Set the alarm to get up a bit earlier, had breakfast and then finally headed out about 11:15 toward the Land Bridge over I-75. Cornelius our campground host had said it was about five hours, so we figured we were in good shape. We took the buggy route because we thought it would be more direct, but missed a turn somewhere and ended up on a dirt road that was obviously on the Ross Prairie Wilderness, which was south of the Greenway. Since it was heading east, in the direction we wanted anyway, we stuck with it for awhile, until we found an unmarked trail heading due north. That soon took us back to the buggy trail, which we followed to the road crossing at Route 484, doing a lot of trotting along this section to condition both ourselves and the horses. From there we stayed on Yellow Trail number 1 across the entire next section of the Greenway, from 484 to 49th Street. It was a nice trail, though the scenery wasn’t nearly as nice as the first section, it was still pretty good. It took us longer to cross than we thought, and we got behind schedule. We eventually got to an underpass at 49th, and kept going, still following the Yellow trail, mostly walking now, as the horses had gotten more tired than we had anticipated, guess we pushed them too hard too early. We finally reached the Land Bridge, where, thank goodness, they had a couple of hitching posts and a trough of water for the horses. We crossed over to the other side, just so we could say we did, and then came right back again, stopping at the trough to rest and have some lunch. Gave the horses some oats and feed, which helped their energy a bit, and headed out again about 25 minutes later. They were still reluctant to do more than a walk, however, so it was a long ride home. We took the main Greenway Road because we figured it would be the most direct route, plus the footing was a bit firmer, mostly old asphalt with a few patches of gravel, not our favorite, but the trails here are pretty deep sand, particularly in the second and third sections of the trail, and the buggy section of the first section, which is one of the reasons the horses got worn out so early. We managed to get to the road crossing at 484 just before the sun went down, but the rest of the trip was in the gradually darkening skies of civil twilight, which was really lovely going through our favorite part of the forest, though as it was getting dark it was a bit spooky at time, though the horse were too tired to care. Fortunately, the skies were clear and there was an almost full moon brightly lighting the sky. I just put Apollo on auto pilot and let him take us the rest of the way, almost. I made him turn in one spot to stay out in the open rather go into the now quite dark forest, and that messed us up a bit, but soon we crossed the right field, and from there, Apollo led us straight to the gate at the campground, though honestly, I was having a hard time seeing it until we were practically on top of it. Good horse! He got us home safe and sound. We quickly stripped off their gear, checked them out to make sure everyone was okay after their exertions, gave them extra rations of feed before hanging them back up on the highline, took the dogs for a walk and collapsed into our recliners with a bowl of ice cream after having spent almost SEVEN HOURS in the saddle! What an adventure! Before going to bed I looked out at the door, and Apollo was laying on the ground sound asleep with mama Clio watching over him, just like she always does for her sweet colt. Tomorrow no alarms, we sleep as late as we want and do our best to rest as much as we can, though there are some chores that just have to be done. What a memorable ride!

   Wow! What a surprise! From the maps I had downloaded about Ross Prairie Forest, it just looked like a grid of dirt forest roads, so we weren’t expecting much. When we got here yesterday, I noticed we were on the edge of a Greenway as well as the Forest, so I quickly located a map online of that, and it seemed like a simple enough loop just north of the forest. We headed out the back of the campground, and almost immediately came across trail markings that didn’t seem to correspond with anything on the Ross Prairie map, so we just started following them. We headed out, appropriately, on Trail #1, also marked as the Yellow Trail. It wound us through one of the nicest pieces of old growth forest we had been on in a LONG time. Huge live oaks and magnolia trees, sometimes intermingling with native pines (not the rows and rows of managed forest we’ve been riding in the last week, thank goodness). The trail was mostly single file, the footing was mostly good except the occasional patch of soft sand, and it was so well-marked we were astonished! The markers even told you whether you were heading east or west on a trail! As we traveled on #1, we crisscrossed several other trails which also seemed to meander through this luscious piece of forest. We got a little off track at one intersection, because the trail led up a sandy hill that seemed to have tracks everywhere, so we backtracked to a wider trail that we soon discovered was designed as a buggy trail. That quickly led us to a sweet little spot of a primitive camping area, including a picnic table, a hand pump and small trough and a fire ring. We also discovered that the #1 trail also led there, so we were able to pick it up again and proceed from there. We followed it all the way the Route 484 (only about 2+ miles, but it seemed longer because it was so beautiful), where we turned around and headed back, this time on Trail #2, which occasionally merged with Trail #3. Whenever it did, we got in a nice trot or canter, and in one spot the horses even decided to gallop! We were out less than three hours, but it was such a surprise we kept exclaiming how incredible it was, and that made it so enjoyable! When we got back, I did some more research on the Greenway, its history as a former Cross-Florida Canal acquisition (that never got built all the way), and found trail maps for each section along the way. Our host Cornelius had mentioned about being able to ride all the way to I-75, which didn’t exactly seem like a “destination” ride to us, until I discovered that there is actually a “land bridge” that crosses that Interstate. It’s a wide overpass that apparently has it’s own landscaping, like a little island across, so we’ve decided we need to make that trip tomorrow. It will be a long day, about 16 miles or so, so we’ll have to get an early start. That said, it’s time for bed!

Got up at a reasonable hour, packed up and headed out, first to a place due east to pick up hay, then south to Dunnellon to fill up the propane tanks, then finally down to Ross Prairie Campground, arriving just after 2:00 or so. A rather uninspiring campground, though it certainly has all the modern conveniences as a horse camp. High line posts abound, a couple of wash racks and lots of hitching posts, but the few trees are small so the campground has a rather open, parking lot kind of look. We were heartily welcomed by a camp host, a gentleman name Cornelius, who suggested the site I had booked online might not be the best for our convoy, so we moved to site #2, which was a better fit all around. We can see the horses out our door (our favorite view) and all the equipment fits just fine. Apparently it’s going to be a quiet weekend, so it was no problem moving. There are pretty bright lights on adding to the parking lot feel, and it’s just off a pretty major highway so the traffic noise is pretty continuous, I hope it quiets down a bit at night at least. Manure needs to be transported to a nearby dumpster, but the campground provides tubs if you need them (we don’t, as we always carry our own anyway.) Settled everyone in, then headed up the road to a nearby Walmart to go shopping (very near, about 2 miles). Got back, changed our clothes and headed out to a restaurant call Stumpknockers down on the Withlacoochee River to have dinner with some friends we hadn’t seen in years. Had a lovely evening, with lots of challenging debates, just like we like it. Got back about 9:00, wound down a bit before going to bed, hoping the trails here are more interesting than the campground or the map suggest.

Woke up to a very frigid morning, prompting me to have to pull out the parkas I had recently stored away. Warmed up a bit after breakfast, so we headed out just before noon for our last ride at Goethe. Today we took the Orange trail from the south end of the Apex Trailhead, more of the same typical managed Florida forest scenery. It would have been a terrific ride all around if we hadn’t gotten turned around because of the poor trail markings. It really doesn’t make sense to me to only have a trail marked in one direction, it really makes things so much more difficult. Halfway along the trail we realized we were completely turned around. We were following the markers and then the markers went in a completely opposite direction than where we thought we were, and after several more false starts, we finally came across enough road markings to realize we were on the wrong side of the loop entirely. Then we had to fake it for awhile, riding on a couple of roads because the markings were going the wrong way, until, thankfully, we finally found the right crossroads to get us back on track. I really hate it when a ride gets spoiled because of something as easily remedied as poor trail markings. It makes no sense to me to have a trail that has three separate loops all have the same color blazes, making it nearly impossible to tell when one loop ends and another begins. We wanted the 11.5 mile loop, not the two other loops that would have added another 10 miles, but it wasn’t easy to discern the difference. Would be nice if they picked different colors, or better yet, actually named each trail so you could tell where you were on the map. Oh well, I guess you can’t have everything. Once we finally got back on track we were able to relax again. I have to say we’ve seen more wildlife in this forest than in most, today we saw hawks and a white-tailed deer. No pigs today, but that didn’t keep the horses from smelling them once, and we had to persuade them past one part of the trail where they had obviously been rooting around recently. Eventually everyone settled down, and the last hour of the ride was very enjoyable. Got back by 3:45, having done lots of trotting today to work up some stamina for both us and the horses, then settled down for the rest of the day in preparation for our departure tomorrow.

Set the alarm so we would be up earlier enough for an extra long ride today, as we get ourselves in shape for our what we hope will be a grand horseback riding vacation in Costa Rica in a few months, if all works out. Still had a few delays, but managed to get out about 11:30 or so, heading out to the long loop across the road on the Yellow Trail. Apollo was plodding along while we were on the same old trail, but started to get interested when we crossed the road to a new trail. He just hates to go on the same trail twice! Having learned our lesson that the trails are only marked going in one direction, we followed the yellow markers religiously, only once did we think we might get turned around, because a road we were on didn’t seem to be on the map we had. We kept following the diamonds though, and were rewarded with landmarks that proved we were still on the map. The only problem with riding in a well-managed Florida forest is that after a while it all starts to look the same, evenly spaced pine trees with scrub palms all around. We only had one short area of old growth forest, which is much more attractive to us, and it was on the trail we thought we might have gotten wrong. On the farthest loop north we did have an encounter with a family of feral pigs that were rooting up the trail we were on. We had seen signs throughout the forest, but this was the first time we actually saw them. Of course, the horses knew they were around before we did, and I had to get down and lead Apollo for a bit to settle him down. There was a big black mama pig and a bunch of multi-colored baby pigs, including one black and white pinto pig that was so cute! When they saw us coming they all scooted away, which made the horses snort even more. After we stopped for our lunch break, we ran across another family of pigs, and the horses snorted and froze again, but this time they kept going with some urging from us. I supposed if we ran into pigs every day they’d eventually get used to them, but for now they appear to be great horse-eating monsters to our guys, so we just have to be patient. A great ride, a lot of walking and jogging, with a few great canters, got back to camp about 4:30, to find it just the way we like it… empty! Everyone had left and we had the place to ourselves, which frankly, after so many weeks parked at stables and busy camps and people’s back yards, it was wonderful. What can I say, Hubby and I are loners for the most part! Weather is supposed to be pretty cold tonight, and even colder tomorrow night, down near 20 degrees, not exactly what we came to Florida for, but it’s only going to last a day or two, be back in the 70’s by the weekend. Found some hay nearby, and have made arrangements to pick some up on our way out on Thursday. Too cold to ride tomorrow, but have a bunch of work to get caught up on anyway.

 Set the alarm for 9:00 this morning, just to make sure we got out early enough for a ten mile ride today, and even then we didn’t get out till after 12:00. This time we set out in the “right” direction, following the Purple Trail, taking the long loop to get the full ten miles in. Part of the trail took us along the road, and much of the far southern end of the loop had been recently clear-cut so it was pretty ugly and the trail was sandier because of the equipment traffic chewing up the ground, but that was only for maybe 2 miles. The rest of the trail was very nice, with lots of opportunities to jog, trot and we even took a number of long canters, some of the longest we’ve ever taken. The horses have settled down nicely now that we’ve been able to ride them consistently, something we haven’t been able to do for months because of our busy schedule, so we’re getting back on track with them now. They seem to be enjoying the rides as much as we are. We took one break about 2/3 of the way around the loop for about 20 minutes, then headed back to camp, finishing with a couple of nice long canters again. We rinsed them off at a nice wash rack across from where we are camped, and hung them out to dry on the highline. Another perfect day, a perfect ride in perfect weather, exactly what we came to Florida for! What a great way to end an incredible year! We drank a bottle of wine, and shared a bottle of the sparkly stuff as we watched the ball drop in Times Square, ringing in the New Year doing exactly what we want to be doing. Life is Good!

We haven’t been sleeping well in the last few days, so we were grateful to get a good night sleep last night, sleeping well and late this morning. We decided to take a short ride just to get a feel for the place, so we headed out Saddle Pen Road for a bit, which is where we had seen many horses enter the campground from last night when we were setting up. We got turned around a bit, when we realized that this area also only marked the trails on one side, and we were going the wrong way. We ended up cutting across along an unmarked trail, then followed along the old rail line because we knew from the map it would eventually cross a trail, but we didn’t like the gravel much, even though it was mostly covered over with grass. Eventually we ran into the yellow trail, and from there I easily navigated a way back to the campground, albeit in the “opposite” direction than the trail blazes dictated. Well, that’s what exploring is all about! The trails, again are very nice, with good footing in most places, though some have some fairly deep sand, but nothing we and our horses couldn’t handle with aplomb! A nice quiet ride with some lovely jogs and short canters, and the temperature was perfect, just what we’ve been searching for all along! A great day, especially as it is the second anniversary of the day we “ran away from home” on December 30, 2009!