It seems that the weatherman has done it to us again. We arrived at the Wolf Ford campground to find that there were only three other mule trailers on the site. Everyone had listened to the weather forecast with thunderstorms being called for every day. Well, its summer, it is a known fact that storms are likely. Anyway, we saddled up on Friday for a ride to the South Mills River. Six mules and two dogs enjoyed a fun day, as we crossed the river 11 times and even made a short ride down the river to get around a big tree blocking the trail. We had lunch at a riverside cliff where the cool breezes blew. Our thunderstorm for the day consisted of a 10 minute rain shower and some distant thunder and lightning about 100 miles away. We rode into camp still hoping that more people had arrived, but found they had not come. Dinner was served by Angie, who made spaghetti and meatballs, salad and garlic bread by Holly, and pizza and cheesecake by Luann. There was enough to feed all the people who were expected, so there was a bunch to take home. Just as darkness began to fall, the rains came and everyone went in for the evening.
Saturday morning, was bright and sunny as we saddled up for another adventure. We even heard from Steve and Sandra, who said that we were going to get wet and they were not coming. As we rode along under blue skies, we made up songs about the unfortunate people who were missing out on the fun. Just before lunch, we were hit with the rain. It rained for about 10 minutes and just hard enough to put on our raincoats. It didn’t take long to get them off when the sun broke through and the steam began to rise. We had lunch at the Wolf Ford crossing where we played on the swinging bridge until we discovered yellow jackets under it. We were on the side away from our mules and were hoping we wouldn’t have to walk back across the creek to get to them. Luckily, no one was stung except Trooper Dog, as we made our way back across one at a time and ran the last 10 feet. Once back in the saddle, we continued back towards camp and ended the ride a little early in anticipation of evening storms. This evening, we had BBQ ribs by Ron and Taco pie by Dan. Everyone else contributed BBQ slaw, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, squash, and potato salad. Dessert was Rascal’s upside down pineapple cake and Dan’s upside down peach cake. Both were outstanding!
Sunday greeted us with a cool clear morning. The thermometer read 52 degrees and we were hunting for long sleeves and jackets to start our ride. Today, we were joined by Dan and Stacey on their mules Clyde and Kate. We rode a 4 hour loop and arrived back at the camp in time to pack up for the trip home.
Our thanks go out to Ron and Holly for hosting this ride and for the BBQ ribs and food they shared with us. Thanks to Angie and Rascal for our spaghetti dinner Friday evening and pineapple upside down cake on Saturday. Thanks to Dan for Taco pie and peach upside down cake, to Steve and Sandra for the slaw and fresh peaches, and to Luann for the pizza and cheesecake.
See ya on the trail,
Teddy Royal
