The Logistics Puzzle

Decisions, decisions… Of all the adventures I’ve tackled since I retired, this trail ride has to be the most complex ever! When I rode my motorcycle on the Bonneville Salt Flats I had to worry about was an accident taking out my ride home but really, it was just like any other summer ride. When I participated in the local sprint triathlon last year, I had to juggle 3 different conditioning modes but it was just me and a deadline to deal with. The hike across Olympic National Park had the complication of food and shelter but again, it was just me. This trail ride takes it all to a new logistical level. Five lives to consider: Jessica, me, two mounts, and a packhorse and we all need to eat and be protected from the weather in varying forms. The horses will eat 10lbs of food a day so there’s 30lbs times the number of days between resupply drops that need to be carried. There is one stretch that may take 7 days so that’s 210 lbs of food for just the horses.

People food will be easier though I need to find out more about what Jessica likes to eat and plan accordingly. It will be easier if we cook one dinner and not two each night. Clothing and tents are similar to my hike last year so that won’t be too big a deal though I have to consider water preparation. Last year I carried iodine tablets and used them with a little raspberry lemonade added to the water to disguise the taste. As the hike progressed, I drank from clear springs and loved it. I know, I know, all the litany of diseases that are waterborne… Hey look, the park was hardly used and others I talked to had been doing it for years. That plus the fact that I would be home before the onset of symptoms.

Different story next year. I would be in the middle of the wilderness when the symptoms struck and that could be a game changer so I’ll be more cautious and always take precautions. The problem is that iodine isn’t recommended for long periods of time, filters are slow, UV kits take batteries. For now, I’m leaning towards a filter, iodine, and bottled water at the food drops. The bottled water would just be for the first day but would give us a needed break from the iodine taste or pumping the filter.

My tack is taking shape. My sister bought me a good trail saddle at the Redmond Oregon tack sale and she also had some extra gear for me. I still need to lose some weight so as to not overload my horse and also to have a little spare capacity to carry personal gear. Jessica has no problem here and will wind up carrying a fair amount of food on her mount.

The other Big Deal is for want of a better term, “trail compatibility”. Jess and I have gotten along very well… for a few hours each week. We like each other as occasional riding buddies but what will happen when we are together constantly for 4 weeks? I’ve just finished reading one blog about an Oregon – Washington crest ride by a woman who went with a good friend and it wasn’t pretty. They were friends in the world but differences in wake up times, willingness to get started and help the other person started to really strain the relationship. These are all unknowns at this point. One thing I have already realized is that I better get my ground game together this summer. Last time we went riding, Buster didn’t want to go and wouldn’t let me get close to him in the pasture. Jessica had to out fox him and hand him off to me. I remembered how to ride but some of those horsemanship skills on the ground need revisiting. Jess has ridden all of her adult life and so she’s been the adult in charge. Much of my riding was as a kid and so now I realize that my Dad was back stopping the things like cleaning hooves and tricking the horses into the stalls to make it easier to get started. Some things I need to practice and remember, other skills are new and I will need to learn them. And I will.

This trip is very important to Jessica, it looms large in her dreams, and I owe her a huge debt for first taking the chance to give me a ride and sharing her tack and horses. I also owe her for including me in this dream and the last thing I want to do is cause problems or friction. I want this 508 mile ride to be remembered as fun and trouble free… yeah rightJ There will be trouble. There will be rain and heat. There will be steep hills and dangerous stream crossings. All of these and more are to be expected and others we never anticipated too but I’ll work to eliminate problems due to differences in horse politics or siesta times; the human relationships. Jessica is tackling a huge bite planning, acquiring, and training the horses. I’ll do my best to handle the HR and logistics end of things.

There’ll be a bit of break now in this blog as I have to drive a friend to California and I’m going to take a small e-cation and leave the computer at home. When I get back, I’ll try to figure out how to include pictures in this narrative and links to some of the other stories and resources we have found. 

A Heavy Topic!

       While Jessica is hunting for another horse for our ride, I’ve been reading up on what to expect. I want to be prepared so that the ride goes well. It would be wrong for Jess to have to cut things short or change plans because I didn’t do my homework.  Last year I did a solo walk across the Olympic National Park from the North Fork ranger station to the Elwa River Ranger station. It was 50 miles and took 5 days. I prepared for the walk, packed carefully, but still had a pack that weighed 40+ pounds. Some was food, some shelter, some clothing. My first thought when I started really thinking about riding the Pacific Crest Trail was, “Cool, I don’t have to sweat the weight because the horse is stronger than I am!” Well it turns out that I was wrong, dead wrong as they say in the Westerns that formed my view of long rides.

 When Rooster Cogburn heads out in search of an outlaw with Maddy in “True Grit” all he packs is some whiskey, some salt, and a big bag of ‘corn dodgers’. This last item I assume to be a prairie version of a sailors hardtack. His saddle doesn’t have large packs and he only needs the horse blanket to sleep on. OK, lets start with that last item. At the end of the day the blanket is wringing wet with horse sweat and I don’t think it would keep anyone warm using it unless they were on a soundstage or sleeping in a trailer on the set of a movie. So add my trusty sleeping bag in please and because I’m older than Jessica’s 29 I’ll take a sleeping pad or air mattress too thank you! I’ll also need a tent in case of rain. Cooking is going to be different from the westerns too. No open fires in many of the areas we will ride though so either cold meals or bring a small stove.

       All of this starts to add up and the one thing I kept seeing in the articles about long distance riding was don’t overload your horse! In fact, the number I kept seeing was a 250lb limit for safe travel. 250lbs? That’s just me and the saddle! No food, no gear. The other thing I keep seeing that makes that weight even more important is the importance of feed for the horses. In the westerns, the horses were allowed to graze and that’s still an option in some areas but in many it is not allowed or because this is the Pacific CREST Trail, there is little forage for the stock. In wilderness areas, raw grain is not allowed due to the possibility of introducing non-native species onto the land.

       Some of the processed feeds are a good thing though as they are approved for back country use and have a high calorie content. Just like a hiker needs to double their calorie intake on long days, so do the horses when ridden loaded in rough country. Grazing occasionally and feed at 10lbs a day should keep a horse going. There’s one section of trail where we will be at least 7 days without re-supply. That means me and the tack = 250lbs. Add my food and gear at 25lbs. Include the horses feed at 70lbs and you see the dilemma. 345lbs is far over the limit for what the horse should be packing. Overloaded horses are tired horses, horses prone to injury, horses prone to stumbling on dangerous trails. This is going to take some time to work out.

       I can lose weight. Hell, I should lose weight but let’s be realistic and say that I lose 10% of my body mass. That’s only 23lbs. Two days food for the horse and still badly over weight for the trip. I can lead the horse down steep trail sections. This is where most accidents occur and is hardest on the horse’s legs. The other option is a packhorse. This would solve everything but Jessica only has a 2-horse trailer and she doesn’t have a pack frame or harness. Fortunately, we have time to work this out. Some of the accounts I’ve read were made without much planning, almost on the spur of the moment, but they were written by a 16 year old boy who was thin and wiry or much smaller woman. Easy for them to set that 250lb limit! I weighed 175lbs in high school and that was long ago. Well, enough excuses. Let’s start with the easy stuff. The sweets and deserts are going to have to stop. If you see me on the street with a candy bar, knock it out of my hands! Remember the life you save may be… the horses! Jessica’s horse that I’ll probably be riding. Jessica’s horse named… Cheeseburger:-\ Oh the irony, a low calorie Greg on a high calorie horse. 

  

I never expected this!

     This is going to be the story of my ride across Washington State on the Pacific Crest Trail. That's a bold statement and I hope that it comes true! I need to give some background first though. Bear with me as this trip will take over a year to come true anyway.
     I grew up on a farm outside of Portland Oregon, long ago, in a galaxy far away it seems now. I rode horses, I fished, I rode horses, I hunted, I rode horses, I turned 16. I sold my last horse, a retired Thoroughbred race horse to buy a scooter and I've owned something with two wheels ever since. I graduated from high school, went to college, got a job, got married, raised a family. I kept riding motorcycles but always thought fondly of horses... in the abstract. I didn't have the land. Five acres on San Juan Island, five wet, marshy acres! I didn't have the time but I would occasionally ask acquaintances to take me for rides if they had extra horses. It rarely worked. In the 45 years since i left the farm I can count the number of times I've ridden on one hand. Still, I kept a lookout for a chance.
     Last fall I was in the local hardware store and was being waited on by a young woman who worked there. I noticed that she had a horse tattoo. Well, a lot of young women are horse lovers but then i noticed that she had "barn arms"! She had incredible muscle definition for someone who simply shifted store stock around so I asked my usual question, the same ones that had never worked before.
"Do you have a horse?"
"Yes." she said.
"Do you have more than one horse?"
She laughed, "Yes, I have three."
"Would you like to trade a horseback ride for a motorcycle ride?"
She laughed again, "No, I'm not interested in a motorcycle ride."
Damn, there went my last best hope!
"But I'll take you for a ride if you know how."
     I couldn't believe it, success after all those attempts in years past! I got her name and gave her mine and my phone number and I went home and waited... and waited,,, and waited. I figured that she had reconsidered, remembered what her Mom had said about not talking to strangers, seen my picture up on the Post Office wall. Nothing that dramatic though. I ran in to her at the local American  Legion Hall and she said that she still had my number but that she was still trying to get things sorted out with the horse that she wanted to put me on. A week later she called and we met at her pasture.
     OK at this point all I'm hoping for is a ride, maybe two. She puts the horses in a trailer and we drive a few miles away to the Roche Harbor watershed. It's hunting season and the place she usually rides has many hunters and thick brush to disguise horses and riders as deer. a wise choice I agree! we get the horses unloaded and Jessica gets them saddled and bridled. We adjust the stirrups for me and away we go. I quickly realize that this first ride is really an interview. She trots. I post. She likes that because it's easier on the horse.
"It's how I learned." I explain.
We canter a bit. My horse is very rough and this surprises me because all other times I've cantered, it's been an easier gate than trotting. I comment on this and it turns out that the horse I'm on is noted for being rough as a cob in a canter. We finish a couple of hours later and I'm a little tired but not particularly stiff or sore. Once you really know how to move with a horse instead of just hanging on, you use fewer muscles and you use them more naturally. I was happy with how easily the ride came back to me and apparently, Jessica was too because I was invited back.
"A lot of people want to ride and say that they know how but what that really means is that they've sat on a horse following another horse at a walk on a trail. You really do know how to ride and you make the horse do what you want and don't let him do what he wants."
I ride again and then again. We start riding regularly. Winter interrupts some but we keep at it and my skills improve and one day Jessica says, "I like riding with you. I don't have to teach you or worry about you and I can relax and just ride for myself."
    She also liked having an extra person along in case something happened. We were riding in an area without cell service, or at least sporadic cell service and the trails were rough and steep. An accident here could have a serious ending! Along the way, we talked and shared ideas and jokes and had some good laughs every ride. I came to like her as a friend and was pleasantly surprised to feel that she felt the same way; a mutual admiration society. Trail buddies.
     We had talked about hiking and some of my hikes and hers so I knew that she liked a good adventure. my dream hike would be the Pacific Crest Trail on a full length though hike,  Mexico to Canada in one long summer. I have the time, I have the money... I'm also 65 years old. I did a hike across the Olympics last summer. 50 miles in 5 days with the last day being a 16 mile trek. The PCT requires 20 miles though and day after day after day to complete the hike. Still, I dreamed and bought books about the trail. My Fearless Wife gave me the Pacific Crest Reader for Christmas. In it was a story by a guy named Hawk Greenway who as a 16 year old boy decided to ride his horse from his home in Northern California to the Canadian border and then back to Wenatchee Washington to see his Mom. The book is called "The Trial North" and it's available from amazon and independent bookstores. To thank Jessica for all the rides, I bought her a copy. Inside I wrote, "To Jessica, to fuel a young girl's dreams!" I didn't just fuel them, I threw gasoline on them! Two days later she commented on my Face Book page, "Well, Greg Hertel, now you've done it! I've been up since 4:30 reading articles, blogs, sites about people who rode the Pacific Crest Trail......... Dammit."
Two days after that I'm included on the ride as her sidekick. Hoping for a couple of rides, I'm now looking at close to a 500 mile ride. Life is good:-)