Packing our lunch, we decided to check out a new location to ride. In the same county, but way up county in Boyds. There are many farms and forested areas in this area and the land owners got together to create a wonderful trail system. Mostly open meadows, signs say to stay at the fence line or on marked trails. The corn and wheat fields link together into a lovely three or four hour ride.
Parking at the 'Pony Club' parking lot we headed out, leaving our lunch in the truck because it won't be that long a ride, follow the signs. The deer, although plentiful, are rather shy and vanish quickly from our view. We find deer stands all over the place, outfitted with ladders and lawn chairs.
We don't encounter any railroad tracks, but we hear the trains announcing for Boyds at-grade crossing. It takes us longer to get back to the trailer than we thought it should, getting a little lost here and there, we eat our lunch at the truck closer to 3:30.
On Sunday we head over to the League, choosing to go to Sykesville. This was a mistake. Earlier in the week he got an email from the ranger thanking him for the information concerning the blocked trail. The ranger said his crew had worked on removing the tree. We were excited to go back through the restored trail, the 'go-around' was awful, scary, and causing serious erosion. I deemed it dangerous, period.
We came upon the trail section and immediately saw the sign designating that horses go this way, bikes that way. We got off to investigate and interpret the signage and the choices. FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!
I had a melt-down. Not proud of it, but am holding my ground. I am NOT GOING DOWN THAT HILL again. The first time was horrible, the second time I thought it would be better. It was not. Not going to be a third time. No. Way. Ever. Again.
The trails that were installed by bench cutting with a MacLeod tool were not horse-safe. The trails are sited along the edge, and will cause erosion and probably a mishap. The soil is not stable, full of Mica and sand, it shifts and nothing, not even the trees, will stay rooted.
We turn around, a rare occurrence for us!, and on the way back to the trailer we seek out two new trail routes. The first one needs a little bit of work, but has potential. We stop at the top of the 'cliff' to watch the train going into an 'S' curve through a narrow trough of the Patapsco River.
The second route we had been on about a year ago, but didn't stay on it to the end because we believed it was not going to end up where we wanted to go. It was obvious someone (horse) had been on it recently, tagging with orange tape and cutting downed logs. I think this might be the better way to go from now on, less erosion and better footing.
Nearer the trailer we saw probably close to twenty deer, some with good-sized antlers (6 to 10 point bucks) and unlike yesterday's ride, they did not want to move on or even get up.
Going without lunch because of our trail re-route plan, we stopped by a place in the closest strip-mall to our house and got fried chicken and fixings. Yum! We ate in the truck at the Annapolis Rock cow pasture.
Then we pulled the boys out of the trailer, saddled up and rode out again. We had little daylight left, and being foggy with a low ceiling dark was rapidly descending. We did a short loop, getting turned around and ended up riding on the road.
I ride 'ahead' and saw the motorcycle coming before he did. The crunching leaves made it impossible to hear, but I let him know the cycle was headed our way. He pulled out his phone and turned on the strobe light, the biker saw us and slowed down, we waved to him from the side of the road. It is getting dark.
We encounter another car, meeting the SUV using the strobe light. This really does work! We find the cut in the fence and take off up the hill towards the trailer. Getting darker every minute, but it is only 5 o'clock! Mild and humid, but the daylight has left us.
Weekends go by so fast!
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