K (Katie) and C (Crockett) Adventures here! We primarily ride on the southern Kenai Peninsula but I consider myself a semi-pro with cheesy internet maps and will haul to almost any wide spot in the road to explore a trail to a cabin or creek I "might" have heard about from on old-timer and have always been curious about! No river too deep or swamp too wide here! JUST WAIT UNTIL IT FREEZES! Thus... I ride a lot in the winter, and often alone. Seems most of my trail ride friends aren't too excited about riding in the cold, ice or muck. They just don't know what they are missing :-)
January 13, Deep Creek Beach, 5.3 miles January 18, Searched for Dome Trail but couldn't find it. Had a GREAT swamp ride anyway. Cold and snowy. 8.6 miles
January 22, Tim Road. 12.24 miles. Left from the pasture and searched for Dome Trail again, think I found it but spend most of the ride distracted by crazy wolf tracks everywhere. Nature and animals are so interesting. I have ridden this area 10 or so times, in all seasons. I like to follow the same general route cross-country and though there isn't an actual trail, its pretty easy to stay "going the right direction." I hadn't really appreciated how much my horse follows the lay of the land, the wildlife paths and chooses the same routes as the critters until this ride. There was a lot of ice with a few inches of very fresh snow. I could see EXACTLY where the moose and wolves had been and I remember landmarks we had passed in previous rides that the wildlife also passed, paused, maybe where the wolves had rested, where a moose had spent the night, where my horse also naturally wanted to stop. Previously, I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but with all the tracks as evidence, it really made me notice. Riding a horse in the backwoods is such a surreal, full-sensory experience. People who don't try it, don't realize what they are missing.
January 30, Dome Trail!! 28.26 miles. Finally feel successful finding a good route to Ninilchik Dome! Left from the pasture and rode all day and half the night with Leslie... and still didn't make it to the top of The Dome... but that's ok, we had a great ride and have a plan to streamline things for next time! Saw a lot of old wolf tracks and one or two fresh sets. The moose didn't seem on alert so we weren't worried. No major obstacles but for a few open creeks and a steady uphill climb. We met up with Tall Tree Road near the base of Ninilchik Dome around 2 pm and took a wrong turn - so ended up following a really good trail in the wrong direction, so didn't make it to the top. Overall, long day and great ride! Next time - I will scratch "climb Ninilchik Dome on my horse" off my bucket list!
February 1, Illiamna Hayfeild canter, 4.08 miles, bareback February 3, Homestead rd loop to airstrip, 5.85 miles. Left from the pasture around 9 am, FREEZING cold, still a bit dark and windy. Had a great chat with (crazy) neighbor Jane. She swears she won't shoot when she sees me ride across her property on Homestead Road. #win I guess??
February 7, Dome Trail via Tall Tree rd, 22.38 miles. Leslie picked up Crockett and I from the pasture and we hauled about 6 miles out Tall Tree road and parked near the Chacok River bridge. We rode the old logging roads toward Ninilchik Dome until we reached the Dome Trail. The logging roads were GREAT, Dome Trail, not so much. The farther we went, the driftier and deeper the snow was so we ended up taking a lunch break at the base of the Dome and then heading back toward the truck about 3 pm. We looped back on the logging road that passed Star Pad - making an note here since this would be a great, dry loop to ride in the summer! Overall, I am still SO ANNOYED we haven't made it to the top of Ninilchik Dome but can't complain about another great ride!
February 9, Tim rd, 11.69 miles. Repeated my favorite loop but it was NOTHING like the surreal, nature-filled adventure from a few weeks ago. Saw a few old wolf tracks and picked up a teeny shed. Proof even if I had followed my exact same trail, we can't take the same trail ride twice :-) It's never the same wilderness and we are never the same person. Thanks for reminding me of this tidbit @muledragger
February 14, Sunshine subdivision loop. 5.47 miles. Ice and rain, bareback. Good thing this road doesn't get any maintenance it there would be traffic :-) February 16, Happy Valley beach, return via swamp and Homestead road. 11.53 miles. He-who-shall-not-be-named was being a TOTAL JACKWAGON! Spooking, bolting, snorting, generally being a dumb blond! This is waaaay farther than I would usually ride bareback but I was just headed out for a short jaunt to the beach but Banana-Brains wouldn't calm down so we kept going and going and going! What I am supposed to do...? RIDE HIM MORE? Trail riding is just a hobby and I do have two jobs and a LIFE! Good grief! February 18, didn't actually ride, but seems notable - 2.28 miles walked fixing my pasture fence! DAAAMN! I guess? Who needs the gym when you are packing fence posts and wire up and down hills?
February 21, Happy Valley beach, 2.21 miles. Really windy, came straight home! February 22, Sunshine road, 6.37 miles. Did a few training circles at the hayfield for good measure. I DO NOT LIKE THIS SNOW. February 24, Sunshine road, 5.17 miles. Ponied Boone just because.
Found you! I like your ride descriptions, keep it up! Would be fun to ride with you, maybe we need to visit you sometime. Are you coming to the CTR in July?
Come on down! I haven't been able to do the CTR in the past due to a major conflict - hay season. That's my mid-to-late summer job. I always put it on my calendar just in case though! My 4-H club sponsors the Trail Ride Extraordinaire in June - always fun! I believe team Willow Maker is sponsoring a few "real" CTRs! Stay tuned! I am new to the Distance Derby - but what a great way to connect with other riders who USE THEIR HORSES FOR WHAT THEY WERE MEANT FOR :-)
March 6, Sunshine road to Fishhook road, 9.32 miles. Crockett was crazy - must not have ridden in a week :-) Also notable - got a new iPhone, with updated VeiwRanger (my gps app) and what would ya know?! Went almost 8 miles in just the first hour of riding. This is a BLISTERING pace for us. The new app records time as well as distance on the same screen. I personally like to walk and enjoy the scenery. This time horse had other ideas. It was a posting long trot for miles and miles! The swamp riding was fabulous! We ended with a walk and jog back up the highway to the pasture and a FABULOUS sunset. A pleasant surprise to end another great ride!
March 8, Fishhook logging road, 9.42 miles. Thanks to google maps, found the end of the overgrown, nearly impassable "road." Kind of a big deal for me. #trailridewin #likeaboss
March 11, Out to Ron's house, 23.89 miles. Left from the pasture and rode the highway then cut over to Tall Tree road via Resch road with few cross country short cuts (9.2 miles.) Sooo boooring... Had a wonderful lunch and visit with Ron (check him and his horses out at www.alaskadrafthorse.com) plus Crockett got a rest, roll, snacks and water. Took the 100% cross-country route home and had a grand adventure (14.69 miles.) I love making my own trail :-) Took the logging road that follows the Chacok River then cut back towards the highway. Lots of swamp riding. Saw a couple moose and some really old wolf tracks. It was good, scenic and easy going until I got around the area of Stariski Creek where apparently there is some sort of climate anomaly and there was about a quarter mile of belly-deep snow on top of mud. Say what? Yes really! Definitely had some regret over choosing that route.
Hey Katie - I bet you didn't know you had a cheering section up in North Kenai. We've been secretly hoping you win the DD. You are sooooo close and it's WINTER here. Happy Trails!
THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT!! About to let the cat (or horse!) out of the bag though... My horses get round and barefoot in the summer. Not much riding gets done :-/ Hope I can change that this year though! Winter riding is where its at!
March 13, Illiamna hayfield, 4.73 miles. Turns out we need more than one day off to recover from an all-day ride. Crockett probably was feeling his 23 miles. I was DEFINITELY feeling the 197% gravity from the 1/4 mile I slogged through the mud and snow. Next few days: Limp around house, groom horses, stretch, eat bananas.
March 17, Resch road, 9.47 miles. Rode over and me up with Abby about half way out the road. She has potential to be a fun trail ride friend but has a ways to go yet in the adventure department :-) March 20, Happy Valley beach, 3.88 miles. Doesn't matter the day, time or weather, the beach always satisfies. March 22, Tim road, 6.32 miles. Headed out for an adventure ponying Boone. Everything was great, including the HOT weather until Crockett spooked and stepped on Boone, cutting his foot pretty bad right at the coronet band. It was probably no big deal but did bleed a lot so we turned around at the airstrip and came back to the pasture via the no-mud route. He seems fine today. Should have a cute little scar with now long term-damage.
March 24, Ron's house via Kostino rd, 10.26 miles. Hauled out to Nikolaevsk and met up with trail ride pal Leslie. We parked at the firehall and took the southeaster route in to Ron's homestead. In the last couple years, the old logging roads have been developed into actual ROADS so the riding was good. Some thawed swamp, some mud but overall, much shorter and a much easier ride than coming in from the Sterling Hwy. Lunch and visit with Ron was great as usual!
March 26, Anchor Point beach, 6.31 miles. Hauled to Anchor Point (BEST winter beach, so worth the drive) Rendezvous with Shelby, Leslie, Isabel, Mariah, Abby, Aaron and Haylee. Ahhhh. Heavenly. March 27, Anchor Point beach, 6.20 miles. Easter morning drizzle on the sand with Aaron and Haylee. March 28, Resch rd, 5.15 miles, short ride with Abby, FREEZING RAIN March 29, end of my driveway, .94 miles, RAIN. I am annoyed I can't seem to get my March Madness goals down in writing so I am finishing the month strong by RIDING. EVERY. DAMN. DAY.
March 30, Resch rd to Tall Tree rd, 9.25 miles. Cut across the swamps in a few places, things are thawing fast! Returned via the powerline. There is a place along the powerline where two very out-of-place pine trees grow. They are the size of the rest of the native spruce trees, but clearly some species of lower-48 pine. I always stop and speculate about them a few minutes when I take this route. The most likely conclusion is they hitchhiked in as seeds on the tracks of some heavy equipment years ago when this powerline easement was cleared. Its more fun though to think they were planted by aliens, cared for by gypsies and produce magical cones. HA! I shouldn't be allowed to ride alone! March 31, Resch rd to Tall Tree rd, 9.79 miles. Rode the Two Pine Tree loop with Leslie. Same basic route, lots of making our own trail, way more fun to gossip with a friend than talk to myself :-) April 1, Ski trail loop, 3.32 miles. Bareback and raining. Probably time to give the ol' horse a few days off.
April 7, Resch rd, 5.66 miles. Rode with Abby, met her new horse! April 8, Resch rd to Tall Tree, home via highway, 11.42 miles. We've now lost both hind ice shoes. Time for summers! April 11, Deep Creek Beach, 8.58 miles, -4 low tide, light rain, great ride!
Finally getting my March Madness goals off a sticky note and recorded HERE! March – Get DD Goals on paper. This is a big deal for me. I feel more committed when I write things down, plus sharing here will help me stick to it! April – Map out potential ride from Ninilchik to Head of the Bay. As days get longer, manage my time better – schedule ride time according to weather and after work hours. Practice keeping a calendar. May – Plan and teach “Becoming a Horseman” classes for youth Horse Camp, pre-camp/yearly trailer overhaul (YIKES!), research and learn rules of CTRs and other ride types. June – This is the hardest month of the year for my small business... Priority#1 MANAGE PERSONAL LIFE! Day ride to Fox River to enjoy the lupine. July – HAY, explore Ninilchik to Head of the Bay ride potential, attend group rides if hay schedule allows. August- Mentor kids at State Fair horse show. Actually, I am most excited about the extra day after the show to ride with them in Hatcher Pass! September – See the bison between my horse’s ears in Delta Junction, AK. October – Finish NEW pasture at my NEW house so I can look out my NEW window and see my horses. EVERY. DAMN. DAY. I haven’t had horses out my window in 10+ years. It's going to be wonderful. November – Implement harsh anti-personal growth plan! *AKA-DIET* Pack in memorial items to Willard cabin and enjoy the most wonderful place on earth - the back of my horse in early winter! December – Pose for a selfie with Crockett on top of Ninilchik Dome, and, druuuumrolllll: end the DD with 1000 miles. Secretly, I am shooting for 1200 – 100 for each month of the year – but that seems like a long shot considering summer is right around the corner and my track record ain’t that good for summer fun :-/
Have a great day, NO LIMITS, lead don't follow in the crazy trail ride of life!! Katie and Crockett @ KC Adventures
April 19, Ski trail loop, 3.37 miles. April 20, Deep Creek logging road, 6.16 miles. Scenery of note: One wolf-killed moose carcass, a few tracks, TONS OF MUD. I have been out of town for a week or so and its AMAZING how much the ground has softened up, creeks have risen and there's even a few blades of grass poking up. SPRING has SPRUNG! Dang, this girl is counting the days until freeze-up. April 21, Deep Creek Beach, 6.12 miles. April 22, Resch Rd with Abby, 10.72 miles. So, had an enjoyable ride with Abby and her new horse. Went basically like this: Ride to Abby's house, ride back to arena, shut off ViewRanger (my GPS app), take intense riding lesson indoors, ride back to Abby's house, ride back to arena. Sounds like just another day right? WRONG! Blew the dust off my English saddle and if I have to trot another lap of the arena in two-point, I beleive my legs will pop off! #whatwasithinking #regret
April 24, Deep Creek Beach, 6.86 miles. May 2, Resch Rd with Abby, 5.48 miles. Took last week off and headed to Palmer with the Ninilchik FFA team - had a great time but sometimes I sure do miss my horse! It was great to do something today - even if it was walking and trotting up and down the road with Abby!
May 4, Star Pad loop, 15.23 miles. Leslie picked us up and we drove out Tall Tree Road and parked after crossing the Chacok bridge. The road is WAY better than it was this winter. We rode the logging road along the base of Ninilchik Dome then it cut back for a nice loop back to the truck. NO MUD! NO CREEKS! EASY-PEASY ride! Don't hear that from me very often ;-) Saw one medium-sized set of fresh brown bear tracks, fresh large wolf and some old coyote tracks. Leslie's dog Redoubt had a short confrontation with a porcupine moseying up the road, but luckily has nothing to show for it! #itsgoodtobeus
May 8, Happy Valley beach, 8.24 miles. I totally overdressed for this ride - apparently summer is here (DAMN)! Long johns, clothes, coat, raingear OH MY. Even though it was a pretty steady rain, I was down to my sweatshirt quite a bit. Someone told me once... with raingear, you either get wet from the inside, or wet from the outside. Usually wet from the outside is the route I take but I was soaked through this time :-) Still a great ride on one of the biggest minus tides of the month, possibly for the entire summer! May 13, Happy Valley beach, 3.21 miles. Finally recovered from the stomach flu. Don't make me rehash the gory details. Reconnected with an old trail ride friend and had a nice, relaxing beach ride. I am still reeling from her statement: "I don't know how to read a tide book." *facepalm #saywhat
May 14, Tim road, 10.31 miles. Saw some fresh, small bear tracks and medium wolf tracks, all in the same area and going the same direction. Cool stuff, wish I could post pics here! May 17, Illiamna hayfield. Nice hayfield canter, ahhh, summer (YUCK). May 21, Ski trail loop with Kalah, 6.01 miles. Met my new neighbor Kalah - her horse gets loose and visits mine often - but finally met her! Super-sweet young gal who is SO BRAVE! Her horse bucked her off and she landed on her feet and got right back on. What a trooper.... or crazy teenager?! May 23, hayfield canter, 4.36 miles. This is probably my last ride before a week of 4-H Horse Camp. So bittersweet.
May 24-31 - Evening rides from the pasture, 12.12 miles. Crockett stayed home from camp this year - but for my personal sanity, I had to slip away some evenings and take a late-night canter. Kids + no sleep + no riding = Crazy. I covered my May goal of teaching "Becoming a Horseman" series at camp. I taught Principles of the Snaffle Bit and other instructors stepped in for topics such as horse psychology, herd dynamics, connecting on the horse’s level and much more. My class focused on the training foundation we can put on our horses with a snaffle bit. After the bosal, the snaffle is my favorite training tool :-D I also worked in my trailer muck-out goal with camp. I taught a truck and trailer safety class and the kids helped me do a trailer safety check, change a tire and hook up safely. Kids got a chance to ride around the fairgrounds in a clean trailer with good ventilation and no rattles, then hop in a noisy, hot, stinky trailer for another loop as a comparison. Hopefully they will all go home and fix their rattles and clean their trailers each time they use them! 4-H Horse Camp is one of my favorite activities of the year – it’s a great way to start the summer out right and get kids on-track with their horses. Check us out on facebook at www.facebook.com/ninilchikhorsecamp or our website at www.ninilchikhorsecamp.webs.com I brought Boone to camp for a few days hoping I would be able to do the open schooling show after camp but ended up not having time and needing to help out the show secretary anyway. Hauling home after, he bonked his head pretty good in the trailer and needed a few stiches. I feel terrible, especially after teaching a trailer safety class, and plus he was a little wound up and I felt like I could see the accident coming – which makes it even worse because I didn’t do enough to prevent it. Life goes on, as always. We won’t live long enough to make all the mistakes so we have to learn from the experiences of others I suppose.
June 1, Illiamna hayfeild canter, 6.37 miles June 3, Tall Tree road with Mom, 8.02 miles. Great evening for a ride - Crockett was being all survivalist weirdo. We were on some fresh bear tracks several times and he was all over that - sniffing, snuffling and faking the brains of a mare (HA!) He's a funny one - after food, his top priority is sparing with the other horses and goofing off, so I suspect he was sizing the the competition, prepping for a game of hide and seek. Mom and I felt a little on edge, but the horses were never alarmed, so we enjoyed a great evening ride, only saw a couple harmless sandpiper chicks! June 4, Anchor Point beach with Aurora and Annie, 6.11 miles. No words could describe the HORROR I felt riding on Anchor Point beach. MY FAVORITE BEACH. But it was covered in tourists... and there was no place to unload... and when I did find a spot I HAD TO PAY TO PARK. I am revising my position our spectacular local beaches - AP is my favorite WINTER beach. There is absolutely no point in visiting in the summer. Luckily to seal the deal, I got flat tire on my dang horse trailer! You can't make this stuff up! June 7, Fox River valley with Leslie, Melanie and Mom, 21.61 miles. If my eyes could say what I saw, if my ears could say what they heard, if my pen could write what I felt, you all would understand why I love this place. #foxrivervalley #lupine #JuneGoalSmashed
June 10, Sunshine road loop, 6.31 miles June 11, Homestead road with Mom, 5.89 miles. Looks like Crazy Jane has a new generator at her cabin - so it was easy to pass by in stealth mode :-) June 12, Happy Valley Beach, 7.24 miles. Nice, easy beach jaunt then headed up the bluff to say hi to my mom. There was a moose calf racing back and forth along the pasture fence and I may have panicked a bit. I am TERRIFIED of moose, and especially the small ones! Where there's a small moose, there is ALWAYS a rampaging mother moose! I did some yelling and branch flapping to make sure the coast was clear then dismounted, opened the pasture gate and remounted as fast as possible. I made a small attempt to circle around behind the calf and herd it toward the gate but with both of us in a fit of terror, no real progress was made. Crockett was a rockstar, as usual. I left the gate open and hoped for the best. June 14, Happy Valley beach, 6.89 miles. June 15, Happy Valley beach, 5.25 miles. Rode Crockett, ponied Titan and Dash bounced around loose pretending to be a rodeo bronc. Boone is still up at the barn on medical leave. We should take more family outings I suppose!
June 17, Happy Valley beach with Jeanie, 7.31 miles. Had a great visit and tourist beach tour with Jeanie. Left the pasture about 9 pm (usually the time I would be going to bed) and returned about midnight! I have a love/hate relationship with summer, especially the midnight sun, but it was a pretty awesome ride! June 18, Educational endurance ride on Kuchta trails, 13 miles. I felt so out of place. I am a chronic over-planner but I didn't really have a plan plus I almost never ride in social situations and I was clueless on what to expect. I had read over some trail trial and endurance ride rules (thank you May goals) but wasn't quite comfortable with the competition aspect of competitive trail riding. The whole thing ended up being awesome. It was cool to meet people, check out gear, experience a real vet check and learn to do some pacing on the trail. I rode with my best good trail ride friend Leslie and we met up with another friend Kathryn about a mile into the ride. I don't know much about pacing and we wanted to have a calm, enjoyable ride so we powerwalked the entire 13 miles, finishing with a time of 2 hours, 55 minutes. That's just under the 3 hour time limit :-) My favorite part of the ride was Crockett being so clued in to what was around us. He definitely went all survivalist once when we were headed back to the trailhead - a sure sign a bear had recently crossed the trail. Other than that, he seemed to see everything but nothing really phased him. I am also pleased that we can walk that far, that fast and he still felt ready for more. According to my math, average pace was 4.62 miles per hour. His initial vet check he had a pulse rate of 45, vet check at mid-point pulse rate was 50 and final pulse rate was 44. Is this even possible? I need to do some testing on my own! I felt a little bad since I knew we were going to be attending this ride and I still rode him nearly every day in the week leading up to it. I usually make an effort to rotate between horses, but Boone isn't back on track yet so I didn't have a second horse. Overall, it was great and I am excited to participate again in the future!
June 20, Pasture to Deep Creek Road, 13.42. Rode Crockett back to Ninilchik - trying to plan ahead for a clinic I am doing over the weekend with Boone and I need all my horses in the right place :-) June 21, 5000 road, 14.04 miles. Slipped away for a Caribou Hills ride - same route I rode with Jeanie previously on Boone. Lots of gravel on this route, NO MUD and great scenery! June 23, Palmer hayfield canter bareback, 4.66 miles June 27, Deep Creek subdivision, 5.84 miles - Tried to celebrate my birthday with a trail ride - but it was a little bit boring!
June 29, Cottonwood logging roads, 6.29. I hauled to Anchor Point and had a bittersweet ride with my beautiful friend Aurora. We wore shorts and gossiped about the future. She recently graduated from vet school and is headed to Montana for a clinic job. She's taking her horses with her when she heads south this time so I fear the move is for good :-/ July 6, Fishhook road, 7.33 miles. We are in the thick of hay season so I haven't been riding much. Ugg. And its probably only going to get worse.
July 20, Hutler Road trail, 7.26 miles. FINALLY BACK IN THE SADDLE!! Twenty-seven bazillion and one hay bales down, NONE to go! Life is good. I am really disappointed I missed the Midnight Sun Challenge ride last week but that's life I guess :-/ It was a great get-back-in-the-groove ride with trail ride friend Leslie and her new horse. Hot and sunny, INCREDIBLE scenery. We searched around for the close end of the Watermellon Trail and think we were on the right track but were running out of time so headed home early. July 21, Fishhook Road, 7.63 miles July 22, Tall Tree Road, 4.84 miles. Hauled out and rode the loop to Symmens Cabin - EXTREME RAIN the whole time so was glad it was a short ride! July 23, Happy Valley Beach loop, 7.92 miles. July 24, Deep Creek subdivision, 6.98 miles. Headed down Deep Creek River - it was pretty low - but ran into some epic mud so got out and took the highway loop back home!
July 26, Ski trail loop, 3.92 miles. I've got Crockett back in Ninilchik for a few weeks - a little closer to home, but still not HOME! I have my new pasture area cleared and am SUPER EXCITED to look out my window and FINALLY see my horses! July 27, Ski trail loop plus down to the river, 5.49 miles July 29, Ski trail loop, 4.94. Rain and lots of cantering! July 31, Deep Creek Beach, 6.93. The beach was a zoo. I remember now why I don't go there in the summer. September cannot come soon enough!!
August 2, Ski trail loop, 4.92 miles. Had a nice, breezy canter around the hayfield... but I sure am getting bored of riding in the subdivision! August 8, Happy Valley Beach, 10.24 miles. FINALLY got out of the subdivision :-) Hit the beach with Abby and Robin - grand adventure... well for them at least! Crockett was a rockstar and was a great steady-eddie to Nutmeg and Sage - first-timers to the beach, in the mud, and well, basically most Alaska trail "stuff" It was SO NICE to haul somewhere new to ride, even if it is a place I ride all the time, at least it wasn't another round of the ski trails! August 9, Ski trail loop, 4.33 miles
August 15, Anchor Point Beach loop with Mom, 11.05 miles. EXTREME RAIN August 16, Sunshine road loop, 5.53 miles August 17, 7.22 miles, Tim Road with Mom. Calm, quiet ride before the craziness of fair week!
September 2, 1200 Road loop, 15.36 miles. FIRST RIDE ON CROCKETT SINCE THE FAIRS. Quiet. Calm. Just what I needed. Huge break to collect my thoughts and get refocused! What a great summer I have had! Thinking back on my goals... I have really stunk at accomplishing much, but dang I still feel great! We just got back from taking 11 kids and 8 horses to their first "real" show and nobody fell off and NOBODY cried. FOR REAL. August goal smashed! September 2, Chacok trail, 10.48 miles. Hauled to Anchor Point and rode a short ways in the Chakoc trail with friend Shelby. Saw two cow moose and a lot of hunters. September 3, Tall Tree road, 7.50 miles. Hauled out the road, ripped my rain poncho, forgot my bridle, still had a great time with trail ride pal Leslie :-) September 5, Moose Pasture with Mom, 7.95 miles September 7, Head of the Bay, 19.02 miles. Attempted to climb the bluff above the old village of Dolina. Great trail, a couple wasp stings but the view was totally worth it! Too swampy to proceed once we reached the top though so that was a total drag. Nice leisurely jog back to the trailhead.
September 10, Lost Lake via Primrose Trail, 15.06 miles. Had fun in GREAT scenery with new and old trail ride friends Jeanie, Beth, Elissa, Joan, and Isobel. Must find the loop for this route! September 13, ski trail loop, 4.66 miles September 15, Church loop to the beach, 4.20 miles. I moved Crockett over to my little pen at my neighbor Doc's house. I can walk over and ride easily. Its SO STRANGE though to see and feel the changes in my horse - he's not much for the paddock life. He acts like a wild bronc when he's locked up in a stall or small pen. Nice to have a change of scenery, but I could do without the extreme high-energy pegasus impressions. September 16, beach via Church trail, 6.64 miles. I have come to the realization that I won't be taking riding in Delta during hunting season this year (FIST HITS DESK ANGRILY) so Crockett is right next door and I am riding daily dadgumit. September 17, Holly road, 9.13 miles, nice trot and canter around the Holly road subdivisions. Crossed Ninilchik River below the bridge - haven't tried that before - nice alternate route when the church path is muddy... or when someone actually reposts the "Foot Traffic Only" sign. September 18, Holly Road, 5.30 miles. Hauled over and parked near Holly road so I could get a better look at the far side of Deep Creek River. Don't get over there much from "my" side. Had to hook up the trailer anyway to haul Crockett back down to the pasture to hang out with the rest of the crew while we are up at hunting camp. Miss them already *tear*
October 4, Ninilchik beach canter, 8.28 miles. Camping was great but I missed my horses and something awful happened to my beautiful, faithful, wonderful little fourfooted companion. My Adidah dog got really sick and by the time we got home, she had already seen two vets and the third diagnosed her with a burst tumor on her pancreas and in the intermediate stages of organ failure. I have never had to euthanize a best friend before and I am so, so blessed to have my Crockett at home waiting to take me for a beach canter. I will never forget the beautiful look of love in my little Adidah's eyes when the vet brought her back into the exam room after giving me her diagnosis - it was almost like she knew I was going to go home and go riding and she was sad she couldn't go but still happy for me. Its weird to write it here, but I know anyone who loves their dogs and horses as much as me totally gets it. I never want to forget that moment.
October 6, Ninilchik Beach, 5.98 miles. My horse is so weird. He gets a little cray-cray when not loose on pasture in a herd environment. We trotted and loped and bucked most of the ride. Back home in under and hour. October 7, Ninilchik River to Garrison Subdivision, 5.08 miles. I HATE mud, so its a common method of travel for me to get from point A to point B to ride up or down a gravel creek bottom, but on this route, after the first 37 windy twists in the river, it became clear, I hadn't made the best choice. It was full on dark by the time we got to Garrison Road bridge so we headed out and looped back via the highway. October 8, Garrison road to Brody road loop, 10.96 miles. Skipped the river trek and took the highway straight to Garrison road bridge then had a nice, leisurely ride. EXCEPT for the part when a bull moose jumped out of the bushes and I almost died. I was trying to get my coat untied from behind my saddle (yes really, that's when all the crap goes down, isn't it?) and the moose trotted out like he was going somewhere and Crockett being the stalled-up bronc that he is this week dropped down like a lion and pounced off his rear legs in the other direction at lighting speed. I do not know how he does this. And I do not expect anyone who has not seen it to believe me. This only happens at a walk; a nice, calm walk. He sights the danger and in a milli-second, has dropped his shoulder, whirled a quarter turn and sprung off his haunches. His body is so low to the ground, it feel like my stirrups will drag in the grass. This time, I was already off balance since I was reaching for my coat so I was absolutely screwed. As he lurched, I got whiplashed down and it felt like my helmet was dragging through the grass, yet somehow, I had the sense or the time to think to myself "Gee, glad I wore my "good" helmet today." Oddly enough, these spooks usually only last for that one big jump then he gets it together and remembers he is my #1 horse and it would be pretty easy for him to lose his spot to an up-and-comer. #boone #mynewfavoritehorse October 9, Ninilchik Beach, 6.90 miles. I didn't die. Amen. October 10, Resch Road, 8.03 miles. Hauled down and met Abby. We snooped on a new neighbor with horses and checked out the beach trail. I need to do a little saw-saw work before real winter gets here so we can ride down there after it snows. October 11, Ski trail loop, 4.18 miles. Crockett spent the night alone on grass in the little pasture. Calmed him down a bit :-) Turned him out after I rode - that will make him happy!
October 16, Head of the Bay with Leslie, 22.08 miles. Beautiful day for a ride! We trotted up to beat the huge tide, met Quebec Anne (no time here for all I have to say about her) at Fox River, crossed over, crossed over Sheep, rode up to the powerline on a FABULOUS hidden trail thanks to Anne's smart pony then had a leisurely ride back to the cabin. Enjoyed some tea and snacks while we waited for the rivers to go back down then trotted for home and got back to the truck under a full moon about 10 pm. Over all, epic ride, epic day. And only two of us fell off *facepalm October 18, Resch Road, 3.20 miles. Crockett is back with the herd so had a nice, leisurely bareback ride down Resch and back. October 19, Resch Road with Abby, 6.63 miles. Had a quicky training session in the arena - HUGE - because I rarely ride in the arena and its even more rare to ride Crockett... in the arena... booorrring. Anyway, that was fun, I should do it more often and actually tune up on some skills. Then rode over and back to Abby's house. October 21, Around the neighborhood with Abby and Kathryn, 6.94 miles. We gossipped and rode along the highway - a little bit lame but hey, some trail ride friends aren't quite as adventurous as me! October 23, Old Watermellon Trail, 8.10 miles. Rode out with Leslie and Fousto. The trail was icy then got progressively muddier and muddier. We saw some small bear tracks which was cool and some loose horses, which was super-cool. We have been searching for a route across Anchor River to reach Knob Hill on the other side but haven't been successful in all the years we've been trying. This is one of the main holes in my plan to ride from Ninilchik to Kachemak Bay cross-country (see my April goal) and even if we could get across during the frozen season, how the heck will I make it in the summer?
October 26, Deep Creek Beach, 12.04 miles. Haven't ridden in a few days, Crockett was wild, wild, wild. I had planned to ride over and meet neighbor Danielle but she flaked so we hit the beach instead. I was dressed for February so made the most of it and rode almost to Happy Valley Creek and back. October 28, Happy Valley Beach, 8.15 miles. High tide but the beach always satisfies :-) October 29, Head of the Bay, 17.62 miles. Had a fabulous day with a great crew - Leslie, Katy, Janelle and Earon. We trotted up and met Otto, Mark, Fred, Quebec Anne and Jeremy. Gathered a few cows, penned some calves and brought home some yearlings. What a GREAT day to be US.
November 8, Ski trail loop, 4.45 miles. Crockett has had quite a few days off... so we loped most of the time and were back in about 30 mintutes! November 9, Head of the Bay, 12.62 miles. Went up with Leslie and had to park way up high since the roads were treacherous. We met Otto and the film crew (OMG!) at the corrals then took the cows on to Kilcher Beach. It wasn't a long ride, but took alllll daaaayy. Still fun though. #ATF #Kilchercomedy November 12, Illiamna hayfeild canter, 2.77 miles. Moved the horses down to the pasture for the fall/winter. Short ride. Bareback. Rained so hard. SO WET. November 14, Homestead road loop, 5.51 miles. Ponied Boone. We are in that weird, not froze enough to ride anywhere cool period. Winter where are you? I misssss yoooouu!
December 14, Tall Tree road loop, 16.76 miles. Well hello friends! So glad to be back! That was the longest dry spell of the DD for me... and possibly the longest no-ride time of my life since I was away from my horses in college. HOLY HECK! So anyway, my business goes nuts at the holidays, plus we are madly trying to finish and move into our house, plus some other unmentionable stuff has made me absolutely crazy. I feel like having to pay the neighbor gal a few bucks to haul water for my horses is a huge marker of the amount of insanity in my life. If I can't find the time to drive to the pasture to even see them, where the heck are my priorities eh? Anyway, this last 3+ weeks has given me a chance to reassess my goals for the year. Let's start with the positives - my health plan is in full-swing. More vegetables, less crap. #win. My new house and horse fence is awesome. For some reason... Even though I am only at around 930 now, I feel like I can still record 1000 miles for the Distance Derby this year - its like I just broke through the stress zone and now I have two weeks left of the year to ride a daily (or at least maybe 3 times a week?) So those are the good things. I am disappointed that I didn't get to ride in Delta this year, but positive that gives me something to shoot for next year. I had a couple wonderful fall rides to the head of the bay, and my memorial bench is going to make me famous (maybe) I am still planning to climb Ninilchik Dome. Fingers crossed we don't already have too much snow to smash my plans like last year. Back to this ride - it was great! Leslie, Mariah, Mom and I headed out and road Resch until we got across Stariski bridge then did some major bushwacking to get to an old logging road that connected with Tall Tree road then looped back via the swamps. Great riding now that the ground is frozen and we've got a little snow. VERY cold but life is good!
December 22, Resch Road toward homestead, 14.05 miles. I headed out at a trot thinking I could make the entire loop to Tall Tree road and back but ran into epic mud in that same place where I did the moonwalk this spring. AND WOLF TRACKS, like the kind that were still warm! Crazy fresh ones, so I admit, I kinda got freaked out and came home on my same trail. Plus, I don't like mud. Ya, that was the problem :-) December 23, Happy Valley Beach, 7.33 miles. Mom led the way, Leslie and I followed. It was great! I love my beach. December 24, Resch Road, 7.21 miles. Hauled out with Mom for a short ride to check out where I had seen the wolf tracks. We followed them and fought the trail for quite a ways then they one by one left the trail and went off into the trees. We went a little further then were out of time so headed back to the trailer. Wildlife is so cool.
December 26, Resch Road with Molly, 3.41 miles. We rode in the indoor arena for hours then took a short relaxing trail ride. December 27, Tall Tree loop, 9.58 miles. I headed up the highway because some adventurous soul had ridden their fourwheeler and made a nice trail but it ended about a mile sort of Tall Tree Road so I had to ride on the highway which was TERROR-FYING. But we survived. I had Boone in tow to add to the complications but all was well. Looped back across the swamp via Resch (very tough going without a trail, but there's a trail now!) and home by dark! December 28, Resch Road with Abby, 8.56 miles. We rode for GLORIOUS hours in the arena then to Abby's house and back. VERY COLD.
December 30, Resch Road with Abby, 4.77 miles. Rode inside then headed home with Abby but had to come back early to go to work. Dang! But this puts me over 1000 for the year! Wooohooo! SO DISAPPOINTED we didn't make it to the top of the Dome before we got too much snow but its not looking good for this season. Grrr. Was out today to ride but then got called to work so didn't even get to saddle up. Here's to a fabulous 2017!
K (Katie) and C (Crockett) Adventures here! We primarily ride on the southern Kenai Peninsula but I consider myself a semi-pro with cheesy internet maps and will haul to almost any wide spot in the road to explore a trail to a cabin or creek I "might" have heard about from on old-timer and have always been curious about! No river too deep or swamp too wide here! JUST WAIT UNTIL IT FREEZES! Thus... I ride a lot in the winter, and often alone. Seems most of my trail ride friends aren't too excited about riding in the cold, ice or muck. They just don't know what they are missing :-)
ReplyDeleteJanuary 5, Palmer Homestead loop, 6.2 miles
ReplyDeleteJanuary 8, headed to Willard Homestead but road too icy, rode bike path, 5.0 miles
Welcome to the 2016 Great Distance Derby!
ReplyDeleteMay you have many SMILES & MILES throughout the year!
January 11, Ski trail loop, bareback and raining! 3.3 miles
ReplyDeleteJanuary 12, Subdivision loop, RAIN. 5.1 miles
ReplyDeleteJanuary 13, Deep Creek Beach, 5.3 miles
ReplyDeleteJanuary 18, Searched for Dome Trail but couldn't find it. Had a GREAT swamp ride anyway. Cold and snowy. 8.6 miles
January 20, Illiamna hay feild canter. 3.6 miles. It's nice to move my horse from pasture to pasture - adds variety to my trail rides :-)
ReplyDeleteJanuary 22, Tim Road. 12.24 miles. Left from the pasture and searched for Dome Trail again, think I found it but spend most of the ride distracted by crazy wolf tracks everywhere. Nature and animals are so interesting. I have ridden this area 10 or so times, in all seasons. I like to follow the same general route cross-country and though there isn't an actual trail, its pretty easy to stay "going the right direction." I hadn't really appreciated how much my horse follows the lay of the land, the wildlife paths and chooses the same routes as the critters until this ride. There was a lot of ice with a few inches of very fresh snow. I could see EXACTLY where the moose and wolves had been and I remember landmarks we had passed in previous rides that the wildlife also passed, paused, maybe where the wolves had rested, where a moose had spent the night, where my horse also naturally wanted to stop. Previously, I wouldn't have thought anything of it, but with all the tracks as evidence, it really made me notice. Riding a horse in the backwoods is such a surreal, full-sensory experience. People who don't try it, don't realize what they are missing.
ReplyDeleteJanuary 26, Illiamna hayfield. 3.96 miles. Very icy, I so appreciate good ice shoes!
ReplyDeleteJanuary 30, Dome Trail!! 28.26 miles. Finally feel successful finding a good route to Ninilchik Dome! Left from the pasture and rode all day and half the night with Leslie... and still didn't make it to the top of The Dome... but that's ok, we had a great ride and have a plan to streamline things for next time! Saw a lot of old wolf tracks and one or two fresh sets. The moose didn't seem on alert so we weren't worried. No major obstacles but for a few open creeks and a steady uphill climb. We met up with Tall Tree Road near the base of Ninilchik Dome around 2 pm and took a wrong turn - so ended up following a really good trail in the wrong direction, so didn't make it to the top. Overall, long day and great ride! Next time - I will scratch "climb Ninilchik Dome on my horse" off my bucket list!
ReplyDeleteGood for you Katie! Sounds like some great adventures. I figured once you joined in the fun you'd give us all the incentive to do better! Go Alaska!
ReplyDeleteFor sure! Goooo AK! I haven't been this dedicated to keeping a riding log since 4-H! :-)
DeleteThis is so much fun! I like how the GPS keeps things organized for you. Although I'm in big trouble if my phone goes south!
DeleteFebruary 1, Illiamna Hayfeild canter, 4.08 miles, bareback
ReplyDeleteFebruary 3, Homestead rd loop to airstrip, 5.85 miles. Left from the pasture around 9 am, FREEZING cold, still a bit dark and windy. Had a great chat with (crazy) neighbor Jane. She swears she won't shoot when she sees me ride across her property on Homestead Road. #win I guess??
February 7, Dome Trail via Tall Tree rd, 22.38 miles. Leslie picked up Crockett and I from the pasture and we hauled about 6 miles out Tall Tree road and parked near the Chacok River bridge. We rode the old logging roads toward Ninilchik Dome until we reached the Dome Trail. The logging roads were GREAT, Dome Trail, not so much. The farther we went, the driftier and deeper the snow was so we ended up taking a lunch break at the base of the Dome and then heading back toward the truck about 3 pm. We looped back on the logging road that passed Star Pad - making an note here since this would be a great, dry loop to ride in the summer! Overall, I am still SO ANNOYED we haven't made it to the top of Ninilchik Dome but can't complain about another great ride!
ReplyDeleteFebruary 9, Tim rd, 11.69 miles. Repeated my favorite loop but it was NOTHING like the surreal, nature-filled adventure from a few weeks ago. Saw a few old wolf tracks and picked up a teeny shed. Proof even if I had followed my exact same trail, we can't take the same trail ride twice :-) It's never the same wilderness and we are never the same person. Thanks for reminding me of this tidbit @muledragger
ReplyDeleteFebruary 14, Sunshine subdivision loop. 5.47 miles. Ice and rain, bareback. Good thing this road doesn't get any maintenance it there would be traffic :-)
ReplyDeleteFebruary 16, Happy Valley beach, return via swamp and Homestead road. 11.53 miles. He-who-shall-not-be-named was being a TOTAL JACKWAGON! Spooking, bolting, snorting, generally being a dumb blond! This is waaaay farther than I would usually ride bareback but I was just headed out for a short jaunt to the beach but Banana-Brains wouldn't calm down so we kept going and going and going! What I am supposed to do...? RIDE HIM MORE? Trail riding is just a hobby and I do have two jobs and a LIFE! Good grief!
February 18, didn't actually ride, but seems notable - 2.28 miles walked fixing my pasture fence! DAAAMN! I guess? Who needs the gym when you are packing fence posts and wire up and down hills?
February 21, Happy Valley beach, 2.21 miles. Really windy, came straight home!
ReplyDeleteFebruary 22, Sunshine road, 6.37 miles. Did a few training circles at the hayfield for good measure. I DO NOT LIKE THIS SNOW.
February 24, Sunshine road, 5.17 miles. Ponied Boone just because.
February 28, Tim road, 12.43 miles.
ReplyDeleteFound you! I like your ride descriptions, keep it up! Would be fun to ride with you, maybe we need to visit you sometime. Are you coming to the CTR in July?
ReplyDeleteCome on down! I haven't been able to do the CTR in the past due to a major conflict - hay season. That's my mid-to-late summer job. I always put it on my calendar just in case though! My 4-H club sponsors the Trail Ride Extraordinaire in June - always fun! I believe team Willow Maker is sponsoring a few "real" CTRs! Stay tuned! I am new to the Distance Derby - but what a great way to connect with other riders who USE THEIR HORSES FOR WHAT THEY WERE MEANT FOR :-)
DeleteMarch 6, Sunshine road to Fishhook road, 9.32 miles. Crockett was crazy - must not have ridden in a week :-) Also notable - got a new iPhone, with updated VeiwRanger (my gps app) and what would ya know?! Went almost 8 miles in just the first hour of riding. This is a BLISTERING pace for us. The new app records time as well as distance on the same screen. I personally like to walk and enjoy the scenery. This time horse had other ideas. It was a posting long trot for miles and miles! The swamp riding was fabulous! We ended with a walk and jog back up the highway to the pasture and a FABULOUS sunset. A pleasant surprise to end another great ride!
ReplyDeleteMarch 8, Fishhook logging road, 9.42 miles. Thanks to google maps, found the end of the overgrown, nearly impassable "road." Kind of a big deal for me. #trailridewin #likeaboss
ReplyDeleteMarch 11, Out to Ron's house, 23.89 miles. Left from the pasture and rode the highway then cut over to Tall Tree road via Resch road with few cross country short cuts (9.2 miles.) Sooo boooring... Had a wonderful lunch and visit with Ron (check him and his horses out at www.alaskadrafthorse.com) plus Crockett got a rest, roll, snacks and water. Took the 100% cross-country route home and had a grand adventure (14.69 miles.) I love making my own trail :-) Took the logging road that follows the Chacok River then cut back towards the highway. Lots of swamp riding. Saw a couple moose and some really old wolf tracks. It was good, scenic and easy going until I got around the area of Stariski Creek where apparently there is some sort of climate anomaly and there was about a quarter mile of belly-deep snow on top of mud. Say what? Yes really! Definitely had some regret over choosing that route.
ReplyDeleteHey Katie - I bet you didn't know you had a cheering section up in North Kenai. We've been secretly hoping you win the DD. You are sooooo close and it's WINTER here. Happy Trails!
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT!! About to let the cat (or horse!) out of the bag though... My horses get round and barefoot in the summer. Not much riding gets done :-/ Hope I can change that this year though! Winter riding is where its at!
DeleteMarch 13, Illiamna hayfield, 4.73 miles. Turns out we need more than one day off to recover from an all-day ride. Crockett probably was feeling his 23 miles. I was DEFINITELY feeling the 197% gravity from the 1/4 mile I slogged through the mud and snow. Next few days: Limp around house, groom horses, stretch, eat bananas.
ReplyDeleteMarch 17, Resch road, 9.47 miles. Rode over and me up with Abby about half way out the road. She has potential to be a fun trail ride friend but has a ways to go yet in the adventure department :-)
ReplyDeleteMarch 20, Happy Valley beach, 3.88 miles. Doesn't matter the day, time or weather, the beach always satisfies.
March 22, Tim road, 6.32 miles. Headed out for an adventure ponying Boone. Everything was great, including the HOT weather until Crockett spooked and stepped on Boone, cutting his foot pretty bad right at the coronet band. It was probably no big deal but did bleed a lot so we turned around at the airstrip and came back to the pasture via the no-mud route. He seems fine today. Should have a cute little scar with now long term-damage.
March 24, Ron's house via Kostino rd, 10.26 miles. Hauled out to Nikolaevsk and met up with trail ride pal Leslie. We parked at the firehall and took the southeaster route in to Ron's homestead. In the last couple years, the old logging roads have been developed into actual ROADS so the riding was good. Some thawed swamp, some mud but overall, much shorter and a much easier ride than coming in from the Sterling Hwy. Lunch and visit with Ron was great as usual!
ReplyDeleteMarch 26, Anchor Point beach, 6.31 miles. Hauled to Anchor Point (BEST winter beach, so worth the drive) Rendezvous with Shelby, Leslie, Isabel, Mariah, Abby, Aaron and Haylee. Ahhhh. Heavenly.
ReplyDeleteMarch 27, Anchor Point beach, 6.20 miles. Easter morning drizzle on the sand with Aaron and Haylee.
March 28, Resch rd, 5.15 miles, short ride with Abby, FREEZING RAIN
March 29, end of my driveway, .94 miles, RAIN. I am annoyed I can't seem to get my March Madness goals down in writing so I am finishing the month strong by RIDING. EVERY. DAMN. DAY.
March 30, Resch rd to Tall Tree rd, 9.25 miles. Cut across the swamps in a few places, things are thawing fast! Returned via the powerline. There is a place along the powerline where two very out-of-place pine trees grow. They are the size of the rest of the native spruce trees, but clearly some species of lower-48 pine. I always stop and speculate about them a few minutes when I take this route. The most likely conclusion is they hitchhiked in as seeds on the tracks of some heavy equipment years ago when this powerline easement was cleared. Its more fun though to think they were planted by aliens, cared for by gypsies and produce magical cones. HA! I shouldn't be allowed to ride alone!
ReplyDeleteMarch 31, Resch rd to Tall Tree rd, 9.79 miles. Rode the Two Pine Tree loop with Leslie. Same basic route, lots of making our own trail, way more fun to gossip with a friend than talk to myself :-)
April 1, Ski trail loop, 3.32 miles. Bareback and raining. Probably time to give the ol' horse a few days off.
April 7, Resch rd, 5.66 miles. Rode with Abby, met her new horse!
ReplyDeleteApril 8, Resch rd to Tall Tree, home via highway, 11.42 miles. We've now lost both hind ice shoes. Time for summers!
April 11, Deep Creek Beach, 8.58 miles, -4 low tide, light rain, great ride!
Finally getting my March Madness goals off a sticky note and recorded HERE!
ReplyDeleteMarch – Get DD Goals on paper. This is a big deal for me. I feel more committed when I write things down, plus sharing here will help me stick to it!
April – Map out potential ride from Ninilchik to Head of the Bay. As days get longer, manage my time better – schedule ride time according to weather and after work hours. Practice keeping a calendar.
May – Plan and teach “Becoming a Horseman” classes for youth Horse Camp, pre-camp/yearly trailer overhaul (YIKES!), research and learn rules of CTRs and other ride types.
June – This is the hardest month of the year for my small business... Priority#1 MANAGE PERSONAL LIFE! Day ride to Fox River to enjoy the lupine.
July – HAY, explore Ninilchik to Head of the Bay ride potential, attend group rides if hay schedule allows.
August- Mentor kids at State Fair horse show. Actually, I am most excited about the extra day after the show to ride with them in Hatcher Pass!
September – See the bison between my horse’s ears in Delta Junction, AK.
October – Finish NEW pasture at my NEW house so I can look out my NEW window and see my horses. EVERY. DAMN. DAY. I haven’t had horses out my window in 10+ years. It's going to be wonderful.
November – Implement harsh anti-personal growth plan! *AKA-DIET* Pack in memorial items to Willard cabin and enjoy the most wonderful place on earth - the back of my horse in early winter!
December – Pose for a selfie with Crockett on top of Ninilchik Dome, and, druuuumrolllll: end the DD with 1000 miles. Secretly, I am shooting for 1200 – 100 for each month of the year – but that seems like a long shot considering summer is right around the corner and my track record ain’t that good for summer fun :-/
Have a great day, NO LIMITS, lead don't follow in the crazy trail ride of life!! Katie and Crockett @ KC Adventures
April 19, Ski trail loop, 3.37 miles.
ReplyDeleteApril 20, Deep Creek logging road, 6.16 miles. Scenery of note: One wolf-killed moose carcass, a few tracks, TONS OF MUD. I have been out of town for a week or so and its AMAZING how much the ground has softened up, creeks have risen and there's even a few blades of grass poking up. SPRING has SPRUNG! Dang, this girl is counting the days until freeze-up.
April 21, Deep Creek Beach, 6.12 miles.
April 22, Resch Rd with Abby, 10.72 miles. So, had an enjoyable ride with Abby and her new horse. Went basically like this: Ride to Abby's house, ride back to arena, shut off ViewRanger (my GPS app), take intense riding lesson indoors, ride back to Abby's house, ride back to arena. Sounds like just another day right? WRONG! Blew the dust off my English saddle and if I have to trot another lap of the arena in two-point, I beleive my legs will pop off! #whatwasithinking #regret
April 24, Deep Creek Beach, 6.86 miles.
ReplyDeleteMay 2, Resch Rd with Abby, 5.48 miles. Took last week off and headed to Palmer with the Ninilchik FFA team - had a great time but sometimes I sure do miss my horse! It was great to do something today - even if it was walking and trotting up and down the road with Abby!
May 4, Star Pad loop, 15.23 miles. Leslie picked us up and we drove out Tall Tree Road and parked after crossing the Chacok bridge. The road is WAY better than it was this winter. We rode the logging road along the base of Ninilchik Dome then it cut back for a nice loop back to the truck. NO MUD! NO CREEKS! EASY-PEASY ride! Don't hear that from me very often ;-) Saw one medium-sized set of fresh brown bear tracks, fresh large wolf and some old coyote tracks. Leslie's dog Redoubt had a short confrontation with a porcupine moseying up the road, but luckily has nothing to show for it! #itsgoodtobeus
ReplyDeleteMay 8, Happy Valley beach, 8.24 miles. I totally overdressed for this ride - apparently summer is here (DAMN)! Long johns, clothes, coat, raingear OH MY. Even though it was a pretty steady rain, I was down to my sweatshirt quite a bit. Someone told me once... with raingear, you either get wet from the inside, or wet from the outside. Usually wet from the outside is the route I take but I was soaked through this time :-) Still a great ride on one of the biggest minus tides of the month, possibly for the entire summer!
ReplyDeleteMay 13, Happy Valley beach, 3.21 miles. Finally recovered from the stomach flu. Don't make me rehash the gory details. Reconnected with an old trail ride friend and had a nice, relaxing beach ride. I am still reeling from her statement: "I don't know how to read a tide book." *facepalm #saywhat
May 14, Tim road, 10.31 miles. Saw some fresh, small bear tracks and medium wolf tracks, all in the same area and going the same direction. Cool stuff, wish I could post pics here!
ReplyDeleteMay 17, Illiamna hayfield. Nice hayfield canter, ahhh, summer (YUCK).
May 21, Ski trail loop with Kalah, 6.01 miles. Met my new neighbor Kalah - her horse gets loose and visits mine often - but finally met her! Super-sweet young gal who is SO BRAVE! Her horse bucked her off and she landed on her feet and got right back on. What a trooper.... or crazy teenager?!
May 23, hayfield canter, 4.36 miles. This is probably my last ride before a week of 4-H Horse Camp. So bittersweet.
May 24-31 - Evening rides from the pasture, 12.12 miles. Crockett stayed home from camp this year - but for my personal sanity, I had to slip away some evenings and take a late-night canter. Kids + no sleep + no riding = Crazy. I covered my May goal of teaching "Becoming a Horseman" series at camp. I taught Principles of the Snaffle Bit and other instructors stepped in for topics such as horse psychology, herd dynamics, connecting on the horse’s level and much more. My class focused on the training foundation we can put on our horses with a snaffle bit. After the bosal, the snaffle is my favorite training tool :-D I also worked in my trailer muck-out goal with camp. I taught a truck and trailer safety class and the kids helped me do a trailer safety check, change a tire and hook up safely. Kids got a chance to ride around the fairgrounds in a clean trailer with good ventilation and no rattles, then hop in a noisy, hot, stinky trailer for another loop as a comparison. Hopefully they will all go home and fix their rattles and clean their trailers each time they use them! 4-H Horse Camp is one of my favorite activities of the year – it’s a great way to start the summer out right and get kids on-track with their horses. Check us out on facebook at www.facebook.com/ninilchikhorsecamp or our website at www.ninilchikhorsecamp.webs.com I brought Boone to camp for a few days hoping I would be able to do the open schooling show after camp but ended up not having time and needing to help out the show secretary anyway. Hauling home after, he bonked his head pretty good in the trailer and needed a few stiches. I feel terrible, especially after teaching a trailer safety class, and plus he was a little wound up and I felt like I could see the accident coming – which makes it even worse because I didn’t do enough to prevent it. Life goes on, as always. We won’t live long enough to make all the mistakes so we have to learn from the experiences of others I suppose.
ReplyDeleteJune 1, Illiamna hayfeild canter, 6.37 miles
ReplyDeleteJune 3, Tall Tree road with Mom, 8.02 miles. Great evening for a ride - Crockett was being all survivalist weirdo. We were on some fresh bear tracks several times and he was all over that - sniffing, snuffling and faking the brains of a mare (HA!) He's a funny one - after food, his top priority is sparing with the other horses and goofing off, so I suspect he was sizing the the competition, prepping for a game of hide and seek. Mom and I felt a little on edge, but the horses were never alarmed, so we enjoyed a great evening ride, only saw a couple harmless sandpiper chicks!
June 4, Anchor Point beach with Aurora and Annie, 6.11 miles. No words could describe the HORROR I felt riding on Anchor Point beach. MY FAVORITE BEACH. But it was covered in tourists... and there was no place to unload... and when I did find a spot I HAD TO PAY TO PARK. I am revising my position our spectacular local beaches - AP is my favorite WINTER beach. There is absolutely no point in visiting in the summer. Luckily to seal the deal, I got flat tire on my dang horse trailer! You can't make this stuff up!
June 7, Fox River valley with Leslie, Melanie and Mom, 21.61 miles. If my eyes could say what I saw, if my ears could say what they heard, if my pen could write what I felt, you all would understand why I love this place. #foxrivervalley #lupine #JuneGoalSmashed
June 10, Sunshine road loop, 6.31 miles
ReplyDeleteJune 11, Homestead road with Mom, 5.89 miles. Looks like Crazy Jane has a new generator at her cabin - so it was easy to pass by in stealth mode :-)
June 12, Happy Valley Beach, 7.24 miles. Nice, easy beach jaunt then headed up the bluff to say hi to my mom. There was a moose calf racing back and forth along the pasture fence and I may have panicked a bit. I am TERRIFIED of moose, and especially the small ones! Where there's a small moose, there is ALWAYS a rampaging mother moose! I did some yelling and branch flapping to make sure the coast was clear then dismounted, opened the pasture gate and remounted as fast as possible. I made a small attempt to circle around behind the calf and herd it toward the gate but with both of us in a fit of terror, no real progress was made. Crockett was a rockstar, as usual. I left the gate open and hoped for the best.
June 14, Happy Valley beach, 6.89 miles.
June 15, Happy Valley beach, 5.25 miles. Rode Crockett, ponied Titan and Dash bounced around loose pretending to be a rodeo bronc. Boone is still up at the barn on medical leave. We should take more family outings I suppose!
June 17, Happy Valley beach with Jeanie, 7.31 miles. Had a great visit and tourist beach tour with Jeanie. Left the pasture about 9 pm (usually the time I would be going to bed) and returned about midnight! I have a love/hate relationship with summer, especially the midnight sun, but it was a pretty awesome ride!
ReplyDeleteJune 18, Educational endurance ride on Kuchta trails, 13 miles. I felt so out of place. I am a chronic over-planner but I didn't really have a plan plus I almost never ride in social situations and I was clueless on what to expect. I had read over some trail trial and endurance ride rules (thank you May goals) but wasn't quite comfortable with the competition aspect of competitive trail riding. The whole thing ended up being awesome. It was cool to meet people, check out gear, experience a real vet check and learn to do some pacing on the trail. I rode with my best good trail ride friend Leslie and we met up with another friend Kathryn about a mile into the ride. I don't know much about pacing and we wanted to have a calm, enjoyable ride so we powerwalked the entire 13 miles, finishing with a time of 2 hours, 55 minutes. That's just under the 3 hour time limit :-) My favorite part of the ride was Crockett being so clued in to what was around us. He definitely went all survivalist once when we were headed back to the trailhead - a sure sign a bear had recently crossed the trail. Other than that, he seemed to see everything but nothing really phased him. I am also pleased that we can walk that far, that fast and he still felt ready for more. According to my math, average pace was 4.62 miles per hour. His initial vet check he had a pulse rate of 45, vet check at mid-point pulse rate was 50 and final pulse rate was 44. Is this even possible? I need to do some testing on my own! I felt a little bad since I knew we were going to be attending this ride and I still rode him nearly every day in the week leading up to it. I usually make an effort to rotate between horses, but Boone isn't back on track yet so I didn't have a second horse. Overall, it was great and I am excited to participate again in the future!
June 20, Pasture to Deep Creek Road, 13.42. Rode Crockett back to Ninilchik - trying to plan ahead for a clinic I am doing over the weekend with Boone and I need all my horses in the right place :-)
ReplyDeleteJune 21, 5000 road, 14.04 miles. Slipped away for a Caribou Hills ride - same route I rode with Jeanie previously on Boone. Lots of gravel on this route, NO MUD and great scenery!
June 23, Palmer hayfield canter bareback, 4.66 miles
June 27, Deep Creek subdivision, 5.84 miles - Tried to celebrate my birthday with a trail ride - but it was a little bit boring!
June 29, Cottonwood logging roads, 6.29. I hauled to Anchor Point and had a bittersweet ride with my beautiful friend Aurora. We wore shorts and gossiped about the future. She recently graduated from vet school and is headed to Montana for a clinic job. She's taking her horses with her when she heads south this time so I fear the move is for good :-/
ReplyDeleteJuly 6, Fishhook road, 7.33 miles. We are in the thick of hay season so I haven't been riding much. Ugg. And its probably only going to get worse.
July 20, Hutler Road trail, 7.26 miles. FINALLY BACK IN THE SADDLE!! Twenty-seven bazillion and one hay bales down, NONE to go! Life is good. I am really disappointed I missed the Midnight Sun Challenge ride last week but that's life I guess :-/ It was a great get-back-in-the-groove ride with trail ride friend Leslie and her new horse. Hot and sunny, INCREDIBLE scenery. We searched around for the close end of the Watermellon Trail and think we were on the right track but were running out of time so headed home early.
ReplyDeleteJuly 21, Fishhook Road, 7.63 miles
July 22, Tall Tree Road, 4.84 miles. Hauled out and rode the loop to Symmens Cabin - EXTREME RAIN the whole time so was glad it was a short ride!
July 23, Happy Valley Beach loop, 7.92 miles.
July 24, Deep Creek subdivision, 6.98 miles. Headed down Deep Creek River - it was pretty low - but ran into some epic mud so got out and took the highway loop back home!
July 26, Ski trail loop, 3.92 miles. I've got Crockett back in Ninilchik for a few weeks - a little closer to home, but still not HOME! I have my new pasture area cleared and am SUPER EXCITED to look out my window and FINALLY see my horses!
ReplyDeleteJuly 27, Ski trail loop plus down to the river, 5.49 miles
July 29, Ski trail loop, 4.94. Rain and lots of cantering!
July 31, Deep Creek Beach, 6.93. The beach was a zoo. I remember now why I don't go there in the summer. September cannot come soon enough!!
August 2, Ski trail loop, 4.92 miles. Had a nice, breezy canter around the hayfield... but I sure am getting bored of riding in the subdivision!
ReplyDeleteAugust 8, Happy Valley Beach, 10.24 miles. FINALLY got out of the subdivision :-) Hit the beach with Abby and Robin - grand adventure... well for them at least! Crockett was a rockstar and was a great steady-eddie to Nutmeg and Sage - first-timers to the beach, in the mud, and well, basically most Alaska trail "stuff" It was SO NICE to haul somewhere new to ride, even if it is a place I ride all the time, at least it wasn't another round of the ski trails!
August 9, Ski trail loop, 4.33 miles
August 15, Anchor Point Beach loop with Mom, 11.05 miles. EXTREME RAIN
ReplyDeleteAugust 16, Sunshine road loop, 5.53 miles
August 17, 7.22 miles, Tim Road with Mom. Calm, quiet ride before the craziness of fair week!
September 2, 1200 Road loop, 15.36 miles. FIRST RIDE ON CROCKETT SINCE THE FAIRS. Quiet. Calm. Just what I needed. Huge break to collect my thoughts and get refocused! What a great summer I have had! Thinking back on my goals... I have really stunk at accomplishing much, but dang I still feel great! We just got back from taking 11 kids and 8 horses to their first "real" show and nobody fell off and NOBODY cried. FOR REAL. August goal smashed!
ReplyDeleteSeptember 2, Chacok trail, 10.48 miles. Hauled to Anchor Point and rode a short ways in the Chakoc trail with friend Shelby. Saw two cow moose and a lot of hunters.
September 3, Tall Tree road, 7.50 miles. Hauled out the road, ripped my rain poncho, forgot my bridle, still had a great time with trail ride pal Leslie :-)
September 5, Moose Pasture with Mom, 7.95 miles
September 7, Head of the Bay, 19.02 miles. Attempted to climb the bluff above the old village of Dolina. Great trail, a couple wasp stings but the view was totally worth it! Too swampy to proceed once we reached the top though so that was a total drag. Nice leisurely jog back to the trailhead.
September 10, Lost Lake via Primrose Trail, 15.06 miles. Had fun in GREAT scenery with new and old trail ride friends Jeanie, Beth, Elissa, Joan, and Isobel. Must find the loop for this route!
ReplyDeleteSeptember 13, ski trail loop, 4.66 miles
September 15, Church loop to the beach, 4.20 miles. I moved Crockett over to my little pen at my neighbor Doc's house. I can walk over and ride easily. Its SO STRANGE though to see and feel the changes in my horse - he's not much for the paddock life. He acts like a wild bronc when he's locked up in a stall or small pen. Nice to have a change of scenery, but I could do without the extreme high-energy pegasus impressions.
September 16, beach via Church trail, 6.64 miles. I have come to the realization that I won't be taking riding in Delta during hunting season this year (FIST HITS DESK ANGRILY) so Crockett is right next door and I am riding daily dadgumit.
September 17, Holly road, 9.13 miles, nice trot and canter around the Holly road subdivisions. Crossed Ninilchik River below the bridge - haven't tried that before - nice alternate route when the church path is muddy... or when someone actually reposts the "Foot Traffic Only" sign.
September 18, Holly Road, 5.30 miles. Hauled over and parked near Holly road so I could get a better look at the far side of Deep Creek River. Don't get over there much from "my" side. Had to hook up the trailer anyway to haul Crockett back down to the pasture to hang out with the rest of the crew while we are up at hunting camp. Miss them already *tear*
October 4, Ninilchik beach canter, 8.28 miles. Camping was great but I missed my horses and something awful happened to my beautiful, faithful, wonderful little fourfooted companion. My Adidah dog got really sick and by the time we got home, she had already seen two vets and the third diagnosed her with a burst tumor on her pancreas and in the intermediate stages of organ failure. I have never had to euthanize a best friend before and I am so, so blessed to have my Crockett at home waiting to take me for a beach canter. I will never forget the beautiful look of love in my little Adidah's eyes when the vet brought her back into the exam room after giving me her diagnosis - it was almost like she knew I was going to go home and go riding and she was sad she couldn't go but still happy for me. Its weird to write it here, but I know anyone who loves their dogs and horses as much as me totally gets it. I never want to forget that moment.
ReplyDeleteOctober 6, Ninilchik Beach, 5.98 miles. My horse is so weird. He gets a little cray-cray when not loose on pasture in a herd environment. We trotted and loped and bucked most of the ride. Back home in under and hour.
ReplyDeleteOctober 7, Ninilchik River to Garrison Subdivision, 5.08 miles. I HATE mud, so its a common method of travel for me to get from point A to point B to ride up or down a gravel creek bottom, but on this route, after the first 37 windy twists in the river, it became clear, I hadn't made the best choice. It was full on dark by the time we got to Garrison Road bridge so we headed out and looped back via the highway.
October 8, Garrison road to Brody road loop, 10.96 miles. Skipped the river trek and took the highway straight to Garrison road bridge then had a nice, leisurely ride. EXCEPT for the part when a bull moose jumped out of the bushes and I almost died. I was trying to get my coat untied from behind my saddle (yes really, that's when all the crap goes down, isn't it?) and the moose trotted out like he was going somewhere and Crockett being the stalled-up bronc that he is this week dropped down like a lion and pounced off his rear legs in the other direction at lighting speed. I do not know how he does this. And I do not expect anyone who has not seen it to believe me. This only happens at a walk; a nice, calm walk. He sights the danger and in a milli-second, has dropped his shoulder, whirled a quarter turn and sprung off his haunches. His body is so low to the ground, it feel like my stirrups will drag in the grass. This time, I was already off balance since I was reaching for my coat so I was absolutely screwed. As he lurched, I got whiplashed down and it felt like my helmet was dragging through the grass, yet somehow, I had the sense or the time to think to myself "Gee, glad I wore my "good" helmet today." Oddly enough, these spooks usually only last for that one big jump then he gets it together and remembers he is my #1 horse and it would be pretty easy for him to lose his spot to an up-and-comer. #boone #mynewfavoritehorse
October 9, Ninilchik Beach, 6.90 miles. I didn't die. Amen.
October 10, Resch Road, 8.03 miles. Hauled down and met Abby. We snooped on a new neighbor with horses and checked out the beach trail. I need to do a little saw-saw work before real winter gets here so we can ride down there after it snows.
October 11, Ski trail loop, 4.18 miles. Crockett spent the night alone on grass in the little pasture. Calmed him down a bit :-) Turned him out after I rode - that will make him happy!
October 16, Head of the Bay with Leslie, 22.08 miles. Beautiful day for a ride! We trotted up to beat the huge tide, met Quebec Anne (no time here for all I have to say about her) at Fox River, crossed over, crossed over Sheep, rode up to the powerline on a FABULOUS hidden trail thanks to Anne's smart pony then had a leisurely ride back to the cabin. Enjoyed some tea and snacks while we waited for the rivers to go back down then trotted for home and got back to the truck under a full moon about 10 pm. Over all, epic ride, epic day. And only two of us fell off *facepalm
ReplyDeleteOctober 18, Resch Road, 3.20 miles. Crockett is back with the herd so had a nice, leisurely bareback ride down Resch and back.
October 19, Resch Road with Abby, 6.63 miles. Had a quicky training session in the arena - HUGE - because I rarely ride in the arena and its even more rare to ride Crockett... in the arena... booorrring. Anyway, that was fun, I should do it more often and actually tune up on some skills. Then rode over and back to Abby's house.
October 21, Around the neighborhood with Abby and Kathryn, 6.94 miles. We gossipped and rode along the highway - a little bit lame but hey, some trail ride friends aren't quite as adventurous as me!
October 23, Old Watermellon Trail, 8.10 miles. Rode out with Leslie and Fousto. The trail was icy then got progressively muddier and muddier. We saw some small bear tracks which was cool and some loose horses, which was super-cool. We have been searching for a route across Anchor River to reach Knob Hill on the other side but haven't been successful in all the years we've been trying. This is one of the main holes in my plan to ride from Ninilchik to Kachemak Bay cross-country (see my April goal) and even if we could get across during the frozen season, how the heck will I make it in the summer?
October 26, Deep Creek Beach, 12.04 miles. Haven't ridden in a few days, Crockett was wild, wild, wild. I had planned to ride over and meet neighbor Danielle but she flaked so we hit the beach instead. I was dressed for February so made the most of it and rode almost to Happy Valley Creek and back.
ReplyDeleteOctober 28, Happy Valley Beach, 8.15 miles. High tide but the beach always satisfies :-)
October 29, Head of the Bay, 17.62 miles. Had a fabulous day with a great crew - Leslie, Katy, Janelle and Earon. We trotted up and met Otto, Mark, Fred, Quebec Anne and Jeremy. Gathered a few cows, penned some calves and brought home some yearlings. What a GREAT day to be US.
November 8, Ski trail loop, 4.45 miles. Crockett has had quite a few days off... so we loped most of the time and were back in about 30 mintutes!
ReplyDeleteNovember 9, Head of the Bay, 12.62 miles. Went up with Leslie and had to park way up high since the roads were treacherous. We met Otto and the film crew (OMG!) at the corrals then took the cows on to Kilcher Beach. It wasn't a long ride, but took alllll daaaayy. Still fun though. #ATF #Kilchercomedy
November 12, Illiamna hayfeild canter, 2.77 miles. Moved the horses down to the pasture for the fall/winter. Short ride. Bareback. Rained so hard. SO WET.
November 14, Homestead road loop, 5.51 miles. Ponied Boone. We are in that weird, not froze enough to ride anywhere cool period. Winter where are you? I misssss yoooouu!
December 14, Tall Tree road loop, 16.76 miles. Well hello friends! So glad to be back! That was the longest dry spell of the DD for me... and possibly the longest no-ride time of my life since I was away from my horses in college. HOLY HECK! So anyway, my business goes nuts at the holidays, plus we are madly trying to finish and move into our house, plus some other unmentionable stuff has made me absolutely crazy. I feel like having to pay the neighbor gal a few bucks to haul water for my horses is a huge marker of the amount of insanity in my life. If I can't find the time to drive to the pasture to even see them, where the heck are my priorities eh? Anyway, this last 3+ weeks has given me a chance to reassess my goals for the year. Let's start with the positives - my health plan is in full-swing. More vegetables, less crap. #win. My new house and horse fence is awesome. For some reason... Even though I am only at around 930 now, I feel like I can still record 1000 miles for the Distance Derby this year - its like I just broke through the stress zone and now I have two weeks left of the year to ride a daily (or at least maybe 3 times a week?) So those are the good things. I am disappointed that I didn't get to ride in Delta this year, but positive that gives me something to shoot for next year. I had a couple wonderful fall rides to the head of the bay, and my memorial bench is going to make me famous (maybe) I am still planning to climb Ninilchik Dome. Fingers crossed we don't already have too much snow to smash my plans like last year.
ReplyDeleteBack to this ride - it was great! Leslie, Mariah, Mom and I headed out and road Resch until we got across Stariski bridge then did some major bushwacking to get to an old logging road that connected with Tall Tree road then looped back via the swamps. Great riding now that the ground is frozen and we've got a little snow. VERY cold but life is good!
December 22, Resch Road toward homestead, 14.05 miles. I headed out at a trot thinking I could make the entire loop to Tall Tree road and back but ran into epic mud in that same place where I did the moonwalk this spring. AND WOLF TRACKS, like the kind that were still warm! Crazy fresh ones, so I admit, I kinda got freaked out and came home on my same trail. Plus, I don't like mud. Ya, that was the problem :-)
ReplyDeleteDecember 23, Happy Valley Beach, 7.33 miles. Mom led the way, Leslie and I followed. It was great! I love my beach.
December 24, Resch Road, 7.21 miles. Hauled out with Mom for a short ride to check out where I had seen the wolf tracks. We followed them and fought the trail for quite a ways then they one by one left the trail and went off into the trees. We went a little further then were out of time so headed back to the trailer. Wildlife is so cool.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWow..I would have loved to have seen some wolf tracks!! Lynn
ReplyDeleteSee you soon Lynn!!
DeleteDecember 26, Resch Road with Molly, 3.41 miles. We rode in the indoor arena for hours then took a short relaxing trail ride.
ReplyDeleteDecember 27, Tall Tree loop, 9.58 miles. I headed up the highway because some adventurous soul had ridden their fourwheeler and made a nice trail but it ended about a mile sort of Tall Tree Road so I had to ride on the highway which was TERROR-FYING. But we survived. I had Boone in tow to add to the complications but all was well. Looped back across the swamp via Resch (very tough going without a trail, but there's a trail now!) and home by dark!
December 28, Resch Road with Abby, 8.56 miles. We rode for GLORIOUS hours in the arena then to Abby's house and back. VERY COLD.
December 30, Resch Road with Abby, 4.77 miles. Rode inside then headed home with Abby but had to come back early to go to work. Dang! But this puts me over 1000 for the year! Wooohooo! SO DISAPPOINTED we didn't make it to the top of the Dome before we got too much snow but its not looking good for this season. Grrr. Was out today to ride but then got called to work so didn't even get to saddle up. Here's to a fabulous 2017!
ReplyDelete