Horseback Ride to Missionary Ridge

I have been more than lax in my blogging since March (thanks for reminding me Dad). I have done some really cool things and haven't shared them so now I will try to catch up a little. On Labor Day weekend Sept. 1st Ben and I went on a two day overnight horseback trip with Ben's long time friend Robert. Robert has been friends with Ben's Dad since they were teenagers and was there when Ben was born so we were in good hands. Robert is a professional bass fisherman as well as an avid bow and arrow hunter so he was looking for elk.

Five years ago this Ridge had a devastating fire and of course much of the burned terrain still shows evidence of the fire. You can see the defoliated trees that survived in the background.




To get to the saddle up point we drive about 15 minutes north of our house to missionary ridge road. Then we drive about thirty minutes up the road to the trailhead. After our horses were saddled we headed up the trail.

Here is the interesting thing about the horses Ben and I were on. They were older than we are! My horse was thirty five years old. That means he was giving trail rides a good five years before I was born. He refused to take the bit and Robert said, oh well good old smoky doesn't really need the bit, he'll just follow the others anyway. So I carried a rope to stear him and it was true, he just followed the others. This is Smoky, I think his grey and his wrinkles make him look distinguished:



Ben's horse, Chico, is 33 and is Smoky's little brother. Smoky and Chico like to stick close to each other.



We took our time getting to camp, Robert was looking for Elk and stopping now and then to call for them on his bugle. We didn't see any however. Just some tracks. The trailride was beautiful.



After about five hours of riding and stopping we got to the top of the ridge and made camp near a watering hole.






Come to find out, horses sleep standing up all night. It was early to bed and early to rise and the next morning we rode out almost the same way we came in. Ben's horse stumbled at one point, he wasn't very sure footed, and Ben took a tumble but was all right, just a little bruised. It was a great way to see the ridge and enjoy the ride. Thanks Robert!