5/10/15 Mothers Day Ride

What better way to spend the day, on a scale from 

1 to 10,,

The water crossing was completely dried up, I couldn't believe it, there was almost 3 ft. of water here last time I rode this section of trail. 

Dry as a bone...

I always bring some water with me in the trailer, just so the pup and pony have something to wet the whistle with and get a little cleaning up when we get back.. 

We traveled the south loop today, and it is starting to be in need of some brushing out in spots. Everyone is so busy riding the north loops and trails, that this end is getting a little over grown in spots. 

7.74 miles

MTD 203.79

5-9-15 Porter ~ The Old Mima/Porter#8

Oh, my favorite trails,,,, 

I really love the west side of CapFor,, the ol' Mima~Porter #8 is really a treat. 

There are some really great climbs, in a mile and half, you make almost 1000 ft. climb !! 

I came across the old trail system, so I rode it as far as I could, took some pics and reminisced about all the many times I had ridden this trail, and on some of my most fave ponies.... 

Still has the old trail markers,, 

Miles 8.1

MTD 196.05 

5-7-15 Big Loop

The big loop ~~

First ride on the big loop for 2015 !!  It was BP's privilege to pack my bum on the big loop, she did very well. 

The big loop has lots to offer, today Mt. St. Helen's was visible and so wonderful.  

Trav is so sweet and always right at my side. 

BP is really starting to come into her own, she is learning to work and be brave. 

Mt. Rainier, so spectacular, God is so great to give us all this wonderful creation to enjoy !! 

13.4 miles

MTD 187.95

5-3-15 Solo Sunday W/BP

Great day for a nice little solo ride,, 

sometimes they really are what the soul needs. 

BP, Trav and I went out for some quiet time it was very nice. 

 This is our lunch spot !! very nice,,

The day was so spectacular, I just couldn't get enough of it, the sky was so blue and the leaves were resting against it like a most wonderful thing. 

all the while the ground below was looking up at the sky soaking it all in.. 

7.8 miles

MTD 174.55

5-2-15 Potts Chicks

Great time with the Potts!! 

Grace and Darcy rode on this glorious day that the Lord hath made!!!

We rode out of Mima, had to park on top, at the Horse Camp, no parking down below !! 

Beautiful day :) we rode  8 miles and the girls saw the falls, first time for them :)

8 miles

MTD 166.75

4/9/15 Getting Braver

The Fence Trail,,, 

There is this large patch of fenced timber out here in the middle

of all this ,,, timber.... all I could figure is this patch of timber ,,, is pretty wild, they must roam all over the place.. so they fenced them in.. 

This trail goes by the corner of this very large wild patch of trees. 

This section of trail is so pretty and very quiet...  lush and green

Trav, checking out all the mystery sounds from the deep forest, a grouse flew up and startled him so he was on high alert... :)

Trav must have braved up a bit, he was breaking trail again and liking it.  It is fun to see the training process in a young dog, or horse.  It is encouraging when they start to understand what your asking of them, and watching them gain courage. 

 

He seems to gain assurance from his horse buddy :)  We did a nice 5.49 mile ride and things are coming along well. 

5.49 miles

MTD  137.3

5-1-15 Big Trails Opened

Finally, the trails are open!!!!

 Darcy and I managed to get our schedules aligned and off we went to Margaret McKinney.  Beautiful weather, the trails were in great shape. 

We ran into Sandi a couple miles out, she wasn't having a good ride, poor saddle fitting issues,,,,,, we didn't stop and chat at that point, because her pony was pretty up set. 

All of the leaves look so green and tender, amazing to see all the new growth. 

Miles 11 miles

MTD 158.75

4-25-15 One More Week

One more week,,,, and the trails will be open !!!! Can't wait, so excited, to ride, hike and just get up to the high country.  

Out, riding with Sandi and trying to make some miles, nice day, only did 10.45 miles, I think Miss Sandi would like to have gotten more in,, but I was needing to call that good. :)

And her horse was getting a little irritated.

Miles today 10.45

MTD 147.75

3/29/15 Maiden Trail Ride for Traveler

Traveler's Maiden Voyage

Trav, did really great, he was a little unsure where

he should be at first, as the ride proceeded though he started picking his place on the trail...

Getting braver all the time, what a great little 

buddy. 

After getting toweled off he laid right down in the back seat, 

the blue path is our ride, nice little 5 miles

 

Pony, put away and fed, and now we can go up to the house and get our grits !!  

5 miles

131.9 MTD

3/26/15 Traveler

Traveler

                This is my new, trail companion, he hails from Idaho, he was picked out of a shelter there and transported to Washington  and put up for adoption at the Bangtail Dog Rescue in McCleary. 

Traveler, is 8 months old, and a little shy, but very sweet. 

Our very first adventure, was to Lake Sylvia. We adventured and explored lots of new things. 

The dam was so loud and very powerful  and geese were pretty interesting looking... 

Then Friday morning we ran down to Hoquiam River and walked the shoreline, watched the sunrise. 

3/22/15 Bush Whack

          

             Headed out in the afternoon, on trail by 3:00 PM, a little later than norm, but the days are longer now.  Mission was to re-open an old grade, that I am sure was used as a trail at one point long ago. 

No takers on wanting to go bush trail, so, we went it alone, just me and BP, no trail dog yet to accompany us.  Working on that.... 

     

         So with saw in hand, off we went, it is dark in this area of trail, and I was a little unsettled when BP would all of a sudden look out into the darkness, as if she had heard something.... I would stop for a moment, looking to see if there was something out there,, then back at it I went,, chop, chop, chop, until all the branches that would pose a problem were removed.  

Checking the gps freakwently, to see how much farther it would be to the trail intersection, and making sure I had not vered off course.  Finally, after a good hour we made it to the intersecting trail. I decided to walk back through what we had just cleared out, and come back through it and ride up into the Dark Forest, and out the other side. 

The sun broke through the clouds just as I got back to the school 

5 miles

MTD 126.9

3-16-15 Dora The Explorer

Took Sandi out to familiarize her with the MMK trail system, which is pretty overwhelming at first, but with a good GPS and google earth you can find your way around quite nicely.

The green track on the map below, was our 7.7 mile double loop ride, and we managed to get some exploring in on the north end of the loop, found a nice brush out option for the Dark Forest Noll.

 Finished up on the MMK Ridge, looking out at Mt. Rainier, as always a stellar place to ride, there were only some brush pickers, and we only heard them, and saw their vans.

Jasper 

7.7 miles
121.9 MTD

3/12/15 Exploration Ride

This afternoon was nice and revealing, explored a couple trails that I spotted last time out, and found a couple more to explore, the next time I am out.

 Ran into Barb and Tom, they were doing a little exploration themselves. 

The red track is 7.7 mile loop, good trail. 

This old Vine Maple has been choked out of sunlight long ago, but the moss has made it look like an octopus.  





Brown Pony, thankful she is done for the day :)

7.7 miles
MTD 114.2

3/8/15 Bloomin' Crazy

This is crazy weather !!!  I don't ever remember it being so nice so early in the year, of course I am sure we will pay for it later.  The woods are already so dry, if it doesn't rain a substantial amount before summer I am sure the woods will be getting shut down on us..   The Scotch Broom are blooming!!!! this is freakish !! 

I ventured up the old trail system, and surveyed it's ability to be brushed out on the one end,,, I think it is very doable and would add so much nice trail to the system... below is just one small section, it is so pretty through here.

 Brown Pony, did well today, even though during our surveying portion of our ride, she was forced to go off trail and muster through pretty rough terrain, she persevered.

Miles 7.7
MTD 106.5

3/7/15 Dogless On The Trail

Today was yet again another stellar day for anything and everything...   After working the store till 1:30 pm I decided to leave the place a little early and head out to the woods.

Jill had to work a half day as well, but I knew she was wanting to come home and take her man man, aka Butters out for the afternoon. Being that for a couple years now I have been borrowing Butters from Jill, so that I would have a trail buddy....   today I went riding without a trail buddy and it was so weird, I have always had a trail buddy.  I want to look for a trail buddy, but Denny thinks I should wait till one of my retired peeps pass,,,,,, can you really ever have too many pups ???   Oh, I suppose you could, if you had like a 100,,, that would be too many .....

Any ways, my ride was very nice,, a little lonely, but so very wonderful !!!

Miles today 8.4
 MTD 98.8