As our neighbors started to pack up before their noon check out, we started to saddle the horses, leaving on the trail just before they did. We headed north, having decided to go on the most obvious loop, which included Lower Raptor, to Thumper, to Lime Kiln, about 7 or 8 miles according to my Google Earth-made map. The trail started out rocky and climbing, with a few occasional sandy spots once we reached the plateau. Mostly desert-like conditions, but with truly spectacular views all around. To the north, the red rocks of Sedona were clearly visible, to the south, the town of Cottonwood, to the west, the Mongollon rim with a clear view of Jerome, and old mining city up on a hill, to the east, yet another line of mountains. What a grand view! Each time we turned onto a new trail, though, the terrain changed somewhat. We had a few areas with grassy fields, a couple of areas with bunches of small trees, almost tunnel-like, then the most challenging trail, Lime Kiln, which has a long history and which had been recently restored, with a linear trail leading to another state park 15 miles northeast. This was the trail that was described as for experienced riders and horses only, and we could see why. A few places along the trail were so eroded that the drop was too much, so we had to trace a less-traveled route around it on several occasions, making for a few tricky moments, but overall, the horses did a fantastic job! We took one break about halfway around, stopping for shared apples and drinks for us, before heading back out again. It turned out to be a fantastic ride, we had an incredibly great time! The sun was shining, but a nice cool breeze was blowing, making for perfect weather. Everyone enjoyed themselves tremendously! By the time we got back to camp, our neighbors had cleared out, doing a pretty good job of "leaving no trace," except for their corrals, which they didn't seem to do much cleaning of at all. We decided to keep the horses together in one corral so that we would only have to fill one water bucket at a time, and they enjoy being near each other anyway. A great day, perfect in every way!

Weather finally settled down, today was much calmer and warmer, to the mid-60's, so Hubby and I decided to go on a short ride just to keep the horses fit. I started out in the arena for about 20 minutes, just to make sure what we learned together the other day was still fresh in our minds, and he seemed okay with it. We headed out the central trail northward, then cut back along the lake, though a couple of other riders were galloping along the beach, and for some reason, that got Clio all excited, plus we didn't really like the deep sand for footing, so we cut back to the trail at the back of the dunes for the way home. I did managed to get a few short canters in, mostly to catch up to Clio's outrageously fast trot, and Apollo was perfect, sliding nicely into a canter with no hysterics, gently catching up to Mama before resuming his nice job. It was a lovely ride, perfect weather, couldn't have asked for more!

Relieved that it was a nice quiet morning, no rangers rousting us out of bed, had a good breakfast did a quick load of laundry, then soon we were out on the trail. There are a number of loops, none of them terribly long, and because this is a wide open park, you can pretty much see the campground from anywhere in the park, so it's just a matter of deciding how long you want to ride. We headed out on the trail nearest the road, though we missed the actual trailhead by going out on a service road, but we soon found our way over, then went to near the north end of the park, then looping back. We saw several other riders out on the trail, including one guy riding a very leggy black horse that he was riding with only his legs (his arms were out to each side), and a couple of girls were in the arena. On the way back we had a long straight away, so we decided to have a canter, but for some reason, after a few strides, Apollo did his little rodeo routine, more so than he's done in a long time, and I ended up in the sand. I decided to work with him the arena when we got back, which I did, but every time I tried to get him into a canter, he started jumping up on me, to the point where I was starting to get too panicky every time we tried, so I was probably exacerbating the problem with my nervousness. We finally quit, unsaddled them and headed over to a nice wash rack they had here, for their first bath in I can't remember how long, and they seemed grateful. They've been so dusty lately, we just had to do something. After scraping them down and letting them dry, we finally put them back in their corrals. I think tomorrow I'll take Apollo out to the arena again and see if we can't make some improvements in his behavior, or my riding, whichever is needed!

After several days of just resting, hanging out, trying to stay warm (nights were down in the upper 30's, days upper 50, low 60's), doing mundane chores and generally finally getting caught up on our sleep, it finally warmed up enough, almost 70, to take our first ride here. Unfortunately, there is really only one trail, so a linear ride is all we can do, and neither one of us wanted to go too long and wear ourselves out again, so after a very leisurely morning, we finally saddled up and got out about 2:00, without boots today because it looks like the trail is mostly just dirt. We headed out on the perimeter trail around camp, then missed a turn up the trail, instead going down to the trailhead road that was gravel, and led to another area with corrals which we didn't know about, but it looks more like a day use parking area rather than a camping area. Got back on the right trail when it crosses the gravel road about 100 feet up the road. Naturally, being named Summit Trail, the whole first part of the trip was climbing, first through old growth evergreen forest, then suddenly as we reached near the first plateau, the terrain changed completely! Only short stubby bush-like trees, the trail got very rocky until we reached the top of the plateau, and it suddenly felt like Texas, or some other fairly barren rocky place. Then, as we turned the corner toward the west, we got a sudden, impactful view of Mt. Shasta way off in the distance. Still covered with snow, it was certainly beautiful to see in the distance. Fortunately, once we reached the plateau the trail became mostly dirt again, with just a few stones, nothing to hurt the horses' feet. We carried on for a bit, but when the trail started to go down again, we both agreed that we didn't want to go down just to have to come up again, so we stopped there, tied up the horses and enjoyed the view for a bit. Before long we were heading back to camp, and in the end, we only did about 3.5 miles, probably our shortest ride ever, but it was enough for us, since we both had the goal of not wearing ourselves out. Probably good not to strain the horses too much too early as well, since it was a pretty good grade going up and down. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable ride, just what we wanted.

With beautiful weather abounding, we saddled up the horses after breakfast and headed out on the nearest forest road. We were completely unable to find trail maps, as the State Park didn't really have any trails, and bordered the National Forest, which didn't service the horse camp, and I didn't find a ranger station nearby to try to pick up a map of the trails. Of course, they had forest road maps you can buy, but you still have to find a ranger station to do that. In any event, I had traced a trail from Google Earth on the visible forest roads, downloaded it to my GPS and hoped for the best. Our destination was the head of Spring Creek, which, down by the logging museum was a wide and fast-running river, but apparently it's origin springs straight out of the ground a couple of miles up the road. We headed out, and unfortunately, the roads were as dusty as the trails we left at the last campground, so we had to wear our bandanas pretty much the whole way. The road went right where I had anticipated, then I thought I saw a shortcut, so we took that, but it led us astray after a while, so we retraced our steps back to the road until we came to a day use area along a sort of small lake, where apparently the creek came out of the spring. It was crowded, not surprisingly, I guess, since it was a beautiful Saturday, and we asked a few people if the trail along the creek went back down to Collier Park, and each one we asked said either they thought so, or definitely yes, so we started south along the creek. That didn't last long, because the trail most definitely did NOT go anywhere, and after stumbling over one too many downed logs, we turned around and went back. We round another shortcut that put us back on another road that followed a utility line, which we figured would lead us back to the park, but after quite a ways, it dead ended at private property. We cut across some more property, which turned out to be private as well, but couldn't get back to the forest road because the terrain was just too tough, so we ended up retracing our steps again, until I finally found a way back to the main road and heading back to camp. We had only a couple of chances to canter, and unfortunately Hubby's cinch got loose a bit, not enough to take a fall, thank goodness, but we had to stop and re-cinch Clio's saddle. She got a lot of dust in her face today, because of the condition of the mostly sandy roads, and we were all glad to get back to camp, our short planned 6 mile ride turning into an 11 mile adventure. Fortunately, Hubby took it all in stride, and though he was tired (as was I), he didn't hurt too much, except for his foot a bit. We put the horses away and relaxed the rest of the day.

Decided to take another ride, this time to the north, hoping to get to a nice view of Diamond Peak, but not holding my breath as it's a bit farther than I think Hubby is ready for, as his foot is healing but still causing him a lot of pain. After the first quarter mile, the trail started climbing, through one of the ugliest forests we've ever seen. Literally, it seemed that there were more dead trees down than live trees standing, which gave it a really depressing look. The trail most mostly dirt, so we probably didn't need boots, and it started climbing fairly soon. Not a hard grade, but a steady climb through this ugly forest, until we reached pretty much the top, where it leveled off, about 3 miles in, with more dust, dust, and dust. We had hoped once we reached the ridge the woods would get prettier, but they didn't, so rather than continue on this depressing and excruciatingly dusty trail, we decided to turn around so as to not overdo it. Got back to camp, put the horses away, visited with some of our neighbors for a while before finishing of the day in our usual way.

Had a lazy morning before finally saddling and booting up the horses. I had spoken to a neighbor, Pat (and her husband Mike) about the state of the trails, and she said she was glad she put her boots on, although it was 90 % dirt and 10% rock, so we decided to do the same. That, of course, meant that I had to do some trimming on the horses' front feet, which took up some time. Eventually, we got on the trail, just before 1:00, and headed down the south trail, called Oldenburg, in the direction Bingham lake, which was reportedly about 4 miles out. Most of the loops here are fairly long, between 12-18 miles, and with Hubby still recovering, we're a long way from doing anything longer than 6-8 miles, so we figured out and back to the lake would be fine. The first half mile or so was quite pleasant, through some old growth pines, across a bridge, with a bit of a grade up hill for awhile, but eventually we came to an area that had many dead and downed trees, with no underbrush, so it looked pretty bare between the trees for the most part. The trail constantly climbed, though not with a very noticeable grade, and it was very dusty. Every step became a cloud, and there was no breeze, so whoever was in back got smothered. Naturally we forgot our kerchiefs, so we took turns riding "point" and "drag." The trail seemed to go on forever, and it turned out to be nearly 5 miles before we finally arrived at Bingham lake. The trail down to the lake was very narrow, so much so that we had to dismount to get the horses through the path between two trees, then we hung out on the beach a while, letting the horses drink and eat some nice grass, while Hubby put his foot up on a log for awhile, as it was aching him from the long ride. After about 20 minutes or so, we were joined by another couple who also came from the horse camp, and who were ponying a pack horse they said they were training for "elk season." We left shortly thereafter, with them a bit behind us, so we did some trotting and even cantering to get ahead. The dust wasn't quite so bad as a breeze had come up, plus when you're moving faster, it can't catch up : -)

Well, evidently the morning ranger didn't get the memo from the evening ranger, at least as far as the knowledge that it was our desire to sleep late this morning, because he came knocking at the door just after 8:00, so I had to get up and take care of business with him. Too late to go back to bed, so we got up, had a leisurely breakfast, then saddled the horses for their one and only ride here. Rachel was already out riding by the time we got up, and back by the time we headed out, so we said our good-byes before hitting the trail. Good news, the trails are mostly dirt with only a few rocky spots, so boots weren't necessary, and the trail was very easy. Too easy, actually, for our taste, as it was entirely flat, and a good percentage of the trail, maybe half, was in or around open fields, with one even circling around a hazelnut orchard. The rest did get a bit more interesting, weaving in and out of trees of various ages in the wooded areas. Stopped at a couple of places where the blackberries were just bursting too ripe to ignore, and we even managed to get a few canters in, though Hubby is feeling a little low on confidence, after his fall and broken bones in July, and the pain of his new injury in his foot, but he managed it okay. He felt compelled to hang onto the horn (not surprisingly), but off course that threw off his balance, so he wasn't as happy about it as he would have liked, but we all enjoyed the ride nevertheless, about 6.66 miles in just over two hours. Spent some time in the afternoon working on logistics for the next couple of weeks, made a reservation for the weekend at Whitefish Horse Camp about 150 miles southeast of here, then settled in for the evening.

Slept late again this morning, obviously we are still recovering from all the non-stop activity we've undergone in the past month! After breakfast, we saddled up and headed out into this lovely old-growth forest, with huge pines towering over us. On both the website and on the notice board, there was warnings about several trails closed by deadfall, but I took the advice of the woman I met on the way in the other day, and went up the road to a spur that took us down to the river, down being the operative word here. Some serious switchbacks dropped us more than 300 feet in less than a half mile, but the footing was good and the horses had no problems, other than being a little out of shape after being in a pasture for a month. The trail took us near the river, and we paralleled it for a while, until we both decided it was time to head back, don't want to overdo it on our first day out! Especially since we had to climb back UP that 300 foot drop! Apollo, ever the comedian, galloped up the first hill we came to, then settled down for the rest of the trip, with a few trots here and there. Gorgeous old growth forest, always a pleasure to be in one of these, and we weren't alone today. Met quite a few hikers along the way, as well as a few members of the Washington Trail Association, who were evidently out clearing some of the blockages off the trails, with promises it should be done by tomorrow, though too late for us. It was a very nice ride, and a good time was had by all! Once we got back, we pumped some of the water out of one of the barrels into the RV, as it seemed to be losing water though we couldn't figure out where, and we wanted to save what we can. Not to mention we both desperately needed a shower, and tonight was to be the night. Once that job was done, we crashed for the evening, watching some things we had recorded while we had been in Alaska, for a relaxing finish to the day.

Another overnight passage, we woke up the next day in Skagway, another small, quaint little town. Today we grabbed some breakfast before heading out in a shuttle van out to a stable near Dyea Flats Recreation Area about 30 minutes away. A string of horses were saddled and ready for us, and we had the best orientation we've had yet (though it was wasted on us, it was good for many novices in the group), but unfortunately, they made us don helmets, something we never use. Because of my experience, they assigned me a horse that didn't like the mounting block, so I mounted away from the rest of the crowd, then we headed out a typical dirt forest road through the woods. I had a nice chat during the ride with the front wrangler, a girl from the lower 48, as the ride was pretty simple. My horse's name was Homer, which is such a scream, as Homer was the name of the town where I took my first ride on a horse named JJ (a nickname of mine for years), and in Palmer my horse's name was Trooper, which was the name the horse the wrangler was riding today. Crazy coincidence, if you believe in those! Eventually the trail came out of the forest and opened up into a field with a bit of a view, though nothing spectacular compared to many we've seen around the country. We stopped for a photo op before remounting and heading back to the stable. Not exactly an exciting ride, but a ride nevertheless, and we enjoyed it, particularly Hubby, who had recovered from his four hour ride last Saturday, and he reveled in a shorter, 90 minute ride. We had a brief snack under a picnic table gazebo before shuttling back to the ship, where we had planned to grab some lunch before our afternoon excursion, a ride on the old White Pass train, but I discovered we weren't allowed to take food off the ship, and we didn't have time to walk into town to get something to eat, so I was frantic for a while. Eventually I decided we had to board the ship and run down to the cafe and grab something, even if we had to put it in our pocket to smuggle it out, and that's pretty much what we did, though we ate something on the walk to the disembarkation area as well. Relieved that we wouldn't be starving the whole afternoon, we boarded the train, looking forward to a nice quiet ride. Unfortunately, that was quickly spoiled by a very rude foreign guy (German, I think) with a son about 3 years old. I knew we were in trouble when, rather than take the boy to the bathroom that was on every car, he led the boy over to the railing between cars and had him pee right over the side! Most of the rest of a trip was a nightmare, with the boy running around, the father either loudly fawning all over him or ignoring him while he spent most of the time on the platform between cars taking pictures and leaving the boy on his own to wander around, or cry for his daddy. It was pathetic, distracting and disturbing example of poor parenting, and frankly, it spoiled the entire trip for us. We enjoyed the views and tried to get some pictures, but every time I tried to get a shot from between the cars, I had to practically push my way past the German guy, who was hogging the entire platform. Eventually, the boy fell asleep on the seat, which just gave the father more freedom to ignore him. At the end of the line, we were supposed to change seats with the people across from us so that everyone got the view from both sides, but because the boy was sleeping in the seat, and no one wanted to wake him, we and the folks in the seat behind us refrained from moving. I think that made the father a little upset because he had wanted to see the view from the other side, despite the fact that he had been seeing it practically the entire time from hogging the public area. I finally got so disgusted I walked to the other end of the car and hung out with a couple of older guys who at least knew how to share photo ops. Again, a beautiful trip, spoiled by the actions of one selfish man. Part of the trip followed the original Yukon Trail, and the trail was still easily visible in many areas. Apparently, during the Gold Rush, the trail was so packed with folks that if you pulled off the trail to tighten a girth or anything else, it was almost impossible to get back on the trail, because people were just so anxious to not let anyone get in front of them and their rush to their fortunes. Be a great trail to try and ride again, though! Eventually we made it back to the Ketchikan station, and were soon boarding the ship. We enjoyed another delightful meal at the Italian restaurant before heading out to the main stage show, billed as the Ladder Guy, whose whole shtick was pretending (poorly) that he couldn't stay up on an extension ladder, as well as a few basic magician's tricks. A really pathetic show, which was as boring to the audience as it was to the performer. Fortunately, it was only about 40 minutes long, to the torture passed quickly. Had a nightcap, then headed back to our stateroom after a long, busy, and trying day!