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 : -)
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