MULE DAYS 2016 - SATURDAY

Saturday is Parade Day in Bishop. We use the morning and sometimes part of the afternoon to escape the town and relax with a hike in the mountains. This is welcomed by Tina and Justin as Ohio has nothing like this ----

The Sierras from the White Mountains

This year I took Justin and Tina to the White Mountains which sit East of Bishop. Atop the mountains is the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. This was their first visit to this wonderful place. The drive from Bishop is about 1 hour each way. 

Tina studying the structure of the tree

Bristlecone and Landscape

These ancient trees have a gnarled and stunted appearance, especially those found at high altitudes, and have reddish-brown bark with deep fissures. As the tree ages, much of its vascular cambium layer may die. In very old specimens, often only a narrow strip of living tissue connects the roots to a handful of live branches. The trees have been dated to be several thousand years old with Methuselah being over 4800 plus years old. Another tree has recently been dated as over 5,065 years  old. For their protection neither of these ancient trees are identified for public scrutiny. These trees live and survive in the harsh climate of over 9000 foot elevation. They generally don't form closed canopies, usually covering only 15-50%.

Gnarly!

We returned to Bishop in the middle of the afternoon. I went off to see the Americana Class of wagons. These are authentic wagons which have been restored to their original design, and the driver and any passenger has to be dressed in attire of the era. 

Another fun event in the afternoon is “Coon Jumping”. In this event a mule is brought to a gate and must jump over it starting from a stand close to the gate. As the competition progresses the gate is raised higher and higher. I have seen it where the gate is about four feet above the ground and the mule clears it cleanly. 

The evening program started with a grand entrance and parade of flags carried by a number of riders. The flags represent the various states present at the Mule Days this year. Then there was the parade of the flags  -

Once again they had the Justin Boot Race and the following shows results of the chaos.

Where is my shoe?

The two videos culminate this entry. The first is a chariot race between two chariots, one driven by the husband and the second by the wife.

The second video is a demo of Roman stye riding where the rider rides bare back while driving six beautiful Percheron draft horses.  

Hope you enjoyed the tour of fun and frolicking at Mule Days 2016.

MULE DAYS 2016 - FRIDAY

White Mountains on a Clear Morning

Quiet morning for us in Bishop. Once again there were dressage classes. In the main arena they were showing and judging the Farm Class. This involves showing and demonstrating a mule working with farm equipment. All of the equipment is authentic and dates back to the early 1900’s.

DawnMarie and Rocky

This was the time to go visit the various booths at the town park. There are many vendors covering all sorts of items - art, food, crafts, clothing, leather products, and cosmetics to name a few. I went specifically to get garlic products from the Garlic Festival booth. Tina wanted the large jar of spicy garlic. I opted for a small jar and a jar of the garlic salsa. Could probably have gotten other goodies as well but I restrained myself. 

Later in the afternoon I went back into town to pick up a prescription for one of my eye drops that I was afraid would run out while I was on the trip. (It lasted until Sunday evening when I got home.) While down town this time I stopped at the Storyteller Bookstore, an independent bookstore that has been there for years and is fun to browse.

I purchased a used book that included a recipe card for a pineapple upside down cake! Next door is the Mountain Light Gallery which is the home of the works of the late Galen Rowell, a renown photographer of the mountain landscapes. It always has some of his works on display as well as works by one or two other excellent photographers. It is always fun to visit both places.

The evening program was full of fun and craziness >>>

Chariot Racing:

Parade of Nations:

Justin Boots Race where the kids have to remove their shoes, go about 25 yards and line up. Then they race to find their shoes which have been mixed up, put them on and return to the starting point. The winner gets a pair of Justin Boots.

MULE DAYS 2016 - THURSDAY

View from Big Pine

This morning again started out breezy, but the clouds had lifted over the Sierras so I enjoyed some photography on my walk on the West side of Big Pine. One can walk up and under the power lines and as you do you can listen as the water flows down into town along town aqueduct. The sky was a nice blue and with a little selective positioning of the camera I could block out the power lines.

Big Pine Creek w/Palisades

Big Pine Creek

Then it was off to Bishop for an early class for Tina in Western Dressage.

Tina and Ima

Mule Portrait of Ima

There was quite a break for classes for Tina so I returned to Big Pine to settle my bill at the Motel. Afterwards I drove up to the trail head for Big Pine trails into the Sierras. I enjoyed a short hike along the South Fork where Big Pine Creek was flowing quite well. I have hiked this area before and enjoy looking for Spring blooms, and the stream flowing. 

In The Clouds

Sierra Flora

Above the Footbridge

Spring blooms are still early here so there was not much happening there. I did see some brilliant lupine in bloom on the way up the mountain and meant to stop to photograph on the return trip. Regrettably they did not catch my eye as I coasted back down the mountains.

Back in Bishop I watched Tina compete in another dressage class. Then I went over to the main arena to see what was happening there. There was action in the form of two roping classes. The first was steer stopping. In this event a rider/roper must chase down a steer and successfully rope it and bring it to a stop. This is a timed event. Here at Bishop this is done on a mule.

Whoa!

The second event was team roping.This is where there are two riders chasing down a steer. The header must lasso the head or neck, and then the heeler must lasso one or both rear legs to bring it to a stop. This would be used to catch a steer to be branded. There are a lot of misses by the ropers. Both the header and heeler are allowed two tosses of their respective lassos before being disqualified.

We treated ourselves to dinner on the fairgrounds tonight. It was our first chance to have Indian Fry Bread Tacos which are made for you right at the stand. They are delicious and consist of fry bread  being topped with refried beans, taco meat, onions, tomatoes, and also. A feast to enjoy especially as they do a great job of frying the dough in hot enough oil that the results are crispy and not greasy.

MULE DAYS 2016 - WEDNESDAY

Storm over White Mountains

Up early to get about a three mile walk in before leaving for the day to Bishop. Tina’s English Dressage class was to be at 0750 so she was up very early prepping for the class.  I had my coffee and homemade sweet pretzels as I drove up to Bishop. 

The fundamental purpose of dressage is to develop, through standardized progressive training methods, a mule's natural athletic ability and willingness to perform, thereby maximizing its potential as a riding mule. The animal and rider should appear relaxed and willing to respond to the requested movement. As you can see from the video there are number of changes in gait, lead, and direction. Tina was quite pleased with her ride. I believe she did get a placing in this class. 

Early in the afternoon Tina also competed in the Amateur English Pleasure Class. Here mules are judged on their manners, performance, quality, and conformation. The mule is to give the impression of being a pleasure to ride. Here she also placed. 

Waiting to Show

"Ima" at a Trot

Placed

Following the Pleasure Class was what is called the Hunter hack class which entails the mule jumping two low jumps. Here are a couple of examples —

Mule Jumping in Hunter Hack Class

Then DawnMarie and her Mom, VedaRose, competed in similar classes for donkeys.

VedaRose and "Hope" Jumping

  After a slow serving but very good dinner at the Upper Crust Pizza Restaurant across from the Fairgrounds, I was off to Big Pine for the evening. I spent time downloading pictures, checking mail, and finally going to bed.

Way to Relax

BISHOP MULE DAYS 2016 -TUESDAY, MAY 24

I was off early this morning for the 47th Annual Bishop Mule Days. I left the house at 0445 in order to be on the cusp of the morning commute through the Riverside/San Bernardino area at US 60 and I-10 junctions with I-15. I was successful in that I only experienced some slowdown. In other words, it went smoothly. Once North of the I-10 Freeway the road emptied noticeably and the drive up US 395 was quite smooth. Along the way I enjoyed seeing snow in the Sierras from Lone Pine North, something that has been scarce the last couple of years. I reached Big Pine by 1130, and after checking into the Big Pine Motel where we have stayed most of the past 23 trips, proceeded to Bishop and the fairgrounds.

Eastern Sierras in Lone Pine area

White Mountains from Bishop

After a quick lunch at the tack room I was off to capture Tina compete in Cowboy Dressage and was able to do a video of her ride. It came out quite well.




(This is a new experience: adding video. Let me know what you think of it as the resolution is quite low due to the limitations of the blog format. - Thanks)


Then I was off to the Main Arena to watch and photograph our friends, DawnMarie and VedaRose, compete in donkey driving classes. 

Donkey Driving with DawnMarie

Donkey Driving

The Gambler’s Choice Class sets up challenges to be driven through or around where you accrue points for successfully navigating the specific setup. You are also judged for time so it can be a challenge.

Gambler's Choice (200 Pts.)

After the competitions we enjoyed a little down time in the shade of our wonderful cottonwood tree. Typical of the area, I watched as a thunderhead developed.

Thunderhead Building

As per tradition this evening’s dinner was at Amigos in downtown Bishop. They have a very diverse Mexican menu and Tuesday night’s special is a lobster enchilada which is delicious. Afterwards I headed back to Big Pine for the night. The clouds over the Sierras made for some interesting light and I stopped to get this image of the radio telescope array just North of Big Pine.

Radio Telescopes North of Big Pine