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Grand Canyon XP
2004 Click here for more ride pictures.
Second, but certainly equal, I must thank The Duck, Mrs. Duck and their entire entourage of Ducklings, both family and volunteer, for putting on yet another spectacular XP Ride. Their efforts are amazing and not to be taken lightly. What they do for our sport in opening up new trail and keeping existing trail open cannot be denied. It was mentioned at one of the ride meetings that the trail on the north rim of the Grand Canyon exists today because of the XP rides. The Nicholsons were called upon by the Kaibab Forest Service to actively ride the trails there as they were decaying, back in the days before mountain bikes. Now the trails are shared by all. My trip started off in Lodi, CA with a 7.5 hr. drive to the Barstow Horse Hotel in Barstow, CA. Tank and James Dean had very nice brand new pipe panel corrals to spend the night in. I was going to open a can of soup. But fellow Grand Canyon endurance travelers Laney Humphrey and Patty Gaglioti talked me into joining them for dinner at the Idle Spurs restaurant. Steak instead of soup? Well, I think that was kind of a no-brainer. I ended up having prime rib and lobster. What can I say? The next day found us all pulling out of Barstow about 6:30 a.m. I spent the day following Laney and Patty, stopping for fuel (which took forever with three of us to fuel up). We also had to stop at Port of Entry for Utah/Arizona to file transport papers for our livestock. We took that opportunity to water the horses and walk them a bit. Next stop was WalMart in St. George, UT for last minute supplies. I didn't need anything so hung out at the trailer with the boys while Patty and Laney shopped. I think we ended up with a 10-hour day. Boy, was it long!
I ran around and eyeballed that great safety snap Karen has about horse-head high, but the crazy horse was right under it and Chief was stretched to the end of his rope, looking very wide-eyed. My only choice was to unsnap his lead from his halter, leaving me with only a halter to hang on to. Fortunately, I'm strong. All I could think about now was how to get my horses out of harm's way since I was just sure the runaway horse was headed their way next which was only another 10 ft. away. So I dragged Chief over there and undid Tank by the halter. So here I am with two horses by the halter, doing circles and trying my best to get them around to the other side of my trailer where James was still on his Hi-Tie. James was going nuts in circles. Karen was finally able to come around and we got one of my lead ropes on Chief since hers was on the crazy horse and then I could get one on Tank. It was a debate for me whether to get James on a lead and away from there or not. But Dave Rabe was there and they started unbolting the panels. It was a good 45 minutes before the whole thing wound down and the adrenalin was flowing. It was a few minutes before Karen and I realized we were freezing to death. Poor Chief didn't eat or sleep too well that night. But then, neither did any of us! The next morning we examined Karen's rig and it looked like her truck somehow missed getting scratched up but the trailer got a good whacking. Friday found us waking up to a cold camp. But not as cold as past years, I'm told. I think it was 33 that morning. It has been 13 before. BRRRR!!! And as I knew it would, my heater was acting up. I've been having trouble with it since I got it last November and nobody can find the problem. I'm telling them I want a brand new everything, heater, pilot assembly, thermostat. I want heat! But since I knew it was a possibility it wouldn't work in the 9,0000 ft. altitude, I'd come prepared with a Coleman ProCat propane tent heater. Left a window cracked and ran it for a couple of hours at night and in the morning and huddled under my 4 layers of blankets/flannel sheets.
As is my usual style, and theirs, too, we finished up in the rear of the pack late in the day and it was getting right cold. It was all I could do to unsaddle my horse and muster enough strength to do my chores and take a shower, get some dinner, go to the ride meeting and fall into bed.
Day 3. I was still miserable. And I remember that my upper thighs were like Jello and that the previous evening Katey and I had decided not to ride and were going for French Toast and go sightseeing to the Canyon because the weather was supposed to be awful. 7:00 a.m. came and Katey came knocking on the door. "You wanna ride, don't you?" I asked. "Yes ...." she said. "Ok, me, too." Of course, I didn't have my crew bag packed, saddle packs changed to the other saddle since I needed to ride James that day, etc., etc. We were to start at 7:30. Boy, did I rush. Can't say that I could actually talk very well, by the time I got on the horse since I still couldn't BREATHE.
After riding all the miles on Tank this year, I have a groove with him and am quite comfortable just jogging along, Tulip style, standing in the stirrups most of the time. James, on the other hand, pretty much wore me out that day. He and I haven't melded yet into any type of team and his short little body had such a time with anything faster than a Quarter Horse jog. He pretty much beat me up in the morning (and I, him, I'm sure). So the afternoon, I let him do his rocking horse canter, which is so entirely effortless for him and he seems to be able to do it forever without even a hint of breathing heavy. And it is THE most comfortable thing I've ever ridden. Brett and Katey trotted and James and I cantered alongside. I could finally smile.
If a tree falls in the forest and you're riding your horse by it, will the horse hear it? The answer is a resounding YES! Day 5 found Brett and I walking a lot. He had ridden Geni all 5 days and we wanted to make sure they got back and completed. The only ones behind us were John Parke and Laura Hayes on John's Icelandics. After lunch we hit a long stretch of rocky road that we were beginning to think would go on forever. Our boredom was completely shaken when I heard branches crashing over my right shoulder, saw Tank look that way and then saw a huge tree crash to the ground in the reflection of my glasses. I didn't turn around to look because I had my hands full of leaping, twisting horse. Brett, on the other hand, never even heard the tree crash because he was already out of the saddle hanging around his horse's neck. Fortunately, Geni decided to stop and not run. Brett thought he was a goner. And no, I didn't get a picture, Karen .... My return trip to Lodi found me stopping once again at Barstow Horse Hotel, again to eat soup, and again talked into dinner at The Idle Spurs. This time with Tom and Judy Robinson, Debbie Boscoe and Trisha Reid. It was Debbie's birthday and we all had a lovely dinner. I had a ball listening to Trisha's stories of her 80-year-old parents, who drove all the way from Texas to experience Trisha's hobby. They arrived before Trisha and were going to sleep in their car (can you imagine that in that cold??) because the Lodge was full. The Nicholson's graciously put them up for the night. Trisha actually arrived the same night but didn't know they were there until she ran into her mother while she was walking her horse the next morning. Needless to say, they were both surprised to run into each other. One thing I didn't mention earlier is that each day when we arrived at lunch, LaVonne had lunch ready for us. We got sandwiches a couple of days, hot dogs a couple of others, barbecued beef another. Plus chips, cookies, candy bars and drinks. And dinners ... I signed up for all five days. I was by myself and it sounded so wonderful to have a hot meal that I didn't have to "open." Ham and scalloped potatoes, pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy (my favorite meal all week), lasagna, Alaskan salmon caught by The Duck and chicken and red potatoes and cheese cake on the last night. It was just what the doctor ordered. All in all, my Grand Canyon adventure was just that. An adventure. The Duck would like to move it up a week next year to facilitate viewing of more Aspen color. That will probably mean I won't be going. So it's a good thing I got to go this year. And again I want to thank The Nicholsons for everything they do to make these rides possible. I have enjoyed every one I've attended this year. You can read Karen Chaton's ride story on Grand Canyon here. :) Jackie, Tank and James Dean P.S. As I was driving back along Hwy. 15, to my right I saw pink ribbons marking my trail home ... Next Stop: Desert Gold Multiday. See you there! |
First I want to thank
my clients Autograph Media, Inc, and Collectors Universe for being kind enough
to rearrange their magazine deadlines up a couple of days early so that I could
attent this "Grand Event." I don't think they could possibly imagine how much
is has meant to me to make this trip and have this opportunity. Without their
cooperation, this ride story would not have been written. If you have a few
minutes some time, please visit their web sites at
I pulled into camp next to Karen
Chaton and Dave Rabe. We attempted to back me up next to Karen which would have
put my horses in very close proximity to Dave's free-standing portable corral.
I'm not very patient and gave up. And am I glad I did! We'd just gone to bed
Thurs. eve. about 9:00 p.m. when I heard the most awful clanging noises I'd
ever heard. First fear was it was James o his Hi-Tie but the noise wasn't
right. I jumped out of bed, slipped on my sandels, grabbed a flashlight and
slammed the trailer door open. Dave's borrowed horse and corral were nowhere to
be seen. I ran around the front of Karen's truck to find the horse V'd in
between two panels, still inside the corral with it trailing behind him in a
u-shape around the front of Karen's truck, with Karen standing on her LQ step,
holding the totally-crazed horse's halter. "Go get my rope hanging on the back
of my trailer!" Karen said. I ran and got it and then she said "Go get Dave!"
She's good at giving directions :) I started to run one way then stopped and
said "Which Dave?" not knowing whether she meant Dave Nicholson or Dave Rabe.
"Any Dave!" was the reply. "Well, duh, quit standing around and do something,"
I'm thinking to myself. But the horse had decided it was time to move on and
slammed Karen's hand into the trailer as she jumped back inside and it took
off, destroying her step, her table and chairs and everything in his path. For
some reason, he decided to make a left turn around the back of her trailer and
my truck, getting stuck on her ramp on his way. Some how, he missed my truck
completely, even though it was only 10 feet in between. He ended up coming to a
stop under Chief's Hi-Tie, caught on her ramp.
The altitude was really rough on
me this trip. I was hoping by the ride start on Sat. that I'd be adjusted to
it. It's only ever taken me about three days to adjust before. But it wasn't to
be. The first day found me totally out of breath, drenched in sweat through my
two layers of clothing and pretty much just miserable. I couldn't breath. If it
weren't for the most beautiful views on the trail I've ever seen, it would have
been the worst ride of my life. Twice during day one, I experienced blackouts
and nausea. I was glad to be riding with Tank's previous owners, and my good
friends, Brett and Katey Gies. They were patient with me and slowed down when I
just couldn't trot anymore and I could just sit on the horse for a few minutes
to recuperate. I can't even begin to describe what beautiful trail we had. And
the views of the Grand Canyon. Wow. It was my first trip to see it. How better
than on horseback, even if you are sick?
Day 2 found us facing the
possibility of rain. And rain, it did. Cold rain. For me, it was another
miserable, sweaty, fogged, rain-smeared glasses day, brightened only by the
company of Karen and Katey and Brett in the morning, and Les Carr in the
afternoon, entertaining me with his life story and a small accounting of his
and Trilby Peterson's "Year of Madness," coming soon to a theatre near you. Did
you know Les was an actor on Broadway as a kid?
I thought it would be
an easy day for James as he's still wet behind the ears and Day 1 and Day 2
were flat and fairly simple. But, of course, Day 3 was technically challengeing
for the poor boy. I must say he pulled it off without too much of a hitch. But
we did have a couple of trying moments. He was extremely mad at me for leaving
him tied to the trailer for the last two days and did some pretty fancy
stepping at the beginning of the ride, including a rear/piaffe/something that I
managed to stick, only loosing one stirrup. Katey was impressed, anyway. And
then there was "The Trail that Dave Made" where we ventured through, around and
over various sizes of logs. James was previously afraid of sticks earlier this
year and this just makes one more very stick-challenged trail he's learned how
to master. We'd been going over all these logs pretty well until we got to one
that we would had to have jumped. It had rotted timber on both sides of the
spot we needed to go over. I'm thinking "Ok, we've stepped over all these other
logs with flying colors. Should we attempt a jump?" Picture James two feet away
from the log, nose down, inspecting it, Katey on Gali nose to butt behind me,
Brett on Geni, nose to butt behind her. I say "Well, this is an accident
waiting to happen," just as the rotted piece of timber in front of the log
falls down in front of Jame's nose and he hasn't even touched it! He spins, she
spins, he spins, and we all catch our respective horses within two steps of the
spin. Mind you, we're on a narrow path between trees. Somehow, we all avoided
getting our knees knocked. Needless to say, when the "dust had settled" we
looked for another way around! My only other big challenge for the day was
caused by a narrow zig-zag around a huge aspen tree and down downed logs with a
big piece of white bark laying right in the trail. The path wasn't much bigger
than the horse and I checked him up just one second after Brett led through
because I could see my knee cap wasn't going to survive the aspen tree. James
immediately panicked that I'd let Geni get a step away from him and we spent
several efforts, checking up and repositioning before I let him try to go
through. Katey's horse, having already seen James in action earlier in the day,
took it upon herself to spin left, leap over a log and stand in the middle of
the forest and wait it out. Smart horse!
Day 4 found me feeling NORMAL.
Hip, Hip Hooray! I hadn't taken many pictures. I just don't seem to see the
same things when I'm riding with others because I tend to be talking instead. I
also hate to ask people to wait for me while I get just the right shot. So I
decided to ride my own ride. I started out pretty close to the front instead of
my usual wait-for-everyone-to-leave thing. Tank was on the muscle after having
a day off. We did a medium trot and then a jog trot and then a medium trot all
morning. "Cool," I thought. "We'll get out to the rim and then take some good
pictures." Tank really had other ideas and I only took a couple of pictures.
Lunch came and went and Tank still had other ideas. We had picked off several
horses in the morning and the afternoon found us following the same routine. We
didn't go what I'd call fast, but we just never walked, except over the rocks
and down some hills. It was the first time in all my miles with Tank that he
wasn't giving me the consumate actor part about how rough life was. He was
actually on a mission and I could see it in his eyes, every time he saw a horse
in front of him. I did let him go an extended trot and a little canter at the
end because he kept eyeballing the horses behind us and he was bound and
determined he was getting there before them. We ended up with our first
finish-line finish ever. Some of you are probably saying "So what?" I always
ride so slow, the "finish line" has been moved back to camp. Sometimes I feel
like a second-rate citizen on every ride <G> in a way, since there's
never anyone waiting for us to record our finish out where the front runners
came in. Nobody ever cares about the slow pokes :) So this was cool seeing
someone sitting out there and a real line to cross. Somehow we managed 15th in
6:45 minutes. Way faster than I've ever ridden.