjoying the cooler temperature - even if the humidity was high.
 |
| Farah hears something? |
Once we turned into the deep dark woods, the sun did break through - turning the landscape almost Farah's color! She was alert & I was too, but we didn't see or hear a thing.
 |
| The Ridge Trail south of the overlook |
I love this trail & let Farah decide which way she wanted to go - she chose trail two different times - but on another - took the road for a gallop, with a buck thrown in :-)
 |
| View from the trail - Mt. Washington to the right~ |
Heading down, down, down, I had to try again to get a photo of the old growth Cedar Stump that's off the edge of the trail.
 |
| Amazing that it's still so huge after all the years since it was cut. |
When we headed down the long stretch of road - I had to make several stops! The blackberries were just too ripe to pass up & eating them is the only thing on earth that they are good for!
 |
| Ripe for picking! |
Farah is the only horse we've ever had that doesn't seem to like them! I picked a handful of ripe ones & tried to give them to her - she chewed, but spit them out! Once we'd ridden through our green mile & the trails down to the Scott Mainline - it smelled like Fall!
 |
| Leaves down from the dry summer~ |
We were clipping right along on this stretch - it was coming up on 3:30 & I was figuring just over an hour to get us back... Wrong!
 |
| Track Hoe |
This was the place where I'd
seen a small dozer working on the road a few months ago. Today - this track hoe was coming right at us down the road, with the boom in the air & the grappling hook swinging back & forth! Lucky for me - the operators truck was in front of us - so I dismounted & put Farah behind the truck. She was watching - but didn't show signs of wanting to bolt! The operator turned up the road you see, turned it off & got out. He said that we could continue on to the road that would cut us back up the hill & back to the parking. Whew! Otherwise we would have had a long ride back the way we'd come!
 |
| Logs waiting to be hauled. |
The last truck load pulled out, headed down to Hwy 9 - so things quieted down in a hurry. The corner I was watching for had changed - but we had no problem getting through.
 |
| From the top of the cut~ |
Things looked really different, but this was just a small section & I think that's all they're going to do here - I hope so anyway. Up the big climb we went, trot, canter & finally - near the top ran into a couple bike riders. Farah did another nice gallop, then we took the trail through the big trees & were back at the trailer, the only one left in the lot. We covered almost 20-miles & it was 77 degrees when we stopped in Arlington for a pizza on the way home! At least Way better than the high 80s!
