Miles, Mushrooms, and Mystery Lameness

This past weekend, the horses, dogs, and I + Kate and her dog headed out to the Seneca Creek backcountry for another round of miles. My tentative plan was to repeat much of the loop I did with Sonya, but this time, I hoped to scout the Judy Springs Trail up to the Huckleberry junction. I’m hoping to make that route part of a bigger ride later this year.

After a short haul over the winding mountain roads between my house and the trailhead, I was delighted to find Johnny Meadows vacant once again. Given the recent stretch of wet weather and another soggy weekend in the forecast, I guess it wasn’t too surprising, but I always half-expect to arrive and find a massive group camped out at the big equestrian site. 

Why worry about this? Because I come here precisely to avoid people. Running into any kind of user group means talking - something I’m not looking to do. And if it’s a non-horse crowd, it almost always ends with me being the subject of unsolicited photos, which is easily one of my least favorite things.

Kate pulled in shortly after my arrival. We made quick work of tacking up the horses and hit the trail. Gandy Creek, swollen from several days of rain, was running high. I popped Gidget in the saddle with me rather than risk losing her downstream. I'm glad I did because even the long-legged dogs struggled to walk through with the current pressing against them! Ultimately, everyone crossed without issue.

The climb up Swallow Rock went faster this time, thanks to familiarity. And once on the Allegheny Mountain Trail, Kate and I trotted the entire 1.5 miles to the Bear Hunter junction, making great time.

Bear Hunter trail was where the rainfall from the week really made itself known. About a third of the way down the trail, it became an intermittent stream with all the runoff. It wasn't treacherous by any means, but it was impressive when compared to the condition of the trail the weekend prior! 

Because I had to be in town later that afternoon, I was keeping a close eye on my watch as we came down Bear Hunter to the junction with Seneca Creek trail. I planned to turn for home whenever we reached the two hour mark. Initially, my plan was to backtrack back up Bear Hunter to Allegheny and Swallow Rock based purely on that travel time. However, as the impact of the rain made itself known with trail conditions, my commitment to this plan began to waiver.

Seneca Creek was flowing strong and clear, with every tributary pouring in enthusiastically. Nothing near flood stage, but definitely a healthy flow compared to the previous week. 

Signs of earlier, higher flows were clear. A large tree had toppled where the soil had washed away from its base. On the opposite bank, flattened vegetation hinted at what stream nerds would call “bank full width”; in layman's terms, it got high, but didn’t spill into the floodplain.

Despite the increased flow, Gidget was able to cross Seneca Creek to access the Judy Springs trail on her little dwarf legs. 

Judy Springs trail cuts straight up the mountain on the opposite side of the creek. It traverses for a quarter mile or so through woods before breaking out into a high mountain meadow that affords lovely views.

Due to my time constraint on this day, we opted to enjoy lunch on a boulder in this field before retracing our steps.

As we descended back down through the field toward Seneca Creek, I noticed that Griffin was taking some lame steps on his right front. I hopped off to check if a rock had become lodged in his shoes or boots, but couldn't find anything troubling. Upon remounting and continuing, his discomfort persisted. 

After we crossed Seneca Creek again, I hopped off to check even more thoroughly than I had minutes before. However, despite a very thorough check of both shoes and removal/reapplication of his hind boots, I still couldn't find anything that would be causing his discomfort! His legs were tight and normal without any heat or swelling. 

Unfortunately for Griffin, the best course of action was to just get the heck out of the backcountry and get back to the trailer. This would mean a minimum of four more miles no matter how we chose to go. 

I made a decision in that moment to forego backtracking our route and just travel Seneca Creek to Swallow Rock, the identical path Sonya and I had taken. This would give Griffin the shortest distance possible back to the trailer while also affording him with a mile of flat trail before we'd climb up then descend down Swallow Rock.

Kate ponied Griffin while I walked behind, watching him like a hawk. He didn’t seem miserable, just not quite right, like how you walk when a rock’s in your shoe. His steps weren’t consistently lame, just off enough to make me question everything.

Satisfied that there wasn't something catastrophically wrong with him, I remounted to avoid wading across a creek crossing. As we completed the crossing, Griffin perked up. He'd finally noticed the large group of hikers that had been traveling in front of us. 

Chanterelles foraged from this day + 2 days later at home. Horseback foraging is my favorite kind of foraging.

The hikers kept his attention for a time, and Grif got some pep in his wonky step because he was curious to investigate the backpack laden humans ahead. When we caught up with the tail end of the hiking group, the two girls were equally surprised and excited to turn around and find three dogs and three horses behind them. (How they hadn't heard us for the half mile before this moment, I'll never know. We were not quiet as we bantered and hypothesized what was going on with Griffin.)

They let us pass them, but this put us in an awkward position between them and the rest of their group. Fortunately, I saw some chanterelle mushrooms off the side of the trail at this moment and opted to go forage, giving them time to move down the trail far enough that we didn't see them again.

I'm really glad those mushrooms appeared at that moment because Kate told me that the girls were filming us. Grrrreat. Unsolicited photo/video, my favorite. NOT. Not to mention, the last thing I need is footage of me and my lame horse in the backcountry circulating on the internet with zero context.

We reached the junction with Swallow Rock shortly after my foraging bout and made quick work of the miles back to the trailer. Grif's lamness remained mysterious. Right as I would debate hopping off to hike, he'd take several sound steps. He even went so far as to opt himself into a trot for a few strides several times! My problem-solving mind was curious and hyper-focused on his every move as I tried to figure out what in Sam Hill was exactly the problem. 

Once on the flat road to the trailer, he moved soundly. But when I put him on the lunge line before loading up, he trotted off a bit lame again. However, by the following morning he was sound. And he has remained as such ever since. Even the vet, who was prescheduled for our annual visit yesterday, said he was moving beautifully. (In fact, she gave all three horses absolute glowing reviews!)

The best I can figure is that he must have had a stone bruise that was tender? I'll never know for sure! Freaking horses! I'm just grateful it wasn't anything too serious in the end.