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.