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Beth looked like she was ready to take on the world—heading out on a grand adventure.
“I’ll…be at the back,” she said. “Lead the way.”
He’d have loved to ride alongside Beth, but he supposed if they lost a horse at the rear, it wouldn’t be good for the nonprofit.
He gave her a leg up onto Rex and then hopped up on Maverick.
Noah stood at the arena exit with the gate swung wide.
They had three pack horses with the group. Grayson took two and Beth took the other.
He called out to the riders and lifted his finger into the air, looping it to tell the riders to follow. Beth rode past him, ponying her pack horse, a grin plastered on her face, and never, not ever, had he enjoyed riding so much.
It made him wonder if maybe he didn’t need that ranch in Oregon after all.
She paused on the other side of the gate to wait for the riders, and they rode out onto the trail.
The first portion of the trail followed one of their daily camp sections before branching off. They wound through the woods, the trail snaking through spruce, pine, and larch. Maverick kept them moving at a steady pace.
Every so often, Beth would key her mic, his cue to stop so she could point out flowers, wildlife, and geographic points of interest.
She could be the trail boss, for sure.
It took closer to two-and-a-half hours to reach their lunch stop. He’d specifically picked this spot for the open grassy knoll where the horses could rest in the shade. It was on a small finger of Mink Lake, and the riders were able to eat and then walk down to the water, cool off, and explore.
The riders chatted with Beth and each other, snippets of conversation lifting on the breeze that had picked up. A computer programmer from Minneapolis, married to a memory care nurse. A horse-crazy daughter. A family from Duluth. First time riders and those who’d ridden horses as kids.
Laughter and smiles all around. This would be the easiest money the camp ever made.
“I hope I’m not kicking up too much trail dust,” Beth said, giving him a wink and squeezing his arm.
She was glowing. She was just as good with the adults as she’d been with the kids.
He did a quick headcount as the group made its way back to the horses. “Everyone’s here. Are we ready?”
Beth nodded and turned to the group. “All right, everyone, it’s about two hours to our destination. Let’s mount up—head on out.” They made sure everyone was remounted, then Grayson gave her another leg up. Sure, she could have used the tree stump like everyone else.
But it allowed him to linger with her a little bit longer.
“You want to lead?” he asked.
“Me?”
“Why not?”
She smiled, bright and confident. “Sure. Okay.”
She rode past him, her hand drawing across his arm in final contact before she took Rex and her ponied pack horse to the front and he took his place at the back of the line with Mav and his own two pack horses.
The afternoon leg of the ride went a little slower, Rex setting a more grandfatherly pace than Maverick had. But other than one loose shoe he had to pull and replace with a temporary hoof boot, their riders entered camp saddle sore and smiling.
He and Noah had set up a tent in advance for each family in a broad arc of the clearing. The tan canvas shelters stood as welcome respites from their ride. All day in the saddle didn’t faze him, but he figured their riders were ready for their overnight break.
Grayson pushed Maverick ahead and dismounted next to Beth. They briefed the riders on the order of business—horses first, then humans—and he set about stringing the highline with Marvin Jaspers and John Kane so the horses could be secured and untacked for the night.
Three hours later, they’d had their fill of Robin’s gourmet hot dogs on croissant buns, fruit salad, macaroni salad, chili, and flame-cooked Dutch-oven brownies. She’d worked her pastry prowess to bring their hodgepodge meal together with a blend of savory-sweet flavors that tasted intentional and maybe even a little inspired.
The guests mingled in the waning campfire light with conversations about the constellations overhead, the wildlife sightings of the day, and whose horse was the best.
