test run

Im just going to start by saying, all 4 of us are going to appreciate the last few weeks we have in the comfort of our own home. The reality of living, surviving in the woods is most certainly not as fun and cool as it seems. However, 6 days riding and camping out in King City was much needed. Katie and I learnt way more than we thought we would and gained a much bigger perspective on what our trip will be like.

Our friend Sam was nice enough to trailer our horses and us up to King City. He dropped us off at his friends house where we spent the first 2 nights. We pitched our tent in their back yard (which backs on to the 600 acres of trails) and for the first night, just tied the horses to the side of trailer. We wanted to start slow with them and give them some comfort of "home."

The first night was rough. Katie slept about 20 minutes, worrying about the horses, and I did sleep, but not warmly or comfortably. The horses seemed to be fine but I'm sure if they could talk they would have their own feelings about this whole set up.

Monday morning, we took a long time to eat, saddle up, and head out on the trails. It was our first time trying out our new camp stove, and pretty much all of our camping gear. We also weren't used to knowing where things in our packs were, so all of our stuff was everywhere! Now Katie did figure out our camp stove (after 45 minutes), and we got used to using our camp gear, but one thing that didn't really change was the fact that things got messy. Even when we would stop for lunch, our stove would be at the bottom of one bag, some food would be in Katies bag while other food would be in mine. It ended up looking like our bags just exploded. We have accepted that there might be no solution to that. We are going to try and organize our stuff better, but with bags on both sides of the horses, they have to be the same weight. So when we pack its about stabilization not organization. Hopefully we can find a compromise between the two.

Once we finally headed out, it was beautiful! The sun was out and there was so much land to explore. We rode for about an hour before we stopped for about 15 minutes to let the horses get a break and graze a bit. We then rode for another few hours before we stopped for lunch. We found a nice place with grass and a small stream with rocks that filtered the water. Since it was the first, and hottest day, the horses sweat a lot! Our collapsible bucket came in handy as we cooled them off and we're able to bring them water (it was too steep for them to reach the river). Again, this was our first lunch, so it was a very long one. I will own up to my mistake of bringing normal rice, and not minute rice. Forty minutes later and its finally, decent. Not ready, but edible. We ate our chewy rice as the clouds rolled in. My phone finally got service long enough to get a text from Sam, saying a huge storm was coming and we should head back to the trailer asap. We weren't going to test our luck so we packed up and headed out.. Sure enough, just as we got back it started down pouring! It didn't last long so we still slept outside that night. As for the horses, we tied them to a high line. Thats where we tie rope between two trees, about 7ft high, then tie the horses lead ropes to it about 7ft apart, making sure they can't get tangled in their lead ropes and there are no rocks or branches in their way.

That night we both slept better, but not great. We woke up at 7am, hobbled the horses so they could graze, made oatmeal and coffee, packed up all our stuff, and set out for the trails. This was our first day riding with everything. Both horses accepted it as we searched out our new camp for the night. Now things we're getting very real.

We found the perfect camping spot with lots of grass, two trees to high line the horses, a sheltered place in the forest for our tent, and easy access to the river. Again, Ora and Lux adjusted great and we created a nice little home for ourselves. We liked it so much we stayed there 2 nights. On the second night however, Katie woke me up in a panic. There we're animal noises we both never heard before, and it was close, really close. We both scrambled for our head lights, knifes and glasses. Thus scrambling, one of my glasses lens popped out. I ditched them (not much to see but darkness anyway) and we quickly ran to make sure the horses we okay. They we're. Lux was definitely frightened but Ora didn't seem too phased. The noise stopped after Katie banged our cooking pots together and we flashed our lights through the trees. Not seconds after we got back into our tent it continued. It sounded like a coyote killing a hog. Or a raccoon killing a duck. We had no idea what it was, but it was freaky! (We later found out it was just 2 raccoons fighting each other)

TBC by Katie