By Allanna Jackson 



January 31, 2026, was exceptionally warm with a light north breeze. The sunny portions of the trail were mostly dry, while remnants of last week’s two inches of snow quietly melted into mud in the shadiest patches. My day didn’t go as planned, so it was mid-afternoon before I had time to ride. I saddled Cinnamon, haltered Velvet, and rode and led them over to the Scott Reservoir Recreation Area.

We strolled down to Porter Creek where we saw a young lady standing beside a palomino horse. The palomino blew loudly at us, which is the equine alarm signal, and pranced a few steps in place. My horses stopped and stared at the palomino, wondering what was dangerous. Velvet pranced a little herself. I greeted the handler and commented, “I didn’t know we were that exciting.” She replied, “He’s a young horse having a young horse moment, so we’re just standing here.” I replied, “Yeah, and what do you do with a 25-year-old who’s having a young horse moment? Come on, Velvet, you’re 25 and ought to know better.” We wished each other a good day. Velvet pranced flirtatiously as we passed the palomino, though I thought she was too old for that.

We crossed Porter Creek and started up the Ice Cave trail, where we met two lady hikers who stepped off the trail to let us pass. We exchanged greetings about the lovely weather for hiking or riding and continued in our separate directions.

The Ice Cave trail was dry around (Ice Cave) marker IC3, then muddy in patches approaching IC4. Downstream from the spring, the trail crossing is consistently muddy. Along the south shore of Scott Reservoir, where snow still covered the ground, the trail alternated between dry and muddy sections. When we reached the southeast corner of the reservoir, we turned left onto a trail that follows the eastern shoreline of the lake. This informal trail has been used by anglers, hikers, and horseback riders for at least 40 years, that I know of. We followed the shoreline trail around the west side of the peninsula, then continued north.

We passed a man-made shelter of branches piled against the base of one of the pine trees. This has been there for several years and has been gradually expanded and modified, though I’ve never caught anybody working on it. I don’t know what its purpose is in the mind of whoever is building it. I know it has the potential to be a fire ladder into the tree crowns if a fire ever got started in that area.

We followed the trail along the lake shore to a turnaround loop, which is directly opposite the day-use area on the west shore of the lake. This is the most northerly point accessible for a horse, though the foot trail continues to the mouth of Porter Creek canyon on the northeast corner of Scott Reservoir. The horses and I took the loop trail and backtracked south along the shoreline trail. This time we took the cut-off trail across the east side of the peninsula.

We continued along the shore back to the southeast corner of the reservoir where the Ice Cave trail climbs up to the gate, which was closed. The Porter Mountain Riding Stable trail turns west at the gate and roughly parallels the southern fence line of the Recreation Area. We turned right and followed that trail down the hill. Just as we began the descent, the horses alerted to two other horses being led on the private property on the south side of the fence. Both horses were saddled with canvas panniers over the saddles. They stopped. The horses stood watching my two horses while a man unloaded some firewood from the panniers and dropped it on the ground. After all four horses had silently acknowledged each other and the man hadn’t noticed us, we continued down the trail back to the spring and the Ice Cave Trail. Cinnamon picked a drier route across the spring. We joined the Ice Cave trail again just below IC4 and followed it to our route home. There is always something different to see, even on a familiar trail. You never know what you’ll find.