Robinson Flat to Foresthill 16 June 2007

Crysta and I rode from Robinson Flat to Foresthill yesterday and I have never seen the trail in such good shape! Took a bunch of photos. This slideshow takes a while to start up, but "kinda" works - and has captions:

If you don't have any luck with that version, try this one instead...no captions, but at least you can stop it, and the portrait photos aren't stupid and distorted - again, though, wait for it to load up before it'll start:

I also GPSed the trail. Hopefully if you click on this link, it'll take you to a file that will load up Google Earth:

Trail Notes:

The new trail out of Robinson Flat (which by-passes the road down to the turn off to Dusty Corners) was rocky in places, but Crysta said it seemed much more bedded-in than last year. I believe they had *only just* opened the trail then, so that sounds right. You can't make great time on that section, but it's not too bad. Got lots of photos of that showing the footing.

The section from the road to Dusty Corners was in *great* shape. When I last rode it in 2004 this section was so dusty you couldn't see the ground - dust was up to horse-shoulder-height and it had a fair amount of loose rock on it - now it's clean and more hard-packed.

Going down to Swinging Bridge was steeper than I remembered and there are lots of dead leaves on the trail, so it's quite slippery. We led most of the way down and my quads knew it. Note to riders - try and get some steep downhill walking in if you can, your quads will thank you later. They shape up really fast, but if you don't "pre-tune" them, you will suffer.

Going up was pretty much the same as usual <grin>, steep and never-ending. We tailed almost the whole way up and didn't die, so that was nice to know. Loose rock, roots, stuff to clamber over, etc. Just a slow trudge.

(The GPS didn't cope well at all with this section and reports that we "rested" for an hour just because it couldn't see us for a mile or so... yeah, right... "rested").

From Deadwood to the bottom of El Dorado Canyon has turned really lush - having told someone there isn't much grazing out there, right now there's quite a lot (comparatively). Unfortunately, most of that will be dead and crunchy in a month and half. But as Crysta said, that's not a place you can stop and graze anyway (trail is only about 18" wide with a long dangerous drop-off on the side, and you're trying to get into Michigan Bluff as quickly as you can).

Going up to Michigan Bluff it's pretty much as usual - rocks to clamber over, quite a lot of vegetation at the bottom.

The flat bit of road after Michigan Bluff has been heavily gravelled with 3/4" rock and isn't nearly as nice as it used to be. There are some places you can ride along the side to avoid it, but it's only a mile or so. It's just that you used to be able to make up some time for a few minutes there, and now you can't so well.

Once you turn off the dirt road onto the track again, all the way to the creek at the bottom of Vocano Canyon the footing is *GREAT*. This used to be really bad - lots of loose rock and ruts, and when you got off to lead down the steeper parts of the canyon you ran the risk of slipping and falling and twisting an ankle it was so loose. Now it's free of rock and covered in red dirt and you can fly down parts of it. I would estimate you could pick up 15 mins on this trail now, compared to how it was a year ago.

It took us over nine hours to do this 32 mile section yesterday. Admittedly, we weren't really moving out and stopped often to let the boys graze, and to give them feed and let them drink, but it was quite alarming to see just how much time it takes - and it wasn't even that hot. There are many places to move out, but when you get to them, you feel like you are trying to recover from the previous section (climbing, clambering, twisting) and don't want to just ask the horse to get on with it.

Unlike the last two times I've ridden the Deadwood > bottom of El Dorado canyon section, I was able to stay *on* the horse the whole way down - but only by pretending I didn't see Sinatra's back foot go off the trail about four times, and by making soft eyes so I was aware where the trail went, but not focusing on it - staying loose and balanced as much as possible. Roo was still slipping and sliding on parts (slab rock to slither down) and would trip excitingly every now and again. Just pretend it isn't happening...

Both horses seem to really like the climb up to Michigan Bluff and Roo flew once we left MB, presumably remembering where we were. Interestingly, having ridden the trail back at the beginning of April, that last 12 or so miles seemed to go by really fast, compared to the first half - pre-riding definitely helps rider and horse.

We both wore CoolMedics vest and never overheated at all. That said, it wasn't nearly as hot as it has been the last few days, so that helped. But I *love* those vests and wore it again this morning while doing horse chores - and it made it a lot more bearable.

Here are a bunch of photos that I took back in April riding from Foresthill > Michigan Bluff > Deadwood and back:

The new Little Bald Mountain trail out of Robinson Flat travels through a burn area from the Star Fire of 2001. The fire burned much of Duncan Canyon and took weeks to put out. We watched its progress from our house that summer: