AWFM – “Are We Following Mim” Our horse camping adventure

4 Day Horse Camping Pack Trip into the Eagle Cap Wilderness

with Molly Golter and our horses, Joe, “Jr”, and Charlie. 

Goal: Drop off @ Anderson Ranch Trailhead, which is located at the bottom of Minam Grade, pick up at Buck Creek Trailhead

There is some repeat of information in the following story, but I wanted to capture each of our memories.  This trail ride went from a fun summer camping trip to an epic quest in finding out what we are made of. I hope you enjoy our story. 

Horse camping Prep Day, Thursday, August 13, 2020

(Mim) Called Forest Service in Enterprise to confirm trails were open to horse travel and no one would answer due to “Covid 19”.  Grrrr, proceeding with plan without confirmation?  Excited beyond explanation as this will be my 1^st pack trip as a 2-person team plus “InReach Garmin” as our virtual 3^rd person. Also, this will be Jr’s 1^st pack trip.  Jr is a 3-year-old mustang I have done some training with him and he already has been on 3, day trips carrying our lunches in the paniers, so he has a little experience with a wide load.  Plan is to only pack 100 pounds due to his age and he will be running barefoot in attempt to keep his mustang feet natural.   Big gamble as Eagle Cap is known for its rocky trails.  Molly also is leaving Charlie barefoot but packing 4 Renegade Horse Boots just in case.  Goal is to travel light and fast and maybe cut a day off if we can travel 15-20 miles a day.  Very do-able as we have done this before.  Molly and I both are bringing hammocks to sleep in.  After all, Hammock Camping is “all the rage” so why shouldn’t we follow the herd thinking….it must be great since everyone else is converting to “hammock camping”. 

I must recognize my Love, Steve.  This trip is a leap of faith on his part in “letting me go”.  He has given us all the best trinkets of the trade to make this a success.  Top of the “cool things list” are: Jet Boil Stove, Sawyer System Water Purification, Mountain House Freeze dried meals, and the Samurai (Ichigeki Heavy-Duty Curved Saw C-400-LH), and  4’ two person cross-cut saw broken down in a leather carry pouch (more on THAT later).  The night before launch we packed everything into the packsaddle and riding packs, weighed, balanced, and then tried to go to sleep for an early departure.  First goal not realized.  Our packsaddle with loaded backs weighs 110 pounds.  Goals are suggestions, right? 

(Molly) I don’t even know what to title this.  In true Molly fashion, I have very few preconceived notions about our little trip, but the excitement has been building from early in the week.  There was something about going with Mim on this little adventure that has me giddy with anticipation.  I ordered a hammock for the occasion and it came in Tuesday.  Mim is excellent about making a packing list and this time was no exception.  She compiled a concise detail of what we needed and what I should bring. Thursday marched in with no less thrill in getting everything ready.  Mim brought the horse trailer around before her onion run for me to fill up.  As I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I did get things thrown together, with a bunch of help.  Mim came back “quickly” of course and I was still throwing things together.  Turns out the only thing that I really am missing was my bridle… Ya I know.  (Mim always has me covered – at least I remembered before we left her place.   So, throw in a hackamore for Charlie.) We did a little running around in town and picked up a pizza to make quick dinner for packing and getting ready.  When we got to Mim’s we started right off, getting everything sorted into 2 even packs, and deciding what to eat, and what to take on our horses.  For food we packed mostly freeze-dried meals, dried fruit snacks, English muffins, and Nutella (“Because chocolate makes me happy” which is where Steve walked in on our packing deliberation).  (Mim is maybe one of the most thoughtful people I know.  I had packed ALL my stuff toothbrush included.  She had already gone to bed, but at the Myren B&B you are sure to find what you need.  In the bathroom is a basket of things for just such forgetful guests.  I always feel so at home at Mim’s.)

Horse camping Day 1, Friday, August 14, 2020

(Mim) Up at 4:30am as our goal to depart is 5:30am.  Again…goals are just a suggestion.  Left at 6:30am with Steve driving.  Previous night lost 2 hours of sleep going over the list in my head.  Came up with hatchet to add to the pack.  But in the morning rejected the idea due to weight already in pack and we did not plan to light any campfires due to the high fire season we are in. (This decision would haunt me later!)

Fixed a hearty bacon, egg, toast, and coffee breakfast for all of us….and off we go.

Arrived at Anderson Ranch Trailhead at 8:30ish.  I could see the concern in Steve, but he remained quiet and sent us down the trail with a photo moment and good wishes.  My imagination told me he was documenting to prove to others he didn’t kill me and I just disappeared from the face of the earth, or he was praying desperately that I would see him in a few days in good health and happiness.  I rejected the 1^st option and inserted the 2^nd option as reality.  So off we go with squeals of delight and enthusiasm.  We heard the truck head up the Minam grade and then the silence of the forest enveloped us, but to our surprise Steve had pulled over at the lookout and watched for us on the trail.  Hollering, “are you having fun” and waving to us.  We replied with more whoops and hollers back.  Surprisingly over the distance of the canyon we could hear and understand each other.

(Molly) In the morning the Myren B&B continued with getting freshened up in convenience of the “grand shower” – for fun.  On the way up we unashamedly talked politics and world happening.  With a bit of sightseeing and enjoying silence on the way.  There was a bit of a detour, when the GPS wanted to take us to the pickup point, but we straightened that out.  Down at the Minam River we tacked up and got everyone situated for 4 days out on the trail.  Charlie questioned whether he really wanted me to have the saddle bags on, but he settled enough for us to get to the River and then we were officially off.  He seemed to be very clam for the tacking up, but he still has some anxiety over getting going.   That is one of the things I will be turning my attention to in the near future.  Steve documented the occasion of us crossing the River: Mim on Joe, Jr. with the packs, and Me on Charlie… “here we go into the wild blue yonder.”  Yep that is my dad’s voice singing in my head.

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(Mim) First part of today’s ride is an unused logging road of about 6 miles.  Great, not my first choice of trails but necessary to get to the “real trails” we love.  This first part however had its own difficulties.  Hawthorne trees lined the roadbed and have taken over.  This produced the first blood of the trip.  Out came the first aid kit and I medicated the cuts and bleeding as we rode on.  I have a small pack that hangs on the right side of my saddle with easy access labeled “1^st Aid” which includes all the basic needs from scratches, bee stings, major cuts, and pain meds.  I usually never get into this pack, but this trip it became a daily essential.  My other small pack hangs on the left, labeled TP.  Always good to make a quick identification for the need at the time.  As the day heated up, we enjoyed cooling off by using our shirts soaked in cool river water.   We marched down the trail to the eagerly awaited sign “Entering Eagle Cap Wilderness”.  And this is where the trail became interesting.  We hear rustling ahead.  Bear??????   We tentatively called out; “Yoo-hoo, Hellooooo, UUUUU WHOOO!!!!  Molly, we need to make some noise”!  The rustling continues and we are on high alert, but the horses are only mildly interested.  Trust your horse!  We proceed cautiously and peak around the corner…. COW!!!!  We had prepared to enter bear county with 2 “bear bells” attached to Jr’s packsaddle and did not anticipating seeing any sort of wildlife.  These bells create a noisy racket with each step the horse takes. Heart finally calms to a normal rhythm.  Up until now the trail is an easy bridle path for beginners and only needing to watch and dodge the Hawthorns.  We immediately must start climbing over down trees or finding easy work-arounds.  The typical work-around would be a scramble either on the horse and/or leading through the brush and weave between trees to get around an obstacle blocking a trail.  No problem for us seasoned trail riders.  Biggest hazard is getting stepped on by a horse when leading a horse through the brush and scrambling up and down steep banks.  We can do this! OK, next down tree. Not easy.  We better remove Jr’s pack as he would not fit thru the trees we have to squeeze thru.  And so, the day goes on with many trees down with easy to difficult to exceedingly difficult work arounds.  Many times, we must remove Jr’s pack to negotiate the travel around the down trees.  At this point two things passed thru my mind.  #1 we are going to have to use the saws.  #2 there is no turning back as the trailer is not there.  The only way is forward.  We had one lost and found event.  Charlie lost a $99 boot in a mud crossing.  Not a good thing to happen as Charlie really was relying on the comfort of wearing boots on the rocky trail.  Molly was lucky and found it floating on top of the mud pit. Finally, after 13.6 miles we came across a campsite and stopped.  Send Steve the preset evening message.  “All OK, going as planned”. Horses were hungry and we set up camp with the sun already setting in the canyon.  Dinner in the dark.  Steve is so thoughtful in finding the best gadgets.  This is our first time to use the Jet Boil stove.  WOW, they don’t lie.  It boiled water in less than 90 seconds.  Camping with premade, freeze dried meals is so easy.  Mountain House foods rock!  Clean up consists of a spork and bowl.  Washed the freeze-dried container and place it in a Ziplock bag in hopes we can eliminate any odors that might attract a hungry bear.   Hung up our pack with food in a tree to attempt to discourage a bear visit.  Uneventful night but the horses were still hungry and restless and sleeping interrupted with nickering from Joe and his hungry belly.  We both had our guns in our hammocks just in case of unwanted visitors.  First night out is always restless as the mind wants to wander into those dark places where bears and cougars roam the night. Devil get out of my mind.  Practice deep breathing and finally fall asleep in my new hammock.  Note to self.  When sharing a tree with another hammock sleeper, use a bigger tree as we could feel each other move.  Need a bigger tree!

(Molly) Before we got to the main trail, we did a little frogging down on the river.  We used Mim’s water filter system that works great.  It was easy and quicker than expected to fill up our bottles.  After making sure there was plenty of water (a newly found appreciation I have from our last little get away and we ran out of water on a hot day ride) we moved toward finding the wilderness trail.  On the way up there was a bog that Charlie decided to take the opportunity to use his 4-wheel drive.  Instead of following along he charged ahead where he had to hop over a log at the end and lost a boot in the frenzy.  Oh, great here we are not a day in, and I must go frogging around in the mud pit.  These are the only clothes I brought. I was soooo thankful to find it just on the other side of the log, and as if there aren’t a thousand reasons to be thankful to camp and ride along a river, here is another one.  (Needless to say, I love River camping!!!!)   While we were up on the trail, we saw one good size camp string all camped out down on the River: kids, horses, tents, water games, hammocks, and all strewn along the River.  They were having fun.

Our goal was to make it about 15 to 20 miles a day.  Since we got a later start from tacking up, we decided that a little over 13 miles that first day would be fine.  We had our sites on a place about 18 mi in, but decided we didn’t want to set up camp in the dark.  We came upon a nice little camp site next to the River.  And there was an ample number of trees to hang our hammocks.  We dropped our saddles and packs first (the horses were sufficiently wet so I’m sure they were happy to get them off), watered the horses, set up the horse high line, then the hammocks I love how easy it is to be ready to sleep, got dinner ready, fed the horses down to water for a final time before bed and chatted it up.  We tied up the horsed for bed and climbed into our little cocoons before it was really dark outside.

 As space would have it Mim and I were both hooked to the same smallish tree on our feet side. (Which made it all the more funny when wiggling to adjust; pillow, bag, hammock, pocket with toooo much stuff in it, wool sweater under my knees (because it is way too hot now from all that scrunching around in my cocoon)…  hhhhh, hhhhh, hhhhhh oh and bug net. By now both my legs are hanging over the sides…  ha ha ha Mim and I took turns apologizing for wiggling the tree.  We did chat over the trip so far and our thankfulness and excitement for being out in creation. We listened to the horses’ nicker.  Joe even gave out small whinnies. Which neither of us were too sure of.  We prayed out our gratefulness for this adventure and settled in. I was able to see some stars (Ailsa assured me this was a real treat, she was right!)  But of course, even when you are out in a beautiful wilderness the ugly can creep in. While I lay there in the silence all kinds of fears came into my mind to which I prayed away.  I was reminded on “Saving Private Ryan” where the sniper is the one who is always able to sleep.  He has put his faith in the One who is peace in the time of war. Being able to sleep knowing God will wake you at the right time has always been something I aspire to. 

Mim woke me up, “Molly, it’s 11 O’clock and I’m gonna take the horses for water they are restless.”  So, we untie them and take them down.  Jr is starving!  He is mowing every step of the way, so we let them eat.  When we get back up the hill to tie them, he is still putting as much in his mouth as possible.  But boys it is time for bed.  I think that was all he needed.  We crawled back in and then next thing I know it is morning.  I am a bit chilly.  I am hoping I won’t be this cool in the morning tomorrow. 

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Horse camping Day 2, Saturday, August 15, 2020

(Mim) Up at 5:30am to let the horses graze for a few hours. Awesome…we should get an early start down the trail.  Breakfast consisted of Mountain House scrambled eggs with sausage.  Sounds great?… right?  First thing I learn.  You can’t rush freeze dried food.  Stir it more than once. We ate our, so called scrambled eggs at the river.  It still was crunchy and too much water in it.  Looking back, maybe there was the right amount of water as I did measure it, but I didn’t wait long enough to hydrate all the food.  We ate as much as we could stomach and fed the fish the rest. 

(Molly) Loading up everyone we were ready to start off after Charlies lesson to stand while I get on.  One step toward my goal.  I am thankful to Mim and the boys for waiting a bit while we figured things out for that moment.  We did take some start up pictures for posterity.  Making sure to get in the pack horse, gun, and SPOT in the correct spot (on the hip not the horse).  Setting out on the trail I was thinking that this might be the day we could make up a few miles.

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(Mim) Each morning we reload the packs.  Molly brought her electronic sheep scale and that works fabulously to get our packs equally weighted.  An uneven pack is a disaster when moving. Weighed the packs and got each side to 35 lbs.  Saddle weight = 34.8 lbs, each panier 20 lbs empty, leaving us only 13.2 lbs of stuff we can pack to make my 100 lb goal.  Today load is 104.8 lbs.  Closer to our goal. On the trail at 10:10am.  My thoughts turn to the upcoming trail. How bad will it get?  Knowing the first few miles of any trail is well used, we were now on a trail without horse tracks.  That should have been our 1^st clue.   Our goal today was to make it past Red’s Horse Ranch, about 15 to 20 miles.  Yesterday we were on target for miles so have high hopes for today.  Within the first ½ mile we came to a tough go around.  This was the maximum pitch to be safe with horses.  That was my limit!  And so, it went for the next 2 miles.  We lost count of how many times we removed Jr’s pack to get around timber blocking our path.  These trees are no longer lodge pole size…these are full mature pine trees. Yet we hadn’t used the 4’ 2 person crosscut saw.

(Molly) Our trail was right along the river mostly etched into the hillside of the mountain with a steep up hill and quick decent to the river from varied heights.  Mostly high so far.  There are a few small logs laying across our trail.  The horses are obliged to step over and keep on moving.  Joe is so funny to watch go over anything, he seems to mostly huck his body over.  Mim and I have a good laugh at how graceful he is NOT.  Silly Boy.  Down to the river about 50 ft down we give the boys a drink and Mim time to do horse yoga.  Back up to the trail and it was becoming evident early on that this may not be the day to make up that ground.  This is getting to be a kid’s football game (go 10 yards pile up). There is no shortage of down trees.  Trees are requiring us to take off Jr. packs for us to skinny our way around. (Yes, even Joe is skinny-ing – no, maybe Joe is just bowling his way though.)  There are some logs that we could get high centered on.  I know this because when we are going over them my feet in the stirrups are touching the top of the log.  Good boy Charlie.  I love to feel him maneuver these logs. He has the most gentile hop or step with the front, humps his back to not scrape his belly, and gently hops with his back. It is as if he is trying to be sooo careful trying to not make any jarring motions. Kind of the opposite of what I see from our leader.  Ha ha ha Joe you crack me up. 

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(Mim) And then panic hit me? (Molly)Then the BOOM is lowered, and it takes a bit for me to register what she said, “Molly, I’ve lost SPOT.” (Mim) My Spot and InReach Garmin were no longer hanging from my belt.  All this crazy of negotiating the trail gave me no fear, but losing the Garmin and not in contact with Steve would most likely result in this being my last trail ride as a 2 person team and mostly I would cause Steve to become extremely worried when he sees we haven’t moved for days and no contact from us.  Each day before we start out on the trail, I send Steve and Bill a “share” my tracks so they can watch us move along via GPS satellite technology.

First response from Molly.  “Oh, I will just walk back and find it” and off she goes leaving me and the horses without time to process our options. (Molly) After it clicked, I said matter-of-factly, “I’ll go back and look for it.”

 (Mim) I have complete faith in Molly’s great eyes to find it.  But as I check my phone the last check in point was last night camp.  I begin to realize Molly may have a 2-mile hike back to the camp plus the return.  This could become a long day of waiting.  I didn’t like us being separated.  Afterall, Jr is wearing the bear bell and Molly is not and we have seen a lot of current bear activity along the trail.  After waiting an eternity and lots of time to worry about Molly, I sit and count the rings on the down log just to give my mind something to do.  Tree was over 100 years old.  I begin to wonder if we will have to saw a 100+ year old tree in half, I hope not.

(Molly) There are a myriad of thinks to think while you walk down the trail by yourself:  Did a little self-awareness check – Yep… gun, water… I’m good.  The woods are silent, but I grew up not too far away as the crow flies and I am feeling quite nostalgic walking.  I am thinking of possible places it could have come off.  It was hooked to her right side, so I am looking along the river side pretty hard.  The obstacle I pay closest attention to is where Mim got off by herself to saw down an overhead tree with many branches.  The main tree top she hefted over to the river side to get out of the way.  Several branches that were thrown in the same direction.  I un-piled and piled them up again.  Not there.  Next obstacle – up and around the log we DIDN’T cut down.  Here Mim led Joe up and around first and he decided to blaze his own trail on the other side.  It was sooo steep Mim was using the brush to stay up and not get pulled/run over at the same time.  I scoured this spot well.  Nope, not here.  Ok, well better keep looking.  I start singing a little hymn. — Out Damn SPOT, out.  I pass the sluffed away trail.   Well maybe I should have made a better plan with Mim.  Maybe a time to turn around, I am getting much closer to the camp.  Or I should have let her know I was going back to camp.  HHHmm is she going to come back looking for me. Well I better turn around.  I have been moving right along.  I am going to take a bit more time going back look a little more carefully.  I take a few pictures.  Notice the bear snout holes in the trees.  They, of course, have been the supposed measure of size for said bears.  It is so beautiful out here!

(Mim) Molly returns without the Garmin.  Since we cannot go on without it, we unload the packs and stash them next to a big tree.  I go to step onto a knee high log and “Bam”  down I go as the bark slipped off the tree, my right shin hits a cut off branch on my way down and I land on my left thigh right where my chap stick is stored in my pocket and the rest of my body wraps around the tree.  OUCH…that will leave a mark!  I question to myself, if they can cut off the branches why they didn’t cut the whole tree! Grrrr.  2^nd attempt mount up and start back down the trail to look together.  This means many more scrambles up and around down trees plus a 2-foot section of trail that was unstable.  As each horse crossed it a little more slipped away.  3 horses crossing once was sketchy. Now we are crossing it again, hold your breath and pray…that makes a total of 6 horses.  At this point I’m very discouraged and thinking of all our options.   Only one option…find the GARMIN!  I must tell you we started this journey with a prayer for safety and wise decisions.

(Molly) Back to Mim and now she is sure it came off back at camp.   Out, damn SPOT.  We decide to head back together, but we dump the packs off Jr.  and laugh about anyone being around to take them.  Off we head back down the tail… up and around… stride the expanse… and then it pinged.  Mim’s Bluetooth sounded close to the SPOT.  Yeah!!  Ok how close are we.  There is a nice turn out next to the River, we take the opportunity.  Mim will go back this time and look around where it pinged.  We tie up the horses and I settle into the river to filter water and cool off while Mim is looking.  She is gone for quite a while in my mind, even though she is just up the trail a bit – I think? I must have been gone forever… Here she comes.  I can tell, poor Mim.  We talk about how far it might be away and take a break in the River together, a little respite. 

(Mim) Since we can connect to the Bluetooth on my phone, I send text to Steve. “Lost InReach Garmin and Spot. We are OK but can’t find them on trail”. We searched that area of the trail again but did not see it. 

Molly is overheating from her hike, so I leave her cooling in the river and head back up the trail to search again.   

Steve received my message and replies.  “It should be right there as you are connected and sending a message”.  Mim.  “Still lost InReach somewhere on hill side.  We will go with plan b and pick up at Moss Springs”.    Mim. “What is the range of Bluetooth for connection to InReach”? No reply.  I continue to pace back and forth and determine the first ping location and mark it with a stack of rocks.  Back I go slowly searching.  Remember, it is two orange items.  Should be easy to see!  I give up and return to Molly, horses, and river in a complete state of discouragement and distraught.   

My mind is wandering to the thoughts that the Devil has blinded our eyes and it is in plain sight and we just can’t see it.  We sit soaking in the cold water and pray about it asking for unblinded eyes to see. We continued to sit in the river and eat our lunch of fresh water and beef sticks for the next 30 minutes.  We planned to use Molly’s reins so one could do a little repelling into the downhill side of the brush to continue the search while the other held the other end for stability.   That gives you an idea of how steep the hillside was.  We could not stand or crawl the side without fear of plummeting into the river 100 feet below.

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Refreshed and feeling empowered by prayer back up the hill we went to look again.  We received another ping this time marking the lower range of the signal on the trail.  Yeah, we have narrowed it down to about 50 feet of trail.  It has got to be here.  We then receive another message from Steve.   “150’ and here are the coordinates”.

 Molly and I looked at each other…150 feet!  The trail is less than 2 feet wide and it is about 100’ mostly straight down to the river covered in 6’ tall brush and it cannot fall uphill so do not even bother looking that direction.   We look at our feet trying to think wisely on our next decision of the search and there they are.  Laying two feet in front of Molly’s toes not 3 inches off the uphill side of the trail.  In plain sight.  Thank you, Lord!  At this point I no longer could contain my tears of stress.   What a great friend I have in Molly.  Hugs and tears exchanged, my tears in exchange fo(=r her hugs. 

I sent another message to Steve.  “Found InReach.  All is OK.”

(Molly) Back to the horses, we top off our water, and talk about these crazy happenings.  These are the times my heart swells when we start talking about how God is the answer.  Praying and praying has been the way to reveal this hidden in plain sight SPOT.  We pass around the thought of how the Devil works to hide the truth and keep us in fear. I am sooo thankful for a friend who is not afraid to discuss politics or religion.

(Mim) Then back to the horses and up the trail we went to continue.   Remember that 2-foot section of unstable trail, yep now 3 more horses cross it making 9 horses.  Pray and trust God and your horse.  Molly riding drag was dreading this but amazingly all the horses never missed a beat.  Horses have 4 feet and 3 are always on solid ground.  They are amazing creatures doing what they were made to do.  Praise the Lord!

 My next prayer… please Lord, keep the bears away from our packs.  The answer was YES!  We found our packs unmolested.   Packed up Jr, thinking our crisis is over and ready to put some miles on as it is now 2:30 ish and it is a hot day on a south facing bank of a canyon.  We continue up the trail with more, unpack, climb around, repack.  We made about another ¾ of a mile and we come across the impassable chest high 100+ year old tree on another steep hillside.  No way to get around this one.  With a semi enthusiastic groan, we tie up the horses to trees along the trail and proceed to put together the new 4 ft 2 man crosscut saw.  Mind you neither of us have ever used one of these but we got the handles onto the saw.  How hard can it be? Each person pulls their end of the saw and you cut the tree, right? 

First you must imagine this huge tree over 100+ years old, chest high on a narrow, steep trail.  We had poor footing on the downhill side of the trail.  The log was across the trail in a manner that with one cut the uphill side should drop to the ground.  We then should be able to walk/jump the horses over the log.  At least that was our reality “theory”.   Did I say it was hot?  Yes, the hot August sun was beating down on us against the south/west facing hillside.  And we begin. (Molly) It doesn’t take any time to realize I am not a wood cutter.  Can’t hammer and it looks like sawing a straight line runs in the same vein.  Though I can draw a straight line and shoot straight. HHMMM.  I understand the concept and Mim and I have suggestions on making it go better.  (Mim) We worked hard as a “team” but made little progress as we don’t have a clue how to keep a 2 person saw straight and it kept binding up on us.  At this point we think that a “how to YouTube video” would have been best watch before we left home. We finally resorted to the Samurai saw.  1 of us would whittle away at it as the other rested.  I was exhausted from my emotional lost Garmin morning.  Time kept marching on to the point the sun had set behind the mountain ridge giving us some relief from the heat. Molly did more than her share of the work but finally it dropped.  This tree did not appear to be rotten so was much harder to cut through than anticipated.  (Molly) It takes a little less than 2 hours and we made it through.  All we had to do is drop one side of the log. 

(Mim) Next to get all the horses over the log.  The log was belly high on the horses making it a more difficult crossing and neither of us had the energy or strength to do a 2^nd cut on the log.  (Molly) Joe went over. (All-be-it not pretty.  Ha Ha Ha Joe.)  (Mim) Jr. has now become the kind of horse that will not get into a trailer.  His mind is stuck, and he cannot move forward over the tree…. remember this is a narrow trail!  No room for training tactics. (Molly) Eventually we even took his saddle off in attempt to go over the large log still in the trail.  There was even a harder look at going around and above the tree stump. Rejected the idea, to dangerous. He would get one foot over and tug back even moving the downed tree.  Nope.  Pulling Jr. and tapping of sticks – oh a longer stick as he was targeting his kicks, coaxing, finally a trick learned from an Indian friend, tossing of stones on rump, and over he went.  Good Boy, he is so amiable.  I am tickled that Mim has this little horse he is incredibly fun to watch….   and we go on.  (Mim) Charlie then followed.   Saddle Jr and repack him.  Did I say the trail was narrow?!!!!  Just one more challenge to work through to get him all loaded back up with his packs.  We could not stand on the trail while loading the packs as it was only wide enough for Jr to stand on the trail, so we had to walk Jr. down the trail and carry the packs to him where the trail widened.

On we go.  More work arounds of down trees, including removing Jr’s pack for most work arounds.  We are exhausted and dusk is approaching fast.  We have gone about 3-4 miles ahead on the trail and praying for a good camp site.  The app I use is “On X Hunt” indicated a most likely camp sight due to low elevation change and we marched into the most beautiful mountain meadow and found a great existing elk hunting camp.  Send Steve the preset evening message.  “All OK, going as planned”. Tonight, we added glow sticks around their necks so we could keep track of them in the dark

(Molly) We set up the high line, hang the hammocks, and I head off to the river to wash off the stink of this day…. It is lovely.  Mim has been situating camp even a soft place to sit.  Dinner is on the docket and we settle in.  Next, Mim takes some time down at the river.  The horses have been devouring grass since we have stopped, enough eaten that they start topping just the grass grains. This has been quite a day.(Mim) Ate in the dark again but happy to have a great camp and the horses were calm and happy.  (Molly) Tonight, my hammock almost feels upside down and squeezy, but not enough to make any difference this night…. Clearly as Mim said she spoke my name a few times this morning… and nothing.  Wow, I must have been tired.  I am not a heavy sleeper, but I guess my body doesn’t like to be pigeon holed. 

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Camping Day 3, August 16, 2020

(Mim) Such a beautiful and peaceful camp.  So far, we have not talked to anyone else but each other and had only seen the people at a distance 2 days ago.  WOW who would have thought that possible.  No people!  Molly and I were enjoying the solitude and working as a great team.

Up at 5:30am and hobbled the horses.  Molly is out like a light. I let her sleep as yesterday, she did more than her share.  The horses had been short on feeding time the day before and still very hungry.  We only packed small rations of grain and planned to have them graze for all their feed.  All the horses were still calm and happy, so I crawled back into my hammock and snoozed off and on while listening to the horses.  They ate util 10ish.  We ate another Mountain house Beef Stroganoff for breakfast.  So far, we have not been eating many calories.  Too busy working hard on negotiating the trails.  We had swapped some things around when reality they should have been getting lighter.  So much for an early start, mounted and leaving camp at 11:20am.  Steve’s voice is muttering in my head…” I can’t believe you wasted all morning in the cool of the day in camp”.  But this is Molly and my trip, so I rejected his virtual comment and was happy to be where we were at. 

(Molly) Coming to packing up we always make careful work of weighing out the packs exactly.  (Mim) Today Jr’s packs got heavier at a total of 114.8 lbs.  (Molly) We laughed about the placement of the pink water shoes that make a couple oz difference.  (One of 3 pair Mim has pack on our GIRL camp out. Cowboy boots for the spurs, tennis shoes for the walk, pink water shoes for the river.  Steve gave a bit of flack to 3 pairs of shoes.  Ha HA HA) 

(Mim) Hoping today would be easier since the elk camp was freshly stocked with chopped firewood.  Someone had to have been there and they sure didn’t ride in the way we had come.  By this time, I had given up all hope of riding up Elk Creek to Buck Creek Trailhead.  Sent Steve a message of going to Plan B.  Pick up at Moss Springs on Monday.  Bless Jerri for wanting to pick us up. 

Off we go.  To my amazement, Joe got to the trail and turned right to continue the direction we have been traveling.  Horses always want to return to the trailer so, natural instinct should have been to turn left.  It seemed like he understood where he was, even without ever being there.  He knew his trailer was at the end of this ride and he put it into his higher geared walk.  He was on a mission for home. We leave the meadow and not less than ¼ mile from camp the trail narrowed back to a steep drop to the river and there It was!  No way to ride around this one.  Another 100+ year old tree, chest high with no way that 1 cut will do it.  2 cuts will have to be made.  11:27am.  Ugh.  No trees to tie up to, so we use the scrub brush.  The previous log cutting we tied to trees.  Joe had fallen off the trail with both back feet at the same time.  I was thankful he was tied to a tree to stop his fall to the river and he was able to scramble back up.  He now stands quietly, he learned! 

(Molly) We set into the pull, pull, rest, discuss, and repeat.  I continue to apologize over my lack of skill and wonder about this little tete et tete Mim and I engage in.  It is hot and the day has gotten on.  This could easily turn into more than a discussion. It could be a place where the heat rises the test of our lack of skill to a place that these two strong women have not ventured to go.  No, this will not turn into something ugly, we have come a long way and we… not going there.

(Mim) By now Molly and I have not mastered the 2-person technique.  We start with the 2 person and finish with the Samurai.  1:07pm.  Molly used sticks as wedges to pound in with her “cowboys” (fencing plyers) so the saw won’t bind up.  At one point she resorted to a basketball size rock as her hammering of the rock wedges.  It is heating up again and we are getting low on water.  2^nd Cut.  Getting better with the 2 person and made progress.  Seems at about the 1/3 cut we must go back to the Samurai as we pinch the saw due to our uneven cutting skills. 

(Molly) Done! One side cut.  Yep it’s still in the same position.  We were thinking that the log on top might let it move, but the one under it wouldn’t let it move so here we go to the uphill side of the trail.  Cutting straight down from the top will allow it to drop without pinching our saw.  And we start.  This seems to go a bit smoother and faster than last time.   When it is all said and done the cut is straighter too.  WE DID IT!!!!!!  There is such a good feeling in being exhausted, I know it is silly, but this is how we know God is good when we make it through tough times!  This really is poignant in our trip.   Praying our way through and working with what God has given us, because going back is not our way home.

(Mim) Finished the 2^nd Cut at 2:21pm.  But our bodies are now done, done, done and we have no more strength to cut another big log today.  Our water is all gone.  But we could smile at each other at the completed job.  Molly found a felt pen and added graphics and signed our log.  We pray again.  “Please grant us clear passage oh Lord”.

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(Molly) The trail moves off the river and, in the openness, Jr gets some kind of squirrely idea of the teasel poking him and goes off bucking leaving Mim.  We start to reassure with “Whoa, Easy… Whoa.  Jr. …”  And then he settles and comes back.  Oh Good Jr.   Yep that could have gone differently.  We may have lost all of it; Jr., packs…   Mim you have done such a nice job creating a good bond with this little guy.

All set again, and we are ready to go.  Most of our trail takes us to flatter ground and we get to travel today.  There were a few small trees over the road early on.  Joe got stuck going around so we got out the hand saw and easily unstuck him.   I am thankful for his easy going, stand still, over being stuck.   We kept the saw out for the two small dead trees that Mim quickly dispatched, and we pushed them aside.  We put the saw away with finality.  I was kept abreast of how much further to Reds Horse ranch and tried to keep in my head how long it would take us.  (Time and I have never been close.) Toward the end of our journey that day we met 2 hikers.  It’s always a good idea to engage people on the trail, more for the horses then anything, to let them know that it’s just people talking back.  Mim was telling our adventures to them “You are the first people we have seen in 3 days.”  With the way she put it, yes, we have been in a rather remote situation.  As I replay this it makes me laugh every time.  It did seem like he might have been just as happy to be moving along the trail. Snicker. We parted ways and moved along towards Red’s.

There were a few more sporadic rocks on the trail making Jr. and Charlie pick their way.  One of Charlies boots broke and came off and that was a small excitement of the day, glad that was all.  

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The campsite I hoped would not be occupied was near the Red’s Horse Ranch.  We popped over the ridge and I was excited to see no horses in the corrals and anywhere near the ranch.  Yeah…. As we searched quickly for the right trees to string our hammocks, we discovered the site was already occupied by a skunk.  Strike 1.  So back onto the horses to look at the end of the runway.  Yes, this valley is not included in the wilderness and there is a runway that is used by small “bush” planes to bring in campers and supplies.  So far there was only 1 parked plane, so there was hope for a good campsite.  But the prime campsite was already occupied with a family.  On we go and come to the Forest Service Cabin (ODFW) and it was locked up but had a wonderful covered porch.  We moved in!  Send Steve the preset evening message.  “All OK, going as planned”.

(Molly) First, high line for the horses, then hammocks in the trees.  But Steve had texted that there was supposed to be a thunderstorm.   We unpacked a bit more then decided to sleep on the cabin porch just in case.  We hung all our stuff and started dinner.  We took the horses down to a small water along the trail to the river.  They were not interested at all, so we let them out in the meadow hobbled and glowsticks – to see them more clearly in the dark.(Mim) And yes, it was near dark again and we are setting up camp.  (Molly) They were a bit buggery, so we walked them down to the neighbor camp on the runway to let them know it was ok. We spotlighted a deer in the main meadow, grazed the horses on the way back, and let them go halfway through the little meadow.  (Mim) The previous 2 nights had been quiet and happy horses to graze.  This campsite has a nice meadow and the horses were hungry.  Jr. the wild mustang was not happy.  There were wild things in the woods, and he is on high alert.   (Molly) Jr. decided that it was a bit much for him and there was another serious attempt at escape.  That’s it, time for bed.  They got tied up still hunger.

We too were thirsty and low on water but had enough to make a meal of Mountain House Chicken Teriyaki.  Yum, those people know how to make a freeze-dried meal tasty.

(Molly) This time the hammock and I were on good terms.  I am very thankful for the bug net on this night, because there are a lot more of buzzing things around tonight.  I am looking forward to the morning of just relaxing waiting.

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(Mim) Planning we could sleep in this last morning as we would be waiting for Jerri to meet us and then ride back to her trailer.  Yet again, our plans were rejected quickly the next morning.  Up at 6:30am…I guess that would be considered sleeping in.  Thirsty and horses are still hungry but still not comfortable in this meadow.  Even Molly popped out of bed earlier than usual.  I go in search of better water.  I take the trail cross the tiny muddy creek and I can hear the river in the distance, so grab all our water bottles and filtration, gun, and head out.  I tip toed across a log over the mud thinking…. “what is in these woods that makes the horses so nervous”?  And then I heard it!  Snuffling and shaking the bushes not 50 feet from my left.  A black bear.  I do not think he saw me as I had been incredibly quiet…. I spun around and zoom, back to camp I ran.  Molly looked at me and asked, “forget your soap”? 

(Molly) Mim should have taken the soap and wash cloth with her to wash up, oh well. I start puttering around.  Here she comes.  Maybe she wants the soap.  This is not the look of someone wanting to find the soap.  “I saw a bear!”  Wow I have yet to see a bear in the wild.   I know I expressed this and she assured me there was one over there and I could go see if I wanted.  “Nope, I’m good.” 

(Mim) With now a confirmed visual on the bear we began packing camp quickly, but not quick enough.  In comes a plane and 2 young men toting a large white cooler to the cabin.  The Fish and Wildlife Management have arrived.  We scamper about removing the hammocks and all our stuff to clear a path to the door.  They were very gracious to us even though we were the unlawful tenant.  As we packed another airplane landed and more men arrived.  So thankful we had gotten out of bed early.  By the time we loaded and were leaving 2 more planes had arrived and a total 8 men and all their gear to live for a week had arrived.  Interesting side note, they were there to study the fish in the river including catch tag and release and snorkeling the holes to see what fish were living there.  Now isn’t that a job we all can sign up for. 

(Molly).  We strike up a conversation with Greg and Thom.  (Because we haven’t seen people in 3 days.  Ha ha ha) We continue packing up with a bit more urgency since we have taken over their porch-ion of their cabin.  They do know horses.  One’s wife has horses and the other did some show jumping.  It was an enjoyable conversation. (Mim) Back to the ranch (less than ½ a mile) we go without breakfast or water on board.  It’s now something like 9ish.  We water the horses at the trough, unsaddle and unpack and hobble the horses.  Now time for some “down time”.  Set up on the ranch house porch and picnic table and enjoyed a most awesome cup of coffee with Nutella melted into it and English muffin with Nutella.  If you are a foody, this would not have been a trip for you. But this morning, that was an exquisite dining experience.  Since the Ranch was all locked up and closed due to “Covid-19” we had the place to ourselves with comfy lawn chairs to relax and just veg.  The hummingbird feed had been filled so someone has been maintaining the place but not this morning.  The hummingbird wars were like watching “live TV” but we were there seeing it happen.  What a joy to bask in morning mountain smells and the buzz of the birds.

(Molly).  A plane came in as we traveled to the ranch beside the runway, the boys didn’t seem to mind.  Since I have been in what Mim calls my “cowboy jammies” (leggings) for 2 days.  We get situated at Red’s the boys are hobbled and eating away, we have plenty of potable water.  There is some activity that goes on here.  Jr. is watching down the runway at commotion of people going here and there.  A plane takes off and we wait to see what the boys will do with that.  Nothing.   Good Boys.  They are happy to eat.  People come and go.  When the boys finish eating, it is time to put them in the ranch coral.  I have already let Charlie in there to roll (it is one of his favorite things to do.)  Since they are secure, we head down to the river for a little clean up.  It is a hot day, and the cool water will be wonderful.  The pool in front of the main cabin is just under neck deep.  We are in the shade, so it is a bit cool, but sooo nice. Mim scared out a big salmon, and now we can get set for the rest of the day.

(Mim) Ahhh the pleasure of a 50-60* ish bath on tired and sore bodies.  Once you do get in and go numb it is very therapeutic.  Since we were along the main trail, we kept the bath PG with our modesty intact.

(Molly) It was unclear if Jerri would make it down to Red’s because the text said she got a late start.  We were hoping for Jr’s sake, Jerri would bring a second pack horse and give Jr. a break going up the mountain. But it looks like that might happen.  Mim suggested we give the horses a little cool down refresher like we had, and we use the hose at the trough.  It was Jr.’s first hose down and he did well.  Charlie is old hat at water, and I think he enjoyed it.  I saw someone coming up the trail and told Mim there was another horse group here.  Only to realize it was Jerri.  So happy Jerri made it.

(Mim) And this trip did not fail us with more excitement and unplanned events.  Jerri arrived later than planned and the weather turned blazing hot.  According to Molly’s Mom, she would describe this day as “Hotter than Dutch love”. Hottest day of the ride.  So, we opted to continue waiting for Jerri as she arrived looking like melted butter and she needed to get to the river quickly to cool off.  Jerri is 72 years old and still riding the hard trails.  She says we keep her young trying to keep up with us.  I think it may be more the other way around.

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(Molly) We wait for a bit more, with Mim journaling our tale and me watching the birds.  We get started packing up and Jerri comes back refreshed.  There is a nice family that has flown in and we chat with them for a bit, while packing.  All the horses tank up at the watering hole and we set out to Moss Springs our second choice pick up point.

(Mim) We set off around 3:30 for our 8-mile uphill ride to the trailer.  It is still ridiculously hot, but we are all cool with wet shirts and underwear.  About a mile up the hill the weather starts cooling.  We are now in a narrow canyon of the Little Minam River and the clouds above us are moving in quickly.  I keep watching the clouds hoping we can make it to the top before a thunderstorm hits us. 

(Molly) I hope Ailsa’s saddle bags are balance enough for this accent.  They have not been a good match to this saddle and have been under constant adjustment. (I drink water out of this side – then that one…)    Here we go up and out.  This is much more of an incline then we have been doing.  Charlie is going at it quite well.  I have three boots on him, for intermittent rocks.  I’m back to not feeling quite as confident in his hulking me up the mountain and a little sorry for him.  This saddle slides back often and don’t like to tighten it up too much.  A way up the trail is a large quite sloping boulder and he slips down on his belly, scrambles up, and hoists himself on.  So far, he has been able to get himself out of a jam, and it is not because he is intentionally being reckless.   This is quite a steep grade and Steady Eddy “Joe” in front of us just keeps pressing forward.  Feeling Charlie under me, how is this going to work out all the way up? 

Somewhere in the distance was a wwoo hoooo. We press on.  One of the ladies Jerri met on the way down is still coming down.  I have just adjusted my saddle and we are waiting for her to get to a place we can pass each other.  We have moved over to the uphill side and she is telling us about her trip.  To include that her pack horse can be a kicker.   Hhmmm Nice, with hardly enough room for us to pass each other.  She does get past and we move again.  Our next obstacle is a family of hikers coming down on a corner with a bunch of rocks.  Charlie stumbles past them.   There is a certain amount of grip bare feet have to these boulder rocks.  I will be taking Charlies one front boot off at the next opportunity.  It is such a toss up to me. His feet have held up well on both rides so far.   These rocks are not jagged.   We move on a bit further and come to a trail junction, where we meet up with Peggy another lady Jerri talked with whose horse ran away from her back up to the trailhead.

(Mim) She had to hike back up the trail to retrieve her horse.  FYI…she was not a lady of the hiker’s club. If you have not ridden horses, this is one nasty trick a horse will play on his rider.  If they can, they will run all the way back to the trailer.  This could be only a short trek or days.  Always guard against a sneaky run away.    

(Molly) We take time to adjust Jerri and my saddles.  Jr. takes my saddle bags and that is a nice relief not to have to deal with those.  I will be replacing Ailsa’s bags because every other time I grab them to readjust there is another rip.  Charlies boot comes off and we are set to move forward.  We take up our position in the back.   One thing I really like about his horse is he can be held back with a minimum of fuss.  For all his frantic tendencies he will walk out away from the others and he will slow down from them too. I am discovering if I ask him to wait for a few.  He will or slow down long enough for them to get ahead, and it gives him the momentum and preplanning he needs to place his feet in just the right spot and it’s not all about catching up. Good boy Charlie.  I like his thoughtfulness on this part of the trail.  He also feels a little stronger to me now.

Wow this trail up the mountain seems like a freeway.  I think this trip has earned us our mountain goat badge along with the wood cutter badge.

(Mim) But as all plans this trip, that did not happen.  We are less than 2 miles from the top, at the most treacherous part of this trail along an open hillside with large granite boulders to scamper up and the rain lets go.  We watched the sheets of rain pelt the canyon.  And of course, we had to ride facing the rain.  And we are still damp from our swim.  Molly and I had wool sweaters handy and whipped them out quickly on the side hill trail.

(Molly) And now the wind starts to swirl with eerie darkness that comes with a NE Oregon storm.  There is something to the feeling of this, that has me almost giddy.  Maybe almost a sense of pride in this country that I grew up in, certainly a bunch of nostalgia that comes flooding to me, and I love it.  The horses are pressing forward, and it starts to put down the gentle big drops.  And Joe has started to move along at a good clip for the last little bit.  No need for us to fart-lick (a cross country term – not crude) our way up the mountain anymore.  Each humans group is spread out now.  Jerri walks some.  I see Jr following Joe but now that the storm is here, he is trying to get his butt to the wind.  This is where instinct is strong, but he is now at the mercy of Joe who seems to also know with increasing determination that the way home is not back.  It is the funniest thing to watch a horse lead and try to get his butt to the wind at the same time.

(Molly) And we pop out on top.   Wow even sooner than I imagined.   Just like that we are done.   All that tough – just a memory.  Mim is in a desperate way and we all dismount, letting the horses graze their way to the trailer.  Jerri has gone above and beyond, and we are blessed with fresh watermelon, fruit jello, and chocolate zucchini cake and a Corona.  This girls pack trip has been so many things.  We took time to eat a not real meal one of my favorite things about girl camp and let the horses settle.  This didn’t feel like a rush.  Then we popped the horses in the trailer, jumped in the truck and headed for home.  Praise God for such a trip, no cars on the way down till we got to town, and the lightning show on the way home.  An adventure to remember.  

(Mim) Ah the simple things in life just get sweeter when you have been tested with survival in the wilderness. 

Bonus at the end of our ride we see a beautiful herd of Elk cows and calves as we drive out of the trailhead parking lot.

Got to the freeway at dark and drove home watching the lightning storm ahead of us.  Jerri took us to Molly’s house where Steve met us.  It took all of 5 minutes to transfer horses and gear.  Molly’s husband Bill and all her children were there moving stuff so fast.  Home at 11:15pm.  Exhausted, bruised, sore and thrilled to have made a trip such as this. 

Next trip is being planned.  But this next trip we will verify if the trail is cleared.  However, we know we can do it and if we must do it again. Never give up.  God is with us every step of the way. 

Some might think all this talk of how God watching over us is a bunch of hooey.  In my heart I know I am small and not in control.  This trip was a true story of how we can make plans, but we still are not in control.  If a person fights to be in control, we only lose more control of our mind and the situation.  Letting God be in control brings peace within.  This became a quest and discover of who I am. 

One has lots of time to contemplate life while living in the woods with nature. This sums up my view of God.  God is like a bear.  You cannot see the bear, but everywhere you look you can see the bears work.  And occasionally, you hear or see a partial glimpse of him.  My God is like a bear!  He is very real!