pony carts
Posted by Zonie on January 28, 2024 at 01:51:08
The storm early this week was a bit weaker than expected, but most of the metro area got about an inch of rain. Reach 11 wasn't as muddy as I hoped today. I found the mud I wanted, but I had to work at it. We're expecting another storm Thursday. Maybe that will help for next weekend's mud.
I was a bit annoyed at work with taking my pocket knife out to cut some packaging and finding some sand in my knife. It occurred to me that a certain amount of incomplete laundering is almost inevitable when I wallow. I decided to try something different today. Instead of wearing my work overalls, I remembered I had a torn pair of jeans and an old semi-white T-shirt. I'd wear those with some old socks and wellies. A warm day was expected, so I'd do a full wallow.
Cleaning mud from a belt is annoying, but I remembered the jeans had been a bit tight, so I'd do without one. This was no longer the case. They had become a bit loose, but they stayed up by themselves when they were dry.
I wandered around the area near the equestrian center and didn't find much mud, so I headed to the south trail. There were mud puddles there. It was still a bit cool in the morning, so I figured I'd initially just stomp and wait until I found the right place for a full wallow. The trail was crowded, and progress was halted several times by unusual vehicles. Some ladies were riding pony carts.
At one point I approached a mud puddle, and on the other side were two pony carts facing me. I halted, and the ladies told me to go ahead, as they were resting. I splashed though the puddle, and as I did so one of the ponies got restless and they started to go forward, so I walked off the trail.
I continued west and searched for more mud. Eventually I found it beyond the first soccer field. There was a large but mostly watery puddle, but I got to the turn-around point in my hike, and there was the perfect wallow. It was muddy, large, and deep. I churned it up, put down my knapsack, did a side-flip and had a good wallow. It was nice and creamy, and, warmed by the afternoon sun, was the perfect temperature.
I headed off to explore an arroyo and then went back for another wallow. I tried to do puddle push-ups, but the bottom was too soft, so I got out and did my push-ups on a firm trail and then went back for a wallow.
Once I got out and decided to head back, I noticed my jeans were definitely difficult to keep from sagging, so I rinsed off a bit in the nearby large puddle that was mostly water. After that I went back and splashed through the trail puddles again. My wellies were full and there was some discomfort as some gravel had worked into them, and I had to pull my jeans up by the belt loops every now and again. I was mostly dry by the time I got back to the trailhead. I had been out there about 5½ hours.
Cleanup was easy. The double Gladlock bags had kept my wallet dry, and the waterproof case had kept my chip keys clean.