20 Mule Team

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Karen Sweaney sweaney@earthlink.net
The 20 Mule Team 35/65/100 went great this year.  
Jackie and her crew put on a great ride.  The 
weather was very nice - partial clearing during 
the day with cloud cover at night.  The breakfast 
was great with biscuits and gravy, potatoes, ham, 
eggs, juice, and coffee.
 
The trail was well marked even with the mud and snow.  
The surrounding mountains had a nice white blanket 
that provided some spectacular views.  The desert 
rides in the Ridgecrest area usually have sand, but 
sticky, slippery, shoe sucking mud, clay, and snow 
are a bit unusual!  I enjoyed the change and found 
that it was a lot of fun to ride in the snow.  
Fortunately, the wettest part of the trail came 
before the lunch check while there was plenty of 
daylight to see the footing.  I sure wouldn't have 
wanted to ride through there in the dark.  The 
last 35 miles of the 100 didn't have any of the 
mud found on the first loop.  Well, I don't 
think there was any but since it was dark, 
it's hard to know for sure :0). 
 
There was plenty of water on the trail with 
troughs and all of the many puddles.  All 
the water stops had hay and super friendly number takers/volunteers.
 
There were around 58 horses who started the 
100 with 42 or so finishing.  The 65 miler 
had somewhere near 70 horses start with 50 something 
finishing (I think) and the 35 miler had about 
65 start with all but 3 finishing.  I am 
guessing at these numbers so don't quote me.
 
Dave Nicholson, head vet, warned all riders 
to be extra careful as the vet crew was limited 
this year.  I heard that there were 3.5 vets for 
about 200 riders.  I was really pleased with the 
P&R and vet staff.  I never had to wait for a 
vet and when someone thought I was waiting, 
all I heard was "so sorry to keep you waiting."  
The vets were all friendly, knowledgeable, and 
very concerned with my horse's well being.
 
Thank you Jackie for putting on such a great ride!
Karen Sweaney & Montoya DSA (who just got her 1000 miles )