In the map above the blue track is the second flight. First flight may not be much different. It's interesting and hard to follow because of the way the hounds ran. There was quite a lot of looping back on themselves. Also, they tended to go where the horses couldn't. So often we were not far often and could hear them singing beautifully but couldn't follow really tight.
The map above is a simplified version of today's events. The first run, in red, started shortly after we crossed the river. It was interesting in that the hounds sounded really good. The sound was cool because they were staying along the river and were up hill from them, so the acoustics were great. At this point the run was a walk. Given the slow pace the hounds were maintaining I expected the run to peter out at any minute. We had run out a place to go on the trail and decided to reverse our direction.
The coyote and the hounds helped us out by also reversing direction and coming back down to the river. They crossed the river and then everything picked up speed. The coyote and hounds again started heading north and recrossed the river. They headed up and over the ridge before turning north again and the run ending around Hob Knob or Whiskey Ridge Farm (I'm not sure which is the appropriate name). It was a 30 minute run that was kind of like a roller coaster - a slow crawl up and then a really fast finish.
Matthew gathered hounds and headed into the woods behind the house. In five minutes they were on another coyote. Whether it was the original coyote or a new was hard to tell. The coyote headed north as if it was going to cross over Free Union Rd but instead started turning back behind the VDOT Depot. It eventually made it back to where the first run started but not before turning several circles along the way. Like the first run it was hard to get close to the action but we could always get a good listen to the hounds.
For the day the hounds covered 10.6 miles and the second flight did 6.4. I think Liz said the third flight covered 5.5. Apparently Liz's favorite perch has been logged and now she can sit there with third flight and be in the middle of the action all the time.
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