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Thursday was pft’s birthday and instead of going down to Lake Isabella and mtn biking as originally planned, he opted instead to spend a long weekend at Robinson Flat, which is about 2 hours drive from here, riding the pones. (The Lake Isabella trip is just postponed - we still have to go as it’s just gorgeous down there. It’s at the very south end of the Sierra in the most beautiful of scenery) |
Robinson Flat is at ~6700’ and is a flat meadow area surrounded by woods on the backside of the mountain. It is the 36 mile vet check for Tevis and there were still the remnants of that lying around - smears of hay dotted around all over, in the bushes and behind trees for the 150 or so horses that had come through three weeks before, as well as the chalk “runways” for the trot out in the vet check area (pft and me practised trotting out’ Provo and Zini).
Robinson Flat (RF) is one of the blue blobs and is just below the word "PARALLEL" in the center of this map:
http://www.ws100.com/webcast/wstrail.htm
We live in Garden Valley (bottom left) and have to go through Greenwood and Cool before dropping through the canyon to Auburn and turning east towards Foresthill to get to RF.
The red line is the Western States Trail (or at least the people-run version of it - the Tevis trail differs slightly at the start and the finish). The blue dots are aid-stations along the way (again, just for the WS100 Run... Tevis doesn’t have as many as are shown here).
In case you were wondering, for the Watson’s Monument photos and number-taking effort during Tevis, pft, Dana and I were stationed three blue blobs to the right of RF, where it says "Granite Chief 9006" on the map.
OK. Enough map stuff.
Getting There
Things didn’t start auspiciously. I spent Thursday morning filling up the trailer and had just finished giving the pones their baths and was ready to load them up, when I looked towards the east (where we were going) and noticed that the sky was purply-grey... huh? What’s that??
Keep in mind we go for months and months and months without any rain whatsoever, this looked like a major storm heading our way. And it was. Apparently it was the tail end of some tropical storm/ hurricane that had just blown through the Gulf of Mexico and found its way to California. By the time we pulled into Foresthill ~1 hour away, it was raining cheerfully.
Foresthill is the last "civilisation" spot before you disappear into the wilderness, so we made a dash into the supermarket there to get supplies. These mostly seemed to consist of large amounts of crisps (you can never have too many packets of crisps on a camping weekend), a box of doughnuts, wine, and a token vegetable (bag of mini carrots).
(90% of the crisps and the unopened bag of carrots made it home again. The wine and doughnuts were not so lucky).
The last few miles of the road to Robinson Flat get narrower and narrower until finally you are perched on the edge of the mountain with a several hundred foot drop on one side. Pulling our whopper trailer up this, esp. when you got to the twisty part was, er, interesting.
At the camp, Ann and Jess had already installed their two greenie mares, Abi and Mecca, on a high-line between two trees and were settled in.
Here’s Abi with Ann being a
mama’s lil’ gurl.
Curiously, when we emailed them to see if they wanted to come up to RF with us, Ann emailed back with astonishment saying that they had been about to invite us to do the same (despite the fact we hadn’t spoken to them since early May). It was very strange.
The rain continued on and off, but luckily one of the last things I grabbed before leaving home was a sunshade shelter thing (tarp, poles, strings, and pegs). I figured we might need it to shelter from the "hot sun". Yeah. Right.
We erected this thing over the camp table and it proved
invaluable the whole weekend, as we were to discover.
First Day Riding
Abi and Mecca had just returned from a month or so at the trainer’s. Despite them being ~10-12 yrs old, Ann and Jess had done little with them except for getting them started about 5 years ago. They’ve spent the last couple of years living in a 60 acre field, eating until they nearly popped. Fit and svelte they weren’t exactly, so this was to be an "experience weekend" for them, rather than a ride-as-far- as-we-possibly-can weekend.
We opted to ride up to the lookout on the top of the mountain.
This map shows the loop we did: http://www.ws100.com/webcast/topo/RF-LB.htm. We were camped right near where it says "Forestry Service Facility" in pale brown letters:
Map
courtesy of www.ws100.com
The lookout used to be on Duncan Peak to the north, but was moved over to Little Bald Mountain at some stage. Confusingly, they still call it "Duncan Peak Lookout" - mostly because there is already a "Bald Mountain Lookout" on *Bald* Mountain (which we can see from our house. When the sun sets, we can see the light glinting off the windows on the tower).
None of the ponies were particularly well behaved and all of them wanted to be at the front and were sure that they could trot all the way and win the race. (?)
Luckily they lost interest in this game by the time we
got to the lookout. We were able to leave the ponies with
a designated pony-holder and take it in turns to climb up
to the tower and talk to the forestry lookout man and have
him point out all the landmarks.
I don’t know if any of you remember me talking about the Star Fire back in August of 2001?
We were basically looking down into Duncan Canyon and at Red Star Ridge where the fire started and subsequently burnt for about a month. The devastation was awful and it burned nearly 17,000 acres. Every since then, they have been logging the dead trees and we are consistently seeing logging trucks with huge scorched trees going up and down the road. They were felling trees when we were up in the lookout tower and at one point we could hear the crash as another tree went over, down in the canyon.
This is looking down at French Meadow’s
Reservoir
You can see large patches of brown burnt trees on the left and the tops of the burnt trees on the slope directly in front of me. Because the canyons are so steep, for the most part, they just had to let the fire burn and contain it along some of the dirt roads on the ridgetops.
This is my favorite pic of Ann and
Abi
pft n’ Zini, Ann n’ Abi, Jess n’
Mecca
Ann n’ Abi
again
Ann n’ Jess
(he really doesn’t scowl *that* much...)
Me n’ Provo n’ Chili:
and then switchbacked back down into the valley and the thick woods.
This is pft n’ Zini showing off a blimin’ big pine tree
At one point, Jess and Mecca were leading and they had to go between a couple of big logs and the trail promptly dropped down to a little creek. Just about the time Mecca was gawping at the logs and wondering about the creek, she got her leg caught in a forked branch. When she tried to pull back, it continued to grab onto her leg. This was kind of interesting to watch - she couldn’t go forwards or sideways in her panic, and backing wasn’t working so she kind of went downwards in a squat. Jess managed to stay with her, although it was a scarey moment.
Poor Mecca. Nearly died from being eaten by a branch (we did discover later that it had gouged her viciously in the flank).
After her strenuous five miles and the incident with the attack-stick, Mecca was so exhausted she fell plumb asleep:
Woken up again...
There was a thread on Ridecamp (an endurance mailing list some of us are on) recently about how horses mostly sleep standing up (they can lock their knees), but in order to have REM sleep they have to lie down.
This certainly ties in with what we saw in Mecca. After she’d been down a while, nose propped in the dirt, she started to whicker in her sleep and flick her ears around and twitch. It was pretty funny watching her dreaming away.
She was the only horse of the four of them, that lay down, as far as we can tell the entire weekend. Obviously hyped by the excitement of being away from home and the threat of being out in the woods with bears.
There are bears, apparently, at Robinson Flat. Next to where we had Zini tied to her high line, some previous campers had built a "fence" to keep three bears out a few weeks prior (they came past and told us later). Ann and I both agreed that the chances of the pathetic fence keeping any bears out were slim (esp. after Zini stood on it a few times and demolished it completely). We never saw any bear-sign the three nights we were there.
Ann made sure, by keeping the fire good and bright. Here
you see her trying to set fire to the rain shelter, with
Jess tattle-taling on her "she did it, she did it":
(and no, Ann’s feet aren’t really that big - she’s wearing Jess’ shoes (seeing as he stole hers).)
Day 2 Riding
We woke on the second (full) day (Saturday) to pouring rain. Unfortunately I hadn’t packed any wet weather blankies (what with it being August and having been 105 degrees for the previous 17 days, n’ everything), but had brought along a couple of fleece coolers for the horses. Based on the fact that fleece is supposed to wick moisure away, on went the coolers and they did actually keep the pones reasonably dry. I need to get a couple of light rain sheets for similar type excursions.
Provo, the first morning, snug and dry before the rain started
Here you can see Zini’s reflective noseband on her rope
halter. Both pones have these - the idea being that if
they get loose, we’ll be able to spot them easier when
we shine a light on them
They also have name and telephone # tags on their halters.
Chili thought camping was a fine thing. This was mostly
related to Auntie Ann and Uncle Jess feeding her tidbits
at regular intervals (including bacon... Fools). Chili
immediately caught on to the wonders of begging (and
pretending to be cutesy):
Eventually Ann went into their camper for a nap and pft and I decided to ride part way down the Duncan Canyon trail. Because he was worried that Abi would pitch a fit at being left alone, Jess decided to stay in camp with their horses.
If you look at this map again: http://www.ws100.com/webcast/topo/RF-LB.htm the trail we took is the one that shows up as a single black dashed line in the middle of the right-hand side of the page. It goes down to where it says "Little Duncan" (which is Little Duncan Canyon).
(the double dashed black line marked "Robinsons Flat" and "Forest Hill" is the Soda Springs Road which is the way the Tevis ride comes into this check. More about that later).
This was looking up at Little Bald Mountain where we’d
been the previous day. Good choice of days to do the
trail, as if we’d waited until this day, we wouldn’t
have been able to see a damn thing.
(both pft and I agreed that they were perfect “Disney attack
bear” locations).
This one’s a bit dark, but you get the
idea
This was looking up at the end of the Little Bald Mtn
ridge, where yesterday’s trail made an abrupt double-
back on itself (for obvious reasons) and started to
switchback down the side of the canyon into Little
Robinsons Valley.
Zini did really well on this trail. It wasn’t well-used (had been closed for a while from the fire) and there were a few trees over the trail, including one you had to limbo under.
Zini stepped over one tricky log like a pro, and did a couple of awkward creeks like a proper trail horse (despite spending a short time looking like an elephant balanced on a barrel, when she had all four feet in about a 18" space while trying to decide where to put her feet next). pft was very pleased with her. She didn’t even puff too much coming up the 800’ climb back out again. Both pones were steaming by the end of that one, though.
I was glad that Provie’s leg stood up well to this sort of activity. The cool weather really helped as well, I think, keep any filling down. By the end of the second day, he was showing no signs of problems (OK, so we’d only gone maybe 11-12 miles in those two days, but there was still maybe 1500’ total climbing involved...)
In the evening we ate sausages cooked over the fire. A couple of them fell in the ashes, so we saved those ones for Chili. When they cooled off enough to give her, she went and buried them, one at a time, under a couple of logs and then covered them carefully with dirt pushed from her nose. Odd.
Day 3 Riding
The last day, Sunday, dawned sunny and mild, which was nice. Ann woke up to watch the sun streaming through the trees and three deer saunter past her camper.
pft took Zini for a short walk in the morning, and Provo nearly had a cardiac arrest (remember, Zini is the horse he couldn’t stand the sight of when she first arrived, and they’ve only been "roomies" for a couple of weeks now).
It’s surprising how fast and much ground a high-tied horse can cover. He was on a sliding ring, but could only slide it about 10’ (and notice he’d stop to scoff hay every so often, even though he was about to die):
Abi and Mecca thinking he’s a stupid idiot
This day, we opted to ride part way along Cavanaugh Ridge and back, which is where the Tevis trail used to go until this year when they decided to route them along the dirt road instead - I think in an effort to speed this part of the ride up a little (horses can make much better time on dirt roads, than rocky, loose footing singletrack, which is what Cavanaugh ridge turns into further down)(this is also why they dropped Duncan Canyon out of the official trail. It is part of the Western States Trail but is now no longer used, which is a shame, as it’s gorgeous).
This map sort of shows it: http://www.ws100.com/webcast/topo/LB-DP.htm
pft and I *think* we went about as far as where it says "Barney" in "Barney Cananah Ridge", although we’re not sure.
We live the ten miles the other side of the right-most mountain you can see on the horizon.
Unfortunately, you’ll notice that I’m quite a ways behind. This is because I was trying unsuccessfully to get Provo to walk and to behave. We did half-halts. We did one-rein stops. We did 180 degree turns. We turned endless tight circles. We sidepassed from one side. We sidepassed from the other. A couple of times we even sidepassed with his butt pointing backwards (is this a backwards haunches in?). But we never walked.
So I didn’t get to take any other pics at all, mostly due to the fact that I spent the entire ~7 miles fighting with him. He *had* to be with Zini at all times. When she trotted, he *had* to, etc. It was very dull, and I got very hot and cross with him. Eventually, we finished up being totally on our own, as he wouldn’t walk, therefore we wouldn’t go forwards.
This approach (not going forwards unless we do it the way *I* say) worked during a 50 mile ride, but only once we’d gone 45 miles. This time, however, we’d only gone about 4, so he was full of beans. The moral of the story is, once your horse starts getting fit (as he seems to be) don’t go trying to make him behave like an angel at the start of any ride (or during a short ride). It can’t be done.
Provo ended up dripping sweat from fretfulness and never did actually behave himself until the last mile or so - by which time, Chili was suffering, so I had to keep stopping for her.
Early on in the ride, I got bitten on the leg by a horse fly, as did Mecca. Those things hurt like the blazes. Later on, my whole leg swelled up and all the swelling went down to my ankle and foot, and turned it into a lemon. So I spent Sunday night/Monday hobbling around, and sitting with it propped up and ice-packed. today (Tues. the swelling is just starting to go down, but it’s itching like crazy).
Later in the ride, poor Chili got a wasp (yellow jacket) firmly attached to her and it stung her at least four times - twice on the hip, just out of her reach, and twice on the shoulder just out of reach.
Poor dog was going berzerk trying to get it off. Eventually, I flew off the horse and managed to get her to listen long enough to come to me, so I could slap it off (of course, she thought I was whacking her, so wasn’t too happy - past-abused dogs don’t think this is a funny joke).
After that, she kept retiring to the bushes and burrowing in to the bottom of them, I guess where it was coolest. It wasn’t particularly hot, but not shady either and uphill all the way home. I’m guessing that the stings didn’t do her metabolism any good (they all swelled up into knots that bothered her a lot) and she wasn’t too comfortable. Poor Chili.
So we trudged back up the hill on our own, stopping every time we got to a shady tree to let her lie out of the sun. A couple of times I got off the horse and dribbled water from my Camelbak into my hand for her to drink, but she wasn’t too interested (she did drink really well at the turn-around spot, though. pft said she drank nearly a whole water bottle).
We were about half a mile from home when pft came out on the bicycle to meet us. He’d brought the bikes along to ride if we wanted to, but in the event, there just wasn’t time. If we’d spent a whole week there it would have been perfect.
As I understand it, everyone else had a lovely ride (<g>). Abi got to be in front for a bit and Zini got to hang out with her (not a bit upset at losing Provo).
(When Ann and Jess loaded up their horses and left at the end of the day, a minute or so later when she realised her new buddy had gone, Zini whinnied rather sadly.)
She also managed to step on her rein at one point (apparently her head was in the dirt and pft let the reins too long), and kind of reared up in fright. So that was a good lesson for both about what not to do.
Mecca got some schooling, but walked out nicely and spent some time on her own (after Jess left Provo and I - why teach her *that* sort of behaviour?).
When we finally all got back to the camp safely, we ate lunch and then pft and I drove the truck along the Soda Springs Road to see where the trail went. We drove the 8 miles to Red Star Ridge: http://www.ws100.com/webcast/topo/RS-RF.htm where they have a small vet check for Tevis. The trail was much prettier and had more views than I thought it would (it was also much longer on dirt roads than I thought).
On the way home
We nearly got home safely. Ish.
pft drove and he drove nice and slow. So slow I was able to look at the map and figure out some mountains and trails, n’ stuff - even though it was all twisty turny and normally I would have been car sick doing that.
We started down Old Foresthill Rd and were nearly to the bottom when all hell broke loose in the back of the trailer - crashing and banging in a "horse down" type way. We managed to stop on the canyon and kind of pull off the road and went back to look and it turns out that the divider between the two horses was no longer latched.
The latch on that divider has been getting stickier and stickier, and I hadn’t realised that it is possible to latch it, but not have it latch completely (it’s a sort of two-click latch), so I’m guessing I just didn’t get it shut properly when we loaded them.
Managed to get it shut and set off again, and got maybe 300 yrds past the hw-49 bridge, when there was yet more crashing, so we stopped again.
This time, the divider was still in place, but Provo was standing on three legs. <sigh>.
The only thing I can think, is that the divider was loose the whole time, and Provo had spread out nice and comfy in the big space. And then we started downhill, it swung forwards and caught him on the leg/butt and he lashed out at it (I count ~20 foot prints on the back wall and a bunch of places where he’s gouged out the rubber-matting glued to the wall - also some interesting gouges/grooves down the side of the divider). Then perhaps, once the divider was shut again, he lost his balance, having just spent 1.5 hours travelling in an extra 4’ of space.
<Sigh>
Unloaded him at home, and he had a gash on the inside of the front of his hock (over an existing [probably wire cut] scar) (I have no idea how he could have accomplished this, unless he kicked himself?), as well as a bunch of dinks out of skin over his tendon - presumably from whacking the bottom of the divider at full-kick. I hosed him off and doctored him and hosed him again Monday morning.
The least obvious "dink" (which I didn’t even notice last night) is the one that had swollen, but it is mostly on the *side* of his leg, so hopefully hasn’t damaged that already-battered superficial flexor tendon too much.
So who knows. There I was sitting in the truck on the way home, dreaming of all the great things we were going to accomplish (if only I can learn to "let go") and how, maybe, just maybe we could think about Tevis next year, maybe... That’ll teach me. :(
Hopefully he hasn’t done any long-term damage and will heal up OK. I suppose this gives me more things to feel for on that leg (of course it’s the same one I’ve been worrying about for the last 11 months).
Anyway. Despite all that, pft and I both had a *loverly* few days and very much enjoyed Ann and Jess’ company.
We have decided we must go again!