another great ride..

We decided late yesterday afternoon to go horse back riding today at 'Seven Springs Lodge ' horse camp just a few miles down the road.

We haven't rode there in several years.They always had good trails but oh what a change!!!

We pasture our horses just about half a mile from the camp, so all we have to do is saddle up, ride down the road a little and we're there.

presently there are over 3000 acres of beautiful land with hills,bluffs,springs,streams,Indian shelters and waterfalls. 20.000 !!! more acres will be added soon.

we arrived very early (about 6:30) and everybody there(they had a big four day ride this weekend)was just getting up. so we decided to hit the trails alone(we like it better that way anyways).

We like all kinds of terrain but are really into rough, challenging trails with lots of climbing, down hill slides, etc.

We didn't have a map of the trails since the office was not open yet when we got there, so we just followed our nose., and apparently picked one of the more challenging and most beautiful trails they have.

After some challenging climbs up and down through gorgeous old timber woods we came to a huge ,very tall bluff. I guesstimate about 100-120 feet up (or down depending where you are.)

as a matter of fact the trail will lead you to the top next and you can see for miles once the leaves are off the trees right now they totally obscure the view.

we took a break there to give the horses a chance to get they're breathing under control. They have not had a decent workout since the middle of July and that wasn't near as exhausting as this.

soon we where off again.

Next stop:the waterfall. its not very high but it goes for about 50-60 feet in small steps. unfortunately no water right now since we had not had a decent rain in weeks.

After some more riding across small streams and by some impressive bluffs we arrived at another Indian shelter:

Fred the mule looks totally dejected:

By that time the horses where quite tired and we decided to find our way back to camp.

After a couple wrong turns we finally saw it in the distance, the horses saw it too and all of a sudden they weren't tired at all.
when we arrived we had a nice chat with the owner (after i got a map) and he directed us to the "Rattle Snake Saloon" that they just recently build under one of the many Indian shelters. Of course we had to check it out even though it was closed.

and what a neat place it is !!!:

build right under and into the overhang. and if you look close you can see the walk way above the saloon on the next ledge.
All in all we had a blast (probably our mounds not so much but they do have to earn they're keep once in a while.We sure will go there on a regular basis from now on and explore the rest of the trail of which there are many more.