A Grand adventure

["Karen Steenhof" <steenhof@cyberhighway.net>]

Hi everyone-

I usually don’t write long stories about rides, but this one was special,
and I wanted to share my experience with several of you…..

The Grand Canyon XP was one of the first rides I circled on the 1999 ride
calendar.  The rides that Dave and Ann Nicholson  manage are always my
favorites, and I had heard all positive things about the Grand Canyon ride
that was first held in 1998.  For awhile I thought there was going to be a
big group of us heading down from Boise. But one by one, everyone else’s
horses came up with problems.  I really didn’t want to go by myself, but
Thorn was having a great season.  When I calculated that the 3 days would
give Thorn his 7,000 miles and me my 11,000, I was bound and determined to
get there.

The drive down was uneventful—except for the 2-hour nerve-wracking part
through Salt Lake City traffic (grrr!).  The weather was perfect and the
scenery was great.  I had Ivan Doig’s novel, English Creek, on tape to keep
me entertained.  We spent Thursday night at the fairgrounds in Nephi, Utah
and arrived at base camp shortly before 1 p.m. on Friday.  Camp was in a big
cow pasture 15 miles east of Freedonia, Arizona (not far from Kanab, Utah).
There were lots of familiar faces.  The XP group is almost like family now.
I spent most of the afternoon catching up with old friends and making new
ones while Thorn ate, drank, and rested.

Day 1 started across the desert, with the sunrise illuminating the pink
cliffs of the Bryce country, just north of us.  The desert looks much like
ours in Idaho, except for the cholla cactus!  We climbed up through the
pinyon/juniper zone, then  into the Ponderosa Pines, and finally into the
spruce and aspen, which were in full color.  We followed the Navajo trail
for the first part of the day and then the Arizona (Kaibab trail).  LaVonne
Booth fixed her terrific lunches at the vet check, as usual.

I teamed up with my friends, Phyllis and Otis Bartholomew from Page, Arizona
and Mari Ural from Park City, Utah.  The four of us have ridden together on
many XP days.  We have similar riding strategies, and our horses are
compatible.  Both Mari’s and Phyllis’s mares have done all 16 days of the XP
this year (Mt. Carmel, Ft. Schellbourne, Bryce, and GC).  Phyllis’s mare (a
Rushcreek Quincy daughter) is awesome—in addition to the full XP series, she
did the Bighorn 100 and won overall BC on the Outlaw Trail this year.
Phyllis is the one who rode Thorn on the last day of the Bryce XP last year,
and I was with her when her mare got 5000 miles at Ft. Schellbourne this
year.  So it was fitting that Phyllis was with me when Thorn got his 7000
miles. We rode together the entire 3 days.

Our Saturday night camp was up in the trees at 8000+ feet; it was a bit
crowded with 50 or so rigs.  I lucked out on having capable drivers move my
rig.  Some rigs were driven to the wrong camp!  I had arranged for Anita,
who was crewing for MJ and Dean Jackson, to come back for my rig after she
moved the Jacksons.  Unfortunately, before the start of the ride on Day 1,
the Jacksons’ 3 horses escaped, and their backup horse got badly cut in
barbed wire.  He had to be sutured, medicated, and tended all day—which
meant that Anita couldn’t leave the horse or her rig.  Everett Lambert and
Ken Fisher came to the rescue and parked my rig in an ideal spot. The early
morning jaunt didn’t seem to bother the Jackson’s other horses.  Dean was
2nd and BC on Day 1.  MJ was 3rd and BC on Day 2.

Saturday night was the only time that I had any real worries about Thorn.
He seemed quite tired after the first day's ride, and didn’t seem to be
eating enough.  I decided to go out and take him for a midnight stroll to
see if it would stimulate his appetite.  I stepped out of the camper and
fell—spraining my ankle for the first time in my life!  But the horse needed
to be walked so I did.  He grazed; I ran into someone else up and about and
was able to procure some hay that Thorn liked much better than his own (of
course).  When I got back into the camper, I took off my shoes to find a
lump
on my ankle the size of a baseball!  Oh Great!  Now I could stop worrying
about Thorn and start worrying about myself!  Never mind the pain (I had
plenty of ibuprofen)…how was I going to get a boot on?   Fortunately the
swelling had gone down by Sunday morning, and I found that it didn’t hurt at
all to ride. Phew!

The first half of Day 2 was single track trail heading south across the
Kaibab Plateau, mostly through Aspen stands, with excellent footing.  We
stopped frequently to let the horses graze along the way.  We got our first
glimpse of the Grand Canyon from the East Rim Lookout.  After lunch we had
several miles of hard, gravel road.  Apparently several people complained
about it.  We just looked at it as an opportunity to slow down and let the
ponies walk during the hot afternoon.  Temperatures were unseasonably warm;
there wasn’t much water; and my horse already had a long thick winter coat.
The slower pace paid off.  Thorn looked much better after the first day than
the second day.  We camped in a large dry meadow, again at a high
elevation.  This time Anita had moved my rig.  Because Day 3 was a loop, we
wouldn’t have to shuttle rigs anymore.  And the showers were finally
working!

Day 3 was the first really cold morning, with lots of ice on the buckets.  I
was surprised that only a few of us started off with rump rugs.  Everyone
started slowly and picked up the pace only after the horses warmed up.
About 10 miles out, we saw our first real view of the Grand Canyon.  It was
awesome.  The Rainbow Rim trail went for 18 miles—looping out into the trees
and then back to viewpoints on the rim.  We had no water on those 18 miles,
but we did have bees!  All of us got stung at least once.  We also saw a
rare Kaibab squirrel.  Several people pulled at the vet check—both lameness
and metabolic.  Overall, this ride had more pulls than the usual Duck rides.
I don’t think there were any spare horses by Day 3.   I think it was due
mainly to the rocky footing, the lack of water, and the  warm temperatures.
But our 4 horses looked great, so we continued on, making time on the good
footing and slowing up on the rocky stuff.  It was a great feeling to end
the ride (and the season) on a happy, healthy sound horse.  I am so proud of
him.  I never dreamed he would be able to do 700 miles in his 13th year of
endurance at age 18!

I never did ride up with the front runners, so I don’t have all the scoop on
the top placings. I know that Dave Rabe won the first day and rode the last
2 days on a different horse.  Christophe pulled the first day, won the ride
on his spare horse the second day, and pulled on his spare horse the third
day.  Steve Shaw won first and BC on the third day; his wife, Michelle was
2nd.  Collina Nicholson rode with Sandy Devane and ended up with overall
best time and overall BC.  There was some confusion because Dave offered a
2-day 100 in addition to the regular 3-day pioneer event that consisted of
separate 50s.  Some people weren’t sure which they had entered, much to Dave
’s
consternation.  I believe Sharon Dumas won the 2-day 100 and Crockett won
BC.  Crockett and Sharon both rode the 3rd day.  I think about 30
horse/rider teams finished all 3 days.

The trip home went as smoothly as the trip down (with the same awful traffic
jams in SLC!).  I stayed at the Golden Spike Fairgrounds in Ogden where they
were having a Youth Rodeo.  So I had some entertainment to unwind my nerves.
I got home a little after noon on Wednesday.  It looks like I have several
loads of laundry to tend!

Karen Steenhof (11,035 miles) and Ambers Thorn (7,025 miles)
Boise, Idaho
steenhof@cyberhighway.net






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