Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> Just curious if anyone has a ride story from Skymont. 
> Hopefully the ride went well enough that it will be
I was hoping somebody else would post so I wouldn't dominate the subject
but I'll give ya a write-up.

We showed up Friday at 2 PM and the place was *totally* socked in in fog.
There was simply a cloud sitting on that mountain that didn't budge. Very
other-worldly. You couldn't see two trailers over and it was weird to see
horses disappear into the mist on their trot-out, then reappear. I
suggested we put a glow-stick on their headstall so the vets could tell
if the head was bobbing. We made jokes that at least we'd all get to
start because *surely* we could vet in in *that* fog. :-)) Remember,
we're talking about in the middle of the afternoon!  People were asking
me what the place looked like. We were really worried that the markers
would be near impossible to see in the fog and they didn't know if it
would roll out or not. It felt really damp and cold and you'd get damp
from just walking around.  There were a few first-ride hitches. They had
some men from the Boy Scouts choreographing the parking and I'm afraid
they had no idea how good endurance riders are at getting big rigs in
small places. They had people parking in overflow parkinglots before the
main area was *totally* full which is kind of irritating to folks. Not so
bad to have to walk a ways to camp if it's jam packed when you get there.
They meant well though.

The facilities were great. There was a huge dining hall that seats 450
people with about a 4' high fireplace with a roaring wood fire the whole
weekend. The Boy Scouts served meals and it was a great place to hang out
and be warm. Poor Larry Jordan, the ride manager who had literally worked
himself to death carving out this ride from nothing got sick Friday and
was pretty under the weather. I felt like he'd probably just run himself
down working so hard. Since Otis Schmitt's wife died Ken Marcellas took
over as head vet and another named "Nelson?" and a lady from Mississippi
did a good job, but were worked pretty hard since there were NINETY-FIVE
entries. Big for a first time ride! 

I discovered at the ride meeting that things would be a tad different
than I'd expected. When I'd last talked to Larry I had suggested that he
add one all dirt road loop to give the riders a chance to make some time
since the trails were pretty slow. That way we'd have done one trail/road
loop twice, and one of the partially trail loops once, then the road
loop, since the trails were very technical and pretty slow go. Apparently
that idea got nixed and it would just be do each trail twice. They'd also
added 2 more miles of trail on one loop that I hadn't seen so that would
be a surprise for me.

At about midnight Friday night the mist slowly disappeared and there were
a million stars overhead and the most gorgeous full moon one could ask
for. Instead of having 20' visability at mid-day, now we had what looked
like daylight at midnight!

I was a little worried about the condition of the trails since it had
rained quite a bit Thursday. I rode out just a tad to check them and it
was a bit sloppy near camp. I was feeling a little self-conscious since
I'd given a glowing description of the trails on ridecamp and really
wanted everyone to see them like I did.  Friday morning turned out to be
a fall day like you dream of. Crystal clear, beautiful fall colors, crisp
temperatures...what more could you ask? The trails turned out to be not a
bit muddy once you got away from camp.

Since I was just trying to get in a completion we planned to start late
again like we've done the last 2 rides. Kaboot's been pretty confused at
the other two and hasn't done his first loop runaway which has been very
nice for me. This time he figured out what was up and threw a little fit.
I've been riding this horse for 10 years and he has never *once* even
threatened to rear. He doesn't even lift up his front end when he jumps a
log, he just lifts his darned legs...but he saw I was missing the start
and he reared, spun, ran sideways. Got him settled down and he did it
again. I couldn't believe it. What a total doof. Here I am sponsoring two
juniors and my old experienced horse is acting like a green psychopath.

The trails and views were to die for. There were some places where you'd
look down a tunnel of pine trees with smooth sandy dirt road between them
covered in pine needles. We named that stretch "the enchanted forest".
There were others where it would be tall slim hardwoods with their leaves
off carpeting the road. The trails snaked along the brow where the leaves
had fallen since I'd last been there and the views were fantastic.  It
was marked GREAT!. There were tons of markers in the woods, which it
needed since it was not an established trail. There were spotters at
places where it intersected all day. The spot where the 25's missed a
turn was well marked with an arrow on a stake and lots of orange flags,
but I could see how they could have missed it since it was at the base of
a long stretch of pipeline and off in the distance the same trail crossed
over it at a right angle. I never would have known the trail was that
close except that just as I got to the well marked turn horses crossed up
in the distance ahead and Kaboot was bound and determined to continue up
the pipe line. I think the only ones who missed it were at the front of
the 25 going for first. The first place horse took the turn and maybe 2-4
went straight and passed her. When they got to camp they knew they
shouldn't be ahead of her and sorted it out. I guess an X dead center in
the trail that they'd have to run over might have fixed it but the turn
was very well marked.

When I pre-rode the trails through the woods they were sort of
single-track. As 95 horses went through they kinda plowed it out about 3'
wide and turned up some tripping type stones which everyone ragged me
about as the day went on. "I thought you said there were NO ROCKS!". Hey,
compared to the usual TN roads 3" deep in gravel, and trails that are
creek beds, that *was* no rocks! I think I said there was probably a
total of a mile of gravel which I still think was about right, and if you
weren't running for speed you could get to the side. If I hadn't made it
out to be so smooth I guess it would have seemed smoother. 

I had quite a few people come up and say, "This was harder than you
said". I said, "What was the hard part?..I don't think there was a hard
part....there was just a whole lot of what there was" and they usually
agreed. Most climbs were gentle, most footing was excellent...but it took
a long time to do the trail. I was towards the back and had to turn it on
at the end to beat the dark. Some felt it was long. Some felt it was "an
honest 50". I know it was measured and re-measured with GPS tied into a
topo-map. I'd like to see it ridden by a mountain bike with a speedometer
or walked with a surveyer's wheel before they permanently mark it. I
honestly think it's about the nicest course around and deserves to be
perfect. :-)) If it's as accurately measured as they think, I'd love to
see them do a little something to speed it up like a road loop. One good
thing was that the Boy Scout guy said, "We need to have this in October
next year" which I agreed with whole heartedly. The days will be longer
and the calander is more open.

Completion awards were long sleeved T-shirts with the logo monogrammed
on, and the encore to the awards was a lunar eclipse!  I had a lot of fun
since two of my high school students were Boy Scouts and got to witness
just what it is that their crazy teacher does. One, a really nice kid
with *long* read hair and a droll sense of humor told my daughter "I
don't think I like this sport" and she said, "Why?" then he said,
"Because every woman in this room could probably kick my ***. :-))

Angie

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