The Big View

                                                by Laura Crum

            A couple of days ago my son and I rode our “usual loop”. I’ve described this ride many times on the blog so will be brief today. In which we ride out my front gate, cross the busy road, scramble up the sketchy half mile of crooked, narrow, steep, poison oak-draped trail with the head bonker trees (my son says this trail is “radical”), drop over the ridge onto easier trails where we trot briskly through the meadow and up the hill (“It feels like flying” from my kid), and after a breather, climb a few more hills to get to the big view.

We’ve ridden to this place so often, in all seasons, for many years now. We call it the Lookout, and it is a much-loved place for all of us. My husband and I discovered it when we were first together. I took him riding and we explored our local trails. I’d ridden “outside” here a little, but not much, being obsessed with competing at team roping at the time I moved here. I didn’t trail ride much in those days. So despite the fact that I’d lived here awhile, I didn’t even know the Lookout was there.

Imagine our mutual surprise when we rode up a big hill and came upon this dazzling view.

 

Of course, my horse’s ears weren’t yellow in those days. I was riding Plumber, my little brown horse (still with me but retired), and my husband was riding my beloved Flanigan (who is buried here). I still remember the thrill we both felt at discovering this amazing place, not an hour’s ride from our home. From the beginning, we called it “the Lookout.”

There are no nearby houses visible from the Lookout. Though it is an illusion (because houses are not far away), from this place one appears to be alone in the wild woods, having reached a clearing from which one can see the whole Monterey Bay. I felt as I imagined the early Spaniards felt, arriving here on horseback. I absolutely never tired of riding to the Lookout, and went there in all seasons.

Over the years, as we explored the local trails, the Lookout remained our favorite destination. There were other pretty places to ride to, but none that equaled the drama of this spot. As our son grew older and started to ride the trails with me on his good horse, Henry, the Lookout was the first place I took him. And we have gone on many, many rides to the Lookout since. Here we are, about a year ago, gazing out at the view on Midsummer’s Day.

Gradually we evolved a regular loop ride that we took most often. It led to the Lookout and then home by mostly pretty trails that avoided the houses. And more and more the trails that ran near the houses were being fenced off. There were many places we could no longer ride. It’s sad, but things change.

The Lookout itself has changed, as the trees have grown up and to some degree obscure the view. Looking at the next photo, taken four years ago on a misty winter day, I notice how much more wide open the place seems then than it does now. Below you see my son on Henry, myself on Sunny, and our friend/boarder, Wally, on Twister, at the Lookout. I think the three of us have ridden here literally hundreds of times.

Here’s a recent photo, taken by my son at the Lookout, showing my new (but dusty) riding helmet. The fog is in over the bay (which keeps things nice and cool on the ride), so the view isn’t much, but you can see how the shrubbery has grown. Things change.

I guess in the end, that’s the big view. Things change, and we need to accept that. Sadly, some day someone will probably build a house on the Lookout, and it will be fenced off from us and we won’t be able to ride there any more. Certainly this has been the fate of many of our other rides. And yes, it will make me very sad. But the Lookout will always be part of me, and I hope, part of my son. And nothing stays, everything changes, us included. Clinging to things just doesn’t work out.

These themes and places (including the beloved Lookout and the “radical” trail) have been on my mind for a while now, and I’ve tried to incorporate them into my two most recent books, “Going, Gone” and “Barnstorming.” For those who are interested, the links will take you to Amazon’s page for each book, where you can buy them in print or on Kindle. I hope you’ll enjoy seeing some of my “big view.”

Does anybody else have a much loved riding destination? And is yours threatened by development? Any thoughts on the "big view?"

PS--For those who enjoyed my husband's first blog post on his Begonias in the Mist blog, he has put a second one up concerning his rather colorful life with plants.