SPRINGTIME IN THE LOCAL MOUNTAINS

A week ago I recruited my two friends, Chris and Myrna, to join me on a drive to Mount Laguna and then through Cuyamaca State Park. We had a nice spring day with light winds, and sunny skies.

The purpose of the drive was for me to become more comfortable with my new car, a 2015 Subaru Forester:

PROUD NEW OWNER

and to experience it out in the back country. We stopped on the way up Mount Laguna, which is located about 60 miles East of San Diego, to take in the view to the East in the mountains. Of course we had to take a couple of advertising type photos.

HIKING BUDDIES

After visiting the Mt. Laguna Store we returned to the Wooded Hill

trail for a leisurely walk in the woods. We hiked a 1.5 mile trail where we saw about 25 different flowers in bloom. Here are some of my favorites –

BABY BLUE EYES -

CHECKER BLOOM - 

DIAMOND CLARKIA -

PINE INDIAN PAINTBRUSH -

LITTLE MONARDELLA  -

CALIFORNIA THISTLE - 

YELLOW PINCUSHION  - 

WILD ONION -

GOLDEN YARROW W/BUG - 

 BLACK OAK  -

SHINY-LEAF YERBA SANTA

Then of course there were some nice black oaks, laurel sumac, Manzanita, chamise, and pine trees.

We enjoyed a late lunch at Lake Cuyamaca Restaurant and Store where the French fries melted in your mouth and the pies were very tempting but as we had only hiked about two miles total, we passed on the pie.

It was fun and relaxing day in the “back country”.

MULE DAYS 2015 - TWO

FRIDAY –

Today was another cool one with rain clouds surrounding the area. 

LOOKING TOWARD THE PALISADES

GRINDING ROCK AND PALISADES

PEEKING THROUGH THE CLOUDS

Dawn Marie had a western pleasure class with her donkey in the morning.

DAWNMARIE ON HOPE

YOUNG RIDER WITH PRETTY DONKEY

In the evening we attended the show in the arena, and it was fun as usual. There were a couple of driving classes, a great show of horsemanship by the gent who drove the Priefert Percheron horses Roman Style. (He stood on the bare backs of the back two horses and drove them all.) It is quite a show. I will try to video it tomorrow. The final event was the individual pack scramble. This is always fun as the packer must strip his mule and horse,  then they are let loose in the arena and a blank or two is fired. Pandemonium occurs.  The packer has to then get his stock back, pack everything onto it securely and run the string around the quarter mile track without loosing anything!

  

SATURDAY –

This morning was the Parade. There are no motorized vehicles in the parade. Every wagon is pulled by horses or mules. All other entries are either on horse/mule back or the band is walking. It is always a lot of fun. George had never seen the parade so this year we went. (Usually we escape to the Eastern Sierras for a day of fly fishing or just hiking. As you can see we had a lovely day with the sun shining by the time the parade started at 1000.

LITTLE DRUMMER, BIG DRUM

BACKCOUNTRY AMULANCE SERVICE

BORAX 20 MULE TEAM

After lunch at the tack stall we headed for the afternoon program in the main arena.

BORAX 20 MULE TEAM

The Preifert Team was showing their wagon driving techniques which I captured on video. Regrettably I can not get this to show properly. (A new learning curve to deal with. :-))

Then one of the clowns did a tap dance while standing atop a mule. Also a video that does not seem to work properly. :-)

While all of this was going on, the weather was building with visible rain showers both to the East and West of Bishop. 

The program finished just before it started to rain at the fairgrounds. It proceeded to rain for the next four plus hours!! We stayed dry by hanging out near the tack stall. Dinner was under cover at the fairgrounds and I once again enjoyed an Indian Frybread Taco. We opted not to watch the evening show in the rain while sitting in open bleachers so we bid farewell to family and friends and returned to the Big Pine Motel.

This trip has been the coolest of the 20 that I have attended. Usually the temps are in the high 80’s to even 100˚F. We were dressed for it as we have experienced some dramatic changes in the weather over a week here every year.

SUNDAY –

We left Big Pine for our drive home about 0600. and had nice weather along the way. We did make a stop in the Lone Pine area to try and photograph Mt. Whitney. We were not rewarded as the clouds were still low over the Sierras, but here is a panorama to urge you to go and visit this area.

VIEW FROM LONE PINE, CA LOOKING WEST

CLOUDS OVER THE WHITE MOUNTAINS

The drive home went smoothly and the traffic was not bad as it was Sunday of the three day weekend.

MULE DAYS 2015 - ONE

We were off to Mule Days on Tuesday, May 19^th. We were on the road with coffee in hand by 0545. Why so early? We try to stay ahead of the morning commute and the possible bottlenecks where I-15 meets CA-60 and I-10. We succeeded but the traffic was heavy most of the way North to I-10, But the traffic Southbound was even worse!!

The drive along the Eastern Sierra corridor was much more pleasant. We were saddened by how dry it was with no evidence of snow until we reached Lone Pine. The encouraging thing was that there was a heavy layer of clouds from that point North on both the Sierras and the White Mountains. After checking into the Big Pine Motel where I have stayed for the past 15+ years, and chatting with the manager, Ligaya, we proceeded to Bishop and met up with Tina and Justin; and DawnMarie and VedaRose. 

WHITE MOUNTAINS BEING WHITE

LOOKING NORTHEAST

We enjoyed watching DawnMarie in driving classes for Donkeys. 

  A drive and ride class where the driver has to change tack and then ride his mule >>>

DRIVE AND RIDE CLASS, GETTING READY TO RIDE

DRIVE AND RIDE CLASS, RIDING

The weather was cool and stormy to the East as seen here. The day’s finale was a small rainbow in the foothills of the White Mountains.

STORM LIGHT

STORM RAYS

FINALE: A RAINBOW

 WEDNESDAY – 

 

Wednesday morning we started with a nice walk in the Big Pine area to look at the Eastern Sierras and a bit of the Big Pine Creek. 

LOOKING TO THE PALISADES

INDIAN PAINTBRUSH

BIG PINE CREEK LOOKING TOWARD THE PALISADE

We then headed for Bishop as Tina was showing in the English saddle Dressage class. She placed in the class which she was  quite pleased with. 

TINA AND IMA

DRESSAGE 1

DRESSAGE 2

 

Before Tina’s next class, English Pleasure, I watched some team roping. It is always fun and full of action.

TEAM ROPING, RIDER IS 80 years young.

DawnMarie competed in several donkey classes, one was English Pleasure that included jumping a small hurdle. 

DONKEY JUMPING

 The weather continued to be cool and overcast a good part of the time which made it quite pleasant for all. It usually is in the mid-eighties or higher. Today it was in the low 70’s.

COLORFUL DONKEY

TINA'S MULE "DOTTIE"

THURSDAY –

George went off on a fishing rendezvous with our neighbor Kelly Z. They met at the Hot Springs east of Mammoth Lakes. He had a good time but the fishing was lousy due to very windy conditions, and the fish not biting anything.

While he was gone I enjoyed the day in Bishop. I did some reading until Tina showed in the Western Dressage Class. 

TINA AND IMA

WESTERN DRESSAGE

TINA'S MULE "IMA"

It was very windy in Bishop so I bundled up for the day. I went down town for some coffee and browsed a couple of stores, but did not find anything I wanted or needed. Again I watched and photographed some of the team roping.

Add caption

STORM CLOUD BREWING

In the afternoon Tina and I went browsing the booths on the Fairgrounds. I made a purchase of some older Navajo inlay bracelets, a matched three piece set. I also watched team Gambler's Choice class. 

DRIVING THE COURSE

MATCHED PAIR

In this class the driver can choose which obstacles to do while racing the clock. Points are awarded for the difficulty of the obstacles, such as driving a figure eight in a small area and not knocking over the cones or going outside of the area. The weather got colder and windier as the day progressed.  

WHITE MOUNTAINS WITH CLOUDS BUILDING