A short ride through the rolling plains

There is near my neighborhood, a yet to be developed piece of land comprised of small rolling hills and grassy plains. It borders the City of Aurora's water reservoir and it was my destination for some photos of Natasha in a more "rustic" setting.

I entered the area near where Powhaton and Smoky Hill Road meet, there's an easy dirt trail leading off the pavement and no signs.

I rode slowly, getting a feel for the dirt as it had snowed overnight but apparently not enough to cause mud accumulations except where the terrain dipped into low spots where water tends to collect.





It was a short ride and once back on pavement, I made a slight detour onto a different dirt trail where about 11 months ago or so, I got Brigitta stuck in a muddy rut while out riding. Here's a link to that story.

This was December of 2008

This time around, Natasha made quick work of the trail...it's gotten much worse since a year ago, and the ruts were quite pronouced and more extensive.
As you can see, not much snow if any hit the eastern plains, my neighborhood barely got an inch over night and it only stuck on the roofs and grassy areas, the roads were quite dry.

We're expecting 6-8 inches starting in the late afternoon and overnight, tomorrow's riding might be quite different!