RE: [RC] Swanton Pacific-info on the middle 30 miles - Ranelle Rubin
Kathy,
We took Fellow and Sierra on the middle 30 as drag riders when Fellow was 6. The first part was along the road for aways..watch for fast cars coming at you as there is not much shoulder. Then you drop down into a creek..a bit of a dicey crossing, but safe enough for a big young horse...Sonny will do fine. It is probably pretty low this year, so I would not be concerned at all.
Then you travel on the most beautiful, winding, soft single track trail (can you tell it was my favorite part)..and finally break onto logging roads. Watch for Butano Canyon..save your horse if you have any concerns cause the climb out of there up to the airport vet check is a good one...Fellow did his first "rescue" on that hill..carried a lady who was as beat as her horse while I tailed him and led her mare.
After the vet check, it was mostly downhill and on logging roads, then to the vet check that is at a lovely ranch on the coast. That was the end of our section..sadly...as we were ready to do more. Our section was not rocky..
I understand that after that section you get to go up to Chalk Rock..which we had done on a training ride a couple days earlier..the views from up there were amazing!! I will post my favorite ones on my-endurance.net in a few minutes, okay??
Have fun!
Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway. ~ John Wayne
I hope I’m not being too optimistic here, but I am
hoping to go to the Swanton Pacific ride. Sonny seems to have maintained his
fitness, despite the longer than expected layoff due to smoke.
What I’d like to know from those who have done Swanton
is “everything” that you can share that would help us get thru the
ride. I’ve been told it is as difficult as Tevis, with different
challenges, but I wasn’t given any details. So if you’d like to
share, privately or publicly, I’m waiting to hear. I love details…what
to watch out for, where we’ll be able to make better time, where we’d
better take it easy, etc.
