Eastern High Sierra Classic ( long ride story )

["Becky" <bechack@sierratel.com>]

First of all I would like to thank Jackie B for putting on this beautiful
ride.  Last year I drove 12 hours from San Diego to do this ride....this
year I only had to drive through Yosemite......Oh, you mean there is a road
that really goes all the way through?   Well sort of...Let me digress....

It was August 13th....you remember....FRIDAY the 13th....Well, I was really
going to try to get out of the house in good time.....yea, right....first
thing when I got up to feed, I noticed that the horses were making much more
racket than usual, especially since I don't usually feed this
early......Came around the corner of the bunkhouse and found out why....the
neighbors' 4 mules were in my yard.....My guys were all worked up, kicking
and running around....Can't go complain to the neighbors about the
mules....they are out of town, and WE are watching them for the
neighbors..!!!    They are having a new power line put in to the house
(underground) and the workmen have taken down a corner of the pasture
fencing and patched it up for the night with ROPE!   Well, they thought that
was some kind of a joke!

Well, a couple of hours later, mules in THEIR yard, my guys settled down, I
am off to the grocery store to shop for the weekend....I am really not
getting off to a very early start....Oh well, It's not 12 hours away this
year....

Finally get packed up and on the road...the road from Coarsegold through
Mariposa and on to Yosemite is pretty all by itself...Not fast going, but I
am not in a hurry....No Problems....Until the last bit of road into and in
Yosemite...it seems this section is under construction.....My dirt road at
home is wider, and they want you to pass at speed....One Double gas tanker
came barreling down the mountain, I got over as far as the cliff would allow
me....and I swear there was no more than a horsehair between our
mirrors.....Now I have driven rigs since before I had a license ( trust me ,
a long time ago ) and have over 100,000 miles on this current rig alone, and
this stretch of road SCARED ME!!!   AND I HAVE DRIVEN LA FREEWAYS AT RUSH
HOUR WITH THIS RIG WITH OUT EVEN BREAKING INTO A SWEAT!!!!!!

OK, so we turn left on to real road.....The rest of the drive is
breathtaking.....all the way through Yosemite....then out, down the hill to
good OLE 395, hang a left and off to Bridgeport.....Up the last hill the
truck begins to smoke into the cab!   No power loss, isn't running rough,
temp gauge shows ok.   NOW WHAT.....Get to top of hill.....down hill seems
fine, smoking stops...everything seems ok....on to basecamp....whew....

I get Marc out of the trailer, get him all settled in....our neighbors have
2 corrals set up, one horse in one of them.....She is pitching a
fit......Marc looks at her....chomping on hay....Why are you wasting so much
energy...?????    I love this little guy.....

I am tent camping again (different long start about my campers...)   I
forgot the heater!!!   August and she is worrying about HEATERS you say?
YES, we are at something like 7500 feet!   It is cold at night ( does ICE on
the ground where I dumped a bucket last night count )    Well, after not
sleeping for what seems like forever ( why do those nights seem to last so
much longer than the ones where I am enjoying the inside of my eyelids and
pillow so much ....ah, but we are enduring!

Doing this ride this year is interesting for me....This is the first ride
that Marc has done before....I was able to compare where he got pooped last
year as a green 5 year old, and this year as a blossoming 6 year old...what
a difference....I also have seen this trail (ok most of it) before, so I
have seen it before too!!!   Now, for those of you that have ridden with me
before, you know me as a back of the pack rider (UNTIL NOW)  When I started
endurance 5 years ago on my then 14 year old Arab mare, It took me 500 miles
of LD to get up the courage to try 50's.....then my previous horse was a
guinea pig of sorts, I had to bring him back from suspensory damage,
splints, stupid rider mistakes, and just when we were back and starting to
move up the speed.....I lost him to something unrelated......back to square
one.....sort of ....Marc was at home minding his own business being a cute
little 4 year old with nothing to do....until now.

I was not going to risk this horse's legs to my stupidity this
time....LSD....LSD.....LDS....varied terrain...Mountains, single track,
water crossings....down to the riverbed and the sand......hard pack
roads....rest in between....I have tried to do everything right with my
baby....He is my own home grown baby out of same 14 year old mare!

So off we go to do our first 50 in a rip snorting 11:53....."Dead Stinking
Last" as my daughter put it...

Well, speed forward to a year later.....things going very well....only one
pull, slightly off....terrified it was legs.....turned out to be the dreaded
saddle fit , his back was  so sore he almost went to the ground in pain when
I went to rub his back!    We have  for  now at least worked that one out...
here we are ready to tackle this most impressive ride, one Jackie says is a
good Tevis training ride!

Morning dawns....We are off with the sun....walk out of camp like a good
boy....now is when you use your energy....you go forward...you pull asking
for your head....you know the way....We blast into the first water stop
which is a trot by, which turns out to be a pulse down and trot out vet
check, no hold....Only about 6 miles into the ride, but Marc drinks well,
trots out just fine....and off we go down a road past twin lakes, this ride
is just beautiful.   The pack of horses has not thinned out at all....lots
of horses, most are moving along just fine, no reason to pass, just keep
moving....up to more views, more breathtaking with each turn of the
switchback!

We finally get back down off the mountain to where we can make some time,
and Marc picks up this incredible collected canter and we are just rolling
along back to base camp, we both know where we are, and WE ARE THERE!!!
This ride has been 5 years in the making, and I am in heaven on earth.....

Part 2 in the morning.....


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