The Wild West Ride  - 3 day 155 Pioneer ride, May 28, 2004

YEE HAWW!

 

Those two words are the official trademark for the Wild West multi-day ride, held on Memorial day weekend in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Nevada City, California.  Ride managers Robert and Melissa Ribley put up these little signs at various places in the ride: finish line, vet check ahead, highway crossing, etc.  They all have this little drawing of Robert, one presumes, since it’s a little round headed, stick-figure guy wearing a cowboy hat.  But the little bitty Robert drawing has two critical things going on- he’s always grinning ear to ear, and he’s always saying “YEE HAWW!”   

 

Yes, Jackie Floyd was absolutely right- that’s how I felt all weekend.  Ear to ear grin, shouting YEE HAWW at the top of my lungs.  (Well, at least I wanted to)  And why not?  Ever have a perfect ride?  Ever have three in a row?  Sure, I have a lot of great rides, and I do have some not-so-great ones, but not this weekend.  I’m sending in my entry for next year tomorrow, since the event has a rider limit, (only because of parking) and there is no way I’ll miss this ride.  Maybe it’s because I’m a single-track-trail-in-the-beautiful-forest junkie.  Perhaps it was the weather, or the footing, or the company, or the food, or the horse I was riding.  It was all of the above!

 

Judy and I drove out on Thursday from the Bay area with my riding buddy Sally Abe (Pronounced “Ah-Bey”) following along with her horse Phathom  (Pronounced “Fathom”); she was driving her Ford truck (Pronounced “Ford”).  Judy was riding her young Appy, Color, on some of the LD rides.  Judy has this thing for spots- she selected Color as her replacement for the mighty Warpaint, who is now retired.  Replace Warpaint?  I don’t think so.  But alas, he’s done with Endurance now, so the tall, lanky, Ranger-bred Appy is just getting going.  By the way- Color does not canter, he “Ga-lumphs.”  That’s the official terms for his long legged, relaxed canter that’s apparently pretty fun to ride.  I was again mounted on Zayante.  He and I are having a swell year so far, and I can’t think of a horse I’d rather ride.  By the way- take a gander at his Hall Of Fame painting done by Susan Romero Norris, it’s on the first page of my little web site.  http://www.nickwarhol.com/  Absolutely beautiful!   On Thursday evening Rebecca Jankovich hosted another pre-ride feast at her monstrous “Twisted Sisters” rig, and it did not disappoint.  Rebecca’s buddy Brian from Canada came all the way to the event to ride some of Be’recca’s many horses.  I had to laugh when they told me he was the “Canadian Nick”, because he goes out and ride’s everyone else’s horses.  Or maybe I’m the “American Brian?”  Either way it works; he’s a great guy who loves to ride.  I think it might be best for Canadian/American relations that he invite Rebecca and me up there to ride!  Judy and I took Color and Zayante out on a nice warm up out into the forest, reminding me of how neat the trails are.  The weather turned a little funky; it was all clouded up, but still pretty warm.  We went to the ride meeting and were greeted by a light rain falling.  It was really funny- it was not raining hard enough to get up and leave, but everyone was getting wet.  We put the waterproof blankets on the horses; it rained off and on all night, making pitter patter sounds on the roof of the camper.  I was worried that we would be riding in the rain, and the trails would be muddy, but some rain god somewhere is still on my side.  Friday morning came with no rain, but very overcast and cool weather.  The ground was perfectly moistened, not muddy at all, and there were water puddles everywhere.  Perfect!  Judy and I started out at the back of the pack at 7am together, since the 50 and the LD go out at the same time.  We walked a while up the main dirt road to make sure Color was not getting excited, which he wasn’t.  The trail turns left on to another forest road for a mile or two; we trotted along nicely until we got to the log jam of riders at the bottom of  “Don’t Stop Hill.”  This hill is correctly named- you best not stop while going up, or you will find yourself suddenly going down it, thanks to gravity.  It’s just a straight, very steep single track trail that goes up for a hundred yards or so, but there is absolutely nowhere to go but up.  People wisely queue up at the bottom, making sure the horse in front of them is clear before the next rider starts up.  Color blasted up perfectly, Zay chased him up effortlessly.  At the top we came across Jeremy Reynolds off in the bushes fixing his tack.  His breast collar broke one of the buckles holding it to his saddle.  I told you this hill is steep!  No breast collar on this hill and you will have a saddle on the horse’s tail.  The single track trail winds along through thick Manzanita bushes, very beautiful, but the toughest shrubbery known to man.  There was a long string of riders here, so we just took it easy until we reached a road where people could move out.   A couple of miles later we hit the water stop, and the place where the trail splits for the two rides.  Color and Judy went right, Zay and I went left.  Zay was just POSITIVE we were lost, and should be following the spotted horse a little longer; but after a moment of bellowing, he started his steady trot down the road.  The trail now does a long, maybe seven mile loop through the forest, all on nice rolling roads with perfect footing.  We climbed up higher into the fog, where the visibility was pretty limited.  But the cool thing was watching the horse breathe- his breaths would leave huge, billowing puffs of steam that would just hang in the air and not dissipate.  I would look behind me and see the puffs of Zayante breath hanging back there, looking sort of like smoke signals, except they were horizontal, rather than going up.  Sort of like a puffy jet trail through the forest.  Very weird, but neat!   It wasn’t raining up here, but it was wet due to the fog.  We rode along on this loop alone for an hour or so, only seeing one or two other horses the whole way.  Total solitude, total quiet, no distractions, just perfect trotting along all by ourselves.  And Zayante wasn’t even spooking much!   Highpoint of the ride number 1!  

 

After some wonderful trotting, we looped back to the water stop, and after a nice hay break, we picked up the LD trail back down towards camp.  I rode with a couple of different people; it was a few miles down the trails and onto the main road back into the base camp and our one hour lunch stop.   Sally was 10 minutes from heading out on her second loop, and Judy was in and out on the LD ride.  We vetted through very nicely and spent the hour letting the white horse eat.   It was very overcast, but not windy, and no rain.   Loop two is the pink loop: 90% single-track.  My kind of loop!   Fifteen steps out of camp it turns out the trail that starts leading up to the high country, as Robert likes to call it.  The first mile or so is a nice trail that heads uphill and is a little bit technical, we just walked up for a while, enjoying the day.  After a little climb the trail opens up and winds along the highway, then heads inland.  (less traffic noise)  Now it gets fun!  You just start trotting along up the trail, it climbs slightly, but in probably five miles we only stopped for a couple of turns and a couple of little climbs.  This is good stuff.  The terrain up here in the high country is different than the deep, dark forests of the valleys below.  Up here you have lots of room between the trees, and get to look at the gorgeous views.  Hey!  I could see views!  And there is blue sky up above in places!   We were by ourselves most of the way again, on all single track trail, all the way up to the highway crossing.  Clip, clop across the pavement, I think those were the first times I heard Zay’s shoes all day.  The trail conditions up here were unreal- they resembled the soft soil that probably would be right at home in anyone’s tomato garden.  The nice trails continued on the other side of the highway for a couple of miles to the main water stop.  We paused for a bit to eat some hay and Oreo cookies.  I’ll let you guess which I ate.   The trail heads up higher on fire roads; we trot along and walk up the grade to the highest point in the ride, maybe 6500 feet or so.  Last year this area was covered in snow; all we had this year was perfect, moist footing.  Wouldn’t you know, some goofy loggers were using pink ribbons to mark their trees to take down, which made for a bit of confusion for some people, but there was no trail to follow, so the road it was!  At the tippy-top of the hill the course turns onto a mildly rocky road for a couple hundred yards, then turns left, right through the bushes for a quick shot down the snowy-river downhill to the view spot.  From here you just lookout and gasp.  It’s a little like being in an airplane flying over the Sierra.  Long, green valley below, Highway 80 off in the distance.  It was still a little cloudy, but it was clearing.  Back on board the white horse for another short uphill, then back on that rocky road.  This road is just about the only thing on the ride that is not perfect; you have to go about 3 miles or so back to the water.  But what’s this?  After only a few turns on the road at a walk, the trail hangs a right, back out into the forest!  Okay, this is new! Three more cheers for Robert!  He treated us to a virgin trail that was more of that chocolate loamy footing, all in the shade.  It wound up and down the hills, avoiding that rocky road completely.   The trail even crossed a nice creek where Zayante took a long drink of the cold mountain water.  There were about 10 horses up here at the time, all taking it nice and easy.  How will we get back to the water stop without going on the road?  Easy!  We crossed it and continued on even more trail, all the way back to the water stop.  Another short break for hay, then we head down the long, slightly downhill road that leads to the vet check in about three miles.  What ho!  Another turn, off the road, back into the forest!   The big pack of horses headed into the trees, but quickly lost the trail.  We were wandering around a bit when Michelle Roush found it- the leaders of our pack just missed a turn.  (that was marked!)  We only got about a mile of this new trail before getting deposited back on the road for the downhill trot to the vet check. 

 

The vet check was, how shall we say, a little “hectic?”   For some strange reason there were about 20 horses in there when our herd arrived; we just added to the masses.   The ride workers were a bit overwhelmed for a while, and it took an extra fifteen minutes to get out of there, but who cares?  It’s not like we were in a hurry.  I just let Zay eat in the vet line, and by the time he got to the vet his CRI was 44/44.  We left the check by ourselves some how, and caught up to Julie Suhr at the road crossing; she was riding the mare she is planning on riding at Tevis this year.  Zay and I passed Julie and her riding partner; Julie was thrilled at how good the old white horse is looking these days.  We trotted along down the tight trail that led back to camp and the finish line.  We made it in at about 3:45 and vetted out fine.  Day one complete.  A hot shower and the traditional post ride beer was much appreciated, but was completely upstaged by the pot-luc dinner.   Everyone brings a dish to share; the choices were spectacular and very tasty.  There was way more food there than you could get on a plate.   The ride meeting was held after dinner, (we got nice towels with the Wild West logo for the completion award) and after walking the horses several times we went to bed, hoping the weather would continue to cooperate.

 

Saturday morning- not a cloud in the sky.  YEE HAWW!  I stepped out of the camper to hear something; it’s music, no, it’s singing, someone is singing.   It is a delicate little number, someone is singing gentle, sweet, little melodies above the quite sounds of the early morning forest.  Was it elves?  Pixies?   NOT!   It’s Mike Bernsten, bellowing out “Blue Sky, Blue SKY!” at the top of his lungs as he tacks up his horse.  Problem was those were the only two words he knew to the song!  He was just jazzed since he was riding on day 2, and it was beautiful out.   Judy was sitting out day 2 on Color, so I rode out of camp with Sally and Phathom wearing a long sleeve tee shirt.  Julie Suhr asked if she could tag along for a while, since she had lost her riding partner, she liked our slow pace, and would love to ride along with Zayante. Could she ride with us?  Hmmmmm.  This decision took a lot of thought.  The three of us walked up the main dirt road for about 15 minutes, then started trotting slowly up the road through the forest.  Today’s trail stays on the rolling forest dirt roads for a few miles.  Sad little note- on the road we spotted a dead silver fox pup, or kit, or what ever you call a baby fox.  “No,” said Sally, “It was just sleeping.”   Okay, that’s better.  The road eventually heads down a very steep and rutted road for a quarter mile or so to the deep creek crossing at the bottom.   A quick drink and we crossed, now heading up the steep climb towards the populated area on the outskirts of Nevada City.  The roads just wander on and on through these mountain ranches, until we finally started heading down towards the big reservoir.  The water skiers were out already shooting around the lake behind their monster boats.  We trot along the shore for a while until we get to the hill with the slick road.  We have to get off the horses and lead them up the shoulder of this paved road that is so slick you can’t believe it.  One step on this pavement on this hill and the horse wouldn’t stop until the bottom.   The weather is just fabulous: cool, sunny, calm.   At the top of the paved road we turn into the forest onto one of my favorite trails- Anderson hill.  Zay and I were leading as we led several horses down the trail through the bushes on the way to the climb, when Zay suddenly jumps forward.  A spook?  No, he is being stung by bees!   Sally and Julie came out unscathed, but the horse behind Julie got nailed as well.  Once the tails stopped swishing like airplane propellers, we climbed up the radical hill.   It’s a long, steep, twisty trail all the way up the mountain, all on a perfect trail that winds through trees and much greenery.  We walk most of it, but trot the stuff on top.  We then get dumped onto a nice road that leads to a water stop where the three horses drink like mad.   From there we get treated to the trail that National Geographic would film if it were making a documentary on perfect trails in the California forest.  It’s a flat, shaded, loamy soft trail that meanders through trees for a couple of miles.  You can’t help but shout YEE HAW as you trot through here.   It ended way too quickly at the highway crossing, where we crossed, then headed down along the highway towards the vet check.   We caught up to Mike, and yes, he was still babbling about the color of the sky.   Bob Suhr was there to meet Julie; the three gray horses all pulsed down immediately for a quick 15 minute hold.  This would be the lunch check as well, but it was running smoothly and very efficiently.  We set out on the next loop, heading out of camp on more nice trails in the forest, before we got to the really cool stuff.  Highpoint of the ride number 2!   This trail turns off the road and just starts going down, and down, and down in to the jungle.  The forest is so dark in here you have to take off the sunglasses.  You could be in the Amazon!   Sally is laughing out loud she’s having so much fun as we drop down through the thick green forest.  Julie comments how much she loves these trails.  Me too!  Zay leads the group through the incredible forest and onto more trails that eventually lead to an intersection where the spotter sends us down the long, hard gravel road.  I get off and lead down; but we have a funny situation developing.  Sally’s horse walks about 9 miles an hour, and Julie’s horse walks slower than Zay walks.   The three of us looked like some kind of rubber band as we wind our way down into the canyon.  Sally going ahead and falling back, Julie falling back and then coming up.  Picture a three horse slinky with grey horses!   There’s a water spring at the bottom; I’ve always turned right and let the horse drink from the huge puddle that’s there, but Julie takes us another 100 yards or so to a secluded spring with a nice trough of clean, cold water.  The horses suck it down gleefully, and after a quick electrolyte stop, (Julie uses molasses as a base, it smelled so good I wanted a shot), we started trotting through the forest again, looking for my meadow.   I was telling Sally and Julie about this nice, green meadow I let Warpaint graze at for a while last year.  We round the turn where the meadow is, or was.  Loggers seem to have wiped it out, but we took a break when we found some nice green grass that the three horses munched on for a while.  Both Sally and Julie were devastated (grin) that there was no meadow, I’ll probably be hearing about this one from Sally for years to come.  We started the climb back up to the spotter; we got to climb back up even more nice trails.  Now it is just another couple of miles, on more twisty, windy trails, back to the vet check for our lunch.  We all pulse down right away and find a nice spot in the shade to spend our hour.  It was fun to just sit there and see all your friends just grinning about the ride.    Lots of YEE  HAWW’s in the vet check!

 

Sally led our trio out of lunch for the really fun trot back along the trail next to the highway.  You have to slow to cross many driveways, some paved, but this trail is way too fun.  Phathom was just trucking along at a perfect pace with Julie and I following along.  We came across a few bicycles on the trail, but they were all very polite and stopped for us.  Back across the highway, and wouldn’t you know, back into the forest on more trails.  Now we head down to the bottom of a nice valley, where we marvel at the trees.  The sun was shining brightly, but you would go for a long time in total shade cover.  We eventually end up at the bottom of the infamous “Hallelujah”  hill, named for the word shouted out when the first pioneer finally made it to the top.  It’s a beautiful climb on great trails that wind all over the place up this long climb.  It’s half trotting and half walking to the top, where we all gleefully shouted “Hallelujah!”  I think I actually said “YEE HAWW!”   From here we get routed to the motorcycle trail that winds all over the place like a long, brown, soft snake through the forest.  Where’s my dirt bike?!  I would have swiped Robert’s, but I was having way too much fun on the horse.  We eventually had to leave the trails, darn it, and finish this ride.  We made it into camp for our second completion, and a yet another milestone for Zayante.  Today he went over the 12,000 mile mark.  Words are not enough.  Another pot-luc dinner, this one as good as the first, left us nice and stuffed.  Today’s completion award was a pillowcase with the Wild West logo on it.  Melissa mention Zay’s feat to the crowd, it was a special moment. More walking of magnificent horses, then sleep.

 

Day three came with the weather as nice as the day before, but no songbirds.  Mike and Kirstin had to leave on Sunday, and would have probably rather stayed.  Sally elected to not ride the third day as well, so that left me lucky enough to ride with Julie again.  Judy rode on the LD ride, but those guys were not starting until 9:30 am!  Talk about a sleep in!  Julie and I rode out together, and after another fifteen steps, dive into the forest on another trail.  Today’s ride starts out on trails for the first ten miles or so!   We trotted along with several people, stopping now and then to let others pass.  We walked along the short, rocky section that reminds me a little of Tevis trail, but then the perfect trails start up again.  I had Zay in front; we were leading about ten horses along this trail for a few miles, just trotting along having an absolute blast.  This is the best there is, and I kept saying that.  We headed down through the boggy section, back to the bottom of, you guessed it, “Hallelujah” hill again!  Oh boy!  Up it again!  This time a right turn at the top took us to the water stop on the main dirt road, where we hung a right and started trotting.  Okay, trotting on the roads is a nice break, but I’d rather be back down there in the forest.  We trotted along for a few miles, all the way to that same downhill and water crossing at the creek.  After a drink and a 180, we climbed back up, and a neat thing happened.  We were walking along with a woman and her daughter, who it turns out were on their first fifty.  I was in front, listening to Julie and the woman chat.  It was great- here you have Julie Suhr, in my opinion the greatest person the sport of Endurance has ever produced, talking about riding and horses and such with a beginner, who was so excited to be out here on her first ride.  The contrast was incredible; Julie was happy to give advice to the new rider, who was just taking it in.  Of course I still got a kick when she said “That’s Zayante?  Wow!  I can say I rode with him!”   I’m sorry I didn’t get her name, but we’re glad to have you.  We trotted on ahead back to the water stop, and then after a short break, it was the end of roads for the rest of the loop.  “YEE HAWW!”   We head back into the forest on the trails, oh, the trails!  More trails!  Up and down, back and forth, through the trees, over creeks, along ridges, just wonderful.  All at a trot, but walking up and down the steeper hills.  Highpoint of the ride number three!   This included the famous “Knee Knocker” trail, where you can trot, but your horse better steer well, or you will have very sore knees indeed.  The trees are like giant slalom poles, but they don’t give much when you whack them.  We came across a few dirt bikes, but all were polite as well, stopping and shutting off their motors to let us pass.  All too soon for me, we popped out of the forest and started the short downhill towards camp, just a couple of miles away.  Julie suddenly said “Uh, oh, my horse is stepping funny.”  We stopped immediately, and I took a peek.  The mare lost a front shoe, so I grabbed an easyboot and stuck it on; we started walking a bit to make sure she was okay.  When we started trotting again, Julie said: “You know what?  That was the first time I ever lost a shoe on a ride!”   I thought about that a moment, and said: “Come on, you are telling me that in 28,000 miles, you have never lost a shoe?”  “Yes, that’s right!” she replied.  She has worn them out, bent them, replaced them, but never lost one while riding before. Okay- if that’s not some kind of record, I don’t know what is.  (If I were a horseshoe, I would not want to leave Julie Suhr’s horse’s foot, either!)  We got to camp and got pulsed in, but as I was eating lunch, Julie came over and told me her horse was a little bit off, so she was pulling.  No sense in taking any chances, especially since this is the horse she will ride Tevis on.  She gave me a brand new easyboot to replace the one I put on her horse.  Zay vetted through just fine, so after lunch we headed back up the pink loop for the last time.  I rode along by myself again for a while, but would catch up with people now and then, or have some people pass me.   Zay just trucks along, alone or in a crowd, up or down, anywhere, anytime.  I was riding with a few people when we had four dirt bikes come up behind us.   We jumped of the trail, they saw us and rode off the trail to go around us.  But when the rider on the KTM 450EXC with the titanium pipe jumped on the throttle, it startled Zay and he did a pretty good jump.   The bike sure sounded good, though!   Back at the water stop I asked for more Oreos, but it turns out a dog had eaten the whole bag.  I was aghast, and the mood of the six riders at the stop turned unfriendly!   We decided that our ride was ruined, and I would be filing a protest, because there were no more Oreos!   The ride worker, Kathy, maybe, rolled her eyes, then turned to her truck, and returned with a little vending machine package of six Oreos.  I opened it up and passed a cookie to each rider, even breaking one in half to make sure everyone got one.  Our mood was turned instantly to jovial, and suddenly life was great again!  Robert and Melissa- you guys got spared!   It was pretty funny.  That’s the kind of day it was- everyone just having a great time.  I rode up the hill again with a few riders, then met and rode for a while with a nice woman named Cindy from the Camp Far West area.  Back at the water stop I hooked up with Lucy Trumbull-Chapman, who was riding today on a borrowed horse on his first fifty, since her horse had cramped and pulled on the first day.   We rode along for a while, chatting about the price of tea and crumpets, the House of Parliament, and Lorrys.  (Guess where she’s from?)  We entered the vet check and found it quite nice on this day.  It was quiet and relaxed.  It was here I noticed another really neat contrast, like the one with Julie and the new rider.  Here is Zayante, standing and eating next to this new horse, in the same vet line, on the same day.  This new horse would be getting his first 50 miles in about an hour’s time; when Zay would cross the line, his career mileage would be 12, 065 miles.   Yet here they were, side by side, eating and hanging out together.  It was a neat moment, just watching the two of them.  If I could speak horse language, I’d tell that youngster that yes, he should stand there, and maybe some of the Zayante magic will rub off, by osmosis.  We left the check and mostly walked down the final trail to the finish.  Melissa gave the 3-day horses a special vet out, and she commented on how good Zay looked.  It’s nice to be done, since you can just throw your stuff in the trailer, but I was wishing it were a four day ride.   Judy made it in fine on Color and was thrilled at how good he looked.  His first 50 is coming up!   Better stand next to Zay, Color! 

 

The dinner was a catered affair of Tri-tip or chicken, and after dinner we sat around and gabbed while waiting for the awards.  Sue Flagg rode the three LD rides on her Mule, I think his name is Henry.  She offered me a Bloody Mary, which I gleefully accepted, having finished my two beers with dinner.  Maybe you need a Bloody Mary after riding mules?  Robert?  Frank?  Whatever, it was great, and very potent, so of course I had another.  Then Michelle Roush, Scott Sansom, and Ken Cook arrived with the bottles of wine.  Had to get some of that Merlot.  When that was gone, we opened the bottle of Zayante Vineyards Chardonnay that Julie had brought for me for Zay’s retirement party.  Sorry Julie, Chardonnay won’t last that long.  Besides- I’m going to find that winery and go buy a case.   Nonetheless, I was seeing stars by the time the awards started, and I wasn’t looking at the sky!  Whoowie!  I staggered up to get my completion towel.  But that wasn’t as bad as what happened in front of us.   Suddenly there is a crash; plates, bottles, and jackets fly everywhere, and Dorothy Miller is flung to the ground, right out of her chair!  We saw that!  That chair bucked her right out!   She said it was a dog that had pulled the chair out, but we doubt it.  It was pretty funny!  After the awards we walked, er, staggered with the horses again, then came over and joined the group around the camp fire.  I had a smore made with a brownie- much better than chocolate.  Then Melissa pours the Baily’s for everyone sitting there.  Cripes- just what I need, more booze, but bring it on!  That was a really neat way to end the weekend- just hanging out around the big fire and laughing with friends.  I slept pretty well that night.

 

There may be better ways to spend the Memorial day weekend, but I’d be hard pressed to find one.  Enter this ride.  Enter early, enter often, but come next year.

 

Nick Warhol

Hayward, Ca.