friday fun: hidden falls

My work transitions to a 4-day-a-week schedule in summer, which means free Fridays! I've already got the next month of Friday's planned out, and of course they're mostly riding!

Our first foray was to Hidden Falls, which is pretty close but not the same-old trails I've been doing in Auburn. While it isn't my favorite it is fun sometimes and always good to see some new scenery. My friend S brought her good boy Rocky, who has upped his fitness and enjoys keeping up with Miles when we want to have a faster ride.

still some green even in June!

From the staging area the trail goes down some switchbacks and along a creek. We continued on the shady creek trail, I like this one because it is more technical but with some pretty views of the creek from above (horses can't go to the main falls area). A couple sets of bikes came up from behind on this narrow trail, both horses didn't care, and we squeezed over to let them past. Other than that we almost had the place to ourselves!

one of the many little bridges, this at least had water under it

The trails on this side of the creek are bird names, so we took Pheasant to Golden Eagle to Warbler to Coopers Hawk (only missing Mourning Dove). There are so. many. little. bridges. They are short, and nicely built, and at most parks would just be a dip in the trail. But here they went all out and put bridges. I completely lost track of how many of them but kept taking pictures (I think it was because we slowed down over them). I will not spam this post with all the Miles' ears and bridge photos I took!

yes, a tiny bridge

No, Miles, 36 tons is not close to what you weigh

We did cross the big bridge at the far side of the park (where Miles had his only small spook-in-place at light gray rocks that he was offended by) and went down to the creek and watered the horses. This park is pretty easy to figure out mileage. If you've gotten to this end you're at 5-6 miles, then have to go back. 

tasty creek water

upstream pretty view

S and Rocky and the big bridge

The trails on this side are mostly mammal names, but we avoided those and took Creekside all the way back. It was just too pretty to not ride alongside. The trail is at different levels above the creek, and is pretty easy, I did get a little canter in here (which I haven't done much) which was pretty fun! There is a one-way section that has some cliffy drop-offs and S wasn't sure about those, so I said we could cut over to another trail, which is always fine. But she was brave and we did it no trouble, yeah!

it's not too scary if I can take one-handed photos

water below looked so refreshing

After that there is a little slog on a wide, hot, gravel road, where there was a bike just laying there. The guy was standing off to the side. I asked him if he was OK, but he said he'd just seen the hugest rattlesnake! Glad he scared it off and not us. We continued across one of the other big bridges they have (there is a cool overlook for humans above the creek).

bridge with overlook above

this is a big bridge (they helicoptered them in sections!)

You can continue on the wide, gravel road to the staging area, but that is boring. We took the smaller single-track technical trail back to yet another large bridge (stopping underneath to water them again), then back up the big hill. Miles knew we were going back and thought we should go faster, but settled for a trot instead. Back at the staging area he was more interested in his hay, and our ride was complete! 

the buckeye trees are blooming gorgeous!

priorities (he got a sponging too)

I still find this park a little boring, like a trail Disneyland, with everything labeled and neat, but maybe that is just because I'm use to wandering about not knowing where I'll go. I'm also still not loving my Freeform saddle. Miles loves it, my hip after about eight miles does not (and I miss my big knee rolls). For now I'm just seeing how it goes because I really don't want to get into the saddle fit dilemma, but I'm sure that is looming. More Friday adventures to follow!

blunders

“You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is to never get involved in a land war in Asia. The second is to never argue with your mother when you're supposed to slow down!” (apologies to the Princess Bride).
 
Poor Miles, that he has to put up with my ridiculousness. He just gets very silly coming home, so we circle and back and sidepass. He seems to doubt that I will actually circle him on a single-track muddy blackberry-lined trail. But I know he is very good with his feet and just needs a reminder to slow them a bit before we slip-and-slide. So we circle and he stops after a bit of disbelief and then we continue on, often with no repeat (he remembers pretty well).

low lake (not for long!)

end-of-year adventure

We had a nice ride before Christmas where he was very good for about 95%! Coming back the trail was slippery and downhill and he wanted to be home already so I made good old Rocky stop and wait while we worked it out. Then we just carry on!

high tides made for some great waves

sometimes the coast is a bit foggy!

stairs down to the beach

My Mom's super cute naughty dog, Archie!

But that was the last ride for a week! It rained (a lot!) between Christmas and New Year. I went to the coast to visit my parents, celebrate a bit, and came home to a muddy mess. New Years’ day dawned blue skies but the trails had six inches of rain in two days. No riding (bad for the trails) so it was just welcoming the new year with a good walk and treats.

still wearing a new year's eve party hat…a stick!

too muddy for riding, though some did, we turned around on this walk

I'm muddy and bored

But more storms are coming and I hoped to get a ride in before Miles goes feral. Luckily the trails drain very well, so I headed out yesterday hoping for just an easy ride. We stuck to the decomposed granite upper trails. The footing was nice enough to trot on the ridgelines to the overlook spot. From there I can still see the lower lake trail unsubmerged by the rising lake, but not for long!

the lake rose 30 feet in a week!

anticipation ears, are we going home now?

But from there all trails lead “home.” While Miles found it a bit hard to contain himself (there was some enthusiastic jigging, argh) he was very good, even marching through the center of the puddles (because I seem to have won that battle for now). We were heading back on the final single-track with too much enthusiasm and also slippery mud, so he needed to slow. He fell for the blunder of trying to argue “let me do it we’re almost home!” We stopped, backed, and turned around, retraced our steps about 30 feet and tried again. My, it IS possible to walk through here!

quietly standing in the last big puddle crossing

He can be very smart when he decides to listen. We got to the final water crossing, where I, his dreadful owner, made him stand and wait. And he was good and patient so we finished the ride nicely. Some grass snacks on the way home made it all worthwhile. Now we’re looking at an atmospheric river or pineapple express or some such storm with lots of rain coming for the next couple weeks, oh boy.

I don’t need to go up a girth size on my already porky pony, so hopefully I can get Miles out for some January adventures, and keep learning from our blunders.

 

Wesley and Jack like MY new fireside pillow (but not together!)