Old place revisited

 

Above 👆

Photo of Rich on his beloved mule Fred.

21 years ago in the fall.

It has been a while since I visited the Wildcat Mountain State Park 'horse trails'. A person can hike those trails but I've never done that.

I've avoided taking hikes on the horse trails because of ... well, I thought the memories of us riding our mules there would be too painful.

Hannah and I set out on foot. It felt weird to navigate the trails on my own. Before I always had Rich as the navigator. He never seemed to need a map, he seemed to always know exactly where he was. 

I decided to explore the horse trails by foot since I have a trailer --but no truck to pull it. Nor do I have the skill to be confident in turning our large trailer around.

Even though I haven't been down these trails in a long time certain places just hit me with bittersweet memories. [Those are shown above]

We rarely had to chat when we rode. Rich was quiet, unless he was calling his chosen mule a name. Fred was sure his name was 'Goddamitfred'. We'd laugh about that all of the time. 

We packed a lunch of ring bologna, cheese, and Ritz crackers. We brought water along to wash it down. We often stopped at a spot called Johnny Cake to have our picnics.

Sunshine is the 'butt' on the right.

Today, it was just Hannah and I. 

We ran into a couple of lady riders that were trying to avoid Johnny Cake and get out to the Yellow Trail. I helped them navigate and gave them the second copy of the map I'd taken at the park entrance.

I spent a long time at Johnny Cake. 

I sat on that very same picnic table and let my mind wander into fond memories.

I thought that Memory Lane would make me sad. It didn't, it made me smile with remembering all the good times we had while mounted.

Life in the saddle was always so sweet. After all, that is how we met. 

Hannah and I enjoyed the trails and the deep forest trails we walked through. Everything was new to my 'feet' since I'd never walked any of these trails before. We just walked along and enjoyed everything we were seeing.

The memories were sweet and endearing.

Hannah and I got back to where I'd parked and sat down to have some water and snacks.

We will go back soon.

It is a place of fond memories and a place where we can create new ones.

Not only that...there are still 14 more miles of trails we can explore by foot.