One last day. At the ride meeting the prior night, we were told to expect a hard climb on this ride. We were riding in to the Granite Basin and it was considered to be the toughest trail of the three days. The reason it was held for the last day was because the Forest Service didn't want us out on heavily used trails during the week. So it was done on a Monday.
I got Hoss ready to go and headed out to the start. We trotted out for the vet and made our way out at the start.
The trails were truly beautiful on this day. Hoss and I were alone pretty much all day, not hooking up with any other horses during the ride. Just the way I like it.
It was very hot, and I was starting to get tired. I forgot what color ribbon we were supposed to be following. It didn't take me terribly long to realize my error and turn around and get back on the trail. We met up with another rider who briefly thought I was going the right way. I disabused him of the notion and we headed on up the trail.
We were with the other horse briefly, until the rider dismounted and led his horse. We had reached the climb (I didn't realize it was the "long arduous climb" described in the meeting; it seemed pretty tame to me). Hoss and I passed the other horse and rider and headed on up the hill.
It wasn't until we got to the top and started dropping down I realized the hill we had been climbing must be the one management had warned about the prior night.
There had been no water since before the climb and Hoss was beginning to show signs of being particularly thirsty. As we dropped down along the trail, I could see a stream running along down the embankment beside us. There was no safe way to get down there, but the smell was driving Hoss nuts. Finally we came to a spot where two other riders had made it down the embankment and their horses had been able to drink. Once they cleared out I rode Hoss down to the stream. He was so thirsty he wouldn't cross to drink from the flat side. Instead he stayed with his butt up on the embankment and dropped his head to drink. It was an awkward position for me, but we got through it. Once he'd slaked his thirst enough to be more reasonable I got him across the stream and allowed him to drink from there.
Once we got out of the trail down into the Basin we came to a parking area. I followed ribbon and realized somehow we'd gotten off track again. It took some riding back to find where we'd missed the turn but we did. The turn had not been terribly clearly marked. We had been told to work the trail "counter clockwise." Well, that doesn't mean much if you can't be sure where the trails are in relation to one another.
We finally reached the vet check. Hoss recovered well and we settled in for our hour hold. Hoss ate a bran mash and some hay and a little bit of soaked beet pulp.
After our hold we hit the trail again. I will say this was the toughest of the three days. We had to make time everywhere we possibly could. We climbed back up the trail alongside the stream and out of the Granit Basin.
Much of the rest of the trail back to camp we had covered on the prior two days. Hoss recognized it and at least didn't dally particularly.
Of the three days, this one took us the longest. I was pushing toward the end, worried about making the cut off. We made it in with a little over half an hour to spare. I was pretty happy with our time, considering how difficult the trail had been. While not impossible, it had been more challenging than the prior two days.
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