June 13-19, 2004 : Pathfinder Ride

What a week! It was our first Pathfinder Ride, something I have wanted to do for years, a long cross-country ride from one place to another. Like in the old days if you had to get to some other town and the only way was by horseback.

The time finally came to do it and do it we did. From my view it was a huge success. I’m not sure all the riders and certainly not all the horses would agree. It was long, at times too long. The first days were a test to man and horse alike. We did over 90 miles in three days, some of it through extremely rough terrain.

All the credit is due first to my horses; they are fit, healthy and willing. The other due mention is the crew of riders I had along with me, all but one, N- veterans who know what they are doing and do it well. As the old saying goes “they are ones to ride the rivers with” and we did just that.

Sunday, June 13, 2004

The weekend had been a blur of activity getting all the gear and all the horses and tack and feed and. …hell it seemed like half the ranch.

We hauled 120 miles to what use to be the town of Dusty , N.M. now just the H.Q. for the Wahoo Ranch. I got there just before dark with the last load of horses. Lyndsey and the crew got there early, it being only a bit over two hours from Albq. John and Nina had hauled horses over earlier in the day.

It was good to see everyone again. There was Dave and Seth from Massachusetts . Chuck from Az., Tom from Cali., Carol from Cali., Wendy from Cali . They didn’t come together just a lot of adventurous California folks. Jose’ AKA Pedro, from Long Island . Fred from Cali . as supposed to be along with us but he had broken down in Az. He was hauling our stud horse Saint back to breed our mares. He ended up staying with the horse at the Kingman Az. Fairgrounds while he had a tranny replaced.

We spent the night under the stars as we did every night; here it was high desert country. The night was warm and the stars brilliant, I felt it was going to be a good week.

Monday, June 14, 2004

Everyone was up early and ready to go. We hauled the horses five miles to an old homestead on the edge of the Nat’l forest and mounted up. From there we were on our own. I had a small-scale topo map and it sure did help as the day went on. Our goal was first to get to the top of Wahoo peak. It was a grueling ride through brush and deadfall up a steep, steep slope. We gained three thousand feet elevation in less than two miles. The day was hot and the horses worked their butts off. Finally after about three hours we hit the top of the peak. What a world of view we had. It was worth the climb.

Now we were in the timber country of juniper, cedar and shrub oak, in places it got to be maze like as we wound our way through it all. We must have broken a cord of branches from the trees as we busted our way through. Several times we made attempts to get off the top ridges and continue west and several times we had to start over. But finally we made it off and onto a little two-track road, which we stuck with pretty much the rest of the day. The country got easier, more into the Ponderosa Pines now, but there had been and still was no water for the horses. It was long after we were all ready to be off our horses when we finally hit the canyon the camp was in. There we had a small stream for the horses, it was a relief to get them drinking.

Lyndsey, John and Nina, our ground support had a camp set, electric fence for the horses all ready and we were sure glad to turn our horses out and get a cold drink.We had seen all kinds of tracks, especially in the canyon in which we were camped; it was the only water for miles around. Bear, elk antelope, deer, coon, and skunk tracks were all spotted in the area. The canyon was a pretty spot enclosed with rim rock and full of cottonwood and Ponderosa. But it ended up being a restless night as the horses caught scent of all kinds of things and I suspect a lion was close by. They ran circles all night in the corral till Lyndsey finally got up and tied a few outside the pens and things settled down. I had figured they would have been dead sound asleep all night as hard as they had worked.

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

An early morning with lots of groans around camp as we ate and prepared for another long day in the saddle. The first part of the day was nice horse country, rolling grassy plain studded with Ponderosa pine and almost no rocks. Elk were everywhere; it was a good time of day to be out. That went on for most of the morning as we made good time. We had water every hour or so from ponds, now that we were in the high country life got a bit easier. About midday we found a very sweet little homestead, one half was stone and the other log. A hundred years ago it must have been a fine place to call home.

The afternoon got a bit rougher. We had a steep rocky climb up out of Corduroy Canyon then found ourselves down in spring canyon, which got tighter and steeper as we went. It got a bit technical in places but about 7pm we finally rounded a turn in the canyon and there was the welcome sight of camp. The horses were quiet all night and everyone had a good nights sleep.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Another long day in the saddle, like the last two we traveled over 30 miles. We left camp and had an easy ride of it west through Houghton canyon. Along the way we found an old stone house. All you could see from the outside was a small hobbit size wooden door in the face of a rock cliff, above it a stovepipe came out through a spot in the rocks. A couple of us dismounted and checked it out. It was a beautifully made 16x 20 stone room. The walls were as smooth as sheetrock and the ceiling was 9 feet high and smooth as well. Someone sure had a lot of time on their hands to make that. I imagine in the winter with a woodstove in there they were the warmest folks around. We rode the canyon about 8 miles, it finally got a bit too narrow and rough to stay in so we rimmed out of it along an old wagon road. From there it was about two hours more over Canyon Creek Mountain till we hit N- range. We went down Pine Canyon and stopped at the spring for an hour or so. There was thick, green grass and fresh flowing water. We later rode on, traveling about 4 miles to camp, which was located at trailhead# 706. There we unsaddled and took care of the horses. Lyndsey and John had hauled out a couple extra horses, which were in the corrals there. I felt like the horses we had been riding deserved a night out on grass so we turned them all loose but Dakota. I was worried he would head home. As he stood in the corral looking at his buddies enjoying grass and a fresh roll I felt bad. Then he turned those big soft eyes my way and that’s all it took. I opened the gate and let him out telling him to be good. Yea right. He ran to his buddies jumping around and before you could blink they were all lined out behind him at a trot going somewhere else. I guess this Pathfinder Ride wasn’t their idea of fun. Everyone was worried about what we would do in the morning but I knew there were plenty of good horses back at the ranch, only about a 45-minute drive. So we made plans for Lyndsey and john to get out early and go get us a trailer load of fresh horses.

Fred joined us this evening having finally gotten his truck fixed in Az. and the stud horse brought home. Maggie drove him out to camp just before dinner. The days have been pretty hot, highs in the 80’s with a sunfactor of well into the 90’s. There have been a few thunderheads in the afternoons letting me know it is thinking of starting the summer rainy season.

Nights have been pleasant, in the mid 40’s

Thursday, June 17, 2004

It was a late start to the day waiting for horses to get back from the ranch. Of course it took longer than we figured with the truck having a flat tire. But no one seemed to mind a lazy morning around camp after the last couple days we’ve had.

We were in the saddle a bit after 10am and headed across Aeroplane Mesa to drop into the middle fork canyon in the wilderness area. The horses all strung out nicely, I was on Gambler so of course way ahead of everyone else. He was sure on the muscle after a week or so off. We got to the edge of the mesa and headed down a rough little trail into the canyon bottom. It was pretty technical in places and lots of loose potato and grapefruit size rocks. Right in the middle of it something spooked Gambler, a lizard or snake or something. He set to bucking knocking out four big ones. The first one caught me by surprise, the second I thought I was going to die, the third found him back under me again and the fourth I decided I would live through it. Unfortunately Fred was the only one to see any of it.

For the next two hours Gambler was like a 2 year old again. Spooking at everything, he was washed out in sweat, just an idiot.

We stopped for lunch and most of us took a swim in the river. It was sure nice after four long days on the trail. I sat and soaked the grime away and washed with a hand full of gravel.

After an hour stop or so we headed back down the trail. Gambler was a lot better after taking a break. Awhile later I spotted bear tracks on the trail, we had seen them every day but these were really fresh. At the next stream crossing I saw the bear track wet on the other side and knew he was just right ahead of us. The canyon was thick with willows and the wind was blowing towards us so I knew the bear wouldn’t see or smell us. The last thing I needed was to jump him in a willow thicket. I started hollering my cattle call hoping he would hear me. A half-mile later I saw where he must have heard me cause his tracks went off the trail and up a side canyon. It was a great ride through the wilderness. Just long enough, about six hours. We stayed at Snow Tank camp, it was great. The pond is full, the grass is green, and it’s the best campsite.

Friday, June 18, 2004

We woke this morning to ice on things! Mid June and still freezing! It seemed the cold and close proximity to the ranch made for a slow start today.

There were some cattle in Snow Lake trap so we had a bit of cattle work to do first thing, just about an hour of getting the cattle moved over to Loco Pasture next to the lake. Our loose horses showed up over night so mid morning we headed home with them. They stayed with us most of the way. They took a couple short cuts and so did we but we ended up back at the headquarters together.

We got in about 2pm and everyone was glad to get there. Hot showers, real beds and chairs.

It was a great trip, a great crew and they all should be proud they had done something that hasn’t been done in a hundred years.