7/15/2010

Peaceful Valley 2010 - 2

Oowwwwwwwwww
The past few days have been filled with horse riding. It hasn’t been without pain, but it has been mostly marvelous.

Beaver Reservoir – we rode to a location with a racetrack-like road around a giant reservoir. Though I never got my horse (Sky) into her fastest run, we did move very quickly. Unfortunately, her speed just below her fastest is a little bit rough. Ouch.

Jamestown – We rode to the old Jamestown settlement for a picnic lunch and some time tubing down a short section the St. Vrain River. I’d been to this place several times but had never been in the (cold) water. This time I rode the rapids in an inner tube, got dumped out 3 times, and twisted my knee a little. It was fun, but the knee pain remains. We ended the ride with another fast run down the road back to Peaceful Valley.

Overnight. We took a long walk (3 hours) with riding horses and pack horses to Coney Flats for a campout. The company was wonderful, the scenery breathtaking, the food extraordinarily tasty (campout food usually is, right?) and the night partially sleepless (There were high winds all night that shook and tried to lift the tents off the ground)

All Day Ride. I got another new horse (mine kept having loose shoes – First Sky, then Charlie), Valentine, and we met up with another group and left the campsite bound for Red Deer Lake. We ran as much as we could and arrived at the beautiful lake and glacier for lunch. We had a snowball fight and even made a small snowman. During the first part of our ride back to Peaceful Valley we ran much, but then we hit the part I had (once again) forgotten. That’s the part where your body says, “I’m REALLY done riding for the day” and there are two more hours left. I have a sore everything this morning.

And yet we headed out this morning for Breakfast on the Mountain and then a quick (and fast!) ride to Three Bears. A few of us climbed up Papa Bear (really a big hill, but mountain-ey enough for me!) before heading back to the ranch for a slow afternoon in anticipation of tomorrow’s return visit to Beaver Reservoir.

The soreness is starting to wear off.

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