Applegate Lassen 5 Day Ride, 250 Miles.
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How I spent my summer vacation....
This was a five day ride covering 250 miles. We
went from Imlay, Nevada to Cedarville, California. The ride this
year turned out to be ah.....quite interesting and unusual for
several reasons. Mainly...mother nature felt she wanted to
re-arrange things and so we ended up having quite an adventure. This
ride goes over the Applegate-Lassen trail that the immigrants and
gold prospectors took in 1849.
First let me say what a great job the ride
management did in getting this ride off to begin with. The weather
this year has been iffy to begin with, then due to flooding and
problems encountered during the ride which required that the trail
be completely re-routed it sure made for some quick thinking on
Barbara and Lud's part....they really did a wonderful job getting us
all thru safe and sound.
I have put a few pictures up of the ride. We
arrived at Burns Truck Stop on Saturday. The ride started on Sunday.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous. Blue sky...the sun was even
shining. We were next to a casino with a restaurant, which was kind
of nice. Plenty of room for all the rigs. Approximately 25 riders
showed up to start the first day. On Saturday afternoon Brian (@)
was kept busy pulling and putting on shoes, and I was kept busy
putting on easy boots for several people.
The ride started on Sunday at approximately 7
a.m. We weren't sure if a train would go by at 7 a.m. or not...but
it didn't....so we had no problems with horses spooking when we went
over the train tracks. Our original camping location was under
water, which Brian pointed out as we rode by. The temperature was
warm enough to start out in a t-shirt. We were riding to Rabbit Hole
Springs. Due to all the recent rain, we had water on the trail and
plenty of nice green grass for the horses. The views were nice, with
mountains surrounding us and plenty of wildflowers. This was the one
day that a few of us got D.C. (directionally challenged), and went
approximately a bonus 7 miles out of our way. Oooops! I got my
P&R rather quickly at the lunch vet check, so went out ahead of
a few other riders (just barely), and rode with Iylia for the
remainder of the day. We saw our first antelope on this part of the
trail, along with a wide variety of glorious wild flowers. We let
our horses cruise along, maintaining an average heart rate of about
100...stopping to let them eat green grass on a few occasions. Lud
met us out on the trail with water and lemonade.
Camp at Rabbit Hole Springs was really nice.
There were two ponds, plenty of grass (if you knew where to look),
and some spectacular views...very peaceful place. This was the same
place some of the immigrants set up camp when they went thru.
On the second day of the ride we rode to
Gerlach. It was before the lunch stop that we were trotting along
the trail...myself, Brian and Val...when all of a sudden, Weaver (my
horse) jumped right on top of Brian and Goofy (practically), and
within half a second I looked down and saw and heard it. A
rattlesnake!! It was coiled up, and ready to strike...and not in a
very good mood. Whoa!!! It had been right directly in our path, and
we were going at a nice trot....this was the second snake we had
seen. I think it took till the vet check until my heart stopped
beating a hundred miles a minute. After that you better believe that
all of us riders were real careful about what bushes we went
behind!!
The vet check on the second day was in a really
beautiful location. We had large trees for shade, and hot springs.
It was so nice! There was also plenty of green grass for the horses.
Just a beautiful setting. The vet noticed that while Weaver was
sound, that he seemed to be a little sore on the right front. So I
pulled off his easy boots, and sure enough...the alkaloin soil
(being so abrasive) had rubbed his heels, and the back of his foot
was really soft and starting to crack. Yikes!! I took him back to
the vet for a re-check, and he said that it wasn't that bad. After
lunch, I kept a close eye on that foot and by the time we finished
it seemed to be 100% better and the horse felt and looked really
good. I arrived back in camp after finishing this day to find Plan B
(Rocky) still in the trailer, and Dave fixing a flat on the trailer.
Uh-oh! Luckily, the gas station was able to repair the flat even
though it was a nail right in the sidewall. We filled up our gas and
water here. Gerlach is an interesting place. There is a guipsum
plant there that makes 90% of all the drywall in the country.
I should have known to put everything away that
night. The clouds were building, dark and heavy in the sky above. We
had our awards at Bruno's Restaurant...btw, we got really nice
awards at this ride...let's see..the first day we got a Kool-Off
(necker-chief that keeps you cool), the second day a visor with our
choice of horse prints on it along with a pin of a wagon-train,
third day...rope halter, fourth day...matching lead rope...and fifth
day..t-shirt. Okay...so after awards we made it back to camp,
settled in to bed...and all of a sudden the wind came up! If it
weren't glued down, it weren't there the next morning! Then, it
started raining sometime during the night. About 4 a.m. I pulled
Weaver out of his pen and put him in the trailer. He was having a
hard time eating outside, being that all of his hay was blowing
away....so was very happy to be inside out of the weather for a
little while. By the time start rolled around things had cleared up.
Actually...by the time start rolled around...we weren't sure exactly
what we were doing. We couldn't ride the original trail...which was
supposed to go over the Black Rock Desert...the playa (sp?)...the
place where they set the land-speed record last year (753 mph). It
would have been too slick for the horses to go over, so instead of
trailering 10 miles to the start we rode from camp and then
trailered 10 miles after finishing. Because of the re-routing of the
trail, we did not start until 9:40 a.m. This also allowed camp to
dry out enough so the rigs could all get out. We had to ride
alongside a road shoulder for awhile, which turned out to be okay
since it was a wide shoulder with good footing. Everybody's horses
were looking really good. Weaver's heel was looking much better and
I knew he would be okay if things stayed dry (haha). It was a sunny
and gorgeous morning. I rode with Brian, Donna and Debbie for awhile
and most of us were together until the lunch vet check. I think
Donna went on ahead a little ways. Not long before we were due to
leave from our hour holds, it starting raining. Pouring rain....by
the time I left the horse was already soaking wet, and so was I. I
assumed (incorrectly) that it would be a typical Nevada afternoon
thunderstorm that would last about 15 or 20 minutes. Soon, we were
surrounded by big dark clouds...the rain continued along with
thunder...then shortly thereafer...lightning! It was hitting all
around. I separated from the others when Weaver appeared to be sore
on his right front...oh NO!!! I got off and walked him...he soon
seemed to be back to normal, and trotted sound for several crews who
were along the route and checked him out for me. So I got back on
and we trotted most of the rest of the way in, and he did indeed
feel terrific! Dave said that I (and Donna too!) are the only two
people he's ever seen SMILE so much while riding for hours in the
rain surrounded by thunder, lightning, freezing our butts off and
going over slick trail....WHAT FUN!!!! It wasn't long before there
was water flowing alongside the trail....uh-oh. I knew this was no
typical afternoon thundershower. After finishing, we loaded up the
horse and left to trailer the remaining 10 miles to camp....Mud
Meadows. The rig in front of us (Brian and Val) came to the creek
crossing and promptly stopped. Nuh-uh---we ain't crossin' that!!! So
we backed back up the windy hilly (slick) road in the pouring rain
and that's where we set up camp for the night. Lud went over to the
other side and let the riders with rigs on the other side know they
would need to come back over. He made sure they got over safely (he
has a winch in case anybody got stuck). This was one day where it
didn't pay to finish in the front!! About half of the riders were on
one side, and half on the other. The vet made it back over to vet
our horses. By the time it got dark, it stopped raining and we were
able to get the horses out of the trailer. I knew if I unloaded them
any sooner they would have fallen flat on their rears as soon as
they stepped out into the mud. I boiled up some water and made hot
chocolate for a few people and passed it around to all the tired and
wet humans. The dog didn't even want to go outside!
We all went to bed wondering what we were going
to do the next day. The original plan was to ride day 4 from Mud
Meadows up thru some canyon which was supposed to be a really
awesome day. (we'll do it next year, right??!!) No such luck...there
was no way they could get anybody (vet, etc.) in there not to
mention what kind of shape the trail might be in. So we were told to
load up the horses and be ready to haul out of there at 7:00 a.m. So
we did! We hauled them the 50 miles back out of there, and down some
road to start. Unloaded, vetted the horses....I had decided the day
before that I'd be riding Rocky, not willing to take a chance on
Weaver's foot...all the rain was NOT doing his heel any good...so
saddled up Rocky. Oh goody. My fourth day...his first.
Vetted...tacked up...heard Barbara call out "one minute to start".
Oh man! Where's the bridle? My helmet? Do I have water bottles?
Electrolytes? I didn't even care about where in the @#$$ were we
going....that is what made it so fun!! Who cares...we were getting
to ride and that's all the mattered, right? So I walked him
around real quick, got on and off we went! It was 10:00 a.m.
We started out at a nice steady trot....I
followed Dave Rabe and Andrea (??) down the road...within a few
minutes we saw our first antelope of the day. It stayed with us
quite a while, darting back and forth across the trail in front of
us. Rocky wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but at least he
didn't spook. It's hard to remember all the details about the trail
each day....I just remember LOTS of wildflowers, beautiful hills and
mountains in the backdrop...and always..the threat of clouds
building up. We passed some beautiful rock formations, a few creeks
and again...plenty of green grass for the horses. Our crews were
able to leep-frog again and meet us every 5 miles or so on the ride.
Everybody's crews took care of everybody else...I think all of the
riders ended up with three or four crews taking care of them...it
was totally awesome! It was also very nice that people were not
afraid to ask if they needed something, and NOBODY was shy about
sharing or helping out...the way it should be. Rocky finished a
strong third that day...his first ever top ten :-).
We finished, and before trailering to our next
camp we had to P&R first before being allowed to leave. Did
that, then loaded up after the horse had a break (and I washed my
hair-boy that felt good!)...then we hauled 28 miles to the next
camp...Massacre Lake. (that took an hour) What a long day, let me
tell you! By the time we had awards that night, finished everything
up...it was well after midnight!!! We had a really nice camp that
night....in a beautiful green meadow with a creek running thru it.
You could hear frogs (as you could at Rabbit Hole Springs). That
night Lud built a campfire and after awards filled us in on the
history of the trail...we missed our history lesson on the third
day. There is sure a lot of interesting history about this trail
which makes it even more interesting when riding it.
We actually started at 7:00 a.m. on day 5 - the
day was gorgeous..sunny and warm. Barbara warned us about a rocky
section about 8 miles long before the vet check....but it sure
didn't seem that rocky, and not nearly as long as 8 miles. Maybe I
was semi-conscious and mis-understood. I don't remember any parts of
this trail being very rocky...I thought the footing for most of the
ride was exceptional. This day we saw wild horses...and more
snakes...a couple of antelope. The ride went by really fast...of
course, we were moving along at quite a good speed. The last few
miles into Cedarville are on a paved road where we have to go
alongside the shoulder. Some of the rigs drove alongside to make
sure nobody ran us over...which was good cuz some horses in the
pastures alongside the rode came blasting over and Dave's horse went
straight out into the roadway....whew....amazing how well he stays
on ;-0....again, Dave and Andrea raced into the finish....Rocky came
in 3rd again with Donna a close 4th. I couldn't believe it was over
already...that 250 miles had gone by so quickly, and each day was
over so fast that it all seemed like a blur! I didn't want it to
end...it was too much fun.
Congratulations to all the horse and rider teams
who rode all five days, you guys did a great job. Everybody's horses
looked great...what an awesome accomplishment!!!! I think I know all
the names of the people who rode five days on the same
horse...somebody let me know if I forgot anybody: Brian Reeves,
Donna Brow, Scott Wachenheim, Trilby Pederson and Pat Verhuel. Dave
Rabe and myself rode five days on two different horses. Thanks again
Barbara and Lud!
Happy Trails,
Karen
