A Perfect Summer Ride~

Many thanks to Waubonsie St. Park & the contractor that has been hired to take care of the trails!

For two days now, we've been having perfect weather!  Perfect!  Mid-70's no humidity, few bugs, a light breeze & nights down into the low 60's!  I'd spoken with the new Ranger at Waubonsie & the word was that all the trails had been graded!

Farah hears other horses~

I just had to go see for myself - an excellent excuse - as if I needed one - to ride!  There was only one large trailer at the park, with probably six riders heading out as we pulled in.   I took my time saddling up to let them get some distance ahead of us on the trail.

Graded!

It was obvious right away!  This soil is so sand like - the footing was very soft & fluffy.

Creek bed~

The creek is holding water in spots, but large sections of the bed are just mud - still not dry.  The grading looked super & another plus - all the Stinging Nettles were knocked down & far off the trail.  This is the first time I've been witness to the maintenance cycles of this park & others in such a different environment from the one I knew so well.

The dirt had been evenly spread out across the face of the hill trails too.  I had almost memorized where the deepest of the erosion holes had been, so when we started our gallop up the first, I kept Farah off to the side.  Mid-way up a horse had punched through the surface & into the holes. 

Holes in the trail~

Certainly from a walk, but I'm going to mention it - packing some dirt into these areas would really help, since now - there's no way of knowing that they are there...  I'm wondering how long it will take for the surface to settle & how much rain will effect it.  My hope is that it will be a good long while before it begins to erode again. 

Heading up~

We never did run into the other riders & when I made the turn onto the far loop, there were no hoof prints.  It was just so gorgeous out - the second loop is just under two-miles - we did it twice.  Wonderful to not have all the obstacles in our way! 

Maidenhair ferns - happy in Aug.

The sandy, loamy soil of the Loess Hills is evidentially the perfect environment for the Maidenhair ferns.  When I think of how many times I tried to start them in my woods in WA without any luck!

Big Tree Loop

The tree we found down on Tue. was still there, but now the trail goes around it.  Neither Farah nor I wanted the ride to end. 

A dead tall tree~

I'm calling this loop Tall Trees Loop.  It has at least three that are really huge.  This trail runs low enough - with so much protection from the winds that they have a chance to grow huge.  Even so, there are a few twisted & broken, as there are everywhere.

Another of my favorites~

Our BCH Chapter will be having a maintenance day at Waubonsie on the 12th.  We want to do some work in the campground area, maybe remove some old rusty fence that's down & see what else needs to be done.  I was excited that we had permission to take weed whackers out - but now that the grading is done - there's no need!  

We stopped at the house to wait for Butch & I put Farah in the backyard.  She immediately went to grazing & did Not want to leave when Butch went to gather her up! :-)