Back in the Saddle (with a side of paranormal activity)

  In which we learn why it's called Hell Mountain...

After our ten day trip, it was really good to get back in the saddle. This was my longest riding hiatus since I broke my leg in 2013.

Mike and I returned from our trip. Hannah and I set up a ride at Deer Path Park almost immediately. She wanted to hear all about our trip. I shared the story in painstaking detail. I think I took all of one photo the entire time.

Hannah and I decided to turn right back around and ride together again the next day. We ultimately decided to meet at the Hill and Dale Preserve. This is part of the Tewksbury trails, though the preserve is public property. I joined TTA last year and was eager to take advantage of my membership. Plus, I've never ridden there. Hannah knows a nice eight-mile loop and I looked forward to getting a tour.

We met after work and Hannah sent me a pin for parking. I didn't know this lot existed! It's always nice to learn new places I can stick my trailer. 

First we crossed Parsonage Lot Road and meandered through the open space. Then we clip clopped down Hill and Dale Road, which is super quiet and rural. That brought us to the Cold Brook Preserve. This stretch was breathtaking during golden hour and I took about a billion photos. 

Both horses were on their very best behavior and we had a glorious canter through the fields. 

I'll just do a photo dump here since there was nothing unusual to report (yet).

[some photos removed]

Love this old barn! Sadly they have closed the trail through this property so we had to ride on the road instead.

This guy is a real sweetie. 

As we crossed Hill and Dale Road, Hannah explained the route she usually takes. The trail network had changed since she'd last ridden it, so we weren't entirely sure which way the current route went.

Some of these private properties though...

The aforementioned Widow's Mansion.

A short while later, I noticed that there were arrows marking the trail. I recognized these from doing some TTA paces on other sections of this trail network. I suggested following the arrows to see if they connected to the route Hannah had in mind. 

"Worst case, we can back track or ride the road back to the trailers..."

Hannah is always in favor of doing new trail and quickly agreed to this plan.

Along the way, we found some really beautiful spots.

We managed to find our way to a property I recognized. Here, the yellow arrows led us to a dead end in a beautiful meadow. After some circling and exploring, we agreed we didn't have enough daylight to pursue that route any further.

Instead, we backtracked to where we last saw a marked intersection. This led us to a nearby farm driveway. The trail ran parallel to the driveway, which we knew would take us to Hill and Dale Road, just around the corner from our trailers. 

The sun was setting fast, but neither of us was concerned about riding the last stretch of road in the dark. We agreed that trying the driveway trail was likely our best bet. 

I could live here...

Daylight fading fast...

The driveway was half a mile long. When we reached the end, the trail markers went left. We needed to go right. As expected, we would do the last half mile on the road. No big deal.

This is where things got strange. 

A little ways down the road, I noticed that Hannah's saddle pad was slipping out from under her saddle. It would definitely need to be fixed.

Luckily for us, there was a little abandoned house on the right and we were able to dismount in the driveway. A few cars went by while Hannah was fixing her pad, and I waved my head lamp in their general direction so they could see us. Again, we were safely off the road for all this.

While we remounted, we noticed that there was a horse walking towards us in the very nice pasture across the street. 

As it got closer, however, we noticed something was amiss. The horse wasn't moving quite like a horse. Then at the same time, Hannah and I both said, "I don't think that's a horse." Followed by, "What is that?" Followed by, "What the hell is that?"

Granted, it was half dark out. Definitely the time of day where your eyes can play tricks on you. But this thing seemed to be shifting shape as it loomed closer. It was as though it couldn't decide whether it was a horse or a human. Sometimes it looked like an elongated horse form. Other times it seemed to have two legs. Occasionally it looked like a very large man.

At one point, I actually said out loud, "People are allowed to walk on their farms at night, Dom. It's not illegal!" 

By the time we saw a red light (which I told myself was a cell phone, not glowing eyeballs) we both had goosebumps.

At that exact moment, a car suddenly pulled over in front of us. At first I thought it was the police and I assumed someone had reported us for being out after dark. 

It turned out to be the chief of the local rescue squad. 

"Are you ladies ok?" he asked. We assured him we were. "My daughter came home and told me there were two riders on the road and that one of you was on the ground." 

I explained the saddle pad situation then apologized. "We didn't mean to cause anybody any concern!"

"Not a problem at all! I live right around the corner. Glad to see you girls are alright." Then he insisted, "I'm going to escort you across the bridge."

"We're ok. These horses are used to road riding at night."

"I'm going. To accompany you. Across the bridge."

We shrugged and agreed to follow the rescue wagon across the bridge.

It wasn't until the rescue squad pulled away that Hannah looked at me and asked, "Did you happen to notice that our equine friend vanished as soon as that car stopped?"

The more we talked about it, the more we freaked ourselves out. (I do love a good spooky story!) 

We thought it was strange that the daughter thought we might be in distress, but didn't stop to ask if we were ok. Instead, she ran straight home to get her dad. And the dad didn't hesitate to come rushing out when he heard where we were. Perhaps he just wanted to drive the new squad truck? And what was with the business about escorting us across the bridge like it was some kind of invisible boundary?

Perhaps not the first time something strange has happened on what I later learned is called Hell Mountain...

So of course I went home and did some digging. I discovered the Tikbalang, a beast of Philippine folklore. It is known to combine human and horse features, standing between 7 and 9 feet tall, and shifting shape as it deems appropriate. (Probably seeing people and horses made it hard to read the room that night.) Its goal is to guide travelers astray, but it is known to be very patient, often disappearing as soon as witnesses appear. 

If you want to freak yourself out, do a Google image search for that bad boy.

This was all fun and games until I told the whole story to a friend. She also did some digging and then messaged me, "You do realize that this Tikbalang is basically the Wish version of the Jersey Devil, right?"

Eep!

Hannah and I made it back to the trailers safely that night, though we did untack and load in record time. Neither of us enjoyed feeding in the dark alone that night. 

It's worth noting that I recently took Max to Hill and Dale for another ride (during daylight hours). On the way there, I passed the property this all happened at. There was no sign of horses on the farm...

I'm sure it's fine...