LOST-N-LAVA

September 26 2015

All kinds of adventures and excitement (the good and the bad kind) took place at the first Lost 'N Lava endurance ride near Shoshone, Idaho.

Upon arrival, if you took the correct turn off the highway into Ridecamp, you'd drive past a truly spectacular modern throwback homestead, with acres full of collections of every possible piece of everything you could ever need, want, or imagine. Big steel A-frames anyone? How about wooden ones? House frame? Or any of a dozen old tractors, lined up in a parade row. (One old tractor got a flat tire while plowing up one of the fields, and why fix that tire when you can just hitch up another tractor? Although there were surely spare tractor tires somewhere on the place.) Some old chevy car. Lots of other old cars. And pieces of cars. And former pieces of former cars. Generators. Machines. Cabins. Pieces of cabins. Old bridge. Old wagons. Older wagons. Lots of huge hunky draft horses running free. Lots of baling twine. Baling twine holding up 'fences' made of steel girders. Sometimes it was a tight fit, squeezing a big horse trailer on the two-track dirt road through the collections. You would not want to meet a horse trailer coming out at you, because neither of you would have room to make a mistake backing up!

This was the Barney's property, a laid-back, friendly, calm father and son, jack-of-all trade throwbacks to the 1880's it looked like, who happily let Lynn White put on a ride out of their place.

Upon arrival, if you took a wrong turn off the highway on what looked to be the right road, but turned out to be the wrong one, you might have ended up on a narrowing-to-scary dirt road along a canal, with not much choice in turning a rig around. That happened to Drin, who came all the way from Montana for the ride. (And after all that driving from Montana, Drin was so sick with the flu on Saturday, she didn't even get to ride.)

But it was a good thing Drin came, however, because a sick, scrawny one-eyed cat sidled up to Drin the evening that she arrived, begging for a rescue. Somebody must have dumped the cat, who was once obviously human-owned, and it had survived for who knows how long, along a creek among owls and coyotes, on wits and cat prayers, until heaven arrived in the form of a camp full of animal-loving endurance riders. At Friday's ride meeting, money was quickly raised so the cat could be treated by a vet. It was obvious that New Cat/Lava/Barney would be adopted by the end of the ride by some softie, you could just tell...

Read more here...

I think Lost-N-Lava was an overall success, but more so for some, not so much for others. I believe Lynn had a total of 50 riders, not quite sure of the mix on 50 and LD, and I think three trail riders.

Unfortunately hell started breaking loose early on, with reports of an injured rider on the first loop and Lynn taking off to try and find the rider. I never heard the ultimate result of that issue but I do know two riders on the first loop took a wrong turn somewhere and wound up going several extra miles.

The next crisis came when Lynn received a report of an injured rider on the pink loop and she was again off and running. Turns out Julia Corbin's mare had reared and gone over with her. Julia suffered a badly broken pelvis and was transported via Life Flight to Saint Alphonsus in Boise (REMINDER TO ALL: RENEW YOUR LIFE FLIGHT MEMBERSHIPS!). Fortunately, Ann Kuck and Pam Davenport were with Julia the entire time but it took a couple of HOURS before she was finally evacuated, after it became apparent the ambulance couldn't get closer than about half a mile and her injuries were serious enough that she needed Life Flight.

Julia is still in the hospital and not quite up to visitors just yet but has been posting on her Facebook page.

The next crisis was when a horse required treatment on the trail. Dr. Robert Washington was dispatched to render help and while he was gone, a horse in camp required treatment, so more fires for Lynn to deal with.

Meanwhile the pulse takers and timer kept very busy, as all checks were in camp.

Many thanks to Lynn for offering the ride, to the Barneys for providing the outstanding ride camp location and horse-drawn water wagon, to Virginia for feeding the entire crew with delicious made to order meals (and coffee for the morning contingent) and dealing with the seemingly nonstop stream of issues when Lynn was out of camp, to Regina and Linda Kluge for timing, to the vets, to Yvonne Brandt and the other pulse takers and to Bob Redfern for being the official go-fer (even if he often wasn't totally clear on where he was going or what fer), and to all the others who supported and attended the ride. It really does take a village.

Sorry I do not know who won either distance or any other pertinent details, I was either taking pulses or making an emergency trip out to check on Julia, before leaving around 3:30 to drive back to Meridian.

I certainly hope Lynn is able to offer this ride again next year (but I'm pretty sure we can do without the "drama").

Addition by Virginia Ware:

Way too much drama!

Let's back up to dark-thirty Thursday pm/Friday am. With five rigs in camps, everyone bedded down for the night, the cattle mosey in. High Ties are not a cattle deterrent, so the gals moved an unoccupied horse corral from one side of ride camp to the other to create a safety zone for Linda's horse. Not to be outdone, the cattle invasion was followed, still in the wee hours by the draft horse herd.

Morning brought calm, then the cat wandered into the gals camp! Somebody must have told this poor battered, emaciated critter that if he could just make it to these gals he might just have a chance of survival.

In addition to the thanks extended by Pam, let's add Neil to the pulse takers. And poor Archie who thought the job of horse ambulance driver would be a cakewalk, then ended up spending most of the day trying to reach horses, then maneuver back to camp.

Laurie Breedveld, DVM, had planned to come down to spectate at Helen's invitation. She made a stop for cat meds, then knowingly/lovingly examined, cleaned up & treated Lava/Barney. Just as she catching her breath I got the call about Julia so I pressed her into service as am EMT & with the clubs First Aid kit, she roared off on the ATV with Bob. I can only imagine what she thought of this sport after this chaotic introduction.

And last but by no means least, a huge thanks to Terrence, who although he was crewing for several riders he stepped up & asked how he could help. If you were a recipient of a made to order sandwich you have him to thank. We had an assembly line of sandwich building happening & he kept me focused & continued making sandwiches on his own as my phone would ring & I would dart off, barking directions at whoever was in range. When the dust cleared Sunday morning, it was revealed that treated horses were okay & poor Julia was the only casualty.

This ride will be talked about around ride camps for years to come. Whew! v

No, you won't get lost, but you will enjoy some big country and travel some amazing trails. Trails will consist of two tracks and ATV trails on BLM property.

Some rocky areas, rolling hills, but lots of space to move out or just cruise around and enjoy the incredible scenery.

We'll have 25, 50, and 75-mile endurance distances. A 15-mile trail ride will be available. Ride Camp is on private land and has access to the Little Wood River. So Please come and Ride!

Located just west of SH-75 about 20 miles north of Shoshone, Idaho. It's easy to get to if you pay attention to the mile markers on State Highway 75. The turn-off is on the west side between the Big Wood River Bridge and the Richfield Canal bridge. If traveling northbound, the turn-off is about 0.2 of a mile north of mile marker 92. If you are traveling northbound, mile marker 92 is visible just at the end of Big Wood River bridge. A sign will be at the turn-off. If you go over the canal bridge you have gone too far.

If coming from the north turn right about 0.8' of a mile south of Mile Post 93. This is about 0.5 mile south of the Richfield Canal Bridge. If you go over the Big Wood River bridge you missed the turn. Once you get on the two-track you will drive about 2.5 miles to camp. The two-track is kind of rough in places, so take your time. You will go through an antique yard and around a couple homes. Just keep following the ribbons. You will see a corral to your left with some big horses in there. Keep going. You'll go past a couple gates, turn another bend and find the nicest flattest camp you will ever see!

Dinner will be provided Saturday night. Ride meeting starts promptly at 7:00 Friday night. Head vet is Dr. Keith Rouble, DVM. We will also have a treatment vet on site per the rules and recommendations of AERC.

Horse water will be provided at camp and on the trail. Be prepared to cross water at the start of your ride. Rides will start by going through the Big Wood River. The river is about 2-3 feet deep if there is water running through it. Since this water is diverted for irrigation the depth of the water varies. The property owners train draft horses so be prepared to see draft horses pulling wagons.

Cost: $90 for 25 and 50 mile distances, $110 for 75-mile distance, $25 for trail ride. Dinner is included with your ride entry. Juniors half price. Saturday evening meals may be purchased for $10.00.

Dogs are welcome but must be leashed and all times. This ride camp is on private land, but the BLM permit has required that we use weed free hay. Weed free hay is required and can be purchased at the Valley Coop in Shoshone. I'll try to bring some for the trail. Start times will depend on the weather.

Expect it to get hot.

Questions? Call Lynn White at 208-961-1024. Or visit us on FaceBook. at Lost-n-Lava Endurance Ride