At the PNER convention this past winter, I bought some raffle tickets for a free ride entry. I was delighted when they pulled my name. I was hoping for anything close to home and picked out the Crazy Daze laminated card since I knew that one was near Spokane. Our pickup needed tires and brakes after last year's trek to Idaho with Lucy, and had been pretty much parked ever since. Now that I had a ride goal, I set out getting those other details taken care of. We had the truck ready to go just in time. My certificate for a free ride entry Ellie and I hauled Amira and Amelia, while my friend Heather drove her minivan. Ellie enjoys attending, to help as crew and photographer. We left town by about 8:30 am so we made it to camp by noon. This ride was hosted at Riverside Park in Nine Mile Falls, WA. The ride camp was on what they called the "7 Mile Airstrip." It is a clearing within evergreens that is easy to access with truck & trailer and spacious enough for large rigs. In mid-day when we arrived it was quite hot, and we were very glad I had packed our shade tent! There was one permanent structure there, a picnic patio with a shade roof and lots of tables. A great place for the ride meeting and potluck! When we pulled in, we were greeted and told where to park. She pointed out the registration table also. We got the trailer arranged, truck unhooked, panels unloaded and set up, and the horses settled in. Then we set up our camp. I had tried using frozen water bottles in our cooler this year, and it was not working very well, so once things were arranged in camp, Ellie and I ran to town. We discovered there was a WalMart within 12 miles. We also picked up a pillow for Heather since she had forgotten to pack one. When we got back to camp, I stopped by the registration table. Emmily (volunteer) had made a neck cooler for everyone in all different materials. They had been soaking in ice water, so that was an awesome thing to put on in the heat. It cooled me down quickly. I got my ride card and number (6), and info on the potluck and meeting times. They also had a 50/50 raffle and tickets for the AHA sponsored sandwich bar for Saturday lunch. We put the ice in the cooler and ate some lunch and then Heather and I tacked up for a pre-ride to check out the trails and stretch the horses' legs a bit after their time in the trailer. In the meantime, the porta-potties arrived - one right across from our camp - and the water truck came through to bring more tubs and cold water for the horses. We were happy with our location in the ride camp, about halfway down the strip (the vet check was on one end, with trails beginning on the opposite end). Heather has been to this ride before and was a little more familiar with the trail system. We decided to head out the way the loops would begin in the morning. Both the Pink and Yellow loops headed out of camp the same way, through a gate and past a house or two, winding around through the forest on nice dirt trails and then going up a couple of short steep climbs, a road crossing, then going along through the trees until we reached a long climb at about 2.3 miles and we decided we did not want to have to come back down that, so we turned around at that point and headed back to camp. We untacked and cleaned up the horses, and took them over to vet in. Amira vetted in with all A's and a pulse of 42 so I was really happy about that. I had been giving her electrolytes in the mornings since Wednesday to encourage her to drink more so she would not be dehydrated after the trip over. Vetting in After the potluck (nice variety!), we had the ride meeting. I realized I only recognized Jala (riding the 50 - it was an AHA Championship ride) and Andrea, the rest of the people I had never seen before. Chris Sprague gave a detailed account of trails, markings, GPS, turns to watch for, water stops (every 4 miles, yay!), volunteers and other details. She also said she was requiring helmets for this ride. She had a co-manager, April, who provided more info on ribbon colors and loop distances, and her cell number in case anyone had any trouble during their ride. Someone asked how many entered in each distance. There were 11 in the 50, 13 in the LD and maybe 8 or 9 in the trail ride. Very small turnout. I was expecting a lot of people with the AHA involvement but I had forgotten Tevis was just the week before, many people were worn out from that. I had signed up for the 30 mile distance and had very low expectations considering I was going to be headed out alone. Heather had decided to enter the Trail Ride option this time. I decided not to waste any time at the start and just go when the trail opened and see who I found to fall in with, or ride in my own bubble. Amira and I heading out for our adventure At 6 am on Saturday the 50s headed out. I was up and watched the start with Amira. I ate some breakfast and started tacking her up about 6:30 for our 7 am start. I was on by 6:50 and walking around to warm up. When the trail was open we were the 2 nd horse out. She did great trotting down the gravel road, until we had to pass our trailer. Then she had all kinds of questions, she was sure I was wrong about continuing alone. Once we got past that sticky spot, we found a horse to follow - turns out it was our camp neighbor Carrie! We followed for a couple miles and she asked if I wanted to pass and I said no, we aren't that fast, and happy to follow if that was ok with her. She said "I'll warn you, when my horse warms up, he trots 18mph!" I knew eventually that would be too fast to keep up. Carrie Abby As we were going along, we were joined by a third horse and rider, my camp neighbor on the other side, Abby. She said this was her horse Kahlua's first ride of the season and they did not train very fast. I think it was soon after the second water stop, which must have been about 9 miles, I realized Carrie's horse was really moving out, causing Amira to canter a lot, so when Abby said "I am sorry guys I have to slow down," I was really happy to hear that I would still have someone to ride with because I needed to slow down also. Carrie headed off and Abby waited with me for a minute until she was out of sight and then we went along down the trail. Shortly after that we saw the second photographer in the trees. I told Amira to canter so I could get a fun ride photo, then I pulled her back down to a trot. Amira appeared to be having a great time, going along at least 7-8 mph, ears forward, looking for the other horse and rider teams that had gone ahead of us. At some point my right ankle started getting weak. I was having trouble keeping it in the stirrup and it was feeling wobbly, like it wanted to roll. It started hurting pretty badly, maybe around 15 miles. I was hoping when we rolled back into camp for the vet check we would have made good enough time to be able to take the second loop slowly and still get our completion. We did take some walking breaks – some were forced due to the terrain or footing, and others were because of rider pain. There was one section that was referred to as the "Lollipop Loop" where you go through a fence - the top rail is removed and you must step over the bottom rail - ride the trail and come back around to go through the fence again. I think this is to discourage ATV from using the trails on the other side. The first time through, I told Amira to STEP and she did step over the rail. It was probably about knee high. When we were headed back over it the second time, I told her to STEP and she started lifting one leg, then decided to donkey-leap over it! I lost my balance and started falling to the left, I couldn't save it, I came off. I did not let go of the reins, so I quickly found myself sitting on the ground with Abby asking "Are you ok?!" I realized I had pulled my left calf muscle, it was cramping up, but after a minute or two of stretching it was feeling ok, and I got back on. Thankfully it was a soft landing in some pine needles! There was such a variety of trail - simple wide flat trails, complicated climbs and descents, a short section with very large rocks, a short section with very deep sand, a longer section of sand, a lot of forest trail that wound around through the trees. A couple of road crossings. Some open plains with a lovely view. One trail ran alongside the Spokane river, and it was beautiful. Chris had told me she planned as much of it in the shade as possible since it was a summer ride. So many wonderful views and things to see and navigate. After riding with Abby for the 20 mile loop we decided we enjoyed riding together, our horses were well matched, and we were each dealing with our own personal pain – my ankle and calf, and her leg(s), so we agreed to also ride the second 10 mile loop together after our hold time. Even though we both hopped off to walk the horses into the vet check and loosened girths, her horse pulsed down about 2 minutes before mine so her out time was sooner. She decided to wait for me so we could head out together after the hold. During the 45 minute hold, Ellie took over with Amira and did a great job crewing, she vetted Amira through for me and then offered her all kinds of food to try and get her to eat. She still does not like to eat in her pen, but if you take her out and hand-walk her she will graze on anything growing. Heather asked around and found some vet wrap and then proceeded to wrap my ankle for me. It was even green to match my tack! I am so thankful for her doing that, I think it made a big difference. Heather also encouraged me to take some pain relief pills sooner, rather than later, so they would kick in before I had to ride out again. Abby and I headed out -to the minute- of the end of my hold time, and we again went through camp and past where the horses thought we should be headed. We kind of ambled back over to the gate and continued our ride. This time I encouraged Abby to do more of the leading. Her horse tends to want to chase down horses ahead of him, but if there were none in sight she could set the pace that she felt she could handle since her leg was really bothering her. I could manage the same rate of speed, so that worked out – unless we were walking, in which case my horse would overtake hers. I was glad to see Amira had found her power walk since we did probably half of that loop walking. This loop took us down to the edge of the Spokane River. It was such a pretty view and through the trees with lots of shade. Some of the trails were narrow and Amira wasn't sure about it, but with some encouragement she continued. Since we had completed the first 20 miles in good time, 3 1/2 hrs (approx 5.7 mph), we had ample time remaining to complete this loop without being too worried about going over time for going slower. We did the remaining 10 miles in 2 hrs 4 min, so a little under 5 mph. This felt like a lot more walking, but it also had less elevation changes, 692'. The first loop had been 1,314'. Chris had asked me on the phone before the ride, "How are you with heights?" and I said 'not great.' There were definitely sections that were a little nerve wracking for me in that sense. A fair amount of rocks on the hills and trails, sometimes I felt like I was at Tevis when the trail got especially narrow or steep. I was not able to get my phone out and record the places that made me nervous! On one of the switchbacks Amira thought I was asking her go the wrong way and tried to go back up the way we had come down. Not a great place to try and turn around! She also turned around on the narrow trail along the river. Thankfully I was able to get her turned back around and going the proper way, but eesh I had some moments of concern. By the time we reached the finish line, I was not sure I would be able to walk on my bad ankle, so I decided to ride all the way in this time. Once I got to the timers, I hopped down and Heather and Ellie were there to help me untack and vet through. Again, Kahlua pulsed down before Amira by a couple minutes. We encouraged her to eat and drink before going to vet through. The timers announced we were in the top ten – 8th ! As a result I had to take all my tack over and get weighed on the scale. After all that I was hot and exhausted. I was thankful that the day was slightly cooler than predicted. I think it was high 80s instead of low 90s. We also had some breeze. Loitering around camp, snacking and drinking cold water or electrolytes, was quite enjoyable. Heather and I chatted and waited for the 50s to finish and the awards meeting. Heather thought she heard a car horn announcing the meeting. I said "No, I don't think that's it," but as it turns out I was wrong! We totally missed the awards (100% my fault). When we wandered over to the picnic area and found Chris she had some prizes for us. We got to pick out a knife (green), a rein-saver (multi colored) and she had some extra stuff left that she was giving out, an ID to clip on your horse halter in case of natural disaster with pertinent info. All very useful items, which I always appreciate. Abby had taken a shower and came out in shorts and showed me her legs. "I don't think I am usually a wimp but look at this bruising!" It was no wonder her legs hurt during the ride. She was not sure what had caused it. The trails were overall so enjoyable I found myself thinking about them in the days to follow! And there is such a large trail system there, I heard someone say that we probably only utilized about a third of the park for this event. There is another area to camp with horses if you are so inclined, with 21 permanent corrals. That got Ellie thinking she would like to return before summer is over, to pleasure ride and explore. The photographers Adrienne, and Vicky Torres, did a great job capturing us at this ride. I think the one of us cantering might be my new favorite ride photo. I am thankful they stepped up to photograph this event! Big thanks to Cassee Terry (vet) for showing up after being at Tevis just the week before. We also had a new vet at this ride, although I can not recall her name. There was a large showing of volunteers, who all did a wonderful job. A couple of them had ice cold water at one of the water stops, and stopped traffic for us at the road crossing. Some others had to ride out and re-mark trail after concerned hikers had taken down the ribbons on a section of trail, thinking it was trash. It really takes a village to put a ride on, and I appreciate all of them!