Going Solo

I had Monday off and the weather was perfect so I decided to take Max out on the trail. Today, I decided to go up into the mountains and in particular, the Doc Larsen Trail. Since Max's stone bruise, I have avoided riding in the mountains because of the rocky footing in places so it's been over a month since we've been there. Also, I wanted to build up Max's stamina so this was the logical candidate.

The only difference today was, contrary to my usual policy, I decided to go alone. Pretty daring for me but I figure "what the hell?". Max seemed to be acting allright and the weather was beautiful, sunny cool and crisp with a slight cooling breeze. We proceeded up the trail with no incident and for Max, it was like being in a horsey Seven-11 with all the fresh green grass in the canyons. It's interesting to note that in the more exposed areas, the grass is beginning to turn brown in places.

The grade uphill was fairly tough so I had to rest Max periodically to let him catch his breath- we'll have to work on building up his stamina. We then took a long break at the bathtub, allowing Max to cool down and take his fill of water.

There are two trails leading up away from the bathtub towards the fire roads. Usually I select the right trail which is a fairly straight shot to the fire road. However, I decided to take the trail to the left which is shorter. Out of curiosity, I decided to take the left trail. It was relatively short but pretty steep and eventually leads to one of a network of fire roads. The view from the trail is excellent and one can see out West towards a set of ridges where Lopez Canyon landfill is located. Absolutely first rate!

Once I hit the fire road, I decided to take a left and go downhill towards, basically making a loop back towards my starting place. Unfortunately, after about a half mile or so, there was a locked gate so the easy way was definately out. I then headed Max back up the road, passing where the trail let out, and going much higher until I met up with another fire road. Some of these roads are pretty narrow and you can see where rocks have rolled down the cliffs- I was on the constant look-out for rockslides and the like.

After about another half mile of uphill riding, we hit the main fire road where we took a rest. Riding on more, we finally passed the trail leading towards Oak Springs (which I'd rode to earlier on Blue). The trail is pretty hidden and easy to miss- the last time I was here it was completely foggy and misty with visibility limited to about 50 feet or so.

Eventually we made it to "Five Points", an area where four trails/fire roads meet up (why it's called five points when only four roads/trails come together escapes me). We then turned down the trail leading down towards the bathtub (this was the "right" trail mentioned earlier).

We basically retraced our steps going home and naturally Max was a lot more energenic since he knew we were heading home. We arrived back at the stables with no incident and overall, the ride was about 3 1/2 hours and Max definately got a good workout.

We'll need to do this some more.