Chapter 17 ~ Page 244
"Kick your feet out of your stirrups and be prepared to jump to the uphill side," I usually yelled back to my family when crossing a dangerous pitch. Here, I was to find that when it came down to the nitty-gritty, I disregarded my own instructions. Three times the trail slid away from under No-Name. My reaction was to set deeper in the saddle and pray that my horse wanted to live more than I. There wasn't enough time to jump. No-Name did. When we fell, he would recover with tremendous leaps back to safe ground.
BJ followed on Big. Where trail was missing these two would climb right over the edge and 'bulldoze' a new pathway across. Bernice later told me that Colette, still not feeling well, had hung the reins up, pulled her rain gear up to cover her head, and left the driving to Pokey. Thank God we had a few fantastic trail horses along on this endurance trial.
We finally found a meadow that would have been delightful under any other circumstances. We spent the night under our new rain fly, which worked quite well. The extra wool clothing lifted everyone's spirits too.
Packing again in the morning, there was nothing we could do to protect ourselves, and equipment, until buttoned up in the saddle. Try to keep a saddle seat dry by protecting it with a hat, and instead the rain would run down your neck. Take a hankie out to try and dry your hair, and you would end up with a soggy pocket. Colette lay wrapped in the plastic sheet until I took it to tie my last top load. In this short period of time, she was shivering again.
We were one sorry looking outfit floating into the resort area of Snoqualamie Pass that afternoon. So sorry looking that three different people invited us to come in and dry off. We turned all down with thanks until Ken White, the Forest Service snow ranger stationed there, came up to say that he had found a place for our horses at a highway sand shed, and bunks at a fire station.
"'Thanks, but we should push on until we find grass for the horses."
"I'll drive you down the mountain to buy some hay."
"Done."
I'm glad we did stay, for our next contact with civilization was 70 miles away at our next cache. The weather report was "yuck," and during the night (maybe sleeping in a heated building had something to do with it?) Colette complained of "bugs and snakes crawling around" inside her. She complained of freezing, but would throw off her covers. As she thrashed about in a frenzied sleep.
BJ followed on Big. Where trail was missing these two would climb right over the edge and 'bulldoze' a new pathway across. Bernice later told me that Colette, still not feeling well, had hung the reins up, pulled her rain gear up to cover her head, and left the driving to Pokey. Thank God we had a few fantastic trail horses along on this endurance trial.
We finally found a meadow that would have been delightful under any other circumstances. We spent the night under our new rain fly, which worked quite well. The extra wool clothing lifted everyone's spirits too.
Packing again in the morning, there was nothing we could do to protect ourselves, and equipment, until buttoned up in the saddle. Try to keep a saddle seat dry by protecting it with a hat, and instead the rain would run down your neck. Take a hankie out to try and dry your hair, and you would end up with a soggy pocket. Colette lay wrapped in the plastic sheet until I took it to tie my last top load. In this short period of time, she was shivering again.
We were one sorry looking outfit floating into the resort area of Snoqualamie Pass that afternoon. So sorry looking that three different people invited us to come in and dry off. We turned all down with thanks until Ken White, the Forest Service snow ranger stationed there, came up to say that he had found a place for our horses at a highway sand shed, and bunks at a fire station.
"'Thanks, but we should push on until we find grass for the horses."
"I'll drive you down the mountain to buy some hay."
"Done."
I'm glad we did stay, for our next contact with civilization was 70 miles away at our next cache. The weather report was "yuck," and during the night (maybe sleeping in a heated building had something to do with it?) Colette complained of "bugs and snakes crawling around" inside her. She complained of freezing, but would throw off her covers. As she thrashed about in a frenzied sleep.
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Text and Photographs © Barry Murray 1971-2007 Mac&Murray Multimedia