Robinson to Foresthill, Foresthill to Drivers Flat

I must once again apologize regarding sentence construction and “readability” of a post….My brain isn’t working well lately. I know if I don’t get this post finished and published, the event won’t be fresh in my mind, and then the post will be really stale - so bear with me and I’ll try to do more editing in the future.

I spent Friday and Saturday pre-riding Tevis. Kathy introduced me to some local endurance riders and I had a LOT of fun. I rarely get to ride with other endurance riders apart from formal rides. It was very nice to be able to talk about endurance and share advice. Kathy did come off (horse tripped and fell on her) and injured her leg and had to ride 20 miles out in order to get to Michigan Bluff, and wait while some of us got to Foresthill and could bring the trailer to her. That was a LONG day. The cast of characters are: A*, D*, K*, J*, BOAS (she gets her own nickname, which is does stand for something, but I’m NOT going into on this blog, since I try to keep this as PG rated as I can…I may also call her “the phiffer”, which is the probably the wrong spelling of a very cool British word – usually used as a verb - that describes her to a “T”)

Friday

I learned some important lessons on Friday.

Lesson 1. Don’t break up the group when you are riding together. Ten minutes after starting to ride out of Robinson, D* and K* stopped to fix a problem and motioned for the rest of us to ride on ahead, they would catch up. We came to a split in the trail shortly after. BOAS was CERTAIN we had to go right, so we went. The other riders did not catch up with us, so we waited on the trail. Maybe they had a serious issue and went back to Robinson (which would be bad because the trailers had already left for Foresthill). We rode back to Robinson, but they weren’t there. J* decided her mule was lame and stayed back. I was (already) starting to get annoyed with BOAS and decided to double check her directions on the trail. Even though she tried her best to sabotage my direction-asking of the very knowledgeable Lucy back at Robinson, I finally got that we were suppose to take a left at the intersection. So now we are on the trail, going like bats out of hell, trying to catch D* and K*, who going like bats out of hell because they are trying to catch US because we USED to be ahead of them….I split off from A* and BOAS because I could go faster, with the intention of catching D* and K* to let them know we were behind. After an hour of hard riding, I finally rode back with A* and BOAS since I hadn’t seen any sign of the others. We continued at a reasonable pace, figuring we would catch them whenever we caught them. At Last Chance (I think?) there is a watering hole. Sitting next to it was D* and K*! K* was injured and couldn’t move well on the ground, but was still able to walk on horse back. There was still at least 20 miles to go to Foresthill, and no good way to get a trailer to pick her up until Michican bluff, 14 miles way. A*, BOAS, and I rode ahead with plans to get to Foresthill ASAP and then drive back to Michigan Bluff to pick up D*, K* and their horses. Whew! It was a long day. Counting the back and forth at the beginning of the trip, the entire trip to Foresthill took 9 hours. It probably would have taken us 7-8 hours if it hadn’t been for a certain person called BOAS….

Lesson 2. Some people don’t take a hint (or a direct order, or anything in between). BOAS insisted on tailing her horse up and down every hill, giving criticisms thinly disguised as advice, and keeping her horse’s nose in Farley’s butt for 9 hours. Farley finally took a swipe at her mare at the very end of the 9 hours. I had warned her over and over she needed to back off. When she finally did strike out, BOAS comment was “well she didn’t try very hard”. Ummm….you just provoked one of the sweetest, easy going mares I know to try and kick….” She insisted on stopping and drinking at Kaput (spelling?) Springs, even after were warned by K* and D* not to. A* and I waited up to the trail so if she fell off the cliff it wouldn’t involve us. We needed to make time so we could go back to pick up K*. The weather was cool and we weren’t pushing the horses at all. Anytime we got above a western jog I would hear her command me to slow down. Finally A* and I took matters in our own hands and set the pace. If she wanted to slow down, fine. If not, she could come with us. BOAS had come in a different trailer, so it wasn’t like she HAD to stay with us. Ever ridden with someone like this?

Lesson 3. It is true – test ALL your equipment before using it on the Tevis…The Haf pad back trim rubbed her back raw in 4 spots on the back right hand side. I loved how the pad performed otherwise, but obviously is not going to work on August 1. Karen suggested 2 ways of keeping the trim up in the comments section of the pad review post, but I don’t have enough time to test it out before the race, so the Skito will be my pad for Tevis. I might alternate my woolback pad in as well. Not sure….

I was EXHAUSTED after the ride, but still managed to drag myself out of bed for Saturday’s ride…

Saturday

Saturday A* and I did Foresthill to Driver’s Flat. We managed to avoid BOAS’s request for information regarding our plans for Saturday, K* couldn’t ride because of her leg, and D* decided to move our trailer. A* and I went at a good clip (walk/trot) and finished in ~4 hours. This day was a huge confidence booster. Even after going out the day before, Farley was very forward and willing and pulsing down well. We stopped at most waterings and pulsed down to 60-64 before continuing. Farley would be 60-64 upon stopping, and by the time A*’s horse pulsed down, she would be lower 50’s, high 40’s. Good girl! We did ~10 minutes of grazing at Fransico’s.

While trotting the Cal-2 portion of the trail, Farley spooked at a rattlesnake at the side of the trail. One or two feet went to the very edge and kind of off the trail, but fortunately since we were trotting, we were past it before anything else happened.

My impressions of the trail –

Trying to describe a trail is definitely subjective, and the Tevis is no exception. Although this trail is often describe as astonishingly beautiful, I think the beauty of the Wild West rides touches my heart strings a wee more. The Tevis trails were not as narrow, treacherous, or rocky as I had imagined, according to other’s descriptions. Tevis is definitely worthy of respect and caution, but also very doable. One hundred miles is still one hundred miles and a long ways, but after seeing the trail, I’m more optimistic about finishing.


Thought of the Day

Ever had to tell someone they couldn’t ride with you, because after nine or ten hours you were contemplating something violent?