summer fridays

We've had a good summer of riding (about 250 miles total)! But I've been very lax about updating, sorry! I have most every Friday off work in summer (4-10 schedule) and I thought I'd catch up with the blog and just find a single photo from each Friday and that would be an easy story. Right? But one photo from each week just didn't capture enough, so here are too many photos of our summer adventures!

May 31: 7.54 miles on the Pioneer Express (aka Rock) trail. Rode out with S who had never taken this tricky trail. Was too busy ducking branches and nervously dealing with how Miles just climbs the slick rocks to take good photos. 

S wondering where the hell I was taking her!

June 7: 11.14 miles to Granite Bay. It was a bit hot and Miles was full of it and the only photo I took was this turtle who was on the upper trail, hundred of feet from the lake. Not the best place for him to be!

turtle (looks like a rock!)

June 14: 13.97 miles on the Granite Bay and Los Lagos trail. A week of more riding made Miles a bit more manageable. We started out early and on the way back from Granite Bay tried the Los Lagos trail. This trail used to always get overgrown, but management has been turned over to the county and the trail was in perfect shape, yeah!

 

Cat interlude one: Just because they're so damn cute. Wesley and Geordi are pretty good friends most of the time. They play and squabble, Geordi tries to be in change but he weighs half of what Wesley does and is not nearly so brave.

June 21: 4.3 miles on my own feet to Salmon Lake. My family, extended family and friends all went camping near Truckee. It was chaotic and fun and on this Friday I got away with just a couple folks and hiked to Salmon lake. I took my Mom's dog Archie who loves nothing better than a mud hole.

Archie the pup loves to get muddy

June 28: 9.26 miles trying to get to Avery Pond. Our plan to ride to Avery Pond was thwarted by a downed tree. So we turned around a made some fun loops in the forest before it got too hot. 

tree blocking the trail, damn!

July 5: 8.5 miles trying to access the lake trail. I knew the lower lake trail had to be opening soon! But it was not to be this day, so I ended up gallivanting around and just goofing off, which ended up pretty fun even if Miles' hoof boots were completely full of burrs and foxtails from off-trail exploring!

July 12: 21.08 miles in Point Reyes! This was an awesome weekend of horse camping in Point Reyes. We left behind 105 degree temperatures to cool coastal adventures. Did lots of different trails, ate good food, hung out with friends. Miles did try to dig a hole to the underworld while tied, this was new. He could be distracted by a giant haynet so he pretty much just ate anytime at the trailer. Good thing we rode a lot to burn off those calories! I lost a hoof boot which sucked, but someone found it and returned it (it has my phone number written on it). Win!

the fog was over the ocean so we could hear it but not see anything!

some of Point Reyes is like a jungle

rode to Bear Valley

moonrise over camp

Miles was very interested in the cows

July 19: 5.76 miles of local trails. It is too hot to do much. I went down to the lake and cleared driftwood from the main access point. But I got way too hot in the sun. A little over an hour of riding, starting at 8am, and it is already 90+ degrees. No thanks. Miles got a cool shower and gets to hang in the pasture today.

Miles snacking while I rested from getting overheated!

July 26: 9.82 miles at Skillman campground. Another great weekend of camping and riding, this time at Skillman campground. The Hallelujah trail is just fantastic. Some other trails we usually like are under repair after highway re-routing, so we did Hallelujah a few times and then explored a bit. Also relaxed, read books, cooked burgers on the campfire and otherwise had a good adventure!

camp setup under the pines

Miles and girlfriend Amirah

love the variety of terrain

We were not slowing down on the way back!

August 2: 8.7 miles almost lake loop. I really thought I'd be able to get through on the lower lake trail, but it was still too muddy at the low spot. Clambered through some driftwood to get to the upper trail, where we had to squeeze by a downed tree, but ended up being able to make a loop using the upper and forest trails (I hate having to backtrack!)

Cat interlude two: The cats took turns sleeping on my dirty saddle pads, Geordi ran around the yard so much he was panting and I had to cool him off from the hose (he didn't mind) while Wesley thought that the running was too much work and just watched and supervised it all.

 

August 9: 3.2 miles from Gualala Point Regional campground to the beach and back. Another non-horse weekend camping with a smaller, quieter group of family and friends. Good food, lots of dogs, very windy beach time and evenings by the fire. Gualala is on the Sonoma county coast and that area is one of my favorite coastal places in California.

Stump beach, Salt Point State Park

August 16: 16.03 miles to Avery Pond and beyond. Miles and I had not explored this way for a while (it was blocked by the downed tree when we tried last time). It is so dry out, but not so hot, so we just kept going and going! Past the pond, over the bridge of death (very loud rushing water just beneath a very narrow bridge, Miles is very good for it now), and past a downed tree. We got just up to where the trail gets sketchy and I thought we didn't need to do that part today (as we have to turn around and repeat the trail). On the way home Miles was…enthusiastic…but we arrived safely back in one piece!

waiting while I figured out if we could go over the downed tree

August 24 (technically Saturday and not Friday, I'm cheating): 12 miles in Auburn to the quarry and back. A highly unusual brief summer storm rolled in overnight. I was supposed to meet K in Auburn at 9. It said the rain would stop by then. Well, it didn't. We saddled up in the rain. I loaned her a waterproof vest (it wasn't raining at her house in the valley), and we headed out anyway! It stopped raining after about an hour, the trails were a bit slick, but nearly empty, nice and cool and it was a great ride! Summer rain is highly odd here, and it made it feel like fall for the first time…

 

 

August 29 (actually Thursday evening, cheating again): 4.76 miles by the lake. It's been too hot to ride after work, but today was finally cooler and we needed to get out! Just a short jaunt down to the lake, where we trotted along, ate some grass, surprised a bald eagle who flew off majestically (seriously, it was huge and cool!), and tried to rush home just a bit. The sun was casting yellow-orange light as it set and we got home just before a too early dark.

It was a good summer.