A Grouse Creek Afternoon . . .

Bill caught us with the camera,  coming and going.  Well, not exactly.  We wanted some photos of the three of us sisters riding, so he obliged.   

"Bonanza" and the Cartwrights were mentioned during the quick photo shoot---in the same breath that Laurie reminded us once again that Little Joe Cartwright was not all that charitable when it came to horses.

In noting how many times it took the crew to photograph that famous opening scene from "Bonanza," Laurie said that Michael Landon had said horses were pretty stupid.

I think that's when Michael's ratings may have dipped among our family members.

Horses are, after all, smart, and we noticed that fact several times yesterday when my sisters and I went for a pleasant and relaxing ride through a logging area above the north fork of Grouse Creek.

Grouse Creek is located about 15 miles northeast of Sandpoint.  Since our families moved north over the past several years, the area has become our playground---hiking, fishing, snow shoeing and riding. 

Bill and I snowshoed yesterday's riding area a couple of winters ago.   I remembered the steep road that soon opened into a vast open area and later into some phenomenal views of Lake Pend Oreille, Schweitzer and, on down the trail, the beautiful Selkirk notables like Roman Nose.

Well, yesterday's ride trumped that snowshoeing trip because we were feted to a newly bathed landscape----spit-shined, so to speak, enhancing the greens and the colorful wildflowers (and naught hawk weed).  

We rode past tiger lilies in abundance with huge, lovely blooms.  Barbara caught several nice photos of both  lily flowers and the lily horse.  

If you visit her Flickr site, you'll see her selection. 
 http://www.flickr.com/photos/misstshs/

In addition to the conventional models, cell phone cameras were clicking all along the trail.  

Horses behaved well, except for the usual Lily-isms of fiddling with her bit or uttering her deep "stallion" whinny, lest Barbara and Laurie's horses walked more than ten feet away from her.

Lily usually is a loner horse when it comes to rides, but when she's with others, she must be up close and personal. After all, the boogey man might be out there to snatch her!

While we rode the trail, Bill, who had helped us park our rigs, went on to the creek with his fly rod.  

So, it was safe to say that all among our group were doing exactly what they wanted to do on a Sunday afternoon, perfect for riding in the mountains or angling in a stream. 

We love Grouse Creek and really loved our afternoon. 

Happy Monday.