Les Hilde / Harry Osbourne Trail Head 13 miles in about 6 hours

Y'all, this ride was no joke. Check out that elevation mapping.

As I mentioned on Gwyn's birthday post, I had gone out to meet folks for a trail ride at Harry Osborne/Les Hilde. This is DNR land that's open for recreation since it's not built up (i.e. no park service amenities).  There were pit toilets here that I diligently wiped down with lysol wipes before touching surfaces. Otherwise I was operating solely out of my trailer and not really contacting anyone else. 

I need to join Backcountry Horsemen, at least to support them monetarily.

I met Cortney at the trailhead. It was about an hour and 15 minutes north of me, making it equidistant to travel either to Cortney's/Taylor Mountain or come here. That's not too bad. We were meeting up with a bunch of other endurance riders. Two (besides Cortney) I knew, one I didn't. 

I could tell this day was going to well when two of my trail companions broke out their alcohol to sip from as we headed out from the trailhead. The day was warm and promised heat. Lots of people were out soaking in the vitamin D. Thankfully the parking lot was huge so we could distance, and also there's hundreds of miles of trails and we were the least casual group out there. We saw other riders twice, both back to back. And a few people on foot as we returned. Otherwise, we were alone in the woods and it was glorious.

Gwyn settled fairly quickly when we didn't do ANY trotting away from the trailers. She was very quickly working off of my seat half halt and I didn't have to hang on her face to keep her off of other horses.

This trail was SUPER rocky. Watch the video with the sound on for max effect. Gwyn just ate these stones and never had a wrong step. Good girl! 

We popped in and out of dense evergreen forest and some deciduous as we climbed up in elevation. Occasionally we'd come out into recent clear cutting. This place is also used for logging and sometimes trails can be lost as a result. If rider groups work nicely with the loggers, often the loggers do make an effort to preserve the trails that are in place. 

I was hoping, given the clear skies and how far north we were, that we could be treated to stunning views of Mt Baker. Unfortunately, terrain got in the way and we never had northeasterly views. Still stunning though.

That's Mt. Josephine just to the left of the rider ahead.

A beautiful stream where the horses drank their fill. 

Everything was green and lush. We've had decent rain lately (and snow in the higher elevations, good for reducing fire risk) and the spring growth was rampant. We're further along in our spring growth than typical northern states and the forest was filling in well.

We passed a picnic area with tables and a firepit. The trees looked like they would be good for hi tying, but no camping is allowed out here. Soon after this, we started the switchback climb.

Serious switchbacks up the mountain

Gwyn pulled her usual "I'mma take care of myself" on this ride" so I kept her to the back on the bigger climbs as the day progressed. She would pause, catch her breath, and continue on. I do wonder if she's smart enough to do this so there could be some distance and she could power up the hill in a trot without running into the other horses.

At the end of the switchbacks, we hit our lunch spot. It was beautiful. We tied or hobbled the horses and they greedily ate up the grass.

I do find the saturation difference interesting between my cell phone (above) and the go pro (below)

Some of my gear set up.

I tied Gwyn to a sapling and ended up having to tie her to multiple saplings because she was just pulling the lone one over as she grazed. Mare gave no fucks about it though and was content to chomp on grass. I might figure out hobbling. She'd probably like it more.

We had all packed food and lots of water. We took our time here, resting.

After lunch and pee breaks it was onward and more climbing. 

Trails alternated between logging roads and single track. There are no motorized vehicles allowed out here (unless for logging) and we were deep into the trail system at this point. There was no road noise and it was just glorious.

Cortney had brought her dog, Kara, who at one point went bounding after something in the woods. One of my companions, Isabela, thought she saw a bear in the woods and adrenaline started to rush in until it became a little more clear that the bear was actually an elk and that's what Kara was chasing. But phew! 

Some serious climb that I was hoping we wouldn't have to come back down. Ha. Ha. 

The path veered up. It was amazing. And I had a powerful mare who bounded up. Have the video because it was thrilling to ride.

Not long after this we found the trail blocked by some downed trees. This then led to us trying to find the trail... and we did! Isabela and Robin scouted off and up into the woods. Soon after they called down. Isabela had found the trail! So we picked our way through the soft ground and fallen logs to join them. 

Then there was more climbing, most of which was a stream. And finally I think Gwyn just had enough. There was a bigger step, she tripped and went down and I rolled over her shoulder. Because of the steepness, I actually didn't have far to land... But at that point I opted to stay off her for a bit and start walking back down on foot, since it seemed like the trail wasn't actually going to connect anywhere and I was worried about pushing Gwyn too far and getting either of us injured. 

The rest of the group ventured up a little more and found the snow line. Meanwhile, Gwyn and I practiced tailing down the mountain and stepping carefully when the human goes first. As the rest of the group caught up, I got this hilarious picture of Gwyn tilting her head to try and catch the sound of the group above us.

Mom, I swear I'm feeling better.

I eventually reached the part where we had to go off trail and we rested there. Gwyn peed and seemed to immediately relax. I felt good about my decision to hang back.

From there we retraced our steps. Eventually I remounted and we did go down that super steep portion of trail which didn't feel so bad after what we'd been doing, lol.

The views were still incredible and I realized that we were able to see all the way to the Olympic Peninsula. It was hazy, but present. That's near 100 miles of visibility.

As we made our way down further, Reign continued to just have a fit. Cortney was speculating that the crupper was engaging quite a bit given the steep descents we were traversing and she was getting upset. 

So this happened:

Cute little waterfall stream

We traversed the switchbacks down with Gwyn in the lead who suddenly was not tired. She had a ground eating walk as we descended, often leaving the Arabians behind her.

We took a slightly more direct route back to the parking lot, drinking once more at a stream along the way where I tested out my sponge leash and cooled Gwyn's neck a bit. Our rigs were the last in the lot, a striking difference from 6 hours earlier when there was limited socially distant parking left.

I had prepped some alfalfa mash for Gwyn to have as a post ride snack/rehydrator and she dug in greedily. We'd all brought enough water to sponge. I also did a short liniment bath for Gwyn and the warmth of the day was still strong enough that she was dry before I ever loaded her, smelling minty and feeling soft.

I poulticed her legs and loaded her up. We stopped in town for take out burgers. I had an elk burger and it was the most delicious thing ever, though that could be the heat and exertion talking. But seriously, delicious. From there, to the barn to unload, and then home after that. 

Apparently, the next morning when Gwyn was turned out, she walked sedately to her pile of hay, rather than her usual exuberant leaping. It was a good day.