More Canyonlands

I stir in my sleeping bag as I hear a soft nicker. Followed by a louder nicker. I hear a hoof pawing. Stomp! Stomp! A bucket makes a clang against the corral panels. Stomp! Stomp! Another whinny calls out. There is no doubt in my mind. It is Thunder, calling for room service! "Hey Lady! Breakfast time!"

"Ok Ok" I call to him. "I'm up!" As I step outside the moonlight is casting shadows everywhere. I don't need the flashlight as I give the boys their hay. Thunder continues to paw until I give him his soggy beet pulp with a bit of grain. Then all I can hear is "Slurp! Slosh! Slurp!" Oh yes and the thumping of Molly's wagging tail as she gets her dog food!

At a multi-day ride a routine quickly develops. Feed the horses and the dog. Breakfast. Walk the horses and the dog. Saddle up, pack the water bottles. Get the dog settled for the day. Bridle and interference boots. Ditch the jacket. Strap on the helmet. Mount up and get outta Dodge!

Each day at the Owyhee Canyonlands is a brand new adventure. Promises of old cabins, remnants of wagons, gorgeous vistas and a whole lot of trail! The Castle Creek ride on Day 2 offers some gorgeous views of several canyons where the rock walls harbor caves belonging to some citter. The first part of this ride is pretty hilly and rocky. We took our time, rode easy and got to the halfway vet check in 4 hours. After an hour of letting Thunder suck up all his food and my peanuts, we were ready to circle around back to camp.

It's hard to pick a favorite day because each one is beautiful in it's own way. But I do think my personal favorites were the 3rd and 4th days, Oregon Trail and Sinker Creek loops.

Merri Melde rode Blue on Day 3 and she took this shot of Thunder and I. T

The Oregon Trail 50, goes NW to the beautiful Rio Del Sierra Ranch. The owners amazingly welcome us each year and allow us to invade their pasture for our vet check. And it was our vet check not just once but twice as we had a circle of trail from the ranch that took us over the Oregon Trail. This section was quite rocky and went up a narrow ravine that makes one wonder how they ever got wagons through there. Up on top are some stretches of wagon ruts cut into the rock slabs. We traveled on out to a canyon lip that overlooked the glsitening Snake River far below. It was definitely a WOW moment! The route took us back to the Oregon Trail and the ranch for that second vet check mentioned earlier. Afterwhich we traveled across the varied terrain to Oreana and the Teeter's Ranch once again.

Day 4 is Sinker Creek, where we ride west of camp, with some good trotting ground before dropping elevation and passing through the rocky gates as the canyon walls come together. We crossed the creek about 30 times as we just kept looking up into the gorgeous rock formations and cathedral spires of the canyon walls. Later climbing and climbing back out and topping out on a plateau with yet another amazing view! One vet check on this day and then back around through Pickett Creek drainage and up onto the Hart Creek Rim trail. Thunder was so full of it along the rim that I was tired of him pulling on me. He knew where he was and wanted to go. So I led him for awhile until he settled down. Four days and still frolicking!

Day 5 used 2 loops out of camp so no vet crew bag to pack since we would return to camp halfway through the day. The loop went out across the highway through The Birds of Prey lands near Rye Patch and returned to camp for the first 25 miles. This was easier for crews and vets but a bit hard for the horses because so far each day, once in camp they were finished. But not this day. After their hour hold in the vet check they had to go back to another loop. I didn't want Thunder to think he was done for the day so I left him saddled. The plan seemed to work as we left camp and went out to Hart Creek. The trail took us through an old homestead and a neat dugout! Then farther up we interrupted a napping rattler who was pretty cranky after he almost got stomped on.

Thunder was really strong the last few miles in. I was with another 5-day rider, Drin Becker, and we were both certain our horses could have done another day if it was there. Thunder was just full of it! I think he was doing his "happy dance"!

Multi-day rides are so incredibly wonderful. You begin the week camping with a few friends, and before you know it everyone is your friend. It's hard to see the week end. You know that some of your new friends you won't see for a long time, or maybe not at all.

But the magic has to come to an end. And the sun sets on another adventure that goes into my treasure chest of fun and savage amusement!

20,000 Rider miles at Owyhee Canyonlands

Steve Bradley took this photo at Owyhee Canyonlands and presented me with it as a memento of riding 20,000 AERC miles. Pretty cool since I wasn't sure if I'd ever reach that mileage after last years wreck. But here I am with Thunder, riding and having a good time thanks to a lot of help from good friends.

An interesting note is that my first ride was on a blaze faced chestnut in 1977. Now many years later and several horses of various colors, I am surpassing my 20,000 mile mark on a blaze faced chestbut horse. I guess some things never change.
Owyhee Canyonlands is a 5 day multi-day ride put on by Steph & John Teeter in Oreana, ID. The first 3 days were large 50 plus mile loops, the last two days were smaller repeat loops in and out of camp. I had entered days 1, 2 and 4. My favorite trails are the long loops that begin and finish in camp, with out vet checks. These long loops give me more time to explore new lands and they also test your horsemanship more than small loop trails that keep returning to camp. I feel this makes my horse and myself a better team.

Day 1 was the Castle Creek 50, and the trail took Josette and I out through the Browns Creek Canyon to Castle Creek. Thunder was a good boy, no bucks! The trail was fairly rocky with some technical footing here and there but nothing our horses weren't used to negotiating. A lot of people were dreading the beaver pond but since we had crossed roaring whitewater in July our horses thought little of the pond. They did enjoy a good drink of water as they waded through. We were given some magnificent views of the Castle Creek gorge, some awesome rock formations and interesting country even though the desert is pretty dry still after last weeks rain. We trotted past an old homestead cabin and one dugout underground dwelling or cellar. 39 started, 37 finished and I believe our time was 6 hrs and 40 min for the 50 miles. The cold morning kept the temps down, it really didn't feel too warm until about 2 PM, but the weather was great, certainly better than that thunder storm we rode in last Saturday.

The Wild Horse Butte 55 miler was the second day. I rode mostly with Karen Steenhof and Thunder was excellant. Anytime he spotted horses ahead he wanted to hurry and catch up but he was at least behaving himself. We rode through sections of the Snake River Birds of Prey area where we did see one Harrier circling through the sky. The trail went along the edge of the Snake River where Thunder got a drink, circled Wild Horse Butte, and then returning over portions of the Oregon Trail. It was a really nice day, not too hot with a bit of cloud cover. The footing was better than the day before but I thought occasionally Thunder would wince on a rock. We finished the 55 in 6:33, 17th out of 30 starters. We were OK'd to go again the next day but I thought he'd had enough rocks. So we just did two days and had a really good time!

Friday morning I saddled Thunder up and we went out for an enjoyable little ride with Terry McDonald and her friend Kris. Now Terry and I go WAY back and we rode together in the early 80's on the Lost Wagon Train multi-day. So we had a bit of catching up to do. The nice thing about endurance riding is meeting up again with old friends and always making new friends. After our ride I helped at the vet check in camp and pulsed and ran a few errands. There were lots of helpers that enable rides like this to happen. Thanks Steph & John for a good ride!! VIVA 50 mile loop trails!!!!!!