Lake of Three Fires - First Day's Ride~

When Margie mentioned an overnight camping trip to Lake of Three Fires when we were riding on Monday - I was pretty excited!  It didn't take long to work out our plan & early Fri. morning we met up in Tabor for the drive down. 

There was the  usual No traffic & when we pulled in - the campground was empty.  We took the two spots up at the top corner of the park.  I put Farah in a large steel post corral, so nice not to have to high tie.  We had lunch & couldn't wait to saddle up & get on the trails.

Friday evening sunset~

There was a light wind, but the temperature's couldn't have been any more perfect regardless of the season of the year.  It seemed crazy though to think it was the first day of December!

The wetland that was green this summer~

We headed north out of the campground & found there was still water flowing in the creek.  Soon, we were at the first wetland & ponds.  The look of late fall is so different from the lush greens of summertime.

Afternoon sunshine~

We saw deer several times, as they took off at our approach.  Otherwise the woods were very quiet, just the wind - in the timber.

One of the ponds~

The water of the ponds looked So blue!  As blue as the deep blue of the skies above us!  It was as perfect an afternoon as any horseman would dream of.  We felt very lucky to be out riding two great mares & having such a nice time.

South end of the park~

We took the trail at the south end of the park & came the hill into the newly harvested cornfield.  We could see that we might possibly ride further up here & decided to leave it for Saturday.

Farah & Connie~

It was starting to cool off by the time we were back at our camp.  After brushing the mares, we took a walk down the hill so I could get the sunset photo at the top of this post.  We watched a several of what I think were Downy Woodpeckers in the trees.  When looking up photos of Iowa Woodpeckers, I was surprised the state has seven species, six of which have red/black & white!

Our route~

The almost full moon was spectacular rising above the trees.  The quiet of the night was velvety in it's richness~