The trail description said this was beautiful trail. We met Dudley and Candy riding near our lodging who said this was beautiful and that the north end had huge ferns. Starting at the north end gave us a less steep climb and I wanted to see what they meant. They didn’t lie. The maidenhair ferns are as big as they get at home and there are tons of them, even if they are dying out for the year. After the ferns, there was open pine forest. Thinned gives you more light as well as better for managing forest fires. Then came denser forest with this magnificent old snag. Then mixing in some aspensI am such a sucker for aspen, and I’ve rarely seen them this big and this healthy. Then opening out to meadow.I can’t believe how green it is this late in the year in the desert. Apparently the monsoons were strong and are staying around longer this year. We just had to stop and stare sometimes. And then there was this amazing vista to the mountains off in the distance. With crazy clouds forming. I actually saw some lightning out there while I stood in the sun. Still so green. And then things got ridiculous Like really ridiculous We chased some birds on the way home. And we saw about 20 ravens flying together. I’ve never seen more than 2-3 at one time. According to Wikipedia: Apparently juveniles will tell each other about food larger carrion so that the group can crowd out any adult pairs. We normally will ride about 6-8 miles and 1.5-2 hours including some breaks. This ride was all afternoon, about 4.5 hours for 13.5 miles. we had snacks and took breaks and talked a long time to some hikers. But mostly… beauty is excellent fuel.
Jessica Wandering 
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