Death Valley Encounter 4 day, 2003
Death Valley again in the
winter! There was some argument if
this was the thirteenth or fourteenth annual DVE 4 day multiday ride; not that it matters much, but Jackie Bungardner has been putting on this ride for a long while
now. Judy and I have been going
down to this epic event every year since 93 except once, I believe. There
just isn’t a better way to spend the week between the Christmas and New Year
holidays. It’s a little dicey
fitting in the families and holidays, but well worth the effort. Now that Warpaint is retired, (heavy
sigh, much sadness, but happy sadness!) I’m sort of without a horse, but thanks
to Jackie I get to just “keep on truckin” on the old
reliable Zayante. This would be my
fourth time on him at the DVE; he and I have 500 miles together down here on our
first three attempts. He has
1,650 Death Valley miles himself, of his 11,345
miles to date. Yes- he’s quite a
horse! Judy brought down
Wabi, our 9 year old GAG, to do the first and fourth days. He’s the one I call the “lazy boy,” or more
affectionately, the “plug.”
When I first got him he wasn’t real interested in going anywhere and
could not go down hill for the life of him. He and Judy have 470 miles under his
“hefty” belt now, would he be any different down in the
desert this time?
On the day after Christmas, we plopped Wabi in the trailer
and drove on down to Ridgecrest from the Bay Area in the all new
Pony Tug, and it will be a while before I quit saying how nice this new Ford
is. I even replaced the entire
equalizer trailer hitch with a new setup from Draw-Tite that has the new high performance built in anti-sway
technology that uses the equalizer bars to control trailer sway.
(http://www.drawtite-hitches.com/WD/sway_control.htm) It works great- you really can’t
feel the trailer behind you. It
seems like so many people are switching to the gooseneck trailers, but I’m a
long time bumper pull man, and will continue to be one, since I have the horses
or the bike trailer to pull. We
spent the first night at Jackie’s, it was plenty cold down there already! Love those frozen water buckets! This is California, not Michigan! It had snowed a bunch on the Tehachapi
pass just before we came through, it was sure pretty to see Colorado in California, as long as we did not have to stop
for chain control. There was a lot of rain in the surrounding desert as well.
On Saturday morning, we added the
legendary old Zayante to the trailer, where Wabi immediately started sniffing
and playing with the white horse.
Yes, Wabi, play with that horse, and hopefully some of his magic will rub
off on you. After a stop for
groceries, we drove to the start of Day 1 at Valley Wells, just outside the
bustling and pleasantly scented metropolis of Trona.
Lots of rigs! There were 108 starters on the first 50,
and 17 on the LD ride. The
pre-ride dinner was superb, it was the only one we ate, and I’m glad we
did. It was these fresh tostadas,
complete with the big deep-fried shell.
Yummy! The little golf
course club-house was absolutely packed for the ride meeting. You have to see this golf course to
believe it- it’s a little course carved out of the desert with browns instead of
greens. All you need to play this
baby is a sand wedge and a putter.
Pebble Beach is not in danger of being replaced by Trona Municipal as the nicest course in California at this
time.
Sunday morning, Day one begins at the wonderful, but very
cold, hour of seven am. Judy and I
rode out a few minutes after seven, being in no big hurry. Zay was anxious to get going, and
Wabi was jigging and seemed to be in a big hurry as well. The desert was wet! I’ll repeat that for huge impact- the
desert was wet! Thank you Rain
Gods! There is absolutely nothing
better to ride a horse in than wet desert.
No mud, no dust; perfect,
soft, loamy soil. We trotted
through the lovely outskirts of Trona (read that
garbage dumps and junk yards) and out into the nice wet desert. Sure, there are some rocks, but that’s
okay, this is the dez. The trail winds up a wash and out across
some rolling hills for a few miles; the soft footing was absolutely superb.
You know in the new Pirates of the
Caribbean movie, when the crusty Pirate is looking for the enchanted medallion,
and tells Elizabeth: “You have something we need, the
gold, it calls to us.” That’s
the way I feel about wet desert- it “calls to me, me and my dirt bike.” But today it’s just the
horses! It was a quick 90 minutes
or so on the trail when we headed back to the start for a vet check and 30
minute hold. We vetted fine; (Wabi
looked great!) we hung around and let the horses eat for a little while longer,
then headed out the long, flat road that heads up towards the Panamint range.
A couple of miles of uphill walking in a wash led us to the last water
trough before the climb up; uh-oh, there wasn’t much water left. We got a drink, but the horses behind us
would not be so lucky. The road
over the Panamint
Range isn’t too bad, but the road down it is a long, semi-rocky
thing that we just get off and lead down.
It’s quite a sight when you crest the top of the range and see the valley
stretch out below you for miles.
You can see forever out here, and it’s a kick knowing you have to ride to
the finish, which is way, way out there in the distance. We pass the little monument to the
Johnson party, (I have to go up the wash and check out the grave site someday)
and head down the horrible, but thankfully short mile or two of rocks to the dry
lake. Now the big trot begins! It is a solid 90 minutes of flat
trotting in perfect footing at a decent pace to the vet check at Ballarat. It was out here that Steph Teeter
was riding in front with Michele Block, when Michele’s horse tripped and went
down, landing right on top of him.
He seemed to be hurt pretty badly; Steph went for help to get the
ambulance. He somehow managed
to get back on his horse and walk to the finish, where he finished. Pretty tough guy! After the water stop, we arrive at
the check where we vet through and let them eat for another 30 minutes. Now it’s just a nice, flat 8 miles on
the wide road to the finish at the Indian Ranch base camp. We arrived as the sun was getting low in
the sky, and the temperature was dropping.
Rebecca’s husband Warren was driving our rig over for us, since he wanted
to test-drive the new Ford. He
arrived in the truck just a couple of minutes after we got there. Rebecca had ridden her brand new mare
in the horse’s first 50 miler, and she did a great job.
We had dinner, beers, and that
lovely hot shower, before going to the ride meeting and awards. There was a great completion rate; only
a handful of pulls all day. The
little room was packed to the gills with people, and was so hot in there it was
a relief to get back outside to the 29 degree air. It was cold after dark, we kept the heater going all night, since the heater in
my camper has never worked very well. It sort of puffs warm air out,
even though the fan is humming away like mad. There were people next to us in a
tent! There’s some rugged individuals. Me? The camper, please! I’m too old to freeze at night anymore.
One day down, three to
go.
Day two starts again at seven, Judy was not riding, since her
plan was to go on day one and four.
I step out of the warmish camper at 6:15 am and
“Whooie”, it’s cold out here. I look over at the tent and just shake
my head. Rugged? Those
guys are downright tough! And here
comes Dave Rabe in his shorts. At least he was wearing a long sleeve
shirt. If there is ever an
endurance ride in Antarctica, we’ll be sure to
send Dave. Maybe up there he’d even
wear some gloves! I’m wearing
three layers, since we are headed up the big mountain today, up to 8000 some odd
feet. Cold
down here? I can’t wait to
get up there! But alas, it turns
out Jackie is changing things a bit; she’s only sending us two/thirds of the way
to the top due to the snow and changing weather up there. Good thing, since I’ve been up to the
summit several times, and it is the last place anyone would want to be in a bad
storm. Except for those guys
in the tent, I bet they’d be okay up there. I met up with Gretchen Sam from
Bridgeport on
the way to the start, she was riding her cool horse
Rafique, who she bought from Jackie last year. He and Zayante are old pasture buddies
and greeted each other, looking like steam trains from their breath in the cold
morning air. We rode out down the
long, 8 mile flat road back to Ballarat, where we had
a trot by, then hung a left and started up the mountain. This canyon is called Pleasant Canyon; an interesting name to be
sure. It is a long, hard, steep,
rocky road that just keeps going up and up and up. There is a lot of spring water on the
trail about a third of the way up, resulting in some ice on the roads that
require some careful foot placement.
There is a lot of history up here, you get to
see old mines, equipment, houses, and a lot of junk. It’s very pretty, though, if you
like the mountains of the West.
Most of the horses just walk all the way up this thing; after a couple
hours of climbing we run into the leaders heading back down the mountain. The turn around is the bath tub, not for
bathing up here, unless you are one of those tent guys. It was seriously cold on this mountain
when the wind started blowing.
Scott Sansom had his face all covered up like a
masked bandit on the way down, I recognized his horse! Everyone was doing what they could to
stay warm. Too bad, I would have
liked to go all the way up, but it was cold enough here. At this point I just hop off of
Zayante and lead him on foot the 8 or so miles down the mountain. He does walk fast, but it’s a couple more
hours back down to the vet check.
Gretchen’s fiancée Mike was there to crew for her, we spent a pleasant 30
minutes warming up and then headed out for the adjusted loop in the flat
desert. We rode the LD trail
backwards to make up for the missed miles up on top. We start trotting and wouldn’t you know, now it’s warm.
Off comes the gore-tex jacket. Still too
hot. Off comes the polar
fleece shirt. Better, but still
warm. You have to love Death Valley- two hours ago I was freezing, now I’m
wearing a long sleeve tee-shirt and I’m too warm. It was a long, straight, flat trot
up the valley for about ten miles that had a lot of deep sand in spots. Dom Freeman commented that this would
make a good training area for Dubai.
Zayante just keeps on trotting happily up the trail, no matter where it
goes. After a long pull up the
valley, we hit the road and made our way the final 4 miles or so back to base
camp. Today was either flat
trotting, or going straight up or down a mountain. Diverse? You
bet! Another hot shower (Oh, so
good in that cold), more beer, more dinner, and another hot, packed ride meeting
got us ready for sleep again. There
were major storms flying all around the West, including one that dropped three
inches of snow on Las
Vegas, but we were only getting clouds and cold. Two days down, two to go.
Day three started at 12:30 am, when we woke up to the sounds
of rain on the camper. Oh
goody. The horses were in their
waterproof heavy blankets, but it was indeed raining. Judy was snug in the blankets, probably
quite pleased that she was not riding this day. The weather, the need to move
rigs, and the somewhat bad reputation day three has, kept some people from
starting, only 60 or so went out to brave the elements. At six am the rain had stopped, and the
desert was prime.
It was very cloudy, it wasn’t any colder, but boy, the footing was
nice. Gretchen and I headed back
out of camp and started right up the rocky road that leads up the edge of the
valley. We got into a string of
about 20 horses all riding together up the rocky trails. It was fun- it was a 20 mule team of
horses all cruising along in a line.
It still makes me smile when I hear people talking about Zayante. Behind me I hear a woman tell someone
else: “Hey, that white horse up
front? “That’s Zayante!” “Really?
Cool! I wanted to see
him.” “He looks great!” “We should just follow him!” Gretchen and I pulled away slightly as we
jogged up the slight grade, and after a while she needed to stop for a bathroom
break. I looked back and did not
see a soul, so I said this looks like a good spot. She hops down and wouldn’t you know, the
entire pack is down in a little draw and comes right out, right at the wrong
time! Poor Gretchen took it in
stride; it happens to everyone out there!
We rode along the moist trails down the paved road and a water stop,
where we spent a few minutes letting the horses eat. A quick trot leads to the rockiest road
in the ride- a five or six mile whopper that requires walking. I just hop off again and hoof it
alongside Zayante all the way down the rocky road. It didn’t seem as bad as it has in
the past to me, maybe I’m just getting used to walking down it. After a long while we finally climb back
up on the horses and look for the water at the next highway crossing. Hmmm. The trail is marked to the left, there
is the water straight ahead of us in the desert, but across the road, not where
it usually is. There are horses
trotting up the road to the left, away from the water. What’s going on here? It did not take long to decide what to
do- we went back cross country to the water, a very precious thing out
here. We found some ribbons
heading back to the water, what kind of deal is this? It was confusing, but it was marked, it
was just kind of strange. I
whistled very loudly to the horses that were going astray- now Robert and
Melissa Ribley owe me. They were a
quarter mile or more away, but turned around and came back. Apparently several people got lost here,
including poor Rebecca, who ended up going a long distance out of her way. We started up the long, deep sand
section around the small mountain where the old vet check used to be. I was hoping the rain had soaked the
deep sand, but it must not have rained much here. We walked most of it, since it was so
deep. It is a long, slow trek up
that wash to the water at the old check.
Next is the neat little downhill wash that winds its way down the
valley. It has these sections where
the walls are only a few feet wide- it’s totally neat to trot around these
turns. Out of the mountains again
and back across the valley to the vet check, where we again spent some extra
time letting the boys eat. Dave the
Duck was there in his big fifth wheel travel trailer, he was vacuuming the
carpet when we showed up for our check. Can’t be too clean out there, you
know! There were horses having their pulses
taken when out of the sky comes the F-18 fighter jet, about 300 feet high,
buzzing the vet check. Ever been
under one of these baby’s when it does that? Yeah, it’s loud! Cripes! Horses running in
circles, everyone straining their necks to look at the jet. Those jet
jockey’s ought to know better, but it’s really pretty neat to see them
swoop by like that. Out of the
check and down the short road, turn left and start
trotting. This section seems like
the longest trot of the ride, since it is straight as an arrow for 8 miles, dead
flat, and you can see this little mountain at the end of the valley you have to
ride to, that just never seems to be getting any bigger! I actually like this section, it’s where Heather Hackworth and I had our trotting
contest a couple of years ago. (It
was a tie!) You just trot
along, letting your mind wander. I
started thinking about that stupid furnace in my camper, I was wondering why it
was so pathetic, when everyone else’s blows so much hot air out. I was troubleshooting it in my mind- the
fan works, the air is hot, it just does not blow! I figured I’d take the cover off
and have a look when I get in.
Trot, trot, trot. There go the jets again, now there are
two of them, we are getting a free air show, complete with smoke. Trot, trot,
trot. Zayante never slows
down, never protests, never falters.
Trot, trot, trot. I have all my layers off again, it is
warm out. Trot,
trot, trot. After only 50
minutes we reach the highway and the water, now it is a 5 mile uphill stint on
the shoulder of the road to the finish at the Panamint
Springs resort. The cars going by
at 75 MPH are a non-event compared to the jets going over our heads just under
supersonic speed. We made it in a
little earlier today due to the changed course, so there’s plenty of time to
eat, shower, and work on my heater.
I take off the cover and see that the baffle plate is still in
place. This plate is there to force
the air to come out of the heater ducts.
I pop it off, and guess what, presto, there is a
huge blast of hot air now. Hmmmm. I have been
cursing this heater for 9 years, and now I take the time to look at it. Instead of the fan running all night to
keep the camper slightly warm, it now takes about 5 minutes to get the camper to
70 degrees. Oh well, it’s fixed
now. Judy and I ate at the
restaurant that was too crowded for the normally relaxed infrastructure of the
place. The Snapper was quite
good! We had dinner with the couple
who blew our minds when they told us they “went down to Maine” for an endurance
ride. Huh? Who goes down to Maine? These folks live in Nova Scotia. Okay, that sounds cold. Were they the guys in the tent? Nope. Are they related to Dave Rabe?
Nope. It turns out
they have a pretty short ride season. Yah think? Dinner took a while, but we were
in relaxed mode, so no worries.
After walking the horses and Judy making her preparations for day 4, we
trundled off to bed in the newly heated camper. Three days down, one more to go.
Day 4- the best day of the
ride. We start out with the
pack, Zay is still as happy as can be, and Wabi is walking along smartly. Jamie Kerr was riding Jackie’s
young horse Scud today, since Susan got really sick after riding on day one and
had to go home. The ride heads out
on the long dirt road that takes us up a long, rocky climb that we walk/jog
up. It is cold again up here, it works well to wear layers. We all walk down the shorter road down
that dumps us in the really neat, super wide freeway wash. You can go as fast as you want in here,
but we take it pretty easy. Wabi is
just flying along, which surprises us.
We stopped at the dead burro
spring, but none of the horses wanted to drink yet. A boring ride along an old paved road
takes us up a little valley and then we climb up and down into Darwin. This place is really interesting- there
are a hundred or so people that live here, but you never see them. Our little group forms up at the water
stop: Judy, me, Jamie, Gretchen, and Peggy Eaton. We all ride together on the best section
of the entire week- the beautiful trot up out of Darwin, though a couple of
gorgeous valleys, through a water stop and short break, and then down across the
desert in to the lunch check. The
footing is perfect, and I just love the terrain up here. It is pretty high, so it is kind
of cool. We have a great time
chatting about all kinds of stuff, including Tevis,
where Jamie is the head vet again this year. I tell him I have an entry, but no horse
to ride, and to keep an ear open for me.
The lunch stop is out on the top of the valley, and it was a little too
cold for most people. Many crews
were hanging out in cars while they waited for riders,
and some while the rider was there!
It isn’t too bad while you are riding, but standing around in the wind in
27 degrees isn’t too comfy.
Note to a potential entrepreneur- bring a portable hot tub out there,
charge 20 bucks for 30 minutes, get rich quick! We gladly got going again and rode
the same trail back the way we came, just enjoying the great riding. We even found Gretchen’s power bar
that had fallen out of her back pack and spooked her horse on the way in to
lunch. Back to Darwin and more water,
then back down that boring road to the big wash, where Wabi took off
cantering. The five of us took off
and cantered down the wash, looking for all the world
like an old western movie. It’s a
lot of fun, but I didn’t want to subject Zayante’s old
bones to a lot of that, so we backed it down, although Wabi was out front,
wanting to run more! Scud
lurched in a big spook rounding a turn, but Jamie hung on and stayed up
there. We stopped at the
secret spring again for a drink and headed back up the long climb. Once at the top, we sort of split up;
Jamie and Gretchen jogged on ahead of Judy and I, and Peggy trotted down as
well. Judy and I just legged it out again, all the way back down that hill for 45
minutes. We passed up Rebecca, who
was riding Moose again! This is the
great Moose horse that is making a comeback after a 2 year suspensory lay-up.
We hit the last road and
trotted on in to Panamint Springs and the finish line,
arriving just as the sun was setting, a little earlier than the last time I was
here. We were quite surprised and
thrilled at how Wabi did all day and how good he looked at the finish. He really did not look ridden. I have to now officially apologize
to him, and to Judy, who had the faith in him to keep him going, for calling him
a plug. It took several years, but
he is looking very promising. Way to go, Sandwash Wabi!
We kept up our tradition of having New Year’s eve dinner with Rebecca and Warren. You should all be so lucky! The appetizer plate would have been at
home in a five star restaurant.
Smoked Salmon, sausage, pepperoni, fancy crackers, imported olives, four
kinds of wonderful cheese I can’t pronounce, a crème cheese that was unreal, and actual caviar. Then for dinner we had some kind of
French dish I can’t pronounce that had sausages, red beans, duck, and other
goodies. There was a vegetarian
dish that was great;
Oh yes- the beef stroganoff was excellent, along with the salad,
our honey baked ham, the salmon wrapped crab dip roll, you get the idea. (And everyone else had the Flintstone
ribs) The awards went pretty
quickly- Heather Reynolds won overall with a ride time of just under 20 hours
for 4 days- zowie. Elfta Hilzman got overall BC, and Jackie got to present Warpaint’s 1000 mile same horse and rider award to the first
winner besides the appy- Randy Coleman won it on
Pandora’s Pixy. Thirty-one riders
completed all four days on the same horse, not too bad. My endurance hero Julie Suhr won the coveted “Jim the Toad” award;
Julie rode all four days! Everyone
now applaud. I sure hope I
can do what she does. Now Zayante
has 1850 DVE miles, and I have 700 on him.
Only 6 more days, and I’ll be presenting myself a Warpaint award blanket
for Zayante! That would be pretty
neat.
Another year in the books, and hopefully there will be a lot
more in the future. This is a
really great ride, and I recommend it to anyone who wants a challenge. My only advice- don’t bring a tent, unless you are the super campers who were
here this year! See you next
year-
Nick Warhol
Hayward, Ca.