It's a Mystery ~

The allure of a trail to ride that's a shorter drive, again took Farah & I to the Wabash Trace.   Scheduled to be the warmest day of the week, even after a night in the 20's.  The sunshine was dazzling & I was thankful to be out on the trail!

Pretty ugly horse on this sign :-)

 Farah was relaxed & took all the sights, sounds & noise in stride as we headed SE from the trail-head.  As beautiful as it is - it's hard not to appreciate one of the very few places where we can get in some nice distance.

On the trail~

 Riding along out here, reminded me so much of the many lineal trail rides that Lynn & I used to do.  It almost looked like the SVT in many places.

Mainline of the trail~

In many ways, being as urban as it is - it's similar to a lineal obstacle course.  The first major tunnel is the one with the very low ceiling that takes us under Overland Trail Road.  I'd actually ridden through this the first time we were on the trail, but now I'm more sensible & dismount to walk through.

Farah say's it's tight in here!

 It's actually a way through to the far end.  Far enough that it gets a little dark in the middle.  The echo of the traffic whizzing by over head makes it a bit spooky too.

Inside!

 Always relieved when we're through - I let Farah grab some mouthful's of grass before we continue on.  This section along Wabash Ave. is wide & grassy, but noisy from the traffic on the side.

Limestone on the right, road on the left~

Super nice footing, we can actually move out at the trot.  Soon we cross Berryhill Ave. & end up on a section back in the trees.  Farah stopped & started stomping her left front foot.  Since she's never done this - I dismounted to find the lower part of her leg covered with the same burrs that have covered my clothing when I've cleared trail!

The burrs!

I used my gloves to get them off her leg.  Just a foot from where we'd stopped, was the weed covered with the burrs.  Now, at least I know what they look like once they've been frosted.  The leaves were wilted, so identifying them in the spring will be difficult.  You can just see the dark circles of burrs in the photo above.

Tree across the trail, we ended up getting through on the left~

We were making really good time, when we came up on a tree top that had cracked off & totally blocked the trail.  I pulled my folding saw out of the saddle bag & hoped I could cut through the last of the bark holding the broken section to the trunk.  My thought was to drop it to the ground.  I found out why hardwood is the descriptive term for so many of the trees.  The saw cut maybe 2" into the wood before binding up.  No way was I going to get it cut.

Taken from the other direction -barbed wire fence on the right, along the road.

Instead, I started hacking through the honeysuckle, cat-brier & downed branches to make enough of a path for Farah.  With the barbed wire so close, she just made it past.  We crossed Bluebird lane, then rode the limestone for maybe 50 ft. before finding the next opening for the horse trail.

Limestone surface~

The surface almost looks like concrete, covered with a fine dust.  It's certainly as hard a concrete - it's been weeks since we've had any measurable rainfall.  Again - absolutely no reason that horses couldn't use this surface without the slightest bit of damage.

Trail Rules~

Just shy of Margaritaville, there's a nice section of grass along the barbed wire fence.  I'd been cold for a while & it looked like a good enough spot to take our break.  I dismounted & took my jacket off the back of the saddle while Farah grazed.  I walked the last little way into Margaritaville & as I did - realized I'd forgotten my stick.  No big deal, I'd just get it on our way back.   I sat in the sun & fed Farah her carrots.  We started back & when we reached the spot where I thought I'd left my stick.  I couldn't' find it...   Anywhere!  No Way!  It wasn't that big of an area & it couldn't have disappeared.  After searching for a quite a while, I convinced myself I'd probably left it back where the tree had fallen.  

On our way back north~

As we left, I realized there was No way I would have ridden that far, without knowing my stick was gone.  My right hand felt totally useless - with nothing to hold.  I turned back, searched again - still without any luck.  So darn mad - a mystery for sure!  I plan to get back out there & search again until I find it.  I've had it since at least 06, when Dean took on my re-education as a rider.  It's been with me one heck of a lot of miles to lose it now!

Farah watches a bike pass~

Twice, bikes came whizzing by from behind us.  Neither rider announcing their presence.  In the photo above, we watched them & they didn't see us.  Farah's color really blends in to the woods.  Our last ride, Farah spooked at the Coyote below.  He's nasty looking thing, concrete I think - with his nose partly broken.

The Coyote~

As we'd come up on him, she blew herself up & did a 180, on a tight section of the trail.  Today, I knew it was coming & told her that he hadn't moved an inch & I doubted that he'd attack :-)

Mr. Coyote - from the trail~

Farah still stopped to stare him down, but after just a low huff, walked right by. Too soon, we were coming back to the trail-head.  It was just after four p.m. & the sun was already low in the sky.  The time change has definitely shortened our afternoons! 

At the truck~

As I unsaddled & brushed Farah, a bike rider walked up & asked if he could take our photo.  I agreed & wonder where it will end up.  He asked how old she was & when I said eleven, he replied;  "Don't horses live to about fifteen?"  Of course he was surprised when I told him many can live twice that long.  We covered almost 14-miles, since I'd turned back to look for my stick.

Once home, I downloaded my photos & discovered the camera had put them into two folders.  The numbering on the camera had hit photo number 9,999 & reset itself back to 1!  I can't help but appreciate these amazing fall days, even knowing sooner or later, winter will come...