goal set - mission accomplished

What a day it was yesterday... we have been wanting to get up to the top of Hawk's Mountain again for some time - as we have not done that yet in winter. We found a new snowmobile trail headed that way - so Wednesday.. we spent all day in the saddle riding toward that goal. As usual I took scads of photo's - so please visit my farm blog to see the trip without missing a thing :)

Here is a view of our objective -- we are about 10 miles out with a LONG way to go yet :)

Many bridges to cross along the way.. and we wandered in and out of bare melted ground, deep snow, lots of ice --

Open fields for cantering !

We are getting closer -- there is that hump in view again. We have to turn into the woods again here.

Where we met again all manner of mud, snow, and ice -

Up ahead - the trail narrowed, deep ditches on either side - and very steep and curvy -- due to the ice and no where to get away from it - Zoe and I were forced to do what we NEVER on the trail (well unless we spot something we want to take home with us) -- dismount and walk our horses. yikes...

Finally- we begin the ascent... starts out in switch-back mode.. then it's straight up.

steep sides

We are starting to get some outstanding views. Last time we trotted up here - there was still foliage blocking most of this.

View from half way up -- between the bright sun and the brilliant snow.. I think the effect of the two muted the photo by blinding the camera :) Still pretty.

And look closely here - this ridge of wind towers is very far away in New Hampshire !! You can just about see them

I took loads of photo's of various views -which you can see them all on the farm blog - but here is a quick "live" view from this vantage point. You might notice Keri's eyes blinking and squinting -- so bright right here.

Back down on the dirt roads -- we find plenty of mud in spots.. we have a long trot home but we are SO satisfied with this trip.. it's been too long since we have been able to travel this far and spend this much time in the saddle -- YAY !! :)

Here's a little video of Keri and Teasel trotting together -- they had a great time out too !

Enjoy and don't miss all the other photo's on my blog