[RC] Adventures in our "rural" state park - KimFue
Reading all the stories on meeting backpackers and bikes reminds me of a true experience I had at Malibu Creek State Park last summer. I made the mistake of deciding to go on a training ride at 10:00 AM on a Saturday morning. I usually try to avoid the park proper on the week ends because this is a popular destination for hikers, bikers, etc. I have to use the main road/trail to get to the back country trails. I was riding an experienced endurance horse and ponying another experienced horse. In less then two miles of trail/road this is what we encountered: Several mountain bikers which are normal for the area, a huge Hispanic family having a picnic on a cement bridge crossing complete with lawn chairs, tons of kids, a play pen, etc. They couldn't understand why they needed to give me a little space on the bridge :). Next we encountered off road strollers (again not a big deal for the horses thanks to Melody Wong and Jonathon Bowman), a motorized scooter zig zagging across the road, and last but not least a big wheel toddler tricycle complete with very loud sound effects. And this was only on my way out to the "trail". I was so proud that my horses were able to deal with all of these distractions and very surprised that these park users who want a "wilderness" experience brought more "city-stuff" then I would encounter if I rode my horses down Santa Monica Blvd. in rush hour. The best part of this story really happened on my way back to the trailer. There are two roads that are parallel that have a creek separating them. On my way back to the trailers, I see a huge market umbrella that takes up the entire road bouncing along almost to the point where the two roads join. I do my best to beat this "bouncing umbrella" to the intersection but it just had too much of a lead. Now my horses are behind the huge moving umbrella snorting and spooking back and forth on this road. I start yelling for the person carrying the umbrella to stop moving....no response. Horses are now spooking into the newly planted grove of oak seedlings....again yell to stop in English and in Spanish.....no response. It is sort of starting to look like a rodeo so I cut off the road through the newly planted seedlings and get as far to the right as possible from the umbrella. As I pass from a distance, I see it is a group of Korean tourists who enthusiastically are smiling and waving at me...obviously thrilled to see a horse in the state park. They spoke no English and had no clue what the bouncing market umbrella was doing to my horses. Talk about a spike in heart rate.....mine and the horses.
It really is amazing how much we expect our horses to "endure" when we encounter other park users. The "wilderness" experience that the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area brags about in their promotional material has a whole new meaning for me now
