Tevis: No Hands bridge 1

It was still dark when I arrived at the bridge. A friend joined me, and a small dedicated group of spectators. Photographers were out in force, with the best views in the front row. Even a park ranger stood to keep the group back, though it seemed we were all pretty sensible horse folks.

I would have liked to take photos, but the photographers heads would have not been very interesting. The first woman across on a grey no one recognized, but then the people in the group called out to friends and those they recognized: Jeremy Reynolds, Garret Ford, lots of others (my brain wasn't entirely awake, and I don't know the endurance people by sight, mostly names I've read).

The horses looked great. Of course they'd only gone 7 miles (lots of it downhill with switchbacks) but it was fun to see the great fast trot across the bridge, around the corner, and up the trail. I saw plenty of Easyboots (mostly glue-ons) and team Renegade decked out in awesome orange tack, and it looked like they had some glue-ons and some boots. A couple riders tossed sweatshirts into the group, already hot, and a few horses had trace clips, including the cute fjord!

It was certainly fun to see the groups come across the bridge, in the "wrong" direction and at the "wrong" time. It may be a different Tevis, but I'm glad to have been able to see part of the start like this.

Good luck to everyone on the trail today! I'm going to go ride my own horse, and while I have no Tevis aspirations, it is still inspiring.