Rock Faces and the mystical hike

A while ago I met Aurora through reading some other blogs. We discovered that we both enjoyed photography and admired the Kickapoo Valley Reserve. On a whim I said we should get together and take a spring hike.

Yeah. I things like that don't often happen do they? I mean we all would love to meet some of the folks we interact via the internet. I did that years ago. Met up with a fellow horseback rider in Virginia when I went to visit my brother. She drove me up onto the Blue Ridge Parkway where we went hiking. Another time I met another photographer whose specialty was in Infrared. 

None of us turned out to be an Axe Murder-er-er...

Oh and there are plenty of folks I'd never want to really meet up with.

There is a lot of fun in meeting other folks. Especially those who have the same interests. The whole idea was to find a fascinating area and explore it with all of our senses. Enjoying the outdoors and the landscape was the main reason we got together.

After consulting with the Charlie the Trail Boss, we headed out to a very very secret and very unknown trail. The land varies with each sweep of the hill or draw. The pines  whisper of things long past. If a person stands quietly they can hear the old forest talking.

 
Really.
That is how it feels.
We made our way slowly along the valley with steep hills rising above us and a creek on our other side. 

Believe me, the colors and the amount of incredible spring flowers was nearly overwhelming...

I was keeping an eye on Charlie who loves to adventure ahead on the trail when I realized that Aurora had stopped. I mean like statue stopped. 

Charlie was watching her intently.

We were at the pine forest where the little bluffs started. 

I asked her if she was alright.
And her reply didn't surprise me. It went somewhat like this:

I'm just soaking all of this in. You probably see this all of the time and yet I am struck by it. I just...have
to stand here and...

That may not be her exact words. But I knew exactly what she was feeling. In 1997, I was with Rich in about the same spot staring up at the trees---, the bluffs, the angle of the hills, the pines,----  and suddenly I was overwhelmed by it all. I'd come from Kenosha, land of flat and here I was suddenly immersed in what felt like a primitive forest or land.

At the time I was speechless and all I could do was sit on Buck the mule and stare. I was positive that fairies and dragons lived in this land. 

I stood silent so pleased that this land struck her in the same way it had struck me so many years ago. 

After all, didn't a dragon just poke his head around this stump?

Oh wait. I see him!

The Rock Faces!
Aurora asked if I saw the face in the rock. I said I did! She saw one face and I saw different one. 

Here is the one I saw. The Sad Face. It looks like a statue from the Roman Empire that has been tilted. 

Can you see it?

Aurora will have to show 'her' rock face. Hopefully I just did not pressure her!

We left this valley and headed out the ridge. 

More about that maybe next time. 

I had the best time. Our hike/walk/adventure was fun. I enjoyed it with Aurora and seeing things through her eyes as she looked around. I do have to admit. KVR is overwhelming in so many ways.

I don't like to leave, I'd rather stay in the forest and hills and listen to the trees. Or...sit on top of Blackhawk rock and watch the world below awaken at sunrise.

Wait.
Can I just turn into a Wood Sprite?

Meet Molly

Molly is 18 and just graduated from High School.

In the fall Molly will be starting an Equine Science program at a Tech School in Iowa. How I wish they'd had a program like that when I was her age! She says she will learn to ride, train, AI a horse, collect from a stud, be present at the birth of a foal...and many other cool things. When finished with her program I hope she will be able get a great job.

A few weeks ago I was lying on the ground trying to clean grass gunk out from under the riding lawn mower. I was full of grass goo, dirty, hot sweaty, and frustrated. I'd just learned to change the oil in the simple little mower and had wet juicy grass to unclog under the large mower.

Molly came walking down the driveway. When she walked up to me, she smiled and stuck out her hand to introduce herself and let me know that she and her family had just moved in on the ridge to the house that had been empty since last spring.
I stuck out a gooey hand and we shook.

Molly explained that she'd heard there was two people on the ridge who owned horses was I one of them? I laughed and said I had one horse, but I owned mules.
She commented that she'd never met a mule and that her dad said they were stubborn and mean.

I laughed and immediately took her to my mules. She was surrounded by the red headed sisters and Siera, all who were curious and wanted to a pet.
I took an instant liking to this 18 year old and decided to ask her if she wanted to learn a bit more about equine before she went off to school in the fall.

Last week she came out and helped me curry some winter coats. I introduced her to some of my basic safety rules to have around the mules. We quickly went over body parts and I showed her how to saddle Siera.

Sunday morning she arrived along with my neighbor farmer Linda. Linda had been checking her field for planting above our place on the ridge when she'd seen Molly walking and offered her a lift.

We visited and then got to work.
Molly hadn't forgotten her saddling lessons, she did everything properly. I explained what a crupper was and why we used both a crupper and a breast-collar while riding in our hills. Most flat work doesn't require it, arena work doesn't require it... but we were not going to be on the flat or in an arena. I was going to show her a different aspect of riding.
Hill riding. We first worked in the relatively flat area of the pasture in front of the house.
Molly had learned mount and dismount and how to softly drop into the saddle. She had to combine that with making sure that Mica didn't walk off while she was mounting or dismounting.

Mica can be a 'creeper' when she wants to.

Her posture in the saddle was nearly perfect. And once we worked out all the commands, I took her on a small trail ride. Mica had been a roping mule at one time and she was a 'heeler'. She'd also been my husband's team penning mule as well as his speed event mule. 

I didn't take any photos of us down in the woods other than a view from the top of Sunshine...who really needs a trim on her mane! That will be one more job that I will inherit. Rich says he won't be able to do it.

We ended up doing a bit of brush busting so I could locate the path that takes me to the neighbor's ridge top and snowmobile trail. I hoped to take Molly on a ride through the neighbor's land one of these times.

I told her that what I was introducing her to would be a lot different than the riding she would do in school so I hoped I was not teaching her any bad habits.
I also told her that she can share her knowledge that she gains!

Since Molly works part time at a Dairy Farm, she will now have Fridays and Saturdays off. I know she has duties to be done at home but we are hoping to spend a bit of time each week to work with Sundance and some riding.

I'm pretty happy that Molly came walking down my driveway.

What a great young lady.

Away away...

Google Maps and directions said that it would take two hours and thirty minutes to Eau Claire.

It felt strange to set out on an adventure to a place I'd never been and to meet a person who I didn't really know. Well, she is married to one of my cousins so we just call each other cousin.
It started in the fall when I received a package from Jeanette with a letter.

An unexepected surprise...

I called Jeanette and we talked for quite a while on the phone. We decided to meet up after the holidays and get together. Both of us are CareGivers and we thought it would be fun to schedule a break. 

Well suffice to say that Winter became a daunting barrier for any get together. But finally our planned weekend worked out and we were able to meet up.

Eau Claire is a stunning Wisconsin city with beautiful parks and trails everywhere. On one side of the river the buildings rose glistening and stunning. On the other side of the river we walked along small Victorian homes with no road in front of them to block the river's view. College kids were everywhere on skateboards, bicycles, and foot. We watched one young man with ear buds on dance as he walked. While we were on the bridge above the river a woman dressed in a business suit and walking shoes glided past us and met up with a man sitting on a bench. We watched a young lady try to execute a couple of fancy jumps with roller skates ... and fail. 

Wow. I'm getting ahead of myself. Our first day was spent exploring Eau Claire. We got lost but my Garmin saved the day. We spent some time walking through a mall and window shopping. We talked.
And we talked.
and..
we
talked.
So much time had passed in our lives that we had years and years to catch up on. A history of our own lives, that of our children, our grand children...our family members...well that list seemed endless. We ended up being quite surprised that suddenly it was 1am.

We decided to go to sleep and begin our day with a good breakfast across the street and a hike in Carson Park. 

So when we found Carson Park we decided to just take off and start walking. We talked about the how we ended up here. We talked about my parents and my father. I am so surprised at how all of my cousins I've spoken to have such wonderfully fond memories of my father. They loved Tom, he was such a kind man and so interesting.
Of course that subject came up as I pulled my camera out of my backpack and took some snaps of our walk.

 Below~ Paul Bunyan Logging Camp Museum

Thank goodness for Smart Phones. Neither one of us were familiar with good places to eat or places to walk.  We looked these items up on our phones and then followed Miss Garmin to the locations.

I got to speak to Jeanette's husband and was so surprised to hear that David had the same Midwestern twang I'd admired when he was a teen...and that belly laugh from deep down under was the same.

We checked out of the motel and headed to the restaurant across the street. We talked more over breakfast and eventually we both decided that we'd both have to go back to our homes.

However we made tentative plans for another visit in July. We are going to try and do an informal get together of the cousins. 

It seems we did well with our planning for our initial meet up. Winter storm warnings have been issued all across the state. We are both safely home and back to our CareGiving duties.

I'm watching the snow cover the green grass as I finish up typing this....

I got company by Morris

She changes her habits a bit when we are expecting company or guests...or visitors.

Sometimes it is Uncle Ed and Joy and my gal pal Teslin that is coming.

Sometimes it is one of my favorite kids coming to visit, or a whole pile of kids coming to visit.

I just know that all kids belong to me. The big people are okay, but I like little people the best.

And sometimes they even bring a dog for me to fuss over.

Well. Sometimes I snarl and try and put the young dog in its place. I usually end up in my crate for that.

So the house was cleaned up and fresh sheets were put on the beds. Even the new funny looking bed was all tidied up.

I like the bed cover, it is fuzzy and just right for me to lay on.

Pretty soon I heard her leave and then heard two cars come. Oh I was ecstatic! Car noises meant people. People meant new laps to try out and faces to lick if I could manage it.

Imagine my horror when this black fuzzy dog walked in with the young people. 

Oh. NO!

My house. Ugh. Young dog came up to me and we sniffed noses.

"I'm Morris. I rule this house. Your people are now my people. Your young people now belong to me." Well really, I had to straighten him out right off the bat and give him the rules. 

"Oh boy, oh boy Hi! HI! Oh hello. Did you say something? Can I sniff you all over. You have a short tail and almost no ears! Oh boy, want to wrestle and play? I can jump right over you! The people call me Scout. Wanna play? Huh? Huh?"

I was crestfallen. Another young dog. Why couldn't people visit with an ancient old codger dog that doesn't move. Or better yet. Just ...sigh.

"No. I rule the house. I am top dog." I tried to reason with Scout.

"Okay! Boy that is nice! What is a Top Dog! You look like a little baby dog! Wanna sniff each other?" With that Scout stuck his nose on my hind end.

I lost all of my manners and snarled. Immediately I was scooped up and put in my crate. Scout went to bed in his crate too. Upstairs with the very nice young people. I was heartbroken. I wanted to claim them as my own.

Sigh.

However the next morning Scout and I were let outside together. We ran hard up and down the yard before we went with the visiting people on a hike. 

"Come Scout. Let me show you cool stuff." Dang the dog was gullible. I thought I'd make his people freak out.

"Oh what Morris? What is cool?"

I pointed. "That! Take some bites of those pies, very good." I winked at him.

His people started yelling..."Scout no!"

And I waited for it...wait. "Wait!" I told Scout. 

Shouts of "ICKY!" Came out of all the people mouths. 

I winked at Scout. "I told you buddy. Eat some cow pie and the people go nuts!"

I showed Scout where to find some 'Smart Pellets' and he thanked me profusely. Of course I think She just laughed and Scout's people were a bit grossed out.

Scout is a bit weird, but he said he is part water dog. He played and ran in the creek, biting the water and going after sticks that his people tossed into it. After a while we decided we were so tired out that we just walked along and kept an eye on the people.

"You know the way back to the house, Morris? Because there is food at the house and I am getting hungry."

"Yes Scout. I am Morris. I am an older dog. I know just about everything there is to know."

"Wow. Can I come and play with you more often?"

I didn't give him an answer right away because I wasn't sure that I wanted to share his youngun's with him.

Eventually we decided it was best to get along. 

He is a youngun' himself and after all, we had all of these people to look after.

Maybe it would be nice to have a younger dog to help keep track of these people.

And I am sure they thought they were keeping track of us.

Hahhhhrumph.

I'm sorta guessing that what they don't know, won't harm them too much. I was pretty impressed. Scout showed me how to use a Smart Phone.

I hope he comes back. 

I don't even mind sharing my couch with him.

Okay. I do mind. But not as long as I get the little bed upstairs.

Morning at Sidie Hollow

Just leaving the driveway was beautiful itself!  The temperature was in the 30's and we had a light frost.
Everywhere there was a mist in low lying areas.

I was looking for some 'me' time without distractions and scheduling.  My next week looks to be very busy between work and appointments.

And I knew that the fall colors would not wait for my schedule as Mother Nature has her own plans.

When I got to Sidie Hollow it was cloaked in morning mist and I couldn't see the west side where the earthen dam was.  However after an hour of sun, I was able to just barely make it out.

I made it to the fishing/viewing area and set up with a tripod and my cameras. The light kept changing and the mist swirled.  Half of the valley was lit up with brilliant sunshine and the other have was shrouded in shadows and mist.

I used my ND filter so I could take a 5 second exposure of the moving mist.  
And then moved into the sunlight to see if I could get reflections and mists.

This was a 1 second exposure and shot at a higher ISO so I could capture some of what was hidden in the shadows.

I began to wrap up things when I turned around and looked east.  There in front of me was a beautiful shot that was begging to be taken.  I hadn't looked east because of the glare of the sunlight on the mist and the water.

However ...

There is was, my last shot of the morning and my favorite one of the day.
I got the eerie mist, sunshine, tree colors, and reflections in the water.

It was a win for me all around.

A family with young children stopped on the trail.  They wanted to come on to the floating observation area, I motioned them in.  I was done and I wanted them to be able to see up and down the valley.  
We talked for a few minutes and I learned that this was their very first visit to the 'Driftless Area'.  I told them that I'd been here for 19 years and had fallen in love with it.

I also said the locals would love to keep this area secret.  We had a great laugh over that.

The rest of the day was boring.  Grocery shopping, cooking, baking, freezing squash, and making a chocolate/squash cake.