Connie and I were back in the saddle after my return to Apgar View this week. We had the misfortune of getting hit with a hailstorm on June 9 that destroyed 1200 acres of soybeans and 150 acres of pinto beans. With another quarter of pinto’s that had to be replanted due to poor emergence, we had a lot of seeding to accomplish in a short period of time. So I had to return to ND just a couple days after hauling the horses out to the mountain. After the replant was accomplished I jumped on Amtrak and headed west. We hit the saddle the day after my return to teakettle with a ride up to spruce park. This is a nice easy trail that follows up the middle fork of the flathead. Spruce park is a forest service facility that is used by employees and volunteers when trail maintenance is being accomplished. Very nice place to enjoy a picnic lunch.

We just kicked the horses into the corral to enjoy a little grass while we relaxed on the bluff.

Back when I was a kid my father and I used to fish twenty-five mile creek (a tributary on the middle fork of flathead). It’s been about 37 years since I’ve been back there from challenge cabin. We caught up Banjo and Freckles the next day, but unfortunately Banjo had thrown a shoe and Tanner got the call again. There is a forest service road that leads back into this area from challenge cabin, but it is gated and closed to public travel. We rode it up to to the saddle looking down into the drainage.

It’s about5 1/2 miles up to the saddle with an elevation gain of 1700′. The last third of the road up is covered with a lot of sharp shale rock so it’s a little hard on their hooves. 

The other thing this road was covered with was bear crap. We must have passed upwards of 20 piles on the way up.  No encounters though

We got finished up with spring planting and a few other things and were able to haul the horses out to Teakettle Mtn last Thursday. It was gorgeous up on the Mtn. All the snow melt and spring rains had the area looking like a rain forest. The horses only get a few hours a day on the lush grass. 

We had plans of taking a few conditioning rides to get the boys acclimated to the mountains and then heading into the backcountry. The many old logging roads up the North Fork are great for the first rides of the season.

Connie’s 82 yr young father even went along for a ride. He did a little over 8 miles with no problem at all. 

We spend a lot of time working with our horses for the use in the backcountry. De-sensitizing and training for the little things that can give you big wrecks. Wilderness riding is dangerous, so we do our best to minimize risk of accidents. We have a very short window to see and enjoy the backcountry so we work to try to have our horses ready. But sometimes plans go awry. On Friday evening a devastating hail storm swept though ND and took out most all of our soybeans and some of the pinto beans. There is still time to attempt to replant so I’m heading back. Connie will stay with the horses on the Mtn. and hopefully I will be back in a week. Then we can begin this summers excursions into the backcountry.