Horseshoes

I thought it would be fun to have a set of horseshoes to play a game when we were able or had friends over. Carol bought me a set of horseshoes for Christmas and when the snow melted I commenced to look for a 40' stretch of land that was relatively flat. I looked and looked and did not see a suitable location. Finally I chose an area that was not entirely flat but with a little elbow grease it might work. I raked it as flat as I could and thought we may have a good location. That is until we threw a few horse shoes and found there were rocks just under the surface of the dirt. Those shoes can roll quite a ways down the mountain when they jump off a rock.

Then I commenced to dig the rocks out and some turned out to be sizable. More raking and filling in the holes left by the rocks and we are now ready to go. I ended up with two sizable piles of rocks but our landing zone is now free of rocks. It is not perfectly level but it is level enough to play a game and we don't need to peek out from behind a tree nor stand on a ladder to see the stake.
Things that are easily done in other locations can present a real challenge in the mountains. Most people just go out in their yard and measure off 40', drive two stakes in the ground and begin playing horseshoes. In the mountains you have to start by raking the area as flat as possible and then dig up all the rocks that interfere with a game of horseshoes.

I ended up with two pretty good sized piles of rock but at least the landing zone is more playable. Now we look forward to having some friends over to play a game or two.