On President's Day, I was fortunate enough to be able to go riding with some friends down in Ames in a local park called Peterson Pits. The weather, although dreary, was fairly good and the air was warm. We all had school off that day, so we decided to go check out the first trail location of 2014 for my blog.
Peterson Pits is located off of Highway 69 between Story City and Ames. The park is located on 45th Street and can also be found using Dayton Avenue in Ames if you are coming from in town. The road to Peterson Pits is gravel. The park roads seemed to be fairly well maintained as we did not have a problem getting in or out with the snow.
My friend Madison came along for the ride, and we drove to Huxley to pick up my other friend, Brea, and her horse, Sunny. Because none of us had had lunch, we decided to make a pit stop at McDonald's before starting our trail ride to pick up a little something to eat.
We decided it would be best to go through the drive-thru for the sake of time and because I brought along my Pug/Terrier mix, Mylie, for her first trail ride. As we pulled up to the clearance bar, I was a little concerned that my trailer would not make clearance. I told Madison and Brea to watch the bar to see if it swung before I drove up to the golden arch. They assured me that I made clearance, so I continued to pull up to place my order.
Suddenly, after placing the order, Brea and Madison informed me that the bar was swinging. I was already halfway under the golden arch, so I tried to turn out to miss hitting the golden arch and breaking it off with my trailer. I ended up hitting it anyway. Fortunately, it just nicked the arch, and no damage was done. So, my friends, I highly recommend you know exactly how tall your trailer is.
Because I could not go under the eaves to the rest of the drive thru, I had to drive alongside them and get out to pay and get our meal. The first window opened, and the lady goes, "Ba-da-bup-ba-daa!"
Terrifying. Just terrifying. Before this moment, I did not think it was possible for anyone to truly love working at McDonald's so much that they sang the theme song to every customer. The lady was almost overzealous and barraged us with a bunch of questions about our horses. Finally, she shut the window, but not before she sang, "Ba-dah-bup-ba-daa!"
The lady at the second window just stared. Apparently this situation was not an everyday occurrence. Either that or she was disturbed by the fact that Brea was feeding a suddenly hyper Mylie ice cream right off of her spoon. Before, Mylie was passed out in the back of my truck.
We ate on the drive and headed down to Peterson Pits. There, we parked by the lake. Quite a few people were out that day either walking on the trails or ice fishing in the lake. We unloaded our horses and began tacking up. Mylie was running around, since there are no leash regulations in the winter months, and the next thing we knew, she ran off with some people walking down one of the trails. So, of course, we had to go find the dog. The picture below is of the lake by the parking lot.
After looking for Mylie for about an hour, we finally headed back to the trailer to see if she had gone back there. Sure enough, Mylie was standing by it. It became clear that Mylie needs a lot more training and better listening skills before she gets to go on trail rides. We put her in the trailer and continued our ride, after I found a nearby Port-A-Potty to use.
Peterson Pits has maybe a couple of hours of trails for people to explore, depending on how fast you plan on riding. It is mostly in a wooded area, but you can get access to the roadway, which is quiet enough to ride down if you desire that.
Above is a picture of what most of the trails typically looked like. It would be hard to get lost out there, as the trails are very prominent and there is not enough land to get lost on. The trails were also pretty clean, but there were a few logs here and there that you could go over if you wanted to. Madison, who rode Rusty that day, popped him over a log a couple of times.
There is also a nice view of a creek that goes through the park. When it's not frozen, you can go and ride through it. Unfortunately, it was frozen and the trails were somewhat icy, so we had to forgo the creek, but it sure was pretty!
There are also a few big, open, grassy areas that are flat and allow for a nice gallop. You can bet we tried them out! Little, old Knight, who is pretty out of shape, actually had a blast running with his buddies and even threw in a couple of bucks.
The roads also are nice viewing areas. In this picture below, you can see what Peterson Pits looks like from the road:
If you rode up the road a little ways, there were some very stunning views of hills and pastures. There is also a small conservation area nearby that would permit horseback riders. We didn't have enough time to explore that, but hopefully next time we can.
Isn't that just gorgeous? This is off a road that intersects 45th Street. The pasture area on that road was beautiful, and there were some really cute houses up there as well.
After that point, we decided to head back to the trailer, since it had started snowing. It was a wise choice because the ride home was a little bit perilous. Because everything had started to melt, when the temperature dropped, the roads became very icy. I had to take back roads back to my hometown because I could not get any traction on the interstate. We made it home safely - and that was about the last nice day we've had since.
Here are a couple other pictures of the trail ride through different terrain.
This is in one of the grassy areas again. Brea is riding in front of us. And yes, she went bareback for the ride.
You can see the ice in this picture on the trails. I was a little worried about one of the horses slipping, but everyone was able to keep their hooves in line.
And, just for fun, here's a picture of what cabin fever causes my horses to do:
Yep, you got it. Casper and Rusty are sharing a hay pile. When does that EVER happen???
Keep on wishing for better weather so I can keep showing you some awesome trails and telling you about our awesome adventures!
Until next time,
Kelsey
Peterson Pits is located off of Highway 69 between Story City and Ames. The park is located on 45th Street and can also be found using Dayton Avenue in Ames if you are coming from in town. The road to Peterson Pits is gravel. The park roads seemed to be fairly well maintained as we did not have a problem getting in or out with the snow.
My friend Madison came along for the ride, and we drove to Huxley to pick up my other friend, Brea, and her horse, Sunny. Because none of us had had lunch, we decided to make a pit stop at McDonald's before starting our trail ride to pick up a little something to eat.
We decided it would be best to go through the drive-thru for the sake of time and because I brought along my Pug/Terrier mix, Mylie, for her first trail ride. As we pulled up to the clearance bar, I was a little concerned that my trailer would not make clearance. I told Madison and Brea to watch the bar to see if it swung before I drove up to the golden arch. They assured me that I made clearance, so I continued to pull up to place my order.
Suddenly, after placing the order, Brea and Madison informed me that the bar was swinging. I was already halfway under the golden arch, so I tried to turn out to miss hitting the golden arch and breaking it off with my trailer. I ended up hitting it anyway. Fortunately, it just nicked the arch, and no damage was done. So, my friends, I highly recommend you know exactly how tall your trailer is.
Because I could not go under the eaves to the rest of the drive thru, I had to drive alongside them and get out to pay and get our meal. The first window opened, and the lady goes, "Ba-da-bup-ba-daa!"
Terrifying. Just terrifying. Before this moment, I did not think it was possible for anyone to truly love working at McDonald's so much that they sang the theme song to every customer. The lady was almost overzealous and barraged us with a bunch of questions about our horses. Finally, she shut the window, but not before she sang, "Ba-dah-bup-ba-daa!"
The lady at the second window just stared. Apparently this situation was not an everyday occurrence. Either that or she was disturbed by the fact that Brea was feeding a suddenly hyper Mylie ice cream right off of her spoon. Before, Mylie was passed out in the back of my truck.
After looking for Mylie for about an hour, we finally headed back to the trailer to see if she had gone back there. Sure enough, Mylie was standing by it. It became clear that Mylie needs a lot more training and better listening skills before she gets to go on trail rides. We put her in the trailer and continued our ride, after I found a nearby Port-A-Potty to use.
Peterson Pits has maybe a couple of hours of trails for people to explore, depending on how fast you plan on riding. It is mostly in a wooded area, but you can get access to the roadway, which is quiet enough to ride down if you desire that.
There is also a nice view of a creek that goes through the park. When it's not frozen, you can go and ride through it. Unfortunately, it was frozen and the trails were somewhat icy, so we had to forgo the creek, but it sure was pretty!
The roads also are nice viewing areas. In this picture below, you can see what Peterson Pits looks like from the road:
If you rode up the road a little ways, there were some very stunning views of hills and pastures. There is also a small conservation area nearby that would permit horseback riders. We didn't have enough time to explore that, but hopefully next time we can.
Isn't that just gorgeous? This is off a road that intersects 45th Street. The pasture area on that road was beautiful, and there were some really cute houses up there as well.
After that point, we decided to head back to the trailer, since it had started snowing. It was a wise choice because the ride home was a little bit perilous. Because everything had started to melt, when the temperature dropped, the roads became very icy. I had to take back roads back to my hometown because I could not get any traction on the interstate. We made it home safely - and that was about the last nice day we've had since.
Here are a couple other pictures of the trail ride through different terrain.
This is in one of the grassy areas again. Brea is riding in front of us. And yes, she went bareback for the ride.
You can see the ice in this picture on the trails. I was a little worried about one of the horses slipping, but everyone was able to keep their hooves in line.
And, just for fun, here's a picture of what cabin fever causes my horses to do:
Yep, you got it. Casper and Rusty are sharing a hay pile. When does that EVER happen???
Keep on wishing for better weather so I can keep showing you some awesome trails and telling you about our awesome adventures!
Until next time,
Kelsey
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