Up the South Fork

Stardate - 070607
Kittee and Nugget made their first horseback ride up the South Fork of the Walla Walla River to the cabin complex. Dale was riding Derby that day. It was a wonderful day to be riding the upper Walla Walla River, and making the two dozen or so ford/crossings to get to the private property-cabin area. That morning we left the ranch around 8:30 and got started up the BLM trail around 9:30. Nugget took the lead at the first ford crossing, and the next and the next. I begin to realize that Derby was going into the river and making the fording like an old pro, so it wasn't long before Derby and I took the lead. Not sure how it happened, but shortly after crossing one river ford Kittee and Nugget were in the lead and came upon a nice rattler. Yep, first rattlesnake we've seen this season, about 2' long with it's buzz tail high in the air. It gave no report and moved across the trail without instances, Nugget was quite intrigued. We proceed right along and reached the cabins in about an hour and a half from the rig/ BML park. There we had a lunch snack of granola bar and fresh ranch well water we packed along. On our way out Derby took the lead all the way, with an easy "I know the way out of here" jog, crossing the river with a smile on his face at every ford. We did have a few gentle horsey spooks in place and encountered one large "horse eating" rock (we had just passed this rock going upriver-maybe showed off in different lighting). Derby was in a hurry to get away from that rock as we were heading back downriver. It was a most enjoyable day's ride and the river canyon and water was refreshing to ride through. When we got back to the ranch, temperature was in the upper 90's and there were thunderstorm clouds brewing. By the time we got Derby and Nugget settled into their pasture the storm was overhead, and shortly thereafter the magnificent lighting fireworks show had struck fires in the forest areas upriver. The South Fork Trail was closed -To the Public- for two weeks of fire fighting.
Dale- a day in the life at McKuster Ranch.