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[RC] Mariposa Ride--Beauty, eh! - beth gloverI'd like to thank the Theodores, the management of the Mariposa ride, the volunteers, for all their hard work and hospitality at this beautiful ride. Gosh Mariposans are such nice people in that town! Really. The ridecamp was located at the beautiful Circle 9 ranch, and I'd like to try to thank the ranch owners for their hospitality. We enjoyed the area so much we stayed until Monday and they were very gracious about letting a few families stay until then and ride around on their property. They had a frog pond with more frogs in it than I've ever seen here in Calif. That was good for the kids. What a gorgeous ride. It was very very pretty. Areas reminded me of San Diego, which is so nice since the loss of a lot of trails down there in the fires. There were miles of Manzanita forests. Some parts also reminded me of the redwood forests on the Pacific coast, and some sections reminded me of the Western States trail. Some of the topography and the type of rocks were sim
ilar to Tevis. Of course they would be, since it is still Gold rush country, so many of the minerals are the same. A couple of riders saw bears. There were lots of deer, and Mariposa squirrels too. Those squirrels are fast too, I was chasing one at a 10 mph trot on a logging road and he did beat me. Oh well, everyone beats me so that's not news! ha ha. I think the wildlife up there is more shy of humans than down here in So Calif. (I see way too much wildlife in my front yard lately, and I shovel as much coyote poo as dog poo. Sigh.) I took pictures as I rode, and some of them will be very jiggly, but hopefully folks will be able to see the pretty forest trails. I was grateful to be able to complete this ride. It was a little bit hot in the afternoon, but most of the trail was shaded which was luxury! It was kind of tough in spots, some real technical rocky trails, some heavily rutted roads to pay attention to, some seriously long climbs, a little bit of altitude at over 4,000 feet.&n
bsp; There was one spot, about the last 6 miles, when we had to ride down a very steep hill, through a narrow forested woodsy trail, stepping carefully down stairsteps created by tree roots...it was SOOOO much fun!!! I hope this was a good preparation for my Tevis attempt this year.
Thanks again,
Beth Glover ( highly recommending Mariposa's Run for the Gold!) MSN 9 Dial-up Internet Access fights spam and pop-ups ? now 3 months FREE! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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