Doesn’t help to have a Compass if you can’t see it…

I just had to laugh. The Limitless team met in Killeen, Texas to practice our navigational skills, map reading, talk about gear and hear what each member had to say about the segments of the Colorado Trail that they had researched and become familiar with. When we got there there was just a couple of hours of daylight left so we decided to saddle up and go for a quick ride on the shortest loop, maybe an hour and a half long. Two of us had maps but we didn’t think we would need them because it was a short trail and a couple of us were relatively familiar with it. We rode our horses out to the obstacle course at Parrie Haynes equestrian center next to Fort Hood here in central Texas. After playing around with the Teeter totter, different obstacles, bridges etc.… We head out on the trail laughing, talking and catching up. We watched for the markers. This trail is well marked and when there is a turn there is an indication of where to go by looking for the next marker. Soon, we were lost.

Don’t worry, we saw the humor in our situation. 

I’m embarrassed to say because it was so dark we couldn’t read the map, we couldn’t see the trail markers and we actually had a great opportunity to realize we were not working together as a team. 

These pictures are obviously from the next day. We agreed after we got back into camp to make one person a leader and navigator and trade off for this day’s 10 mile training ride.

Jess was riding a horse that didn’t particularly enjoy being in front and it was doing so well that she decided to stay up there and guide us through the entire trail. Thank you Jess and way to go team! In Colorado we will be doing this 50 times… I share this with you all because it doesn’t matter how experienced you are, if you don’t have a plan, there is more room for adventures you may not have been ready for. Keep trail riding every body!