I had the fun opportunity to take a horseback ride on Stanley after work on a Friday with my friends Julie Alonzo and her sister Karin Hansen to Mount Pisgah. I’ve been to the Arboretum before and was introduced to one of the hiking trails soon after we moved here; no way could I make it half up let alone made it to the top, and now this was my chance!!

Stanley was very hoppy and just wasn’t feeling confident about pulling drag when we started so we ended up in front leading the way up, up, and more up! The trail is 3.3 miles with an elevation gain of over 1000 ft, plus a lot of foot traffic and dogs to be aware of. We made it slowly to the top and the view was breathtaking,

Stanley was a bit huffy puffy from the climb so we took a few minutes to just be. I snapped a picture with my phone to send to my friend that introduced me to the trail to share that I had finally made it! Cindy of course noticed I had some horse ears in the photo. 🙂

Going back down we followed Memoria with Julie and Cora with Karin. It’s always amazing how long it takes to get somewhere new but how fast the return trip is. What a great time it was just getting out and doing something new.

A couple of weeks later I found myself invited for a Sunday ride in the OSU McDonald Dunn Forest north of Corvallis. 

Mark and I had driven up to this area in 2019 with a plan to ride in 2020; well that didn’t happen. This was a great time to check it out with Julie, Karin, and Karin’s husband Graham. The parking is a pull-off area and the trails were well-groomed and marked.

We rode a combination of trails and it was really peaceful, not a lot of folks, and allowed some good time to just be. I think we put in around 7 miles round trip and had a good incline at the beginning but nothing not doable. Definitely plan on doing this again.