Monday, January 25, 2010

The Golden Ticket!

So, today was an awesome day. Vickey is involved in everything in Queen Creek, it seems. She has been asked to attend meetings regarding our San Tan Park, and give input. Well, she was asked by the park manager to ride some proposed trails in the park, according to a map he had made, and give him feedback on the proposals. And, lucky for me, she invited me to go along!!
So, the bus picked Vickey and Dakota at 9am, and with our "Golden Ticket" in hand (the map of proposed trails) off we went. We were so excitd, because this gave us permission to bushwack, and basically go willy-nilly throughout the prk. This was a top secret covert mission. Even the park hosts didn't know anything about the proposed trails. We went back to the very back entrance to try and find and follow the trails he had proposed back there. We had gotten a lot of rain, and the bushwhacking was slow going. It was very rocky too. WE saw on the map that we needed to get around Rock Peak. There was a house there as well, but, we knew the house couldn't be IN the park. We finally found a very nicely groomed path, linedwith rocks on each side, that went towards the house. It looked like we were going up the driveway, and we really didn't want to get shot for trespassing, but, we knew it was IN the park, and couldn't be private property. I thought Dakota should go first since he is white, and white is the universal symbol for peace and surrender...... Sure enough, it took us up around behind the house. It was really rocky now, and, in order to continue on to where the map said we should be, we would have had to do a re-enactment from the "The Man From Snowy River." There was quite a steep ravine there and, the footing was really bad. I decided at this point, that the Park manager must have just used an Etch-a-sketch to draw the proposed trails in. It was too dangerous to go on, so we turned around and went back to the trailer. Santana's feet were soft from all the rain and lack of anywhere dry (besides his stall) to stand. The rocks were a little hard on him, and he was being VERY careful. But through all that bushwacking and the very hard work asked of him, he acted like a seasoned 15 year old horse. Such a good boy. His feet held up quite well despite being soft from the rain, and we were traveling through and over boulders.
We left that trailhead, and went back to our usual trailhead to check out some other proposed trails. These were more "familiar" as they were trals we all used to ride before they closed them off. We set off again, following more familiar trails that we had ridden, but not in years due to the park closing them off. But it was so nice to be out there, where nobody else had been in a long time. It was quiet and peaceful. We had such a great time, and it was geting late, so, we headed back to the trailer. I told Vickey I was SURE I could find that silly trail that ended in Snowy RIver fashion if we hit it from the other side first, and went backwards..... she was game, so we planned to head out again tomorrow. Stay tuned....

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