Have Camera Will Ride

Josette took this of Thunder and I near the top of the ridge. I lik the scenery in the background. Down in the V - deep in the canyon and not visible in this pic- lies The Owyhee Reservoir.

This is Lily, Tammy and Joe bringing up some cows. We found them between those two rocky ridges in the background. What a ride! :-)

Oh yes and we saw those deer too, and this time I got their picture! Eight muley's climbed up over the rocks and stopped to study Linda and I. The horses studied them back and after watching them for a minute it was time to get over to the draw that we were supposed to be waiting in for cows.

Fall Roundup or Work off that TURKEY!

Fall means bring the cows back in - again. They get 6 weeks out on the BLM in the spring and another 6 weeks in the fall. That's a lot of work driving them out and bringing them back in. We'd ridden out to check on them a couple times and they were usually around the salt, laying down, chewing their cud.
Two days after we all filled up on turkey and taters, we are out there riding it all off looking for cows. Joe and Josette both thought they'd be in the salt area. Yeah right, that's be too easy. And when we got there, not a single cow. So we split up to do some brushpopping.
The grass was still plentiful, the rocks had not gotten any smaller, in fact I think they had multiplied. The hills were steep and steeper, nothing easy about this part of the Owyhees. We found eight in the same place Josette and I found them last spring, on a narrow hill top. We took them out a bit different route, easier, if there is such a thing in the Owyhees. We reached a gate just about the same time Joe came up with his six from the opposite direction. This was Blue's first gathering and he was herding them along all by himself. Our goal was to keep them from mixing with the other ranchers cows as we crossed the grassy prairies. Tammy and Josette had gone ahead to "sweep" the trail, but three strays spotted the herd and came racing in. Yes cows can run and these three frolicked and acted like they had found long lost friends when they met our bunch. They hung around for a couple miles then when the three of them were altogether again, we cut them out and they mosied off in the other direction.
The sun was going down as Linda and I topped the saddle ahead of the cows, where we rode down into the draw so we could be block the upper part of the draw from the cows. From there it was less than 1/2 mile downhill to the catch pens and trailers. They were spooking a bit until Ace through some alfalfa out and one cow thought that looked real good. Once she moved in, so did the others. Then it was close the wings of the pen and load them up. It was almost dark. These short days don't give us a lot of time. The horses had worked hard on those steep hillsides, we gave them a short rest and water before loading up and going back to the farm. We celebrated a long but safe day with some good food and good cheer; we'd played hard and worked harder, but dang it was a good day!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I've been offline for awhile (moving!) but not out of the saddle. So although you may not hear from me it doesn't mean that I am not out there doing something. I ride every chance I get! And I grab that chance and milk it for all it's worth, squeezing every bit of daylight possible out of these short days.

Fall offers some nice opportunities for riding, some folks like the cool temps but I always miss summer. The high desert is always interesting no matter what time of year. The cows went back out for the fall and then we made a pack trip out with salt. Since I didn't have the pack horse I entertained myself with the camera and a shadow on the way back down the draw. Since this picture it has rained enough to muddy the trail and make the creek flow. Last fall we had a herd of mule deer above the rocks watching us. All we could see was heads and ears peering out over the rock ledge. Of course I didn't have my camera that day and we haven't seen them since either. But my camera always seeks out picture possibilites.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'll be out after TG dinner to try and ride off some calories!

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!!!!!!

Jennie Lake

Here is Linda and I at the shore of Jennie Lake, 7850 feet elevation, near Jackson Peak. We figure as the end of Sept. gets closer that it is going to be harder to ride in the mountains and we wanted to get in one more ride to a lake if we could. This was a great little ride, not too tough, a lot of climb going up of course but we thought it was pretty easy. The trail follows Bear Creek and is 9.2 miles round trip from the trail head. We parked on road 348 and then rode to the trailhead and then on up to the lake, giving us a few extra miles. The crystal clear waters were so pure we could see the fish swimming around out there. There were a couple people camped and fly fishing. What a gorgeous little spot!

Silver City or Bust!

Here is a picture of Tammy & I in front of the Idaho Hotel and Bar, built in 1866, in Silver City.

Last weekend we trailered part way up to Silver City then rode up 4 wheel drive and bike tracks into Silver City. The off road route took us by old cabins and mine shafts to Linehan Flat, past Webfoot and to Jordan Creek, then into town. It was like riding through a time machine back into the old west. "Silver" is an old mining town from the late 1800's that once had a population over 10,000. Now only a handful of the old buildings still stand. Some are being restored. One of the gals riding with us, Dani, has a house up there and that's where we stayed. No dirt camping for us! The horses had a big corral with trees, we barbq'd and had a wonderful adventure exploring Silver. We went all around town, checking out the old buildings and the cemetary, taking in the flavor of the old west. Then Sunday morning we traveled out a different path up War Eagle, past a lot of old mines, cabins, tailing piles and topping out with a view that was unmatched anywhere! After that I think it was downhill all the way back to the trailers. What a great ride and adventure! I sure am lucky to have adventurous friends!

Interesting quote

I found this quote on a runners website. And while reading it, I could relate it to endurance riding. Or even just those long days of trail riding where we might explore 30 miles of country just for kicks and giggles while most people watch TV or play video games.

I always feel as though riding cleanses my soul and the presence of my horse is all I need to enjoy a few moments of time.

Enjoy the quote, perhaps it will have special meaning for you too.

"Perhaps the genius of ultrarunning is its supreme lack of utility. It makes no sense in a world of space ships and supercomputers to run vast distances on foot. There is no money in it and no fame, frequently not even the approval of peers. But as poets, apostles and philosophers have insisted from the dawn of time, there is more to life than logic and common sense.The ultra runners know this instinctively. And they know something else that is lost on the sedentary. They understand, perhaps better than anyone, that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms oftheir being -- a call that asks who they are ..."- David Blaikie

Pink Flamingo

After our wilderness tour of the Sawtooth's it was off to the Pink Flamingo Classic near Cascade, ID. A very nice 2 day event held in a beautiful area of soft wooded trails. Nothing like the rugged Sawtooth's. We just rode the first day since we'd only been back from the Sawtooth's for 3 days.
The first loop found my horse rather full of himself, there's a news flash. Thunder is ALWAYS full of himself! The trail took us by a lovely mirrored pond and offered us some nice views of Cascade Lake and West Mt. The second loop I told my bratty redhead that he could move out a bit, for which he was quite grateful. We passed a few horses on this loop, some destined for both days of riding.
The last loop of 12 miles had some steep up and down with little inbetween. The last couple miles of relative flat dirt road was out of the trees and it was hot! It was a fun ride. We finished the 50 in a bit over 7 hrs and I was happy with that. My horse was sound and healthy and vetted through just fine.
Now it's off to the coast to visit and play!

Riding the Sawtooth Wilderness

Wow! What a week. What I thought was going to be several days of "trail riding", turned out to be the adventure of a lifetime! A friendly hiker took this picture of the 3 of us near the Snowyside Peak Divide on our 4th day of riding.

We first camped at Grand Jean and rode 3 days out of there, taking the Elk Lake trail, Baron Creek Trail, as well as portions of the South Fork Payette and the Trail Creek Lakes Trail. Some of the streams were quite high and swift plus they have logs and holes amid the rocks. Crossing them was quite treacherous. When we had to cross North Fork the second time, we said a couple hail Mary's and yeehawed across the raging water with Thunder in the lead, jumping the log and onto the bank! We left a very confused backpacker sitting on the bank wondering "What the ????"

The deadfall from old burns made for some slow travel if we couldn't simply jump the logs, but the views were gorgeous! Rock slides on talus slopes stopped us from actually reaching Baron Lake unfortunately. Too have continued on the talus slope with little or no trail would have been disastrous with a horse. Very little work has been done on these trails, they work the backpackers but the horses couldn't fit under those logs. :-)
We went on to Stanley for supplies and camped at Tin Cup. We headed out mid afternoon for a ride from Pettit Lake up around Toxaway, over Snowyside Divide, down through the middle of the sawtooths past Twin Lakes, Alice Lake, El Capitan and back to Pettit Lake and made it back to camp by dusk! This was an outrageous ride, not for the faint hearted. We had some wild riding and high adrenaline moments, beautiful views, great days of weather and no I am not really glad to be back home but here I am. :-) Here is a link to pics. http://picasaweb.google.com/zap6000

BOGUS BASIN

Last Saturday, July 5, we went up to Bogus Basin, NE of Boise to ride. The road gets pretty windy and steep for about 13 miles. We dodged bicyclists all the way up to the parking area near Schafer Butte. We rode for several hours, enjoying the pine trees and shaded areas and beautiful vistas from the hill tops. It was a very clear day and you could see forever! It was different riding alongside the ski lifts. We had to backtrack several times because our logging tracks ended and the brush was too thick to try to figure out where to go. One track ended about 100 yards from the cat tracks that we needed to take us back. It was getting late and no way was I turning around. It was 50 very steep yards then it was just uphill, but I led Hollie up. Josette sent Roseanna up behind me. They're tough and I sure didn't feel like trying to figure out how else to get back to Schafer from there if we had to back track again! Luckily we found a couple springs with water for the horses. I couldn't resist a picture with this sign "Last Chance", it just seemed so appropriate. What a great ride, hope we get to do it again!