Sunday, September 30/2012

Well, it is the day after the night before and I must say we are all feeling a bit ragged around the edges.  I wandered over to Dave and Shirley's to see if they were still in the mood for a quad ride and although they are feeling the effects of last evening's foolishness, we are good to go.
We headed out onto the trails and stopped at the usual first refreshment stop at 8 mile.  Because it is a designated "beer stop" someone had to have a beer!!  We were all still feeling a bit "green" but John finally bit the bullet and cracked one.  I shared his and Shirley shared Dave's!!  It could be a  long day!!
We decided to head down 8 mile trail and then take the cut off to Huard Lake Trail.  The last time we were on this trail was the Father's Day Rally and it was a bit of a challenge with all the mud and corruption along the way.  Hopefully, today is better.
Most of the mud had dried up and the going was good.  We did pass some and I managed to get a pic of some pretty awesome wolf tracks.  Man, I sure would not want to be greeted by the guy that left those as they were huge.  There were also plenty of other tracks in the mud and one could certainly make up a story just by  imagining what the tracks tell us.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day out and I managed to get several pics showing the colours of Fall.  Many of the trees already stand bare, their leaves having already tumbled to the ground and in several areas along the trail we were travelling on a carpet of fallen leaves.  It was awesome.

Heading out of town

Mile 8

Things you see in the forest!!

Incredible Fall colour

stragglers - all the rest of the leaves are gone

Mushrooms and colourful leaves

There is still some green out there

Wolf tracks

Huard Lake Trail

A day filled with this much colour - priceless

John first

Shirely

Dave

Winding through the trees

a carpet of fallen leaves

Beverage

Huard Lake

Eagle nest

Riding on a carpet of leaves

awesome trails

Crossing the beaver dam

Safely across

what can I say.....I like taking pictures of mushrooms!!

The trail we came off

Crossing Vimmy Creek

Vimy Lake - another little chunk of Heaven in this incredible forest

even the thistles are preparing for the winter

beverage stop just before accessing Eddie"s Trail

Shirley - kicking up leaves

Awesome fall sunset 

Can there ever be too many pictures of the sunset?

Still some crop out

absolutely beautiful

Fall moon

We stopped a few places along the trail to enjoy a beer (they were starting to taste a bit better) and the scenery.  There were several grouse along this trail and they certainly took their time getting out of the way.  It is funny, they are here all summer long but one doesn't usually see them until the Fall.  Don't they know that it is hunting season and they are now in the sight of all those eager hunters.  Hide, you stupid birds, hide!!
We came to the beaver damn, an area that proved to be quite a challenge at the rally, and found that it was no challenge at all today.  Much of the water has dried and the makeshift bridge (made out of numerous pallets) was more that adequate to get us across and we carried on down the trail.  What an array of scenery we travelled along this trail.  There was grassland, thick forest, rolling hills and a lake side drive.  I really think we should do this trail more often.
We eventually arrived at the Huard Lake trail.  We access it then headed down towards Vimy Lake -  another sweet trail.  While we were having a refreshment stop, 4 vehicles passed us.  This trail is busy today.  I guess we are not the only ones out enjoying the Fall colours and great weather.
We stopped at Vimy for the usual beer break then continued on.
We had decided to head back to mile 8 (we had a few miles of road riding to do) and take the trail that will lead us over to Eddie's Trail.
We arrived at Eddie's Trail, stopped to enjoy a beverage, then continued on.  There was a bit more water along this trail and Dave managed to get stuck twice.  Even now, this late in the Fall, the mud and muck will grab you and not want to let go.  Shirley pulled him out both times!!
There were several down trees along this trail so there must have been a bit of a wind storm go through this area.  Someone is going to have to bring the chain saw out and do a little cleaning along the path.
As we exited this trail, we drove beside a slough and scared up at least 50 (maybe more) mallard ducks and Dave was wishing he had brought his other gun along.  Hell, we could have been eating duck for supper!!  Dave had brought his little "coach gun" along (which is a shortened version of a long shotgun) just in case.  There have been more sighting of cougar in the area so having a gun along for the ride is probably a good thing.  Anyway, the coach gun is not suitable for ducks - something about the range.
Once we got out of Eddie's trail, we hooked up to the final trail which would eventually spit us out at mile 3.  From this trail, it is an easy ride into town.  The mile 3 trail has one challenging area and often leads to the need for the winch cable coming out.  John and I made it through just fine but both Dave and Shirley got stuck and needed the winch to extricate themselves from muck and the mire.   It was an easy out and with the sun starting to set, we continued on to our final beer stop - the North grid at mile 3.  I got some incredible pictures of the sunset and then turned around and got a great shot of the moon. Man, sun going down in the west and the moon coming up in the east.  It just does not get any better than that!!
Once back at the bus, John started a campfire and him and I sat around it enjoying the rest of the evening.  Gary came over and we chatted for a while.  It was quiet in town tonight and we were able to enjoy the bugling of the elk and the yapping of the coyotes.  Life near the forest - priceless.
To finish off the already awesome day, the Northern Lights came out and treated us to a full viewing.  Man, they were dancing in the skies something fierce.  Although there was no colour to them, they were awesome and the three of us sat around for nearly 30 minutes enjoying the light show.  Unfortunately, I was not able to get any pics of them as I think our camera is just not sensitive enough to pick them up.  Oh well, not much I can do about that.
Gary soon headed home and John threw some burgers on the grill. Before too long, we were eating and watching the last of the Fall premieres on TV.
A quick shower then Hogan and I relaxed in the bed to continue watching TV.  Life is good.