
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
The other day, Sunni and I, and the dogs, ambled through the forest on an ancient trail. Before completely reaching its far end, we discovered another old, faint, but well-beaten pathway. We turned onto it, found that it took us back toward the trailhead. At long last, I’d discovered old trails that create a riding-loop, and go purely through forest. They introduce future horseback rides in an area avoiding dusty roads, except for walking across.
On another day, the dogs and I returned. I rode Rosie with Pimmy following, intending for us to travel over that forest loop. We weren’t lucky enough to find the old trail that returned to the trailhead, and so, searched for it by bushwacking.
We wandered from the “Greenery area”, into grassy flatlands or through stretches thick with trees, and a couple of times found ourselves moving upward toward a ridge peak. If our location made it appear we were lost, we turned back toward the Greenery.

My useful habit while on horseback, and when appropriate, is to follow the dogs. Dogs love trails and will discover and travel over them. On this day of our wanderings, the dogs stayed busy chasing chipmunks without finding any beaten trail.
Somewhere and finally we ran across a trail going in a direction that seemed desirable. With dogs leading (as sometimes our trail faded), we went to its termination, where I hoped, at a road where directly across another trail I knew well continued toward the trailhead.
I’ve confidence in the ultimate success of having an easily-accessed, completely-forested loop for my entourage. Hopefully, it would be rideable for as long as five miles, or abbreviated for three-mile rides. Traveling through a forest on horseback is more fun, much prettier, and yea, cleaner than dusty roadways.
Dear Friends: Today, more armed with experience, maybe I can complete this quest. Diana