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[RC] Nick Warhol - Wild West Ride Story- part 4 of 5 - Nick Warhol We attended the Saturday night pot-luck, it was superb! There was a
ton of food, and my salad was demolished. I snagged a big hunk of
fresh BBQ Salmon, okay, so I had a bigger hunk than I should have. It
was good! Today I got an embroidered pillowcase for my finisher award.
That's a new one, and quite creative. Warpaint looked just fine after
his second day, and since Wabi looked great, day three was next!
We woke up and headed out at 7 am again, a very civilized
starting time, don't you think? Judy and I were at the back of the
pack, intending to just ride through slowly and get a completion. We
hooked up with a few horses after the start, which today heads right
down the single track trail from camp. About 3 miles from camp we came
to a clearing with not many trail markings, we didn't see the ribbon to
the right, since we were looking at the photographer down on the road in
front of us who was on the trail. We rode towards him, he directed us
to go that way, to our left! We did, and in retrospect, might have
noticed that the turn ribbons were on the left. Down the trail we
went, and in about a mile started up that big climb again. We walked up
the long hill, a couple of people passed us, but that seemed normal.
Then when we are about half way to the top, the leaders come blitzing up
behind us. Uh oh. They are confused, we are confused. We get off the
trail and let them go on their way, we turn around and head back down.
That durn photo-guy sent us on the trail, but the wrong part. We missed
a loop of about 3-4 miles. Okay, back down, we did the loop, turning
around several people who had done the same thing we did. We did not
get lost, we just went on the trail too soon. What the heck- we only
lost 40 minutes or so, and got to ride some extra miles! At the top of
the hill (the second time!) people were trying to get it sorted out.
Two women rode the entire top loop and got passed by the leaders, they
were confused as well. They were cool- they just rode back down that
big hill and did what we did. Adapt and overcome, I always say.
Once we got back on trail the ride got really fun. Single
track, single track, and more single track. Oh Boy! These are some of
the best trails anywhere, and they were loamy soft with no dust or mud.
There are parts where if you trust and can steer your horse, you bend in
and around trees that would take your knees off if you were not careful.
Very fun! We were whooping it up through there. We did encounter a few
dirt bikes, out in the unbelievable conditions, but they were all very
good and shut down or turned around when they saw us. The vet check and
lunch came too quickly- those trails are too much fun. We were going
pretty slow, and doing the extra miles got us out of the lunch check
around 1:00. Now we got to do the cool pink loop again, the one we did
on day one. We trotted most of the 8 miles or so to the water- the
weather was nice and cool today. We let the boys eat for a while at the
stop, while we got the rattlesnake warnings! Okay, yes, we will be
ever-vigilant. The snow was just about gone, it is amazing how fast it
melts. Two days earlier there was a couple of feet of the stuff on the
road in spots, now it was just about history. But those roads were
prime! A last trip down the steep hill, where Judy rode Wabi down,
(Wabi from Snowy River? I don't think so!), brought us back to the
roads and the water stop, from here it is a nice downhill jog to the vet
check. Judy was watching Wabi, he seemed to be a little leg weary, but
he was fine for the vets. It is only a few miles from there to the
finish, which we crossed for the last time around 4:30 pm or so. The
horses vetted out fine, with Warpaint looking very good. Hooray! More
pillowcases as awards, now we have three. (one is a spare?) Sunday
night's dinner was catered, it was good, but not as good as that
pot-luck!
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