Utah 2015 - San Rafael Swell

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To be added upon as I get to it. Unfortunately I came back to find work had gone from 0 to 80 mph while I was absent, so free-time is a bit scarce right now.

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Until this evening, I hadn't actually written anything about our trip last week, but I had gotten as far as downloading the pics off both cameras so that I was ready to do so at a moment's notice.

And now I've made this placeholder, so at least blob-entries will be in the correct order.

For now, suffice to say it was a most-excellent trip - we visited some of the finest scenery Utah has to offer; and reinforced the concept that things are way more fun if they turn into an adventure, rather than a pedestrian excursion; stayed in two of the best camping spots I've ever had the pleasure of erecting a tent on; saw rocks, rocks, and yet more rocks; laughed at the dogs a great deal; only combed my hair twice in ten days; drove a total of 1964 miles (including the journey home - 893 miles in one day... pft = 736, me = 157... a fair division of labour); and between us took 1415 photos.

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This is where we went - as the guidebook helpfully told us, San Rafael Swell is a kidney-shaped geologic feature in Central Utah. Upon reflection, I decided I don't actually know what shape a kidney is - so here's the map:

It's the kidney-shaped lumpy bit in the middle of the map.

The three yellow blobs are where we spent our nights - Richfield (a not-very-restful-night in a Motel 6 as "somewhere to crash" - while in actual fact we spent most of our four hours "sleep" there trying to prevent the dogs from barking at all the other clientele - after arriving at 3 a.m. Utah time. Perhaps next time we'll just sleep in the truck - it might be more restful); The Wedge (north part of that Christmas-tree-shaped canyon); and Behind the Reef Rd near Temple Mountain:

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Campsite #1 at the Wedge:

Here:

And this is what the "front yard" looked like (incidentally - that ridge is the background is Cedar Mountain which had a plenitude of cell towers on top of it. The Wedge had better cell coverage than we get at home):

And this is what the view was like just a few hundred yards away:

 And Campsite #2 - "Behind the Reef Road" near Temple Mountain:

It's rough but someone has to do it.

More later.

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Highlights of the trip:

• Nearly getting struck by lightning
• Cycling the Good Water Rim Trail solo
• Most amazing scenery. Everywhere
• Most amazing camp sites - and there was nobody there
• Slickrock hike puddles
• Watching Spike upsidedown in the puddles on the slickrock hike
• Using pft's ankles to hoist myself up a rock face (and watching Finn jump it in one bound - and very nearly not making it)
• Tadpoles in Chute Canyon
• Watching Spike chase swallows-shadows through the Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon
• Watching the light on the cliffs (and being witness to the most amazing light, back-dropped by thunderclouds in Goblin Valley)
• Getting the dogs through the water obstacles and up and over the big boulders ("Go Team!") in Little Wild Horse Slot Canyon - and watching the dogs grow in confidence as they realised "yes we can"
• Getting the truck stuck - and getting it back out again
• Complete solitude

How Many Things Can You Fix in Two Weeks?

This morning the toilet chose to block. This was the latest in a long line of malfunctioning things going on at home, which has kept pft busier than he's ever been. Of course we're supposed to be leaving on vacation at the end of the week, and supposed to be packing for that, but so far, other than make a list of "things to take", no packing has happened.

In the last few weeks, in no particular order, he's had to fix:

• Brakes on truck
• Intermittent miss on the miata (still ongoing, after several things replaced)
• Completely re-doing 55 foot of fencing
• Repairing electric fence
• Cutting down a tree leaning on the electric fence
• Killing a rattlesnake that was in the horse paddock
• Dealing with a well-pump controller problem which meant we kept losing all our water pressure on a daily basis
• Fixing the freezer that chose to start leaking when a hose went bad (on a 100°F day)(possibly related to the above)
• Assembling a multiple-mtn-bike-travelling-mount for the truck
• Wrapping my chook crêche in chicken wire to prevent a) babby chooks falling out between the bars* and b) raccoons extracting babby chooks and their mothers out through the bars
• Fetching hay
• Cleaning the house ready for guests who won't arrive for another four weeks, but we won't be around much to do it closer to the time
• Re-riveting the running board on the trailer that popped off when we had to do a tight U-turn camping a few weeks ago and ended up dragging through some earth (actually not done yet, not needed for a couple of weeks, but it's on the list).

(* this happened earlier in the week when I was trimming Hopi - all the chickens were suddenly  making a ruckus, so I came up for air to see what the fuss was, only to find the latest addition walking around on the ground looking traumatized.)

* * *

I've been trying to keep things going at my end by performing at least one task every morning.

A poor exhausted Roo after nearly two miles.
Miraculously cured on the way home.

Monday I took Roop on his first outing in 7 weeks (unless you count the day I led him down the driveway to close the gate at the bottom, and then rode him back up to the top, bareback). He was awful on the way out, weaving and seemingly having a hard time staying on the road - that is until pft on his mtn bike and the dogs took off down a hill and left him behind - at which point he suddenly developed some impulsion. And of course on the way home, he was raring to go, even if he was travelling in a banana-shape... no idea what that's about.

Tuesday I was relieved to finally get around to trim a long-overdue* Hopi - and we finished on a good note, despite discovering when I came indoors that it had been 109°F out there in the barn  (wondered why I was dripping so much). I stopped before he got pissy and, although that meant his back toes didn't get rolled, at least they are short and de-chipped.

(* Hopi always ends up being overdue because he's difficult to trim, has kicked me at least once and I've never forgiven him, so I don't look forwards to it, so can usually find something else to do instead. Luckily he has the best feet of all of them, so even when he overgrows, I can trim and - voila - his feet look perfect again).

Wednesday I lopped branches and vines away from the electric fence. This proved a mistake. I've had some chronic tendonitis (at least that's what I assume it is) going on in my left elbow and it turns out that it really dislikes weed-whacking and lopping (it hurts enough that I can't pick up a glass of water at certain angles... phooey).

And this morning I re-spliced the electric fence where the weed whacker inevitably leapt and grabbed it. At this point the fence should be intact again and we can turn it back on.

* * *

Oh, and backtracking to Sunday evening, pft and I waited until it cooled off and then took Small Thing and a mtn bike out to Cool for an hour's ride. Around dusk (8:45 pm ish) we came across this little guy in the grass right next to the trail. He was a bit surprised by us, I think, and bounded off a ways before stopping to check us out - standing up on his back legs for a better look through the tall grass.

Needless to say, ST was more concerned by the water trough (Instrument of Torture) at the trailhead that I tried to persuade him to drink out of than the bear (Mildly Interesting) - he doesn't suffer histrionics very often.

This was the first time he'd worn back boots in probably over a year and there was much bucking going on. In retrospect, the pastern straps were probably also too tight - I'm gradually learning the new boots and hopefully the next excursion will go a little smoother.

Oh - and I had to laugh at this pic (below) that pft took of us following last week's post about how his feet grow funny. Wonder why that would be?

He can stand normally, I promise. He was just miffed that we should be Getting On With It.

May - Week 3

The theme for the bank holiday weekend was "Sleep-Sleep-Sleep", instead of "Go Out and Have Three Days of Fun". You know it's time when the thought of doing anything "fun" fills you with an overwhelming tiredness - and so it was on Sunday morning (despite not getting out of bed at all on Saturday) when we were supposed to be packing for a quick camping trip to the mountains. The end result was a girl who spent almost the entire weekend either reading, watching films, or sleeping... sometimes all at the same time.

Sunday evening, pft joined me on a quick jaunt to the Powerlines and back (he wisely stayed at the top, keeping his mtn bike company, instead of scrambling down and then puffing his way back up again). Poor Finn was overheating - I need to do a summer convict-cut on him again since the temperatures are about to start climbing with avengence. Fergus took it all in his stride and positively lunged when we turned for home - I was about to suggest that he graze for a minute at the bottom, but instead he leapt, did that slightly alarming [oh-my-goodness-he's-a-big-strong-horse] head wrench and off we shot back up the hill.

By crikey that little dog can run!

And so I pronounce Fergus ready for NASTR 75 next weekend.

He's not carrying as much weight as I'd like. He's not thin, it's more that he's just not plump for the upcoming workload. Hopefully he doesn't drop too much weight this coming weekend. Once we get back, it'll be Operation Fatten Up all the way to Big Horn.

The forecast is for 88°F on Saturday - awk - we haven't trained in heat at all this year and he sweats pretty well in mid-70s right now, so I'm going to have to be diligent about keeping him as cool as I can.

His new ultra-expensive [oh please oh please let them do the trick] saddle pad inserts are on their way via UPS and should be here tomorrow (because we all know that you're supposed to try brand new, never-before-experimented-with, things on the day of a 75, right?). My take is that it can't be any worse than what I've already subjected his back to - he currently looks like an abuse case, thanks to my trying Freeform panels. It was another example of Lucy trying to put too much under there to make it work - and I've no real way of knowing if it is working since he seldom shows signs of discomfort - the first I know of it is when a new rash of white patches show up <sad>.

Anyway, hopefully the minimalist yet high-tech approach will do the trick this time around. And failing that, I can send a spare pad out to the vet check to switch out - we go through there three times.

* * *

And the Sleep-Sleep-Sleep worked! This morning I actually felt that tug of excitement back again. Even though I knew I'd be happy when I got there, the thought of NASTR (or indeed any ride, even a conditioning ride) was making me weary. Instead, I'm getting that clean focused feeling again - where I have things in hand and - yes - this is going to be fun.

May - Week 2 and a Bit

Week 2:

This is kind of backwards since the weekends are preceding the weeks - which everyone knows is wrong, since all weekends come at the end of the week. I will try to do better.

High Desert - Weekend 9th-10th:

Roops, Finn, Spike, pft, pft's dirt bike, and I had a splendid excursion to Nevada for the never-before-ridden High Desert Ride. As we arrived the skies opened and the "10% possibility of rain" materialized as about 2 inches-worth of wetness.

Roops and I rode with Dionne and her big mare Storm who was on her first 50 and we had a lovely day yakking away and riding about in the hills. I had wished for a nice relaxing ride with no drama and that's exactly what I got - right up until a rider just ahead of us fell off and broke her hip and had to be care-flighted to the hospital in Reno. Poor Dionne was made to go slower than Storm's capabilities, since Roo didn't need to be trotting along at 10+ mph, but we got the job done and I got a customary 5th from last - huzzah. 

pft rode about on his dirt bike and lolled about at camp. The dogs inadvertently got to gallop about in camp and have a wondrous time greeting all the neighbours until corralled. A fine time was had by all.

Monday 11th - Sunday 17th:

In which I worked, drove, slept, scratched the raging case of poison oak I picked up riding Fergus on the Powerlines and at Cool, and dealt with lumps*.

(*continuing saga from two years ago. I took high doses of Zinc, the problem went away for a year. I was cured so stopped taking the zinc, the problem came back. I am back taking high doses of zinc.)

So much for dynamic thoughts of pre-work riding and "Getting Stuff Done".

In fact, Saturday I didn't get out of bed at all, and instead sat and read a Norwegian mystery - Dreamless by Jørgen Brekke. Good reading, apparently, since it only took me a day to finish. This seems to be a regular cycle for me at the moment - go really really hard, then crash spectacularly.

Sunday I frog-marched myself out of bed and trimmed overdue Small Thing's feet - dug out the interesting remains of an abscess on his right rear - and then took Fergus out of for his final "long" conditioning ride before NASTR 75 in two weeks. Neither of us were filled with energy, so we did a peddle-ride with windmilling legs while Fergus ate his favorite seed-grasses. Lost both back boots - apparently I should read my own blog since it appears I used exactly the same back boots that fell off during our last big conditioning ride . 

Fergus Angst:
I'm hoping Fergus' current lack of enthusiasm has everything to do with being taken out on his own (and not having suitable back feet footwear), and nothing to do with my recurrent angst about saddle+pad fit. Using the Freeform panels for 20MT and NV Derby - something I was really pleased with at the time and seemed to be working beautifully - caused huge white stripes to appear along his back - argh. Every time I look at him, all I can see is those stupid white patches, never mind he's not remotely troubled by them when I palpate his back

Whatever I seem to do with pad inserts results in what feels like a huge wodge on his back along the top edge of the inserts. I had tried some shims which I thought were working, but next time I felt them, they felt bulky in that trouble-area. I will try reversing them so the tapered edge is up towards his spine.

In the Good Girl Department, I mended some torn gaiters with my handy "Speedy Stitcher"... $40 saved.. yay me... I'm trying to work up the courage to do my Ariat riding shoes, which have unravelled stitching down one side, but I'm scared of making a big lump in the wrong place on the inside. It's not rocket science, Lucy.

Tahoe Rim Trail / Watson's Loop / Tevis trail

Failure to Write

So I failed dismally to write about the amazing trip Renee and I took to Moab in September 2013 with Uno, Roo and Bite, where I spent much of my time with mouth agog.

pft and I returned to Moab in June 2014, ostensibly to pick up a tiny Spike, but mostly because we wanted a trip to Moab. We got a new tent (wonderful), took Finn and two bicycles and camped at Barlett Wash for a week of blissed out exploring, bike riding on slickrock, reading books in the heat of the afternoon. And I failed to write about it.

I failed to finish my Tevis with Fergus story (although, like the Moab trip write up, I did start it) - that ride will go down as probably the best I'll ever have - it was, without a doubt, the ride of a lifetime.

I failed to write about Roo and I doing Tahoe Rim Ride as a last minute spur of the moment option - and that ended up being one of Roo and my best rides together. He evidently loves that trail and does well on it - this was our second time doing the ride.

And finally, I failed to write about Roo and my attempt to finish Virginia City 100. Maybe one day it'll get written, but it's a daunting task.

(As an aside, I have also failed to continue running. I had to slow down a bit for Tevis, so's I didn't overdo it. And then I had to slow (i.e. stop entirely) for VC100 since I was definitely starting to teeter on overdoing it. And then when I tried to start again while doing lots of other things, my body said "Enough" and rebelled. So I agreed and haven't run since. I'm doing my best to pace myself. Not quite there, but balance is slowly being restored. I'm more or less over the post-100 bleahs ("My life isn't worth living unless I have a 100 to aim for") and starting to return to normal.)

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One of these horses is not like the other.

What I will tell you about is the excellent ride we had this past Saturday on the Tahoe Rim Trail / Watson's Loop / Tevis trail.

Crysta and I had vaguely discussed the idea of horse camping at Faith Valley, but it didn't really pan out. I suggested Castle Peak loop, Crysta was leery (after I took her and Renee there when the snow wasn't quite melted and we had an "Adventure" (i.e. we squeaked by)). Crysta suggested Skillman, but I couldn't get excited about going there. Crysta suggested "the trails around Robie" and I really wasn't excited at the idea of the long dirt road to get in to Robie either, until it dawned on us that we could park at the hw-89 (Tevis) crossing and ride from there.

Huh. A 'splorin ride. My favorite.

It takes a little over 2 hours to haul up the mountain (including a civilised Starbucks visit on the way) and really is a no-brainer - up the freeway, over the top of Donner Summit, turn right and park in the turnout just past Squaw Valley by the side of hw-89.

There was slight excitement at the very beginning when Crysta slipped under Uno's feet while stopping mid-mount to untangle Uno from Digs' lead rope (she would be ponying him). Both got loose and trotted cheerfully back along the bike path through the underpass and up to the trailers where we retrieved them 30 seconds later.

But otherwise the ride went without incident. I'd downloaded maps to the GPS app on my phone, so knew that even if we didn't know where we were, I'd at least be able to tell where we should be going from that. And Crysta had a paper map which gave us the general idea about what we were supposed to be doing.

We followed the Tevis trail backwards up to where it opens up onto a dirt road. Tevis trail comes up from the left, while the connector road to the TRT continued up the hill to the right (there are several other smaller turns along the way which we eyeballed, but this one is the BIG dirt road).

Clambered up the hill, admiring Digs' NV drumsticks and Uno's developing ones. I fretted slightly that this was Roo's first ride back after being pulled at 92 miles at VC100 for rear end lameness - was he healed or would his back legs fall off during this climb?

Arriving at the top, all limbs still attached, it leveled off onto perfect footing and some ambiguous trail marking. The TRT crosses this dirt road, but we only noticed the trail markers headed south. It wasn't until I looked at the GPS to ascertain that, no, we didn't want to stay on this trail, and then pft backtracked about 100' we found the TRT headed north - marked, but a little surreptitiously. We shall call him Eagle Eyes Pft.

The turn for TRT headed north isn't very well marked -
you have to look carefully to see the trail and spot the markers

The TRT was REALLY fun. Lots of twisty turny singletrack that you could have a blast on. It wound up to the overlook at Painted Rock, and then dropped down the other side on a smooth switchbacked trail.

At the top of Painted Rock

Looking towards Robie Park. The Tevis trail is directly below us
(although I didn't know that until afterwards, looking at the map)

At some point, the trail changes to the Watson's Loop, but I'm not clear where. The trail follows the south flank of Mt Watson with views of Lake Tahoe, passing boulder piles and winding its way up over the shoulder of the mountain.

Watson's Trail

Looking down on Lake Tahoe

Eventually, it drops down to Watson Lake (pft and I had been here once before many years ago on mtn bikes when we spent the weekend with a summer ski lift pass at Northstar). We were a little leery of sinking in the mud at the lake, trying to get the horses a drink, but the lake level was low enough that it revealed a gravelled shore, so everyone got a drink.

Watson Lake

Roo and Fergus 

Being that it was mid-October, and being that we were up past 7,000', we'd carefully put on our extra clothes, strapped jackets to the back of the saddle, I'd put Roo in Small Thing's breast collar* which still had glowsticks attached from VC100, and I'd brought a headlight along. We were ready.

(* Small Thing's zilco breast collar is actually exactly the same size as Roo's - just with the straps buckled onto their smallest settings. Funder and I cunningly adjusted it the night before VC so that Roo could wear his yellow BC during the day and we'd switch to the glow-stick encrusted one for the night-time portion - thereby eliminating about 15 minutes of faffing around at the 50 mile hold. Girl Scouts R Us and we get points for cleverness).  

As it turned out, it was t-shirt weather and not even remotely chilly by the time we got back to the trailers at the end of the ride. In fact, it could be said that it was perfect weather. < Beam >

Leaving the lake, we had to check the GPS and map again - there's a sneaky left turn thrown in there (actually marked with lil' silver tree-tags with "W" punched into them) which puts you on another fun singletrack which spits you out on the paved road that leads to Robie.

Trying to figure out where we are, and where we're supposed to be going.

More singletrack and you drop onto the dirt road that leads to Robie.

Dirt road on the way to Robie Park

You follow the dirt road to the hairpin at the end then take the left-most trail. Again, was glad to have the GPS to consult, since Roo wanted to take the most direct route back to the trailer (over the top of a 7,762' mountain top - yes, there is a dirt road that leads up to it. Yes, he would have taken it). I even ended up walking along with the GPS turned on, watching the blue dot that was us, to make sure we really were on the correct trail (we weren't).

The final trail took us into the back of the meadow and, voila, Barsaleau Pavilion before us.

They have spigots at Robie Park, but since we'd crossed enough creeks and stopped at the lake, we didn't bother to try and find out if the water was still turned on. Probably would have been good to know. We did partake of the bunch grass in the Mansfield Arena - strangely empty with no vendors, no vets, no horses.

On the way to the Tevis start line

And then we blitzed home again on the Tevis trail all the way back to hw-89. Both Roo and Fergus assumed their "everyone out of the way, we know where we're going" modes (both having at least started Tevis), while Uno and Digs ambled along happily behind.

My favorite pea-head who has done good this year.

And because Crysta made us get up at 6:30 a.m., we were home before it was dark.

Remedying the Pre-Tevis "I haven't done enough" Jitters

The original plan for this weekend was to attend the Tevis Fun Ride and ride CA Loop, but the problem with that plan was that it would take up the entire weekend and there was a pile of other things that needed doing at home. So instead I opted for not going and cramming as much into the three-day weekend as physically possible. I think I achieved that goal - I'm tired, I'm filthy, and I have blisters on the bottoms of my feet.



Day 1 - Friday - Jobs B Done

• Gold star to me for doing my 2 mile run* in the morning, even though I left late and it was hot. 

(* I have this vague plan to aim for the Way Too Cool 50 k Run in March. 

There are several flaws to this plan - namely, I don't think I actually like running enough to want to run 50k - let alone train for it. And secondly, it's a lottery entry, with n thousand applicants trying to squeeze into 850 places, so the chances of getting in are limited. And thirdly, I don't think running with 849 other people sounds remotely fun. 

Despite all this, I have the "how to train for a marathon in 16/26 weeks" [depending on which plan you go with] and will work at it - it'll get me in shape for Tevis and I may even lost the extra 10 lbs that popped up over the original extra 10 lbs that aren't supposed to be there. 

It has to be taylored slightly to fit in the conditioning for Tevis and then VC100. For example, I'm supposed to run Monday morning, but that's after having "two rest and recovery days" - which I didn't actually get and right now can barely creak down to the trailer to get out the GPS that I left on my saddle. Perhaps Monday will be yet another "rest and recovery" day.).

Luckily, everything that got done this weekend was accompanied by a small helper.

• Small Thing got trimmed - which was a good thing, given that whoever is his trimmer does a lousy job at keeping on top of his feet. Totally overgrown and out of control. I'm glad he's not my pony and I don't pay his trimmer.
• The boxes from our week trip to Moab that were cluttering up the front hall got emptied and put away, so we can actually walk through the front hall now, not act like it's an obstacle course.
• The annual "put up the sunshade over the back deck" occurred. This year, it is engineered sans cinder block holding it in place, and is therefore, in the words of my friend Funder, "very classy".

• In the evening, we met up with Crysta, Ronda, and husbands at the Fast Friday's motorcycle track racing at the Auburn Fairgrounds - lots of fun in a very low-key way. These were followed by excellent 4th July fireworks (they only set off one fire, but had four fire engines standing by), followed by a beer at the only bar open in the entire town. Good ending to the day.

Day 2 - Saturday - Nine Miles of Cool

Except for a couple of walking rides up at Robinson Flat, Roo, hasn't actually done any work in six weeks, post-NASTR 75. Part of this is because his poor back was totally mangled by the well-past-sell-by-date pad I used, coupled with all the walking we ended up doing on that ride -  so it was better to let his back heal up. It still looks awful, with a large pink blotch - and I feel really crappy about it - but he's not sore on it, so I figure some riding probably won't do any harm - and he's supposed to be doing VC100 in September, so I can't let him sit for too long.

Plus I was eager to try out the new Skito foam shims.

Accordingly, pft and I took Fergus and Roo out to Cool in the afternoon mostest heat of the day and took them up the training hill, and then ran them about for nine miles. Everyone had a lot of fun. I was a little concerned that Roo looked like death at the end... but he looked like that before we even set out - I think he was in "hot weather mode" - where he just looks like he's on his last legs (never mind that for the first three miles of the ride, he was quite able to leap about and try and buck whenever Fergus trotted, so I overstretched my poor abused adductors again trying to stay on).

Climbing the training hill - we were soundly beaten by a woman on foot
...who turned out to be Melissa Ribley, out with Robert and Chris Turney,
presumably doing their version of heat/hill training

starting to regain weight

And in the evening we visited Ann and Jess for fud and talk-around-the-table - haven't done this in too long and it was so nice. And of course drank margaritas (hot day, etc, etc) and then didn't leave there until 1 am


Day 3 - Sunday - Heat Training R Us

My cunning plan for this day was to get up as early as I could and beat the heat.

So much for that.

In reality, after the previous late night, I did my best to achieve a lie-in (fail, owing to being woken up by "something" biting my hair), and then had to trim Fergus because his boots wouldn't fit. And then had to come indoors and lie down because it was hot and my back was cricked.

Amazingly, despite nearly wussing out (pft said "you don't have to ride today", and I nearly fell for it), Fergus and I were packed in the trailer and on our way to Driver's Flat by 1 pm... to ride in the hottest part of the day. Needless to say, neither Fergus nor I were highly motivated.

Mindful of the sad state of my quads after hiking down to Swinging Bridge three weeks ago, I hand-walked (hand-dragged?) Fergus down to Francisco's. The temperatures were in the high 90s (36-37°C) when we left the trailer and they just got hotter. Down on the river road, with the sun reflecting off the white surface, it was well over 100°F (38°C).

The thing I wanted most was to get off that stupid hot road, and to stop watching the happy rafters down on the river, not sitting in their rafts - oh no - they were all in the river next to the raft, bobbing along in their lifejackets. Jealous was I.

Once we got around the river bend and into the trees more, it was a little cooler, but only a little - still in the high 90s. Fergus, who was so fidgety for sponging three weeks ago, stood stock still, totally unmoving while I sponged him, and me, and him, and me, and him, and me... repeat. Getting him to leave the creek proved tricky.

Sandy Bottom - about my favorite place on this section of trail. You're
down close to the river and I always expect to see ancient giant sturgeon
in the clear deep water.

And then you climb - and the higher you climb, the narrower the trail becomes,
and the more steep the drop offs. Fergus was a good boy, though, and looked
after me (as usual), even though I am a weenie.

After the climb to the top of Ford's Bar. Fergus isn't fond of Ford's Bar

On the switchbacks on the way up to Peachstone. 

Huzzah! We arrive at Peachstone and I take a celebratory photo.
Couldn't figure out why it was all 'soft focus' and peculiar - until I
realised I had my iPhone stuffed in the front of my bra and had
then liberally drenched myself with the horse sponge in the creek.
Result was a rather steamy lens

This is what that photo was supposed to look like

My visions of trotting up the switchbacks to Peachstone didn't pan out - Fergus did a lot of trudging. I think the combination of the heat and being out there all alone did him in. He wasn't exactly what I'd call dynamic.

But we got to the top, looped around to White Oak Flat, and then went back down again on McKeon-Ponderosa, back down to Francisco's, and then back up Driver's Flat, for a total of 21.5 miles and 3500' of climbing (and descent, since it was a loop). All in all, a decent conditioning ride, even if it was a slow one. And the combination of this, and the training hill the day before, and the CA Loop planned for next weekend, salved my "haven't done enough" feelings. Fergus worked hard these last two days and I feel less like he's been standing around doing nothing and therefore can't possibly finish Tevis.

On the way back down to Francisco's from White Oak Flat.
Using White Oak Flat as the vet check instead of Francisco's
was an alternate Tevis route that was taken once in the 90s
with the idea to keep the historic trail open. Unfortunately, the
section through Todd Valley is now quite built-up and someone
was hit by a car going through there in the dark on Ride Day, so
I think it was deemed a bit too dangerous. 

Fergus' lack of motivation on the hand-walk down from White Oak Flat had caused me to procure a small whacking stick with which to encourage him. This "whacking stick" was wimpy enough that you could have whipped a baby with it and the baby wouldn't have noticed, but it had the desired effect on Fergus and a suitably animated (i.e. not being dragged along by your face) was produced. I told Fergus that Karen (his former mommy and trainer) would not be impressed by his behaviour.

Wimpy whacking stick that I kept for the trudge up Driver's Flat, just in case

Back down at Francisco's, where he peed copiously and
was suddenly miraculously cured of his inability to go downhill.

We even had an adventure. 

After you leave Peachstone, you climb another 1.5 miles and pop out on a paved road for a short while. This then veers onto a small singletrack, which in turn drops you into Todd Valley.

The entrance to the singletrack had branches across it to dissuade people from going up there. Of course, Fergus and I weren't dissuaded, so marched over the top of the branches and went 20' before coming up against a downed tree blocking the trail. It was a pretty wimpy tree and I figured I could bend it and pull it and shove Fergus through (Fergus is good at bushwhacking), and was in the process of doing this when I noticed a blueish thing lying on the trail behind the tree branches... wait....isn't that a wasps' nest?

The wasps' nest - about the size of a football.

It looked deserted, so I figured it had come down when the tree tipped over and all the wasps had vacated the premises.

Crouching down for a better look, I noticed a couple of sluggish wasps crawling on it, so decided that maybe there were some residents. But the thing was totally blocking the trail, with no way around so it needed to be gone.

I maneuvered Fergus back along the trail, took him out to the road and hung him from a tree (this road just leads to the single house at the bottom, so has zero traffic on it), and went back armed with a branch. My plan was to brush the wasps' nest off the trail with my long stick, and it would just drop off the side and Fergus and I could push our way through the downed tree.

I poked the nest and it moved about 2" and a large number of wasps came out. I squawked and ran back down the trail to the road, startling Fergus by my sudden appearance.

Waited for them to calm down and went back again - with a longer stick - and had another go. This time, the nest moved even less distance and even more wasps came out of it. This wasn't going to work.

So of course, what we did was climb a vertical bank, dismantle someone's fence temporarily (fence that had a sign on it saying "No fishing, No hunting, No trespassing" - which of course didn't mean us, what with this being an emergency), put the fence back together again, and then push through the undergrowth (read "poison oak") to drop back onto the trail 20' further up from the nest (and run like heck when you get there, just in case).

All I can say is it was lucky it was Fergus, who takes all such activity in his stride.

* * *

Looking downriver towards Poverty Bar river crossing. The Tevis trail goes
along the right bank about 20% of the way up the hillside.

Somewhere around 5 miles into the ride, I decided I wanted pizza for supper, so the entire trudge up Driver's Flat was spent txting with pft, trying to figure out where we could obtain pizza from (particularly, given that I had no money or cards with me). He called around and said if I could get to the Cork and Fork by 8:30, there would be pizza waiting.

It was 7:50 and we weren't to the top yet.

Looking down towards Francisco's from Driver's Flat Rd

To his credit, once the climbing part was over, Fergus actually trotted the entire last half mile back to the trailer (by now the temperature had dropped to 82° (28°C) and it felt deliciously cool), and I did the fastest untack in living memory, while at the same time giving Fergus water - he sucked down three small buckets (2.5 gallons? each) in the time it took me to whip off his clothes, and I shoved him in the trailer, and through the canyon we went.

Pizza was procured. Yum.

 And Fergus got another drink once the crisis was over.

pft asked me if I'd actually looked at the pizza because he had ordered a "combo" and didn't know what was on it. I told him, no, I hadn't looked at the pizza at all.

 Good weekend.