Klickitat Trek I & II

Klickitat Trek I & II
June 5 & 6, 2010
Glenwood WA
Managed by Marilyn Milestone

For story with photos visit my website

FRIDAY
I did as much packing as possible on Thursday night since I wasn't for sure what time we would be leaving on Friday. As it turned out, Ruth had to work until noon so I went in for a couple hours myself, heading home about 10 am to finish last minute details. I almost forgot my suitcase, thankfully as I went around closing doors I saw it on the bed and it registered that I needed to grab that!

Ruth called me shortly after noon and already had her trailer hooked up and horse loaded. She met me out at Sinwaan's barn and had gotten there long enough before me to have my stuff loaded too! Is she awesome or what?

We discussed which route to take and headed out (about 1 pm), Ruth in the lead with the horse trailer and us following with the camp trailer. The wind was mighty and we were heading right into it. Not good. The first thing we noticed was that we had burned through 3/4 of a tank of gas by the time we reached Umatilla (57 miles). So we stopped and filled up both tanks. Gas was $2.91 a gallon, thankfully less than I budgeted for since we obviously were not getting the milage I had planned on. Both tanks were $96 to fill. The kids both fell asleep after that stop.



Last time Ruth had come over this way she had taken the Hood River bridge, which is narrow and frightening and a toll bridge at that, so we had come up with an alternate route through Goldendale.





I had some reservations since I have driven there before and knew about the steep climbs but we braved it. It was a tough haul. Slow going! We got to Goldendale at 3:51 pm. Gas was $2.99/gal there and we again filled up ($40). Once through Goldendale we took the Glenwood/Goldendale highway which was gorgeous, long, winding, also steep in parts, and watch out for rocks!





I don't know what time we finally arrived at ride camp because I was too excited to check the time. I could barely see all the trailers through the trees. It was a lovely camp, so many trees, it had a real "forest camping" feel.



Glenwood has been getting a lot of rain lately, so there was a giant puddle in the entry to camp.



Fording that, we slowly drove around until we found an open spot amidst the trees that was suitable for both rigs. I unloaded Sinwaan and noticed right away a blemish on his back leg. I had put on his front shipping boots but not the back ones. Horrors! I helped Matt with the kids and then when they were settled in I set up the portable corral for Sinwaan and got him settled in with water and hay. Then Ruth and I walked down to the building to get registered.

This ride is unusual in that they did not accept any pre-entries. So there was no requesting my favorite number and I was really curious to see what number I would end up with. I also like pre-entries because once I have my paperwork together I can mail it off and not have to worry about it again. This time I had to keep track of it, lost it once and had to print it out and fill it out all over again the day before the ride. We paid and turned in our paperwork and I was assigned #52, Ruth was #53. They told us the ride meeting would be at 8 pm and I think it was just about 6 pm at that point so we went back and got the horses.



Ruth and I walked over together to vet in. Marilyn was a pulser and checked Sinwaan in at 48. She also applied his number (only to one side). I was trying to stay with Ruth for the most part so the horses would be calm (buddy system). I saw an available vet so I went over to vet through (All A's!). I think Ruth was talking to someone.





I pointed out the blemish on his leg to the vet but since it wasn't swollen and he wasn't lame we vetted through just fine. I did the trot-out and when I was done I looked around and saw Ruth walking off. I figured she had vetted through simultaneously and was heading back to camp. So I headed to camp. When I got to camp she was not there. I could not figure out what happened. It was a mystery. So I went in the camper to talk to Matt about getting dinner started and while I was in there I looked out the window and saw Ruth with the vets. So I took some photos.



When she got back I asked her what happened. She said she noticed Otto was missing a shoe and someone there was able to put one on him so that is where she went. We were both ready for the ride.



We had our usual camping meal of haystacks and when we were done eating it was about time to head over, so I took Ellie and left Levi at the trailer since it was about his bedtime anyway.

Before the meeting I went through my saddle bags and made sure everything I needed was included. I also packed my out-bag because the one vet check at this ride was away from camp. I crammed a flake of hay, a bag of carrots, 2 water bottles (one with frozen gatorade) and 2 hotdogs into a tweed overnight bag.

The ride meeting was interesting. Probably the strangest one I have been to. Everyone was in pretty good spirits because the rain had finally stopped for a day and the forecast for Saturday was looking great. Marilyn talked a bit about the trails, ribbon colors and distances, and got a couple of people (myself included) thoroughly confused. She said they had been marked in the most logical way (to the people marking). A woman who had tried to do a pre-ride could not make sense of the plates and when she asked about that Marilyn told her "Honey, you just follow the ribbons." The woman replied that she had tried and couldn't figure it out. So there was more discussion, explanations and 'honey's thrown around. It still didn't make sense to me. Towards the end I thought maybe I was starting to understand that what she was trying to say but still was not very clear. When she started talking again about the ribbon colors she flat out lost me. I was glad it was not my first ride, even with all the confusion I was not stressing out, and when Marilyn said "Just go out and ride and it will all make sense if you just follow the ribbons" I believed her.

The hand-out was very brief. Ribbon colors for the loops, 45 min hold, and vet criteria. Not much else. No ride map. I like to see the map so I can kind of have a pattern in my head so I can anticipate turns and which direction they are going to be. No such luck here. We were all assured that even though there had been days of heavy rain, the trails (footing) were fantastic and there was nothing to fear. One of the difficult areas from last year's ride had not been included to the relief of many people.

We all went to bed but I didn't get much sleep. I'd like to say I did not get any sleep but I must have dozed off at one point because I remember having a dream about coming home and finding my washer and dryer out in the yard.

* * *

RIDE DAY



Ruth slept in the camper this time (since my mom did not attend) and she set her alarm for 5:45 AM so we would have plenty of time to get ready for our 8 AM start. I was partially awake when it went off. I was exhausted. My eyes were dry and it was hard to get going. After I took Levi to the bathroom I started breakfast - wheat pita pockets with scrambled eggs and griller crumbles and a little cheese. Levi wanted blueberry oatmeal so I made him some of that too. Ruth had already fed the horses so I didn't have to worry about that.



I went out to groom and tack up about 7:30 AM. I was right on schedule. Ruth had taken Otto away to work with him so Sinwaan was a little hyped up the first couple of minutes but he settled down until Otto walked past us and then he got antsy again. I had not ridden with my saddlebags recently so it took a little extra time getting them attached and adding the other extras that I don't normally ride with (sponge, etc) The HR monitor was working and I think his HR was 47. Everything was looking good. I left him tied while I went to use the porta-potty one last time (7:45).



Walking back to the trailer I saw Annie on Ernie's bay Arab mare, Riyadh. She was chomping on the bit and had a hard time standing still. I told her I was ready to mount up and she was glad since her horse needed a buddy. We walked down the trail to warm up and found Ruth on foot leading Otto. We followed her back to the trailer so she could put on his bridle and from there we all rode to the start. People were warming up and milling about and some were just hanging out waiting for the trail to open. We kept our horses moving, at a walk. Annie wanted to Top Ten and we didn't want to ride that hard so she left us to chase her dreams. (Annie had skipped her high-school graduation this weekend in order to ride)



It was an amazing ride. Our first loop was 17 miles, we headed out on a dirt road, crossed a creek, and powered along with Sinwaan leading. We reached the out-vet check at 3 miles in and a woman asked for our numbers and then told us we had to walk through the check and then we would see our trail on the other side. The check was packed with 50 mile riders and people and horses were on both sides of the trail. We also had a group of four ladies come up on us just before this. So the six of us walked through the vet check and then found our trail and took off again at a trot, the other ladies passing us.



Sorry I don't have any photos from the actual ride this time, I really need to get a little digital camera for my saddle bags!

Otto took the lead once he settled down and he was a great trail partner for Sinwaan. He motored right along and Sinwaan happily followed. This trail had great footing all the way along, some parts were logging roads, some were narrow forrest trails that wound around through the bushes and trees, and all of it was fun! The views were fantastic too. The 17 miles went by quickly, and not just because of good company, the horses had really been moving. We definitely were only walking when we had to, which was not often, with spurts of cantering thrown in for good measure. That tells you how good the trails were!

We came upon a sign that said "VC .10" so we dismounted and led the horses in at a walk. I hopped off before Sinwaan had actually stopped and to my surprise my legs felt like jelly under me as I tried to trot alongside. "Sea legs!" Sinwaan pulsed down right away (9:53 AM) and Otto a minute later. We searched for our crew bags and found them near Annie. She was in good spirits. We gave the horses a chance to eat before vetting through. 2 reasons: there was a line at the vets, and we wanted to give them a chance to get their gut sounds going since they had not eaten anything on the trail so far. Sinwaan had not been drinking either but I had been sponging and dumping some of my drinking water on him throughout the ride. Sinwaan found all kinds of good stuff to eat left over from the 50s on the ground and I swapped out my water bottles and ate my hot dogs. They were good and I was already hungry. When I noticed there was no longer a line at the vets, I told Ruth we should get over there while we could. She agreed.

Sinwaan scored a B- for gut sounds which I didn't like, but A's on everything else, so he was good to go. I overheard Dr Jen talking to Ruth about Otto's gait so when they were done I asked her about that and she said Dr Jen thought he was inconsistently slightly off on one foot. It happens to be the same foot that he lost his shoe and had to get a new one on, yesterday.

I heard a cow bell and someone said "there are cows over there!" I looked over and saw a huge bull surveying the vet check from his knoll. Thankfully he followed the cow and moved on, away from our trail out.

Annie's out time was just about 10 minutes before ours, so when we saw her leave we took the horses back over to the water tank, I put Sinwaan's bit back in and we mounted up. We were out right on time.



At one point we missed our turn and were going along (on an incline) until a group of people came riding at us and said they were off course. So we waited where we were until we saw them find the trail again and then we knew where to go. "Bless them!" Ruth said. Who knows how much time they saved us, not to mention the uphill climbing.

Another time I thought we were off trail but it turns out we were not. Those were the only times I felt confused about the trail all day. There were a couple of sections in the ride that were wide dirt roads. We did a lot of cantering on those.

We had a big water crossing on the second loop. And I did not realize this until almost the end of the ride, the second loop was also kind of a lollipop with common trail, so we crossed this water twice. The boys were not sure they really wanted to cross at first, finally Otto took the lead. The water was fast and dark (muddy, all stirred up so we couldn't see the bottom) but we didn't have any trouble getting across and I don't think it was higher than the horses' bellies.

Somewhere in the middle of the second loop we came to a rocky road. We had to walk on this section and I could see mosquitos hovering and landing on the horses. My jodhpurs are kind of short so a fair section of my ankle is exposed. I got bit pretty good but I killed that darn mosquito!

I can not say enough good things about this ride. There were ups and downs and flat sections. There were wide trails and narrow trails. Straight ones and twisty ones. A really nice mix of everything. Wooded areas and open areas. Just all kinds of things to look at, it never gets boring. One section the view opened up and we could see Mt Adams in the distance, it was just breathtaking!



We had been told there was a photographer (Jessica Anderson, Darlene's daughter) but we didn't see her until near the end when we were good and sweaty. We were riding up a hill so Sinwaan was falling behind, wanting a break, so I let him set the pace. He was walking slow and Otto was trotting which was perfect because I knew once he lost sight of Otto he would canter to catch up and if I timed it right we would have ourselves a captivating ride photo. The trail flattened out in a clearing where the photographer was and she was very visible. Sinwaan noticed Otto was gone first, he started cantering on his own. Then he glanced over and saw the photographer so he shifted down to a trot and went off the trail. I was trying to smile at the photographer but I soon gave that up and focused on getting him back on trail and back into a canter. He was just all over the place so I gave up on 'posing' and just started laughing. Thankfully that is when she took this! She couldn't have timed it better.


Photo by Jessica Anderson

Eventually we caught up with Annie. She said the people she had been riding with wanted to go 'balls out' and she couldn't do that to this mare. She gave up on Top Ten and focused instead on finishing strong. We rode together for a couple of miles and when she got between Otto and Sinwaan, Sinwaan started lagging. The trail was getting narrow and visibility was not great. So I think he just wasn't paying attention but he stopped and started looking around. I think he lost sight of Otto. So there went his motivation. I kept him going but I was having to push him more than I liked. He whinnied a couple times but did not receive a satisfactory answer. When it opened up and I realized they had really lost us, I pushed him a little harder. His HR was looking good. We caught Annie, but not Ruth, before the finish. Annie and I walked for awhile and then we trotted a bit and then walked again when we saw camp. Dismounted and let the horses drink. Sinwaan FINALLY started tanking up. He had not had much all day, maybe a couple swallows at one tank and maybe one other swallow at the deep water crossing on the way back in. I watched my HRM as he was drinking. He was down to 71 and as he drank it went up up up to 82. I had heard that eating could do that but I didn't realize drinking would also. We walked down to the finish and the woman there was saying that we tied but one of us would have to be before the other. I don't know what she was talking about since we were LD riders and our time ends when the horses pulse down. After talking to her a minute we walked in to look for a pulser. A lady came over and asked if I needed a pulse. I looked at my HRM and it said 65. I told her he was close so she could try. It may have been two minutes and she called out "52 is down" the other person called back "1:03"

I did the math quickly in my head. Left at 8 AM. In at 1 PM, that's 5 hours but subtract the 45 minute hold and we just did a 30 mile ride in 4 hr 15 min (approx.) Awesome!! I know it is tack off for the completion vet check so I asked someone if I could walk him back over to my trailer to remove it. They told me I had 30 minutes to vet through for my completion and the lines were very long. I went ahead and walked him back to the trailer anyway. We came back minus the tack and stood in line with Ruth and Annie. I looked down and noticed Sinwaan was missing a shoe!! What!? I have no idea when that happened. He never felt 'off' the whole time I was riding him. I hoped he would not be lame for the vet.

Ruth and I did our vet checks almost simultaneously which worked out well for the horses. I pointed out the missing shoe to the vet right away. It did not cause a problem, he scored all A's again with one B for gut sounds. I got my vet card back so when Ruth was done and she did not get hers I asked her what was wrong. She said everything was fine. So then she asked about the card. The lady took my card at that point since she said that is what they do, we could have them back after awards.



Once I had Sinwaan settled back into his paddock, I went into the camper to check on Matt and the kids. Matt had a rough day with them so he was not in a very good mood. I took a quick sponge bath, changed my clothes, took Levi to the bathroom, and started working on lunch. I was famished, even with the mid-ride meal. We had vegeburgers and fruit and after that tried to get the kids to take a nap. Levi fell asleep pretty quick but woke up crying because his nose was stuffed up. Ellie finally also fell asleep. I was trying to nap with her on the sofa but it was too narrow and horses kept whinnying, dogs were barking, generators were running...you get the picture. The breeze was nice coming through the trailer so I got a little rest but no real sleep.

Ruth stopped in to tell me the photos were ready and that mine was awesome. I couldn't wait to see it so I left the sleeping kids with Matt and hiked back down to the building. I was still tired so I sat in the chair near the photographer while I waited my turn but it wasn't close enough apparently as a couple of people walked up and stood at the table. So I stood up behind them. Finally it was my turn. Since Ruth had been here already Jessica had her photo flagged and was able to quickly find mine as a result. She had taken two, the first one was kind of soft focus and not a great pose but the second one was awesome! Darlene walked over to see it and said "Wow, look at your posture, your back is so straight and your heels are all aligned properly, your dressage instructor is going to be so proud!" LOL I don't have a dressage instructor. It was a nice comment. It almost made me cry. I get so darn emotional after a ride.



After that the kids woke up so I decided we needed to go for a walk around the camp to kill some time. I took Levi in hand and Ellie on my hip and we made the rounds. We saw a really cute girl riding a really cute pony bareback so I had to point that out to Levi. Ellie loved seeing all the horses but she got heavy pretty quick and I was kicking myself for not bringing along my backpack to carry her in. After our short jaunt I was sure that Levi could still use more exercise (he usually plays all day outside the camper, but since we were so close to The Trail I don't think Matt was comfortable having him out there). Matt took Ellie. I grabbed Missy and the camera, and Levi and I headed back out to 'go exploring.'





We headed down The Trail, so I could show Levi the way I had ridden out that morning. He was excited to see everything. He wanted to hold Missy's leash, and she kept stepping over it, so it was slow going as he wanted to untangle her every time it happened. I pointed out the flowers and had time to take in all the scenery that I was too excited to see earlier in the day.



We walked until we got to the first water crossing. Levi was super excited about that. He wanted to cross it but I told him not this time. He wanted to know where the cows were (there had been cows in the creek earlier, but were gone by the time we rode through). After awhile we turned around and headed back, this time taking a different way back into camp, coming from the other side of the vet check. We moseyed all around the campground and finally went back to the camp trailer.

I asked Ruth if she knew anything about what time awards were supposed to start. She didn't. Our camp neighbors across the horses' corrals said they thought they heard 7:30. I hauled Sinwaan some more water and tossed him some more hay and carrots, and did who-knows-what to kill some time until it was finally about 7:30. Matt decided he would join me so we headed over with the kids. We ran into Marilyn and she said she thought it would be in a couple minutes, but then later in the conversation she commented to "give me 45 minutes," so we packed up the kids and went back to the trailer. I rustled up my AHA form so I could remember to have her sign it at awards. So we killed more time, somehow. We walked back over and picked out a table in the building so we would have a good place to sit and we waited a bit more. Well nothing was happening. Levi started getting into trouble, being a kid, restless, and then he said he had to pee so Matt decided to take him to the bathroom. While they were gone I noticed people setting up their chairs outside. So I went out to see what was going on. Sally and the guy she was sitting near said that the weather was just so nice that they decided the meeting would be outside, and sure enough all it takes is a leader, before long everyone had their chairs set up outside. So I moved my stuff.

Matt came back and decided it was getting too late, Levi needed to go to bed soon, so they headed back to the trailer. Ruth showed up about then and set up her chair next to mine. We waited a bit and then Marilyn started talking. Darlene told a story about a loose horse that had won the BC in his division (50s?), and it became obvious that they were all trying to stall. There was kind of an intermission so I went up and had Marilyn sign my form and Dr Jen also put herself down as the vet for the ride. We left the placement and entry number areas blank for now. Finally Marilyn announced that there had been a problem with the computer and she was sure we did not all want to wait as long as it would take for the results and she knew we had all ridden and we knew we all wanted our shirts, so if everyone was ok with that we could just get in line for our shirt and she would have the results posted the next morning. Everyone stood up and went up to the building for their sweatshirts. They had a couple of color options - black, brown, and mustard that I could see. Ruth got a black one and I picked out a brown one. They were soft and snuggly and a wonderful completion award.



After all that we headed back to the trailer. Levi had been up in his bunk but I made dinner so he got down and ate and played around a bit longer. We had haystacks again for dinner since even though I had packed spaghetti and sauce and vegetables, I had forgotten the strainer and spoon to get it out with. Doh!

Time for bed. We all settled in for the night. The kids went to sleep fairly well. Until however Levi woke up about 11:30 crying and screaming and just all out of sorts. When he has a cold he freaks out about his nose running. His top lip was chapped and he was very sensitive. I don't know if he was still asleep or if he was awake and out of sorts but he was just frantic, screaming and crying and howling for probably a solid 15 minutes. He woke up Ellie and she was confused and upset and she started crying and screaming too. They were both so loud that I am sure all the neighbors heard within a 2 mile radius. I don't think I have ever had such a hard time getting the kids to calm down before! Poor Ruth, if she was bothered by it she didn't say anything. I think we finally got them quiet again and back to sleep before midnight and then I slept pretty well after that. Levi woke up a couple times sobbing about needing a tissue but Matt took care of him.





** SUNDAY - DAY TWO **

Sunday morning I heard the rain coming down before I heard the horses warming up for the second day of riding. It was light for awhile and then it really hammered our camper. All the wind from our drive over on Friday had ripped off one of our vent covers on the roof so it was starting to leak over the kitchen, even though Matt had put on a temporary fix by using a tablecloth. Ruth had put a bowl down to catch the water. She said she wasn't getting wet, thankfully!

All the whinnying had started once again as horses were left alone as their partners headed out for another day of trails. It was pretty noisy at 6 AM. I sensed the excitement as I heard the 50s trotting past our camper but we didn't get out of bed just yet. Ruth went out and took care of the horses after a bit. I got up and got dressed, took Levi to the bathroom, and then we started breakfast. We had fried egg sandwiches. I really am liking my gas range in the camper! It is so convenient.

Yesterday Ruth and I had both decided not to ride the second day. Now with the rain coming down and the horses looking soaked and miserable, I was glad that was the case. We started packing up after breakfast. Before taking the corrals down we took the horses for a walk around camp. We also looked around for results but could not find any at the building, and did not see Marilyn to ask. I figured she was busy with the Day 2 ride details.

It didn't take long to pack up the trucks and before long we were heading out. We took a different route home this time, turning the opposite way out of camp and heading down towards the Dalles. When we reached the Goldendale exit we turned off for gas since it was so cheap there and topped off. We lost Ruth at that point. I tried to call her but the phone was dead since it had been searching for reception all weekend. We did not have the charger with us. Doh!



We had to make another stop at a rest area to give the truck a chance to cool off and build oil pressure. Matt thinks he can solve this reoccurring problem by adding an oil cooler to the truck. We may even have one on the black truck that we could move over. Things to work on between now and September, when I hope to have the funds together to make the Elbe ride.

Ruth got far enough ahead of us that by the time we pulled into the barn, Sinwaan was settled in and all my stuff had been put away. What a great friend! Thanks Ruth!! We headed for home and saw her leaving her barn. We connected and chatted for a minute.

Now I have to get a hold of my farrier and figure out what to do about that missing shoe. I think his other shoes are probably worn down enough from the road riding I have been doing that he may be off balance by adding a brand new one to one hoof. I think I may just have all his shoes pulled and give his feet a rest for a couple months. I will have a couple weekends that I will not be able to ride coming up, and I want to be competitive at Elbe should I be able to make it, so I plan to start conditioning harder in August and could put shoes back on then.

* * *

As of June 8th, we still don't know how we placed. But we do have a clue - we know Aarene placed 18th out of 52 with a completion time of 1:36 PM. My completion time was 1:03 and Ruth's was 1:04 - even though she came in well ahead of me she had some trouble getting Otto to pulse down with all the excitement. Sounds like we weren't too far off of Top Ten.

There was a lot more whinnying at this ride then I have ever noticed before. I finally came to the conclusion that since it is a two-day ride, some people must bring multiple horses and the ones left behind make all the noise.