Archives for 2019

Well, after a rather confusing start on my last trail ride, which I managed to decipher a bit once I downloaded it and overlaid it on Google Earth, I realized I had covered much of the southern side of the park, so today I decided to do the eastern and northern parts of the park as much as possible. Saddled up Flash and headed out on the trailhead at the north end of the park, which took me toward the day parking area. From there I went down what the map called the Lazy Creek Crossing Trail, and showed as a loop, but once I got to what I guess what the Lazy Creek, the trail entered Snyder Hollow and disappeared. Some trees were down, but it still didn't look like there was any trail beyond that, so we turned around and circled around until I finally ran out of places to go, so I headed back to Possum Ridge where it runs along the south side of the park road and took that due west, hoping to find the part of Lake View trail that went out into the farthest west peninsula. Unfortunately, that eluded me again, but I did find where it crossed the road to the northern side of the park. On the map it shows several different trails of various names, but the only obvious trail I found had "Big Beech Trail" signs all along it. Near as I could figure once I got home and download our route was the Big Beech is known as Piney Woods on the map. Go figure. There have been so many times where the map and what's on the ground aren't very close, and this was a classic example. So not only is the map hand-drawn and inaccurate as to where the trails are, the names have been changed in many cases. Oh, well, it was a pretty nice trail, a bit in need of maintenance but overall not bad, single track through most of it. It eventually wound around back to the same trailhead where I started, completing another 8.5+ mile ride on Flash. Did some chores and other various and sundry things before settling down for the evening. Another great day on the road.

Feeling much more rested today, so I decided to take Flash out and explore the trails. The map shows quite a few loops, including a nice perimeter around the park, so I planned on doing that. Unfortunately, it seems the map is hand-drawn, because I can't get it to line up properly on Google Earth as an overlay, so I'm only guessing as to how long the trails are and where they go. It's not a huge park, though, and there's a main road running through the middle of it, so getting lost will be hard to do. Got him saddled up, then headed south out of the camp through the woods and across a couple of roads to the main Possum Ridge trail. This is what I call a "trail by bulldozer" type trail, but eventually I took a single track trail that led me to a much nicer trail called Lake View. There are some good markings at the intersections, which helps a lot. I turn another turn out to Lake Vista trail, which was a bit more challenging and not as well maintained, but did take us right down to the lake, even crossing the edge of it a time or two. Then I got a bit confused by the sign that said Loop 2, which wasn't indicated on the map, unless it was another name for Horseshoe Loop. That was the least maintained trail I had been on yet, still passable, but a bit more challenging. That brought me back to Lake View, but it didn't seem to go in the direction the map indicated, so I got turned around a bit. By then we had been gone longer than I anticipated, so rather than complete the perimeter, I tried to find a shorter way back to camp, and the map was of little assistance there. I had wanted to loop around and come back to camp on the north trailhead, but couldn't find the right trail to take, so I ended up on Possum Ridge again, and came in from the south where I had left. Still, a nice ride, and I let Flash make most of the decisions, so he was more engaged than ever. He's really starting to come along, learning the follow the trail and pick his own footing, something he never used to do. Much improved! Got back to camp, had a quick lunch, then headed up to Shelbyville (KY) to do some shopping at Tractor Supply (darn it, forgot to bring my propane tanks!) and Walmart. SO GLAD we're back in Blue Bell Ice Cream territory again!! It's that time of year for my favorite limited edition ice cream of all time, Blue Bell's Spiced Pumpkin Pecan! If you haven't tried it, you MUST!! It's the best!! Got back to camp by 4:00 or so, and it was getting crowded again with the usual Friday night crowd coming in, but then, there's also a rain storm and a cold front making it's way in overnight, too, so likely to be much cooler tomorrow!