June 5, 2014

Last weekend I took Simon out on trail.  I was originally just going for a conditioning ride along some ATV trails, but when I passed some side trails, I decided to go exploring and ended up riding a nice loop.

In the direction I went, we rode up a pretty decent climb, then down a really long rocky decent.  I ended up getting off and leading Simon down this section.  There were quite a few creek crossings, and we rode over a long wooden bridge.  We also passed a couple camping spots that got me to day dreaming about setting up there some weekend in the future.  The next part of the trail was a gradual climb, and ran along a very *bear* and *snake* friendly area.  I saw some freshly clawed up trees, and there were rocks and lots of areas that looked like a snake would love sun bathing and a bear would love tucking into.

In retrospect, the loop would be fantastic from the other direction, and I look forward to trying it out sometime in the near future.

June 4, 2014

Last weekend Simon, my usual trail pony, was a shoe short, so I decided to take Poe out.  Poe originally objected to trail riding.  I think in part it was just him being a butt head.  But I also think he was getting bored.  I had mostly taken him on simple fire road rides where we could get in a lot of trotting for conditioning.  And yea, those rides were pretty boring.

I thought about some different rides.  I wanted something in the two hour long range, and I decided I needed to pick one with lots of stimulation to help hold Poe’s interest; varied terrain, changes of scenery, maybe a big butt building climb.  So I decided on a loop at off Cub Run Road in Runkles Gap.

It starts with a very short jaunt on soft footing through the woods on a single file foot trail, then ascends very steeply up a rock scramble.  peaks out with a great view, then there is more soft footing, single file trail, which spills out on a rolling ATV trail that has several creek crossings.  It ends on Cub Run Road for about a three mile hack back to the trailer.

Poe started out with a few snorts, but was eager to get moving.  He initially put his brain into the rock scramble, which involved a lot of picking and choosing and literally, climbing over boulders.  About half way up the scramble with had a bit of a disagreement.  Poe decided it would be easier to return to the trailer, but I did convince him (with my trusty Poe-trail-riding-encouragement-crop) and we reached the peek and enjoyed the view and took a breather.

After that Poe seemed to really enjoy the varied footing and scenery.  He was actually really pleasant and I had a great ride.  Maybe Poe will work out as a trail pony after all.