Ever drive down the road and notice somebody cruising alone in their car with the windows up and a mask on? I don’t know about you, but every time I see this I think to myself, “Poor guy. Must’ve ate some bad kimchi.” If it’s not that, then you just have to wonder “What’s he got in that car?”
There are some places where common sense just says the chance of coming in contact with the virus is as close to nil as you can get. Being out on the open ocean is one. Riding a horse out in the country could be another. By yourself in your own car seems like one to me, but be your own judge. However, if you wear a mask while alone in your car, keep in mind that you have to wear one in the shower too. That’s just how it works. Ask Fauci. That’s what I was told.
No telling what people have in their cars, so let’s just focus on the outdoors. If you are “afield” here on Big Island (on land or sea) by the time you catch a whiff of breeze, it may have traveled across thousands of miles of open ocean, rambled over giant mountains and filtered through acres of forest before reaching you. The ocean, woods and prairies just don’t seem to be COVID country. Being “afield” does not apply to attending Burning Man or even some sporting events, so if you’re good with it, use common sense.
However, Lucky We Live Hawaii because we have a lot of choices for immersing ourselves in the great outdoors. Some folks get creative to make it even more enjoyable to go afield. Stephanie Stago moved to rural Papa’aloa back around 2015 because she found a nice piece of property for her horses, and they let her stay too. Many neighbors had horses, so she thought she’d find plenty of riding buddies. Eventually it became apparent that her neighbors don’t ride often, so she ended up exercising horses on her own most days.
The neighbors did not ride much but they did agree to give her access to ride through areas of their properties in trade for field work and landscaping. Investing a bit of sweat equity, she ended up with a nice trail ride through the Hamakua forests that whiles away a couple of lovely hours.
“Those of us who work with our animals most of the day don’t interact with a lot of people, especially over here because it is so rural. But when everyone hunkered down because of COVID it became a pretty lonely time,” recalled Stephanie.
“I don’t have a horse trailer, so I couldn’t take my horses anywhere else. By November I was kind of over it and decided to post an ad on a Facebook page called Hawaii Horse and Tack Swap. I invited other folks to come ride with me. It’s so beautiful here, it just made sense.”
As the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, and when mixed with Stephanie’s common sense, out of this confluence of factors Papa’aloa Riders was born. There are ten wahine members now, and they get together on the first Monday of each month to ride Stephanie’s Papa’aloa trail.
“Before COVID I had the idea of getting some riders together to do an around the island trail ride for charity. You have to start somewhere, so I started in my own backyard. In only a few months, the group has become more than just a monthly ride. Now we share information online about horse health, exercise and physiology as well as training tips. I’ve also come to find that I was not the only one riding alone. Response has been great and we all have a new network of like minded friends.”
So far, all members are wahine and span a range of ages. Some are new to the Big Island and some have been here all their lives, even generations. Although the first Monday of each month is reserved for the Papa’aloa trails, the ladies have branched out and organized rides on all corners of the island. They’ve ridden out around North Kohala, along the power line off of Stainback, up Pu’u Wa’awa’a, over at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and when rains made Papa’aloa unworkable, they rode Kilohana off of Old Saddle Road.
“The girls are scouting the next ride to start around Naalehu and ride toward the coast. It is scheduled for Tuesday, March 16. We make sure we scout each trail first, and all permissions and access agreements are in place way in advance. The ladies in our group live all over the island, so consensus is that the ride needs to be about two hours long. This usually covers about ten miles, which is long enough to enjoy and justify the travel.”
Stephanie said that new riders are welcome, just go to the Papa’aloa Riders Facebook group page and request to join. “It’s really been an enriching enterprise, but no one is selling anything. We are doing this for our horses and for fun. For those of us who are fairly new on island, it has been especially interesting to learn some history and hear the stories about the past while riding with the ladies who have grown up here. I’m told that there were wahine riding groups in the 70s but they fizzled away. This has been a great way to breath life into that again, while also getting out in the clean country air with friends while our horses keep us socially distanced.”
Makes sense!
For more information, check out: https://www.facebook.com/groups/857928548350432