IRON MOUNTAIN

Pete & Guinness enjoying the view from the meadow

Sept. 17-22
Iron Mountain is located in Ivanhoe, Virginia next to Mt. Rogers National Forest. This part of Virginia is absolutely beautiful with vistas that trick you into thinking they must be paintings by one of the Masters. The campground is situated at 3500 feet elevation; we ascended to 4500 feet on one of our hikes during our stay. The best feature of the campground is the 12x12 stalls for Maggie and Guinness. They checked into suites with full amenities! We had the pleasure of meeting an interesting fellow camper – a traveling cowboy of sorts. I will let Pete elaborate on this one… The trails were spectacular and diverse, but not marked well at all. Our route was only as good as the narrative directions and rudimentary map provided to us…ugh. The first day out was somewhat flawless; we only made two wrong turns, but caught them quickly. This five and a half hour ride was definitely one of our favorites. We rode along the Virginia Highlands Horse Trail for some bit of it, then along a creek. The trail then opened up into this beautiful open meadow with grazing cattle and a breathtaking view. Here’s an example of the trail directions on this ride: “once you enter the meadow, continue straight ahead until you see the silos. At about 200 yards short of the silos, bear left. Continue over the hill. Stay right of the stock pond and you will see a 4-foot gate ahead…” We actually followed these directions and made it to the gate which brought us back to an well-traveled trail path! Maggie and Guinness were very interested in the cattle while Pete and I just could not get over the view! The next day we did not follow the directions so successfully! We thought we would give the horses a bit of a break since we rode them so long the day before, so we chose a “4-hour ride.” The ride starts with a big, long climb of about 1,000 feet then breaks off into park trails and forestry roads. Well, we missed a turn (oops, the forestry gate the directions say to look for cannot be seen in the summer from the road we were on – we should have told you that!). The 4-hour ride turned into a 20-mile 7-hour ride! The good news is the GPS kept us going in the right direction, once we realized we were way off track. The bad news is we hit the “Devil’s Den” part of the trail ride at the 6th hour. The trail has this evil name for a good reason – it is a rapid decent full of rocks! At this 6th hour of the ride, the horses were tired and sore – this is prime time for a misstep, trip or fall! We made it back in one piece and we have the horses to thank for that. However, Guinness did not emerge unscathed. On the way back into camp, I noticed a hitch in his hind right hock, and after removing his saddle, found a very raw and rubbed sore on his lower back the swelled up like a muffin top. I never liked the trooper-like saddle that we bought for him (as we were instructed to buy by the trainer/breeder that we bought him from) and here was proof that the saddle was all wrong. I iced his hock and his back, rubbed liniment on all four legs and put salve on his back, said I was sooooo sorry and bedded him down for the night – hoping for the best in the morning. Obviously, we gave the horses a day off the following day. The owners of Iron Mountain operate a very well-equipped tack shop on the premises. Pete and I took this opportunity to talk to the owner, who has a lot of experience with gaited horses as that is about all they ride up this way. She recommended a Henri Miller Buena Vista saddle to try on Guinness. Her husband rides in the same saddle, so Pete and Guinness were able to try the saddle the next day, which was great. By then Guinness’ hock swelling was gone. His back was still a bit touchy, but this Henri Miller saddle did not rub it or exacerbate the soreness – from what I could tell. We saddled him and Maggie up and went for a fairly easy 4-hour ride up to a cabin. We tied the horses up and went out to a picnic table to enjoy an amazing, far-reaching view! When we returned to camp, Guinness was sound and the sore on his back was no worse from the wear – we bought a new saddle! Pete loves it, and I really like the way it fits and lays on Guinness. Tessa seems very comfortable here. Our campsite backs onto a small creek bed that she can run through, then up a hill, back down and around the trailer – she runs laps. As the weekend neared, more campers arrived and she started to get a little nervous and stayed close to the trailer. We had a great stay at Iron Mountain, and we will return! – The Girls

One of the best parts of this trip was meeting a variety of interesting people. Everyone was full of information, opinions and helpful ideas. Especially Tim. We met Tim our first day in camp when he volunteered to drive up and get Chris who was running the campground so we could check in. Later we went to visit him at his campfire where he told some stories, and shared some advice about trail-riding. Tim was a real cowboy who’d been riding all his life and loved to ride all day, every day. He’d been on the road for several months and was heading home in a week or so. Tim was surprised that we didn’t ride with a substantial saddle bag. His, for example, held his daily 12-pack of beer, which is just enough apparently to get him back to the barn. I asked him about food and he explained that he really didn’t eat much. A piece of beef jerky now and then was about it. Beer and cigarettes seemed to be his two major food groups. I kept silent about the fact that I was happy to just make it back from a trail ride in the saddle, and that adding beer to the equation was not a likely move for me. For a few minutes Tim may have assumed that we were experienced veteran riders and he spoke to us like insiders. When Kim mentioned that we ride in “fishing vests” so we could carry our cellphones and GPS device, that illusion melted away as his face twisted into an expression that suggested he just bit into a nasty lemon. I thought he was going to say “you’re gonna have to go away now”, but he composed himself and politely resumed the conversation for a few minutes, but the magic was gone – we had been exposed! He shared some great stories, trail and camping advice but occasionally got mixed up because as he put it, “between the drugs, alcohol, and this little scar on my forehead (a recent brain aneurism)” things get a little jumbled up there. Still, Tim was very cool – a little bit Willie Nelson complete with a feather in his well-worn cowboy hat. There were several other couples at all of our stops, so it’s good to know we’re not the only crazy ones out there who enjoy this kind of experience. We’re a little sad to end the camping part of the trip. But Leatherwood has some nice features to it that will probably ease the pain. Later, Pete


Jake & Tessa loved the Chuck-It field at Iron Mountain!

The silos described in the trail directions are in the background

Cripple Creek crossing

Kim & Jake getting smoked out by the morning campfire

View from the cabin ride