Death Valley Encounter 1997 (Or- how I spent my Christmas vacation in the desert)
Hi everyone- Happy new year! We’re back from the annual Death Valley Encounter 4 day multiday ride. This was Judy’s and my forth trip down there in the past five years, and are we ever glad we went. This year’s ride was an all new DVE, which made the event about a thousand percent easier for the always hard working crews. (I’ve been a crew a couple of times on the old ride. Talk about a drive-a-thon!) Ride Manager Jackie and Jim Bumgardner started the ride from their house in Ridgecrest this year, but I don’t think they were quite prepared for the cold weather on Friday night. It was so cold in Ridgecrest I could not believe it! There was about a half inch of ice on the water buckets, which required a pipe to break. Lucky for us the weather warmed up (?) to above freezing for the duration of the event.
We drove down from the bay area with our endurance buddy and long time endurance rider Marrilyn R. Russell and her fiesty mare Cresta. Jennifer Dzakowicz brought her gray gelding Sqoundrel along as well. Lots of folks from the bay area were in attendance as usual- the incredible Julie and Bob Shur, Beth and Scot Wachenheim, Hugh and Gloria Vandorford, (Hugh and I walked the last 12 miles of day 3 on foot together 2 years ago), Ron and Ruth Waltenspeil, Robert and Mellisa Ribley, Judy Ethridge, Joyce, Dennis, and Jennifer Souza, ridecampers Becky Hackworth, Jim Mitchell and family, Jennifer Heim, and Karen Chaton from Nevada. Raimy and Cynthia-Peticolas Stroud made the long voyage from Oregon, and my Tevis riding partner Stephanie Schroder-Teeter and her hubby John made the trip from Idaho to hit the desert. Judy was a bit on the nervous side all week since this was once again another comeback ride for her nutty Appy Warpaint. He was only able to do three rides all last year due to all of his unbelievable unrelated injuries, but he seemed to be as sound as he has been since his colic surgery almost four years ago. I was depressed since my horse Shatta whacked himself in the leg somehow and came up gimpy a few weeks before the ride. He was 10 for 10 last year, and I was looking forward to the DVE since that’s the ride he injured himself on two years ago. Much to my delight Jackie Bumgardner came to my rescue and offered me a ride on one of her horses. She set me up with a 12 year old Arabian gelding names Sarya Gobask, also known as “Charlie.” He’s from Wyoming and looked like a wooly mammoth due to his furry coat. I rode him a little on the day before the ride and wondered what I was in for- he was a bit of a wild thing, complete with little bucks, lots of jigging, and a serious case of “I GOTTA catch that horse in front of me.” Jackie told me he had a hard mouth- uh, you might as well have put a bit on a concrete fence post. No question he’s a powerful guy, so lets get started and see what happened.
DAY 1- The start was a nice easy walk up a dirt road form the Bumgardner’s ranch and out into the desert. Funny- Charlie Horse was walking along nicely with the other horses. I rode with Marilyn and Jennifer as we headed out into the desert. This riding across the open desert is so cool- I grew up in Las Vegas riding dirt bikes, and I just can’t get over how neat it is to be in the dez on a horse. I noticed immediately that Charlie was a different animal- it took him about two miles to relax and turn into a super-horse. We turned east and headed across the rolling desert towards the infamous town of Trona. There were well placed water stops along the trail which was marked quite well. We had to negotiate a really nasty, steep, rocky downhill which required careful walking, but once clear of that and across the railroad tracks we turned left and began the 7 mile trot down a nice road to the vet check. Judy was fighting Warpaint at the back of the pack the whole way and caught up to us just as we arrived at the check. We all made it through with no problem and headed back out up a wash heading for the actual town of Trona. We had to ride right through the middle of town- as I was walking across a paved street an old lady came running out of a house with a can of 7-up for me. “Here, this is for you!” she said. “I have water for your horse, he’s so beautiful!” That was neat. The people of this sleepy town don’t have a lot to do, and the ride coming through was quite an event for them. I got separated from my riding partners when I thought they were behind me, but it turned out to be Julie and Bob. I went on ahead on an incredibly strong Charlie horse who would not spook, shy, or even be concerned with anything! Very different for me, since Shatta is a spook-a-matic, but I liked it. We trotted along behind the town and turned up a long uphill sandwash which went for a long time. After what seemed like a few miles we turned down hill into another wash and headed towards the finish. After some nice cross country and a 3 mile road we finished at a place called Valley Wells. I finished in the twenties with a very strong horse, but was even more happy to see Judy come in with Warpaint sound. Her plan was to do the first day, give him a day off, ride the third, then decide about the fourth. Marilyn and Jennifer made it in as well. Some of the riders at the rear of the pack got lost after dark, but eventually everyone made it in safely.
DAY 2- Jackie told everyone this was the toughest day, and it would be the one to skip if you were not going to do all four days. She was correct. It started out easy enough- we trotted a few miles, climbed up a nice wash, rode over some up and down rocky trails which climbed up over the Slate range, and ended up down in a valley which led to a water stop at the vet check of the old day four ride, just below Goler canyon. Now all we had to do was trot 7 miles down a road to the vet check at 30 miles, and then do a 25 mile loop in the mountains. Sounds easy enough. I arrived at the vet check at 10:50 am for an hour stop. Unfortunately my crew got messed up on the time frame and was not expecting me that early. No problem- I was able to bum some lunch for me from friends, but more importantly Jackie was there and had plenty of stuff for Charlie Horse to eat. He’s an eating machine- just what you need out here in this VERY desolate terrain. I can’t for the life of me imagine what those wild horses survive on out here. After a nice break we left just before eleven am- lots of time to do this mountain loop. Uh- huh. We started out walking up a steep climb, and just never stopped climbing. The valley floor was somewhere around 2000 feet- the summit of where we went was almost 8000. This climb was by far the biggest climb me or anyone else on the ride have ever been up. It never ended! We trudged up that thing for what seemed like three hours, knowing full well we had to go back down again later. There was a nice spring about four/fifths of the way up the climb- good thing, since we were all giving our horses our drinking water on the way up. When we finally got to the top it was a sight to behold- a huge high desert meadow that was a couple square miles across. It was being guarded by a wild donkey who kept charging at us across the meadow, screaming for all he was worth. We trotted across the meadow, climbed up a small rise near some old mines, dropped into another neat meadow, and started the next climb. The next climb? Yep- more climbing, this time up a long grade covered with snow. The horses started getting a little bit balky as we kept going up. I was off Charlie leading him up most of this stuff- as a result my toes were frozen from the snow. Riders were getting a little cranky as we finally hit the summit- the top of the world. Not many people on this planet have seen that view of Death Valley from up there, but there were about 30 more people added to the list this day. There was the infamous Sparrow up there with his truck and the much needed water for both horses and riders. He said the horses were averaging between 2 and 3 gallons each. Now we began the trip down- as in like 12 miles of it. The first 3 or 4 were on foot once again, since it was just too slippery to ride through that stuff. Snow, Ice, water, mud, rock and steep downhill- interesting footing to say the least. I kept myself amused by eating the wonderful pine nuts off the pinon pine trees which lined the road, trying to ignore my frozen toes. (I love my trail runners, but they are designed to keep your feet cool, not warm) I also kept reminding myself how glad I was I was not doing this section in the dark, which some riders did. (Egad!) We finally dropped down low enough to be out of the snow when the road became rideable, but it was very steep and rocky all the way down. I didn’t want to trot Charlie down that stuff, so I hopped off and we walked and ran all the way down the 9 miles or so. It began getting dark as I worked my way down the mountain- at least there was no way to get lost. About 4 miles from the finish the road / wash we were on turned into a stream thanks to these wild springs up there. Now my feet were really soaked. It got dark, but we just kept on jogging down the hill, splashing through the water as we went. Charlie is a superb horse - he really knows his job, and would just follow along down behind me at whatever pace I wanted to go. Now It’s pitch black and I’m finally able to get back on Charlie. Ever been in the desert with zero moon? Way dark. We trot the final couple of miles and hit the finish at 6:00pm- in ninth place! The winner finished at something like 3:45. Special mention goes to fellow Internet buddy Kat Swiggart for riding drag and helping the last five riders get down off that incredible mountain. What an event! It was one of the most spectacular rides I have even been on. Day two of the 97 DVE goes down in history as a true test of what an endurance ride is. Special congratulations go out to all of those determined riders who completed the thing. There was a big spaghetti dinner waiting for riders at the bottom- I don’t know if pasta ever tasted so good!
Day 3- Much better! Charlie still feels good as we trot out along a nice flat road on the way to Indian Ranch for a water stop. Judy is back on Warpaint who feels like he had not been ridden yet. She goes sailing by Steph, Johh, and I as she tries to keep him trotting. (nope- no chance) This day is an easier ride which just sort of wanders across the desert on the way from the start at Ballarat to Panimant Springs. Nothing special happens during the morning, except that Charlie is tripping a bit from his new easyboots on front, and Steph’s big Orlov Bunchuck (what a great name) develops a strange cramp after we leave a water stop. Judy and I go on ahead while Steph gives her big gray horse a massage, but we only get as far as something called “Rocky Road.” Yeah, right, something more rocky than the rest of this place? Yep. It requires walking off the horse for about 6 miles down to the valley floor. That took a while, but the water at the bottom was a welcome site. We went cross country for a while before we entered a long, deep up hill sand wash which was also very slow going. Charlie was slowing down a bit, but plugged along up the long climb into the vet check. It took another forever to get there, but once we left lunch it was 5 miles of downhill wash to the road! Turn left, trot 11 miles. Long, Long, trot. We made good time on the flats, but not as good as Judy. She finally decided to let Warpaint go since the footing was good enough to boogie. She and her Appy went by Melissa Ribley and I on that road like one of the many F-15 jets that buzz the desert out here. See ya Warpaint! I watched his dust cloud disappear miles in front of me. We finally hit highway 190 and turned left for the final trot uphill to the finish. Charlie was still moving along, but I noticed he was really slowing down, and I had to ask him to trot the final couple of miles. We walked in at dusk in 18th or so. Charlie passed the vet check fine, but I could tell he was tired. I decided to let him eat and see how he looked, but when I got up at midnight and took him for a walk I could not get him to trot on the lead rope willingly. Nope- that’s enough for this wonderful horse. There was no way I was going to ask him to go back out there if he did not have that spring in his step. I was done after three really fun rides.
Day 4- Crewing again! Judy got going at the back of the pack again, since her horse felt like he had not been ridden yet. Day 4 was an out and back ride that goes up a long canyon, then descends into the town of Darwin. A water stop here and the riders took off across some perfect desert out to the lunch stop at 25 miles. Steph decided Bunchuck deserved a day off as well, so the two of us went out to help out our riders. Steph’s husband John was up in the top ten on their superb horse Squeak. (HCC Saccuro- spelled that wrong, yes?) I helped out a few riders, including the infamous Bob Edwards from Arroyo Grande, Ca. He’s the guy I bought Shatta from almost 3 years ago. Bob is amazing- the guy has to be over 70, and is still out there riding and doing ride and ties. He ended up in fourth today on a mare who’s a half sister to my horse. We were buzzed by the jets a couple of times- very unnerving for the horses to say the least. Judy made it in with Warpaint pulling all the way. John left the check in 6th place! Steph worked doing P&Rs until it was time to head back to camp. We made it back in time to see John take 5th place, and to top it off he won BC! She says he’s hooked now. There was one almost serious thing which happened on the trail a few miles from the finish. One of the juniors riding with Cynthia Peticolas-Stroud stopped to take a rest room break when her horse got away from her. Judy and another woman were walking down a steep hill with a cliff to the low side when they see the runaway horse coming at a full run straight towards them! It was not going to stop, so they moved apart as best they could as the horse split the gap between them at a full run. Very scary! The horse was stopped further down the road, and was re-united with its rider who went on to finish. I was at the finish line just after dark waiting for Judy when I could tell by the sound of a jigging horse on pavement it was her. Here he is, still wanting to jam after the three days. The good news is he finished sound- At long last it looks like he might be back.
After the ride there was a gala new years eve party and awards celebration in Panament springs which was quite a show. There was dancing, party hats, a live band, and yes, there was drinking. (OK, so I got snockered for my once a year party. It was fun!) Jackie gives out a special award each year to the rider who performs the most honorable feat, or to someone who gives of themselves in a special way. The vote was unanimous for Kat Swiggart. She was the drag rider who really helped the last group of riders make it down the mountain on day two. She gave them food, water, grain for their horses, she led some of the horses down the snow all while keeping a cheerful attitude. Everyone tip their helmet visors to Kat now. We had a great vacation, met some new friends (my two new buddies from Salt Lake), and got to see some truly amazing desert terrain. A lot of things were learned during the week, and the next DVE should be even better as a result- the weather could not have been better. Special thanks go out to Jackie Bumgardner who not only went through the effort to put on this ride, but also let me ride her Charlie horse. He’s for sale- anyone looking for a truly wonderful horse?
Nick Warhol
Hayward, Ca.