Rich standing with Simon and holding my helmet for me.

One and a half weeks ago I took Simon on a road hack in McGaheysville.  We stopped and said hello to some neighbors along the way.  Simon got some carrots and lots of pats.  We rode the back roads and came up to Power Damn.  It is a place just a bit from our house that we can put in our tubes, and float down to the boat landing for pick up.  It’s also a place that people like to go for a dip and get their fish on.  Power Damn is an old damn that is being rebuilt.  And since last fall, they have closed the parking pullover so it won’t be the best put in any more, since we won’t be able to leave a vehicle there while we float.

The bouncy foot bridge

Simon and I headed down the short foot trail to the put-in spot, so we could see if anything had changed.  It hadn’t.  Along the path there is a foot bridge that crosses over water flow.  It was too muddy for Simon to go through the creek bed, so I hopped off and we jogged over the bouncy bridge.  Probably not the safest thing to do.  I doubt it was designed with a pony in mind.  But Simon is a sturdy thing and fully trusts me so without bulking we crossed it just fine.  We also recrossed it successfully on our way back to the entrance.

After inspecting our usual put in, and ascertaining that nothing had changed, we popped in the damn entrance.  There are no signs about no trespassing, and I believe it is community property.  So we jogged along the gravel and dirt roads in the area, checking it all out.  We eventually came out at a nice walk in spot to the river.  So we walked on in and Simon had a good time pawing the water and splashing himself with the chill water.

I saw a couple random, uncracked eggs on the ground. A little smaller than a chicken egg.

Then we had a nice canter along the river, following the vehicle path along the side.  We went for a little while before deciding to turn around and head back home.  There were dark clouds approaching in the distance and it was going to be dark before too long.

We set a good pace and were in sight of our driveway when the sky opened up and dumped on us.  Rich ran outside and helped pull off Simon’s tack and get him settled into the dog yard for the night.  His job was to mow it down, since it had reached near hay mowing heights.  Simon got to work and we went inside to get dried off.

Here are some images from the ride.  It was fun and I look forward to following the river road a little farther in the future.

And old part of the damn

This is where we rode into the river

along the rider edge