Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Hi All,
Roxanne and I are back from our exciting trip to CA to ride part of the Tevis trail. All I can say is WOW, WOW WOW! 
We definitely had an interesting time right from the get-go. Our luggage didn't make it to Sacramento with us, and you can imagine our surprise at that! How do you ride thirty miles of mountainous trail with no tights??? 
Roxanne had carried on her helmet and riding boots, and I was wearing my new Ariat Terrains, but my helmet and all our tights, shirts, and of course other essentials were in our luggage. The next flight in wasn't until 11pm that night, so we headed on up to Auburn without it. We figured we could go into town later and pick up bare essentials after checking in with Judy in Pilot Hill. 
After arriving and meeting Judy Houle and her sidekick Peter DeCarli, we met the horses and Judy tried to reach Potato since we were borrowing one of his horses for Roxanne. We made arrangements to pick up the horse the next morning.
We finally got dropped off in Foresthill Sunday about 1pm to ride. Roxanne was excited to learn that she was riding the dam of SMR Fayette de Cameo (the 2002 Tevis winner). Roxanne's mare "Cami"  was no slouch either; having completed the Tevis seven times and the only of Potato's horses to finish this year. 
We realized pretty quickly that we both had super nice mounts for our weekend "jaunts" on the California loop and the Francisco's-to-the-finish trail. 
My horse "Felix" is one of Judy Houle's Tevis horses who has finished three times. Both horses rode in bitless bridles, and were just super nice going down the trail. 
I was amazed as soon as we left Foresthill. The trail is breathtaking, and everything I had dreamed of. Being from Florida, we don't see too many mountains, and the views were great. The CA loop very quickly puts you on some pretty narrow ledge trails with sheer drop-offs. Judy advised us that many folks find this one of the scariest parts of the Tevis trail. Roxanne and I did OK with the heights, and the footing isn't too terrible there. 
I was all excited about taking photos, but while stopped at a creek crossing only two miles out, I discovered the pouch I had my brand new $200 digital camera in was gone! I was freaked. We decided to wait until we were done and go back up by truck so that I could hike down to find it. I wasn't too happy about that; feeling certain it would be gone, but that was our final plan. (more about that later)
Judy's more in-experienced horse tried to rush up one steep climb and stumbled pretty bad. I saw it all from behind and it scared the day-lights out of me! He almost went over the edge as he scrambled for his footing practically on his belly. Fortunately Judy remained balanced and never came off. "Copy" got a little cut above the coronary band, but was pretty sound after a few minutes. 
We took a leisurely 5 hours to ride the 17-18 miles from Foresthill to where the trailer was at Driver's Flat. 
When we reached the trailer, Judy's friend Pete was waiting for us on his Harley, and offered to take me back up to Foresthill to look for the camera. I was extremely grateful for the time savings. I hiked down almost two miles until I found the camera intact in it's pouch laying right in the middle of the trail. It turned out that it was probably less than a quarter or half mile from where I discovered it was missing off the saddle. 
When I turned to go back up, I very quickly discovered the reason you need to take care o0f yourself on this trail! I could not go more than about 400-500 feet without feeling exhausted! I wasn't really getting out of breath, but I broke out in a profuse sweat, and felt very faint and nauseous. I had drank well while riding, but stupidly started down that trail without any drink. Needless to say, the altitude was probably affecting me as well. At any rate, I had to sit or lay down right in the middle of the Tevis trail about four or five times on that two mile climb out. Boy did I feel dumb! And I consider myself to be in fair physical condition! I guess it was a combination of riding for five hours then trying to climb for forty-five minutes with no water that did it. I sure learned a valuable lesson for next year's Tevis...
The Harley ride down out of the mountains from Foresthill sure was a treat after that though. A gorgeous CA sunset over the mountains, and a cool breeze after a hot day in the saddle; what more could I ask for?
Day two was just as spectacular. We rode from a little trail on the Auburn Lake system above the Poverty Bar river crossing, down to the river, then all the way to the finish line by way of no-hands bridge. This trail is much better to make time on during the last 15 miles of the ride, but we once again took our time and enjoyed the sights while taking photos and picking black berries along the way. 
I was very introspective on this day, as I imagined myself on my own horse next year getting that far on the Tevis Cup. There are a few treacherous places just in that last five miles that I've already decided I'll lead him over if we get that far!
I was also thinking alot of our fellow south-easterner Claude Brewer who finished again this year, but has never seen the CA loop or the Francisco's-to-the-finish line because it is after dark. Claude, if you are reading, it was GORGEOUS! 
Roxanne and I have decided that we are going to try and prepare our Florida horses for this incredible adventure next year, but we know that it will be "fearsome tough", and we will have to rely on all our skills to get us there and through it. 
All in all our trip was great- although we had  many hang-ups with airlines, luggage, the hotel on the last night, baggage pick-up (we did finally get our luggage on the way home), and other miscellaneous problems. We did begin to wonder what else could go wrong! But the riding was wonderful, and that is what we wnet there for. We want to thank Judy Houle for being our guide; she seems to be one tough cookie (thirteen time Tevis finsiher). And also Pete DeCarli for being the consummate gopher, and Potato and Cathy Richardson for loaning Roxanne Cami.
If you would like to view our photos from the trail, here is how:
go to www.snapfish.com  put in my e-mail address cowgirgoof@xxxxxxx and my password for the snapfish account which is ponygirl. Then click on the Tevis album and enjoy. 
Becky Siler