Pierce Creek - Dissapointment~

A Sunny Saturday & Butch had an activity to drive.  A perfect day to head south to one of our favorite places to ride, Pierce Creek.  The last time I'd been here, was the end of April, when I'd first lost vision in my eye.  We'd dropped off fuel for our BCHIA SW Chapter, for a second day of trail-clearing & turned back to the optometrist office in Glenwood.

SW corner trails~

That same group had spent a hard days work last November, with chain saws, cutting back the trees & shrubs for this new trail.  All those Volunteer man hours & effort to open over a half-mile of trail through the timber.  I'd spent another day last fall following the Ranger to get the general idea of where the trail was to go.

Lake at Pierce Creek

 The April BHCIA work crew had finished off widening the trail enough that the Rangers could mow it.  I was so excited - finally - after all this time - to ride it!  There was a light breeze, it was a cooler day & the humidity was amazingly low.  Especially as wet as the ground was.  The most saturated I've ever seen it - though I'm not here as often as I'd have liked.

Crossing the dike~

Such a spectacular day!  Such a spectacular place, so rare in this state that has been dominated since it's inception, by thousands of acres of crops.

View from the SE corner~

Blooming  Goldenrod  dominated the landscape.  There were butterflies everywhere, Monarch's in abundance!  The bugs were still very bad, much worse than this time last year.  I was going to use Farah's mask, but instead just used spray & a roll on.  It wasn't enough.

Into the Timber~

We both knew where we were heading!  Farah trucked right in to the timber trails.  Even the grass areas were overgrown & hadn't been mowed in a while.  That should have been my first clue...

Trail???

At first, I rode right by the turn-in to the new trail, but within a few feet realized that we'd passed it.  No wonder, it was impossible to see.  Farah turned right in, she knew where it was & didn't hesitate.  At least not until she started lifting her front end off the ground, followed by stomping her hind legs!  I dismounted - to find her Covered in burrs!  Her legs were a solid mass of burrs going right up onto her chest & belly.  She had a light sheen of sweat, which helped as I started using my hands to scrape them down & off her legs.  She was so good to just stand there while I worked to get the worst of them off.  I remounted & looked around.  If it had been up to just me, I would have never found my way out.  With one eye & no depth perception - it was a jungle...

I gave Farah her head, she started back, only changing direction slightly once.  Once we were back on the main trail, I decided to go to the far end by the campground & try to go in there.  After all, I couldn't imagine that it wasn't open at some point?  Wrong!  Again, we got in a short way before we were again covered in burrs.  There had been absolutely No attempt by the park Rangers to keep the trail open.  We fought our way back & to the campground.

On my leg...

I spent at least 30-min. removing burrs from Farah, the cinch, my legs, boots etc.  How discouraging.   I almost thought about taking the roads back to the horse park, but instead remembered that the main trail was at least rideable.

Our attempts to ride the "new trail"~

It's not just the amount of volunteer hours that went into getting this trail in.  It's also discouraging that the people who come here often to ride, can't manage the few hours it would take to go through & keep it open.  Not hard work, at least it wasn't earlier in the season when BCH had it all cleared.

East side of the lake~

I was glad we'd taken the trails.  It gave me time to wear off my bad feelings towards the people who manage this park & those that are lucky enough to ride here - yet do nothing visible to maintain it.  The firepits were full of cigarette buts & trash etc.

I just had to take this little video of Farah :-)  She knew that I was paying no attention to the reins & was filming - so eventually she had to take advantage :-)

Looking back across from the west side~

Back over the dike & onto the much better trails near the gun club.  Better - as long as it's not a day that the shooting is going on.  We crossed the other access road & went up onto the hillside where Farah likes to move out.  Move-out we did!  We galloped our running hill twice, the second time, Farah kicked it into high gear & we had our Yippee run!

Bronco & Trailer - Between the Ears~

I'd been going to give her a bath before heading home, but the fly's were So bad!  I put her out on the ground tie, put her face mask on & let her graze.

Starting a roll~

She laid down & had a wonderful roll, back & forth!  Enjoying every minute, since she's not had a good one on grass in a while now.  I sat & spent the time taking more burrs off myself & our tack, before loading her up.

Our route~

It was a great ride!  All rides are Great rides!  But my disappointment in the management practices here know no bounds.  I just hope that BCHIA hasn't given any funding to this park.  At least not until they are sure that the money is used to actually maintain the trails!