Day of Long Shadows~

A break in the week of high winds!  The forecast was correct & the day was a beauty.  Not that the early part of this week hasn't been...  Except for the wearing winds that ripped the rest of the beautiful leaves from our Walnut.  Weather the rest of the week is supposed to deteriorate with even a slight possibility of snow on Fri.

Our shadow~

I thought about going up & riding on the Wabash Trace Trail out of Council Bluffs, a much shorter drive, but the end that Equestrians are allowed on is fraught with road crossings, the noise of traffic etc.  I do still plan to get there again & re-visit the four-miles we can access heading south toward Minneola.

Paw Paw trees turning yellow~

Waubonsie was the place, I was amazed at how many leaves were down in just the few days since we'd been here.  Raylan, the Park Ranger came by as I was heading out onto the trails.  I had to thank him for the great trail work that's been done. 

Along the dry creek bed~

Once we were on the trails - it was great to see both big windfalls had been removed.  A lot of the trail had been bulldozed again & there were piles of dirt in many places.  It was hard to make time, but we moved much faster today.  Farah has reached a new level of maturity this year.  Whether the move, or just that she's finally reached a reasonable age - she's been amazing!  Always so forward, always willing.

More tree trunks & limbs visible~

As you can tell, the structure of the trees is again showing itself with so many of the leaves now blown off.  No more cold than we've had - it still seems to me - we've had some wonderful color.

One of the steep hills~

It's so hard to capture the short steep hills here - but I think the photo above finally gives you an idea.  It's not that there's just a couple, the entire trail system is basically one hill after another. 

Yellows of young Paw Paw trees~

There is one nice long section that's flat & we fly along that.  Today, we spooked a big doe who ran along side us for a second before jumping into the trees!

A colorful down~

We're taking a different route lately, doing one loop, off onto the second, then our break & reversing the second.  We save Tall Trees for toward the end of the ride & since it's low & protected - there's not much color there yet.

A Happy Face!

Returning to the trail-head, we were attacked by swarms of Asian Beetles!  The air was so full of them  it seemed hard to breathe!  I was so thankful I still had Farah's fly sheet in the trailer!  I hosed her down, hosing off beetles the entire time & got the sheet on her.  We were both about ready to go nuts - by the time I had everything thrown back in the trailer.  Farah literally jumped in.  We couldn't get Out of there fast enough!  I pity the people who planned to camp this weekend!