Tevis 2002- What is it about this ride?
Nick Warhol
Another Tevis has come and gone, and with it around 216 stories of adventure, excitement, and unfortunately, problems. But what is it about this ride that keeps people so committed to getting through it? I don’t know, but I know how I feel about it. Remember in the second Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Kahn, how the bad guy, Kahn, felt about Captain Kirk? Kahn was so driven to destroy Kirk that he gave up the chance to take over the universe, just to fulfill that personal drive. When Kahn is on the bridge of the Enterprise, one of his crew asks him why, why, why is it so important to get Kirk? Kahn looks at the crew guy with venom in his eyes and says: “Because he TASKS me!”
Why, why, why is it so important to have, ride, and complete the Tevis? I feel sort of like how Kahn felt. The Tevis, “It TASKS me!” I have to go and get through it. I’m sure it has to do with the ride history, the prestige, and the fact that it is considered one of the most significant rides in the world. But part of it is the fact that it is a tough ride. I don’t think anyone will disagree with that. There are a lot of really fun parts, but there are parts where some people wonder what they are doing there. This ride has never been and will never be just an endurance ride, no sir. The rocks, the horrendous dust you have to breathe for hours on end, the rocks, the sweltering heat, the rocks, the steep climbs, the rocks, the long, long downhill descents, the rocks, those damn yellow jackets, the rocks, and oh yes, the rocks. That trail is getting pretty torn up in spots! And I still contend that if you can get a horse through the Granite Chief Wilderness without any cuts or lameness issues you are doing a good job. No matter- the thing to do is to take the challenge and do your best to get yourself and your horse to Auburn in good shape. This year 216 tried, and only 88 made it. Like last year, the ride took a huge toll on riders and horses. If you are one of the few to finish, you really get the feeling that you have accomplished something, and the neat thing is that all those who have attempted the ride know that, really well.
This was my fifth attempt, I’ve started four, finished three, but completed two. (being pulled at the finish has to count for something!) I was going to ride Warpaint the wonder Appy on his sixth and last attempt, he has finished three of five. He’s eighteen now, and is near the end of his career, especially on 100s. When Jackie Bumgardner offered to let me ride her excellent mare Holly, I jumped at the chance. Judy and I have already agreed that we want to retire Warpaint as a rideable horse, so this made the most sense. Holly is a big, strong, eight year old Anglo that I have ridden before- it would be her first attempt at Tevis, but she was really ready. She had finished her last two 100s with ease, as well as 5 days the Schelbourne XP last month. Judy agreed to crew for me again this year, just like last. You have to hand it to these people who crew at Tevis. I’ve done it enough to know it can be as much work as riding! As much work? Heck, I’d much rather ride than crew. We met Jackie on Friday at Robe park, very happy in the fact that we made it to the ride without truck problems. After losing the wheel on the truck on the way to the XP, along with several other recent breakdowns, I have come to realize that you can’t just assume your truck will last forever. We set up camp and got Holly vetted through- there was no vet line at all when we went down there. I took her out for a warm up ride with Gloria Vanderford, who was riding Jackie’s horse Redman, and Quenby Dunlap, (love that name), who was riding her tough-as-nails mare Annie. Quenby is more than just a rider, she’s the one who rode a horse from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail, all by herself. You want to talk about an endurance ride? Annie was Quenby’s pack horse on her trip, and had recently done four days at the XP. You have to see this horse- she has a Frankenstein quality scar on her chest caused by a barbwire fence during a BLM helicopter roundup, I think. It really adds to her character. It would be Quenby’s first Tevis, Gloria’s tenth. Redman was a little on the “go-ey” side, so Gloria asked if she could stick the fiery chestnut behind Holly for the start, since they were barn buddies. Sure, no sweat, especially if it made life easier for Gloria.
Ah yes, the start. I don’t know what happened with the start this year. Maybe it was sunspots, or El-nino, or just weird luck, but the start was a major pain. Last year it was very different- we just walked down the road, waited around with plenty of space, and rode off down the road like any other endurance ride. I was pleased at the change the ride management made by extending the start down the road a quarter mile or so, with those markers for different pace riders. This year was rotten. First of all, we had to deal with the herd of a hundred or more horses waiting for the guys to start taking numbers. It took a while for one to go by at a time, and there was much congestion there, right out of camp. We walked down the road nicely, until we got to the first tee-shirt that marked the start for the slower riders. We passed it by, wanting to be at the next shirt, for the medium pace riders. That whole idea didn’t work very well- it just became a packed mass of horses starting somewhere up there at the first shirt. At least in the past when you had the mass of horses together up near camp, you had a lot of room off the road. Not down here- there is a hill on one side, and a drop off on the other too steep to go down. This put all the horses jammed into a pack on a regular dirt road with nowhere to go. Normally it would not have been a problem, except for some of the people who wanted to move further up. Hey guys- you can’t put seven beers in a six-pack, unless something gives. Something did- people were pushing their way up front through the herd, causing some very un-polite (to put it mildly) interactions between riders. Some people were doing their best to just move up and were apologetic, but there were some who were just plain jerks (again, putting that mildly) who plowed their way up to the front of the pack, pushing horses out of the way. I saw one horse get shoved right off the road. That’s the last thing you need at a time like this. It was a tense ten minutes or so before the actual start, it was a big relief to get moving. At least until we started trotting. What in the world are some of these people thinking? Whoosh! Why in the world would you be trying to pass people now? At a really fast trot, or even some cantering? I think two horses side by side is pretty standard on a two-track road, but here come people flying by between the two horses, as well as on either side of the road, sometimes both. There was more bumping and inconsiderate behavior than I have seen in a while. Thank goodness Holly is such a dream to ride- she just went along at the pace I wanted, not even being disturbed when we were bumped into from the side. Gloria was doing her plan to the letter- she parked Redman back behind me and just stayed there, safe. We lost Quenby in the melee after only a half-mile or so- she just got pushed back until she could not see us. In about a mile we all came to a screeching halt on the road- now what? Ever seen one of those fog induced car pileups on highway five? More confusion and short tempers. Once we got moving again we came upon the problem- there was a woman down on the ground off the road sans horse. She had a friend there with her, she was okay, just all scraped up. We rode on a little more and another crash stop- yep, there is another woman down, but this one is up and jogging down the trail in search of her horse. We go again, here’s one of the horses tied to a tree, spinning wildly, wanting to go. That took some time to get around. A few minutes later, another accident, again, the rider okay, but all scraped up, and no horse. We came up on another horse tied up, this one was off the trail and standing quietly. Thanks to the person who did that! All of this and we have not even reached the single track yet! But unfortunately that wasn’t a lot better. I don’t know if it was the bunching up or what, but there was a solid line of horses on that single track as far as you could see. It was like freeway stop and go traffic. The mob kept stopping, not even being able to walk. I was silently glad I wasn’t on Warpaint, since he is not known to stand still, even for a moment. We sure had to, though. Holly would stop, Redman would stop. Good stuff. It was a real chore to get past that first couple of miles to the more open roads, it just wasn’t like this last year. It got much better once we got back onto the single track trail over the little bridges, but it was still bumper to bumper horses all the way to the highway crossing, up through the woods to the squaw bypass trail, and all the way up the mountain until the trail dumped out onto the ski runs half way up the mountain. Whew! What a relief to have some room. I thought we had started ahead of more horses, there had to be half the ride ahead of us. We took it easy up the Squaw climb, stopping at the water trough for a short break. I noticed something strange- it was not cold, it wasn’t even cool. It was warm, here at eight thousand feet, at 6:30 in the morning. Uh-oh. Last year I had my jacket zipped up and felt sorry for those who were not dressed right. This year I’m sweating already, and we just walked up the mountain. Holly and I led Gloria and Redman up over the top, and then down into the Wilderness, home of many rocks. We started out fine, and for some reason there were not many horses around us. Holly picked her way through the rocks very nicely, with me having a twinge every time she slipped or scrambled up or down a rock, which is quite frequently. We had just stepped down a rock face about a foot high when I hear a shout behind me from Gloria. Redman has apparently decided he does not need to walk down this, he’s going to leap it. I didn’t see this one, but Gloria reports he just jumped down the hill, landing in the gnarly rocks. She was surprised, but otherwise fine. A few minutes later, I stepped down another drop that was bigger than the first, and looked back to see if Redman was going to….. Yes, there he goes, with Gloria’s eyes as big as pie plates. I really wish I had a helmet cam for that one- that film would have made it to one of those TV shows. He did a spectacular leap down the rocks, just like last time. That was the last time he did that; Gloria thought the first was an accident, but after the second, she said that’s enough. It was not the best behavior for that trail, but boy, it sure was neat to see, him being athletic enough to just dance through the rocks. We made it through the rest of the difficult section with only one other incident, I had to hold Holly back for the first time on the ride when a rider in front of me got hung up in the rocks. Holly sort of stood up on her back feet and started to turn a bit, but I just pushed her forward and she went on without any further problems. Gloria said “Yikes, that was scary.” That was a strange behavior for Holly, but I found out a little later why she did it, I think. Her bit had cut the edge of her mouth pretty badly, and when I tugged back on it for the first time I think it hurt her enough for her to pull up. I took the bit off at Lyon Ridge and rode her in her string halter for the rest of the day. We stopped there for some water, but moved right on to Cougar Rock, and once again, around it. Those trails on that ridge can get ugly dusty. We walked on down into Red Star for the pulse down- Holly was at 48 when we got there. Redman took a couple of minutes to hit 64, we rode on down the road towards Robinson Flat feeling pretty happy with the ride so far. Gloria had hoped to stick with me at the start, it worked so well with the two horses we just kept on going. I was not in any great hurry, we got to Robinson at about 10:30 or so.
Robinson Flat- you have to see this place on ride day to believe it. It’s a beehive of activity, to say the least. The Tevis ride people do an unbelievable job of managing this kind of stuff, the horses flowed into the P&R and vets with lines that were certainly okay for the number of horses. Some of the vet checks seemed to take a little longer than they might have, but I’d rather make sure the horse is right and wait a couple more minutes. Judy and Jackie took great care of Holly and me at the check- I just love that. I got to sit down and eat my egg salad sandwich and many cokes while they toiled over the horses. It is here you can get your first reports on your friends, as well as hear the start of the stories. Gary Fend managed to not get lost enough to still be in it, he was riding with his daughter Jamie again this year. Gary lost his wonderful Mare Cinabar to a tragic pasture accident last year, (she was two for two at Tevis) but his new gelding, Smokey, was doing very well so far, even after falling down in the rocks up in the wilderness. Becky and Heather Hackworth had pulled at Lyon Ridge already, Quenby was still in it, Dave Rabe has crashed on Cougar Rock, someone has fallen at Elephant trunk and broken their arm, there was a heart attack, all kinds of stories, info, and rumors. Holly was eating, but not as much as I would have expected, but Redman ate anything she had neglected. The hour hold goes quickly- Gloria and I headed back out right on time. It was already getting very warm, much hotter than last year. We took it pretty easy down the long, rocky downhill Cavanaugh Ridge that leads to the freeway dirt road. We moved along at a good clip all the way to Dusty Corners for a water stop. No vet check here this year, it had been moved to Last Chance, about 7 more miles down the trail. Holly drank, but only nibbled at her food. We turned down the recently new single track trail that winds along the top of a mountain ridge. It is very pretty- nice and shady, with most of it trot-able. There is one turn I have dubbed the “airplane” turn, because when you ride around that one turn, you can look down into the canyon about two thousand feet. Gulp. What a view! We trotted down into Last Chance and the next check, where once again, Holly was so low on pulse that the vets were shaking their heads. How about a CRI of 48/44? I’ll take it. She finally started eating here, so we let her munch for a while before we started out again, down the first canyon to the swinging bridge. Rocky, Rocky, Rocky. I led Holly down on foot, that trail is just beat to death. The river at the bottom is a welcome site, we went down in and I soaked myself while soaking Holly. It was really hot- that water felt good. Holly walked across the wild bridge with no problem, you should have seen Redman, he was looking back and forth, side to side as he walked across the wobbly thing. We walked up the long, rocky, steep switchback trail to Devil’s thumb. Boy, it was hot. The rest stop on top is wonderful, like all the spots on this ride where crews can’t go. I think it was a troop of boy scouts up here, swarming around the riders like flies, doing whatever they could. I had a young kid sponging Holy down for ten minutes while she ate. It’s stuff like this that makes this ride so neat. I probably drank 20 bottles of water on the ride, and I never filled one myself. After the horses rested a bit up in the shade, we rode on down to the next vet check at Deadwood. I got pulled here last year- bad memories. Holly was perfect, again, pulse like 48. She was eating now, so we stayed a bit to let her pound down a mash. Redman had been recovering better and better as the vet checks went on- he really was getting stronger as we went.
We headed out down the second canyon with a bunch or horses all together, walking and trotting slowly down the single-track trail. We had a funny thing happen that is sort of common on this ride- we came across a guy leading his horse down the trail at a walk. There were about 8 horses behind me as I came up behind him. “Hi, can we get you to move over when you get a chance?” No response. “Excuse me, can you give us the trail when it’s safe?” No response. Hmmmmm. “Hey! Can you hear me?” No response. By now people behind me are shouting at the guy, some getting a little annoyed. I finally whistled loudly, and he turned around. He was one of the Japanese riders who didn’t speak English. I motioned with my hand for him to move over, which he immediately did. See? Good sportsmanship is universal, you just have to communicate. We got down to the bottom and headed right up the climb to Michigan Bluff. It’s another long, steep, climb up that hill, and it was even hotter now, if that was possible. We were doing great on time, it was late afternoon, but it did not seem to be cooling down much, and it was really humid in those canyons. These horses just keep on going willingly. Up, Up forever to Michigan Bluff and another vet check. No issue- more great service by the workers, another low pulse, good vet check, and a BBQ chicken for me. Yummy! A really nice lady took Holly from me and held her while she ate a mash, a guy delivers me a plate of chicken, a brownie, and a drink. It doesn’t get much better than this. Gary showed up, his once white shirt caked with dirt, mud, grunge, and stains. He told me about his little excitement in the wilderness that morning when he and his horse took a tumble in the rocks, but otherwise Smokey was doing great. Gloria and I headed out once again, our sites set on Foresthill and another hour hold. It took a little over an hour to get there, but we did. It was later than I thought it would be, but we still were an hour and a half ahead of the cutoff times. Holly was fine for the vets, but was starting to look a little tired. I think most horses did. Holly ate for the entire hour, I changed my clothes and scarfed all the food I could find. Gloria and I headed out as the sun was setting, both horses still feeling great. We walked through town to the cheers of the people on the street- that’s really nice. It was dark as we started down the single-track trails of the California loop. There are a couple of spots that are kind of hard to see on the initial decent, but the horses trucked right on down. We started trotting in the dark- absolutely my favorite thing about this ride. As many times as I have done it, it still gets the adrenaline totally flowing as you trot down the dark trail that you can’t see at all. Most parts you can see outlines of the trail by moonlight, but some areas are so dark you are really just trusting your horse with your life. The people who marked the trail must have had a glowstick budget this year, they were a little light on the markings, especially on those dark switchbacks. It still amazes me how fast three hours goes by on those trails. We missed one turn and had to stop and backtrack a bit, but otherwise it was just a blast to ride. We walked on into the silent lights of Franciscos, lit by the eerie propane lanterns. Holly was at 48, eating, looking great. 12 miles to go! I was feeling good as I trotted her for the vet. I came back, his hand was on his chin. My heart sank. He asked me if I had looked at her. No. I turned her around and trotted her four steps- lame left front. No question, she was off. Man, I hate that feeling. Your whole perfect day just evaporates into a cloud of disappointment in one second. The vets felt bad, but what can you say? I watched as the vet secretary drew two big lines through my vet card, like two slices across my heart. I went over to Gloria and told her I was done, she said, “Great, let’s go! We are almost done!” I explained “No, I’m pulled.” Her face just dropped. We certainly never expected that. She felt bad, but went on down the trail on Redman, now riding with a nice woman named Beth that had joined us after Foresthill. I drug myself back over to the feeding area with this wonderful horse, watching as all the other horses went on out. Darn!
I did learn one thing, though. Don’t ever get pulled at Francisco’s. No trailers. I got paired up with a woman who was also pulled, we had to lead our lame horses “just a little way” up the hill to a waiting trailer. Yeah, right, as in up and out of the canyon! She was supposed to follow me, so we started out on foot, up the climb towards White Oak Flat. I wasn’t paying enough attention, I guess, after a long climb uphill I looked back in the dark- she’s not there. Okay, I wait. Nothing. Now What? We are not on the course, it’s 2 am, I can’t just leave her out there. I turn around and head back down. I get back to the trail, but can’t go back up to the check, since it is single track with horses coming down. Another mile or more all the way around to the front of the check, back in again. The woman is nowhere in site. Oh well- I get a new walking partner, who turns out to be Jamie Fend, daughter of Gary and Laura. She is as depressed as I am, since her horse is lame also. Jamie had to pull herself here last year because she was so sick. This year she is feeling great, and wouldn’t you know, after 88 miles, her horse is lame. We trudged back up that hill, climbing almost all the way to the top of the canyon before we got to the trailer. We got a lift to the very top and had to change trailers once more for the ride to the fairgrounds. By now it was 4:30 am, we were all quite sleepy. I arrived at the fairgrounds with Holly and my tack, not knowing which stall was mine, or where my truck or crew was. I found a very cheerful lady at the barn who told me where my stall was located. I walked over, hoping that Judy and Jackie had set up the stall with water and food, ‘cause I didn’t know where anything was. I round the corner and see my cart in front of the stall- great! I enter the stall and find Judy there, asleep on the big, fresh pile of shavings. Awwww. That was really cute. There was food, water, mash, everything all set. What a crew. Thanks, sweetie. I do owe you one now. I woke her up, then after some condolences, she sent me to the camper for some sleep while she wrapped Holly’s legs and put her to bed.
I woke up about 8 am and went for breakfast and to walk Holly. The horse was still sore, but looked much better than the last night. We watched the end of the BC judging for a while. It was fun to talk to everyone and find out who had made it. Quenby had timed out at Michigan bluff by five minutes, bummer. Lots of friends completed: Nancy Elliot, 18th! Way to go. Bob Spoor, 24th. The incredible Barbara White, 26th buckle, top twenty, I think. Gloria and the amazing Redman finished their first 100! Great job, Gloria and Redman. Gary Fend and his new horse Smokey made it in as well. Melissa Ribley, Connie Creech, Karen Bottiani, Brenda Benkly, Jim and Jamie Mitchell, lots more all made it through. Congratulations to all who did finish. I’ll just have to go at it again next year, and the next, and the next. I am, however, getting tired of being pulled. I know it is part of the game, and that even the best can have problems in this ride. I still think the Tevis is best described by the big vet Mitch Benson: this ride is 30% rider, 30% horse, and 40% luck. I agree, but that luck percentage might be creeping higher.
Nick Warhol
Hayward, Ca.