Archives for June 2011

Up bright and early, got out in a flash this morning, anxious to get back into a shady forest before the temps get too high. Had to stop at a Walmart in Clinton, MD to get a prescription filled, did a little shopping, had lunch at the McDonalds there, then went shopping at the Safeway up the street. Stopped once for gas in the generator tanks, then finally got into the park around 4:00. Contrary to what I had been told on the phone the week before, which was that reservations weren’t necessary because the equestrian campground was empty, the woman ranger that found us about to drive past the closed ranger station said the campgrounds are kept locked unless they’re expecting someone, once again compounding the feeling of being a criminal until proven otherwise. Anyway, she was nice enough to open up and get us registered, though I only paid for one night because she didn’t want to honor Hubby’s senior rate, and their normal charge was a bit higher than we had expected, particularly since they don’t really have any amenities here. No electric, and the only outlet for water was at the dump station (which was brown, despite assurances it was potable), and from the bath house, which required every hose we had to reach. No horse facilities, we just highlined them on a couple of trees. The place was empty, though it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why. Have read in a few places on the internet that the trails here are good, so we’re looking forward to checking those out soon. Hoping a converation with the head honcho tomorrow will yield a suitable discount, all things considered.

What a day! Despite assurances from the ranger that the trails here were suitable for horses, I wouldn’t recommend it until they’ve brought a crew with some chain saws for some serious heavy lifting! It started out innocently enough. The loop we planned was shorter than what we had taken on Friday, about 10 miles, so we figured it would take us about 3 ½ to 4 hours, including our lunch break. We brought oats for the horses and headed up the Mylius trail again to get to the crossroads. Fortunately, some nice hiker had cut down the branches that had tripped us up last time, so that made it easier, but with all the rain (it rained again last night), it was more slippery than ever. By now, though, the horses had learned to be more careful. Oh, I forgot to mention that Hubby’s mare Clio had lost one of her boots the other day, so we were looking out for it on the way up, and fortunately, we spotted it on the trail and managed to pick it up. He had an old one he had put on for the day, and we were double checking very regularly to make sure we didn’t lose any more. Anyway, we arrived at the crossroads, passing straight through the campsite to continue on Mylius trail. It immediately started going back downhill slightly, with lots of rhododendron bushes starting to crowd the trail. Then it opened up into a beautiful pine forest with a nice wide trail, and we were really loving it. Eventually, the trail led us down to Otter Creek, than followed along the creek for some time. Most of it was nice, but a few areas were so thick with mountain laurel (which were in beautiful bloom) and rhododendrons, it became pretty hard to pass through. The worse was a section that was like a tunnel. It was captivating to be in the middle of it, and would have been incredibly striking for a hiker, but it was just too low in some places for a rider. We had to get down and walk through several sections just to save our heads. If that was our only complaint, it would have been fine, but things got worse later. We went for several beautiful and uneventful miles, following the creek, listening to it’s wonderful babbling, before finally reaching the Condon Run trailhead, at about our halfway point. We found the other trail that led us out of there to the rest of the loop, the Hedrick Camp cutoff. We stopped there for lunch, feeling wonderful and enjoying the ride immensely. Despite warnings the trails weren’t very well marked, we had had no trouble pinpointing where we were, and the rock cairns always seemed to appear just when you started having doubts. After a lunch break, we headed off to finish off the rest of the loop, just a bit behind schedule because of the sections where we had to walk, and one hat diversion where Hubby had to backtrack to find his missing hat that had been pulled off on a low branch. Again, we managed to find the turnoffs with no problem, and began climbing Shaver Mountain. Alas, it started to rain, and we stopped and got out our ponchos, then, at Apollo’s suggestion, we waited under a very thick pine tree for a bit while the heaviest rain passed through. Once it thinned out to almost stopping, we headed out again, beginning our long climb up the mountain That’s when the real trouble started. It began with some downed trees across the trail, not a big deal generally, but the trees got larger and harder to traverse, then there were sections where three, four, five trees had fallen on top of each other, making it impossible to get over, and always at a place in the trail where it was very difficult to get around it, though we always managed it after considerable thought and effort. Then the trail started seriously climbing, with a good grade and some 350 degree switchbacks. We must have stepped over 200 trees by the time we leveled off near the top. My horse was sick and tired of stepping over high, thick logs, and the low logs were so commonplace, it seemed they were practically every other step. It’s hard enough climbing that hard, much less climbing and stepping to boot. Then, finally, we almost took a wrong turn because the rock cairn was right at what appeared to be a fork, but we didn’t know which fork. We started off to the left, because that was the high road and I figured the low trail might have been washed away, but that soon petered out. We turned around and came back, and took the low road. Now, bear in mind that we had already completed about 90 percent of the loop, figuring we were only about a mile from the original crossroads campsite. As we headed down the low road, about 100 feet down, on a trail that had a steep dropoff to the right and a mountain to the left, covered with thick rhododendrons on both sides, we suddenly came across a tree across the trail, about 10 inches in diameter. Too heavy to move, it was just about at shoulder height, so it was impossible to go under it or over it or around it. I dismounted and walked further down the trail, trying to reconnoiter a way to get around it, and it seemed nearly impossible. Well, since going back the way we came was not an option, we turned around and took the high road again, this time looking for a definitive way to get back to the trail, post-tree. This required another cross country trek, followed by a precipitous passage through several thick pine trees, and a quick turn to keep from falling off the mountain altogether. We were not happy campers by this point, now a good two hours behind schedule. We continued along the trail, and other than more and more trees to step over, and a few moments when the rock cairns had taken a hiatus, and that final mile lasting twice as long as we thought it would, we FINALLY arrived back at the crossroads, heaving a big sigh of relief that we managed to not break anyone’s legs in the process. I can’t believe how good these horses are, they are such incredible troopers! Needless to say, we rested there for quite some time, letting them graze all the grass they could stuff in their faces, as they had used up the oats we had given them at lunch LONG AGO! After everyone caught their breath and had their fill of grass (well, at least completed a full pass of all the grass available), we headed slowly down Mylius trail, which was even more slippery than ever because of the rain we had had earlier.  Finally make it to the bottom, a good two and half hours later than we had anticipated, but at least we made it safe and sound, at last. Not happy about the condition of the trails or the misleading information that led us here, but they would be truly lovely trails with just a bit of maintenance. Next time we come this way, we’ll try Johnny Meadows, which is apparently where most of the horse campers go, since the trails are more likely to be better maintained as a result. At least, we hope so!

Slept as late as we could, past 9:30, when the hungry horses nickered us awake. Spent the day quietly, napping, reading, watching movies, generally relaxing, which we both needed. It had rained again the night before, and we had a few more showers during the day, but the temps were perfect and we had nothing to complain about! Planned our ride for tomorrow, and went to be ready to get up early and take another trail ride!

While Hubby wasn’t looking yesterday, I managed to slip out of the store with an anniversary card in celebration of our 22nd (and second since we started horse camping), and left it for him on the breakfast table while I fed the horses. When I walked in, he said, “I guess it’s June 10?” He’d lost track of the days (no surprise there) and gave me a big hug and kiss in remembrance. Not unusual, we aren’t in the habit of giving gifts for any holiday, so it was a typical celebration for us. Anyway, we were going to spend the day doing our favorite thing, riding! We had had a terrific thunderstorm the night before, lots of lightning and rain coming down in sheets just after we went to be, though fortunately there wasn’t any wind (or we were so protected from it that we didn’t notice it), and we didn’t even have to put up or awning. The horses got a good shower, and none of the lightning was so close as to be too frightening. After breakfast we saddled up, raring to go under a perfectly clear blue sky and perfect temps in the upper 60’s on their way to low 70’s. We headed out to do some basic exploring today, starting with backtracking on the road to the entrance of Mylius trail, a lovely old grass road that soon began climbing. We passed several clearings that were obviously old homesteads from 100 years ago, until the road finally narrowed to a ridge-hugging trail that was a bit slippery from the previous night’s rain. As we neared the top, a small tree had fallen across the road at such a height that my horse thought he could go under it, even though I couldn’t. I tried to move the limb as I got closer, but it was too heavy. Too committed on the narrow trail, Apollo kept going forward while I leaned back like a limbo, trying to get under it. How I got under it with only a few scraps I’ll never know. I know my spine was laying along his back, and near the end I was along the side of his hindquarters like a trick rider. I thought I was going to fall out of my saddle, but just managed to clear the tree, grab onto the horn and haul myself up before it was too late. I strongly urged Hubby to get off and walk his mare under (she’s a tiny bit shorter, but still over 15.1 hands) and he did, but then the saddle horn got caught and she almost lost her balance as Hubby grabbed it and managed to get it loose just in time. Scary! There were a few more slippery spots along the way, all the time being grateful that horses have four-wheel drive! We finally made it to the crossroads, just under two miles up, and rested the horses, letting them graze on fresh grass in the clearing. It had been fixed up as a camping area, with a well-used fire ring, and all the trails had rock cairns at their heads to clearly mark this first intersection. Having seen it, and knowing what was in store for us for our “longer” ride tomorrow, we headed back down the same trail, my horse being more cautious now that he knew how slippery it was. Once we reached the bottom and headed back up the road toward camp, we decided we hadn’t had enough, and headed out on what started out as a cleary marked alternate forest road, albeit grassy, with no motor vehicles allowed. According to the map, it was just a couple of miles until it looped back to the road just past where we were camped, looking deceptively simple. It started out beautifully, with a much gentler grade, though it was a bit more gravelly in spots. Nevertheless, we got in some trots and canters, thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Eventually, the trail became more and more narrow, until it was barely a trail anymore, but we had never seen any turnoffs to the right, so we kept going until the trail started to get wider, then turn into a road, then pass through a gate, then start to pass private property and buildings and houses. We knew we had come too far, and were getting way off track, so we turned around and heading back, looking for that turnoff we missed. Finally we came to a clearing that seemed to have tracks on it, so we followed those for a while, along an unused trail that followed a creek down the mountain. It seemed to be a beeline for the bottom, which is just what we wanted, but the further we went the less traveled the trail became, until we were blocked by trees and forces to go cross country down a deer trail. That led us back to the same creek, I guess, and then the trail disappeared again. Although I knew we were heading in the right direction, and would eventually run into either the Forest Road or Gandy Creek, I wasn’t sure if we hadn’t gotten on the wrong side of a big ridge I knew was there, so my fingers were crossed! Then, thankfully, I heard the sound of children’s voices, and a few minutes later, a vehicle starting up, so I knew we had to be close. Just as we were threading through the thickest part of the underbrush, the road suddenly appeared just below us, and with a little maneuvering, we landed safely on it. We turned right to head back toward camp, which, thankfully, was less than a mile away! By now, we were exhausted, the horses were tired, but brilliant and unhurt (they are SO good!), and we finally made our way back to camp, arriving after 6:00. By the time we got the horses watered and fed and we got ourselves settled in, it was past 7:00, WAY later than we like to get back. But, we made it, that’s the important thing. We decided to take tomorrow off and ride on Sunday. With no satellite and no cell phone signal, we watched PVR’s movies and shows, and crashed early, exhausted. No alarms for tomorrow!