Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Barbara:
> Another horse I simply rode across the river,
> scrambled out on the opposite bank and proceeded
> on up the trail.

Bonnie:
> In '84  did that too....It was very rocky and
> my horse slipped a lot. I think the next time
> I would take the bridge.

I think the creek may have remodelled itself since
those days :)  as I don't remember thinking "well,
we could just climb the opposite bank" when we were
there last weekend.

Right now there are lots of boulders and big river
rocks, such that I don't think your horse would want
to roll in it any more either, Barbara....although in
retrospect, I really wish *I* had flopped in it. At
the time, I knew I still had quite a lot of walking
ahead of me in the next two canyons and was worried
about getting blisters from wet socks. But in that
heat, I'm pretty sure my shoes and socks would be
dry by the time I got to the next canyon, so I was
probably needlessly concerned.

As Mary Abbott mentioned, the short section of
trail down to the creek is pretty hairy, so if
you're not in a traffic jam, crossing the bridge
and using the small stream just after there might
be a better option (particularly if your horse is
accident prone <g>).

When we crossed the bridge last weekend, I didn't
notice it swinging so much as bouncing, but it
wasn't bad. I believe Nick Warhol was on the
bridge behind me.

There is a sign at the entrance of the bridge,
asking that you dismount and lead your horse
across.

* * *

A friend who was pre-riding that section of
trail earlier this week got stung badly by
yellow-jackets and both she and her horse had
a bad time of it when the stings started to
swell (along those lines, it would probably
be a good idea to carry anti-histamine?).

I spoke to Gary Hall (of WSTF) last night and he
said they have been actively working on the bee/
wasp situation on the trail. That particular nest
(a few switchbacks past Swinging Bridge) is a big
one so they are taking *extreme* aggressive measures
with it.

He has even gone as far as to try and flag known
nest holes (despite doing their best to get rid
of the wasps) in case they take up residence again.
Hopefully this will at least help horses avoid
stepping close to a nest.

It really is luck of the draw, however. We rode
past both wasps nests that caused problems over
the last week, and didn't even see any wasps,
which is strange. We were very lucky.


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Lucy Chaplin Trumbull
elsietee AT foothill DOT net
Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, California
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