Paul - Sounds like your ride was a huge success! The first ride I put on
(Blackfoot Valley in Montana) I was a nervous wreck weeks before the ride and
pretty much useless the day of the ride. Lucky for me too I had great help.
Funny things happened (didn't seem funny at the time!) The first vet check on
the 50 was 18 miles out at a trial head...from there the trail headed due north
into the bob marshall wilderness and then into Glacier park. The ride
route cut off that main trial about 1/2 mile from the vet check and cut through
the hills west about 13 miles back to camp. I was at that out vet check helping
with everything. All the riders except two had arrived and left and I was told
by riders that the two missing riders had turned around and gone back to camp
deciding that 50 miles was going to be too much for them (it was their very
first ride). Therefore, I sent the vets and PR people back to base camp and sent
my drag rider on who was also pulling all the ribbons as he went. AS I was about
to leave here come the two missing riders! I called one of the vets back,
they checked through and I sent them on their way with instructions to "Just
follow the ribbons" forgetting that I had already sent the drag rider on! Then I
headed back to camp and forgot about them. A couple of hours later here comes
one of the local outfitters into camp with truck and trailer and with him were
those two first time riders and their horses. Turns out they had headed out from
the out vet check and as there were no ribbons, missed the turn off the main
trail and headed off into the depths of the wilderness! They were about 6 miles
in when they came upon this outfitter and his string packing out. Needless to
say the outfitter was surprised to see these two riders on their bug eyed arabs
in their lycra tights, helmets and funny saddles trotting towards him in the
middle of the wilderness. He convinced them to turn around and then trailered
them back to camp. Boy were they mad!! And I was horrified! And
embarrassed...they packed up and went home! Moral of the story...not sure but I
think it is leave the ribbons until the ride is over and everyone has been
accounted for!!
