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The Owyhee Rides are like a stage race, like the Tour de France.  When you
count the Owyhee High Country three days, the Owyhee Canyonlands five days,
and the Oreana 100 one day, you have a total of nine days of riding spread
out over a couple of months.  Perhaps it is the Tour de Oreana, and like any
great tour, the rides take you to some amazing country that varies from the
crest of the Owyhee Mountains to the edge of the Snake River in the Snake
River Canyon and much of the desert in between.  I live in SW Idaho, which
affords the opportunity to riding all of the Owyhee days.  Other riders came
from throughout the Western US and Canada.  Steph and John Teeter host the
ride at their ranch west of Oreana.  The hosts are gracious and the
accommodations are excellent including the pretty-good showers, dinners, and
open-roof outhouses - including one outhouse with a moonglow toilet seat.
Sometime I think hosting the five-day ride might be like hosting a weeklong
slumber party for over 100 friends.

Each segment and each day has a different character.  The Owyhee High
Country was fast and furious for my horse Frank and myself.  On the first
day I rode with Jennifer Knoetgen from Montana and through an interesting
set of circumstances we found ourselves being chased for much of the ride.
The chasing riders were just a few minutes behind and just like Butch
Cassidy, we kept looking over our shoulders wondering, "Who are those guys?"
We rode from the ride camp up to the crest of the Owyhee Mountains on an old
stage road, back down through desert canyons on narrow trails, and finished
back at camp.

Day Two was similar to the first day but much of the trails were reversed.
This time I rode with Leighsa Rosedaul and Dean Hoalst.  This time the ride
was less intense.  Again, we rode to the crest of the Owyhees and back down
the stage trails that we rode up the previous day.  The views were
spectacular.  All day long, Dean kept looking for a rock to pound the clips
on his horse's shoes.  Somehow, with all those rocks on all those trails,
Dean was never able to find the perfect rock.

Day Three was a more relaxed trail in the Owyhee foothills and I rode with
Sally Tarbet most of the day.  We took it easy although as we approached the
final water stop about four miles from the finish, Al Paulo and Patty
Barfield looked up with surprise and quickly departed for camp ahead of us.
Sonny and Marilyn Hornbaker employed brilliant strategy and determinedly
pursued the turtle award on the 30-mile ride.

The High Country ride was held on Labor Day, and a family and their friends
happened to be camping at the vet check used for the first two days located
at the crest of the Owyhee Mountains.  They completely opened up their
campsite and took in all of the excitement.  We reciprocated by letting some
of the kids "ride" our ponies during the vet check.

There were about seven weeks between the Owyhee High Country Ride and the
Owyhee Canyonlands Ride.  I wanted Frank to be fit and ready for the
five-day ride so we rested and rode the Old Selam LD at the end of
September.  I like mixing in some LDs because I get to ride with different
people and I have time to saddle up and do a trail ride at the end of day
while the 50s are still out on the trail.  Plus, Frank and I like the
variety.

The five-day ride was at the end of October.  The weather forecast was for
record heat in the mid 80s on the first two days, dropping to seasonal
temperatures with highs in the 60s by the end of the week.  The trails were
a series of loops out of the Bates Creek ridecamp.  The Canadians made quite
a showing at the five-day ride, and Canadian Trail House donated many of the
awards.  All weeklong the Canadians heartedly participated in all of the
ride activities.  One Canadian was so determined to do the rides that he
took a cab from the Boise airport to the Teeter Ranch west of Oreana.  I
imagine that the cab driver is still talking about that crazy Canadian and
the dirt roads leading to a small town of horses and trailers in the desert.
On Day One I had the privilege of riding with Canadian Elroy Karius.  Elroy
and I remarked that we are so lucky to be riding fast fit horses through the
desert of the Western US, an experience that characterizes the pony express
and endurance riding today.

Day Two was the perfect endurance ride.  I rode with Paddi Sprecher and Sue
Hedgecock (Sue White).  Our three horses worked very well together and we
had a perfect day riding from Oreana to the Snake River and back.  John
Teeter was thoughtful enough to put ribbon "cheaters" on the fence gates so
we could get through more easily.  There were so many sights and stories.
Sights of a real cowboy saddling up outside the tack house while watching
the Arabian horses ride through the ranch, sights of ancient petroglyphs
along the Snake River, sights of our three horses eating together out of the
same food bowl at the vet check.  And the memory of climbing out of the
canyon and seeing the butte that we rode by earlier in the morning - a butte
with tiny dust clouds that were riders just entering the canyon, a butte
that looked so far away across the desert yet a butte that we had to pass by
on our return.

On the morning of Day Three, I checked out my horse and something didn't
seem right.  I had my wife Leslie look at Frank while I trotted him and then
Frank and I went over to see Dr Barney Fleming.  Frank was off and I didn't
want to ride him that day.  Frank probably stepped too hard in a powder-dirt
puddle and rolled his ankle along the Snake River trails on Day Two (At this
time Frank has recovered and appears to be fine.  Even so, he will get a
well-deserved rest for the next several weeks).  While I was dealing with
the disappointment of the whole turn of events, a fellow Outlaw, Regina Rose
noticed my condition.  Regina asked if I wanted to ride Stormy, an extra
horse that she brought along to the ride.  Wahoo! I was going back out on
the trail.  We quickly got Stormy vetted and saddled and we left camp dead
last.  Stormy can be a bit nervous and the 30-mile riders were soon to leave
camp on the same trail.  We didn't want Stormy to lock in with a passing
fast 30-mile rider and run himself silly so we split up and I headed off to
the vet check ahead of Regina Rose and Linda Black.  The trails on Day Three
took us out to the Snake River again and the winds were howling.  The
white-capped waves on the river were large enough to kayak surf and the vet
check was very dusty from the blowing wind.

Day Four is one of the best ride days.  Each day has a separate attraction
and Day Four's attraction is Sinker Canyon.  Sinker Canyon has a year-round
stream and numerous water crossings.  You must walk through Sinker Canyon
because of the footing, but it is so pretty that no one would want to trot
anyway.  At the vet check, Steph's kids cooked hot dogs over a campfire for
the riders, vets, and helpers.  We fed some hot dogs to one of the local
canines proving once again that endurance can be a dog-eat-dog world.  I
rode with Carol Fitzgerald all day and it was another perfect endurance day.
Carol's horse Boomer and my borrowed horse Stormy had a great time all day
long.  Boomer cannot trot as fast as Stormy, so Boomer would canter while
Stormy trotted.  Stormy would hear the canter footfall and eventually yield
to his inner feelings and start to canter too.  Except, Stormy would
gradually pick up the pace until he'd want to drop his head and run off in a
rocket canter.  He'd then run for 100 yards or so, just far enough to show
Boomer who was the fastest horse, and then drop back into a slow walk to let
Boomer catch up.  Over and over again the pattern was repeated.  It was as
if Stormy was saying, "Boomer my good friend, how many times do I have to
show you, you coffee-colored bag of fleas, that I am the faster horse."
Carol and I found the whole behavior hilarious and we laughed with our two
equine friends and their equine games throughout the ride.

Day Five was the famous costume ride and the characters were out in force.
There were outlaws, cowboys, Indians, cowgirls, rodeo queens, princesses,
the man with no name from the Clint Eastwood films, Zorro, clowns, parrots,
cartoon personalities, and characters of all colors and stripes.  Even
though the Canadians were well represented at the ride, I was disappointed
not to see any Royal Canadian Mounties on that day.  Partway through the
ride, Linda Karius and Bianca Loseth asked me to join them for the last 30
miles.  At the time, we had no idea how far those 30 miles would be.  It was
the last of the five days and the ending of the ride.  During the last few
trail miles I was looking around at the rocks and hills, at my trail
companions, and our horses, thinking of the past five days, the trails, the
river, the canyons, the desert, the coyote, the eagle, the cougar tracks,
and feeling rather sad that the whole thing was soon to be over.  If only it
could go on for a few more miles I thought to myself.  Linda, Bianca, and I
rode into camp side-by-side for our final completion and pulsed down.
Sometime later we became aware that there was some controversy over the
trails.  Eventually it was determined that we needed to go out for a few
more miles and some more trail.  This was one of those times when an Outlaw
has to saddle up quickly and leave camp.  Linda and I left down the road to
complete the trail segment that we missed.  After all those miles, if we
were to be true Tough Suckers, then we were certainly tough enough to go out
again and ride a few more miles.  About a mile down the road Bianca caught
up to us saying "Wait for me!" and the three of us rode the last miles of
the trail together.  The afternoon was beautiful and I was lucky to be
riding a good horse along one of my favorite trails above Bates Creek.

One of the most remarkable performances all week was Elroy Karius' horse
Apache Eclypse.  Apache received BC three of the five days including Day
Five.  It is always impressive when a five-day horse receives BC competing
against fresh horses.  Steph and John recognize high vet score too.  I
believe that Apache Eclypse received the high vet score as well as BC for
those three finishes including high-vet score on Day Five.  There were 12
riders who completed all five days on five-day horses and four riders
completed all eight days on eight-day horses.  One of those eight-day
horses, a big black Arabian-Percheron cross was jokingly described as a
plow-horse by one of the veterinarians early in the ride.  That horse may
look Percheron, but Gypsy has the heart and stamina of an Arabian.  Four
riders received Tough Sucker recognition for riding all eight days - all
three days of the High Country Ride, and all five days of the Canyonlands
ride.   The race for overall best time was hotly contested between Elroy
Karius and Sue Hedgecock all week.  Both were riding five-day horses - Sue
on Montego and Elroy on Apache.  Sue missed a trail junction on Day One and
lost twenty to thirty minutes.  At the end of five days, after 24 hours of
riding, the top two riders, Elroy and Sue, were separated by three minutes
and four seconds.  Carrie Johnson and her horse Bagheera finished first on
each of the 30-mile rides and received BC and high vet score on all three
days.  The top riders often receive the attention but there was high drama
in the rest of the pack too, including Linda Black's heartbreaking pull with
only a few miles left on the fifth day.  Also, Bianca Loseth's horse Sadeek
reportedly did his first ever 50 on Tuesday, and completed his fifth 50 on
Saturday.  Tom Dean received the cussingest character award and I can
imagine that he has some stories to tell about dogs, horses, and a trailer
awning.  I am sure there are many other tales to tell as well.

You can see some of the sights and get a feel for the event at the Oreana
websites:

  http://www.endurance.net/oreana/owyheecanyonlands/2003/
  http://www.endurance.net/oreana/owyheecanyonlands/

The final ride in the Tour de Oreana series is the Owyhee 100.  All week
long the emails flew as the Outlaws tried to get enough horses and riders to
field a credible team.  We wanted to get some riders out for the 100.  As I'
ve written before, to me 100 miles is the signature distance of endurance
riding, the Owyhee 100 was our last ride of the season, and we wanted to do
the last ride with finesse.  Once again, Regina Rose offered to let me ride
Stormy.  Stormy is a first-string horse that we can always count on, even as
a back up.  Linda Black rode him on one of the three-day Owyhee rides, I
rode him on three of the Owyhee five-day rides, and now Stormy was going for
his first-ever 100 at the Owyhee 100 one week after completing 150 miles in
the five-day ride.  Riding someone else's horse is an honor and a great
responsibility.

At about 6:45 we were off  (well, actually about 7:00 for the three of us).
Linda, Regina and I were off on another journey on the Owyhee trails.  The
100 consisted of a variety of loops out of the Oreana base camp and we
visited the Snake River Canyon, as well as numerous other trails in the
area.

We rode at the tail end all day long and well into the night.  Regina's
Percheron-Arabian horse Gypsy was the only horse in the 100 that completed
all of the previous eight Owyhee Ride days.  It was Stormy and Noodle's
first 100 and our last ride of the season so we wanted to take it easy for
the horses and savor the moments on the trail.

We rode the final two loops in the dark.  Riding at night and trusting your
horse is one of the great experiences of riding a 100.  We had good
moonlight for the first loop but by the last loop it was totally dark.  The
night was cold with temperatures in the teens and our reins froze to the
bits.  We rode in the darkness on trails just off of Idaho Highway 78 during
part of the loops.  There was little traffic except for the sugar beet
trucks.  To the truck drivers, we may have been barely visible as three
faint ghost riders in the shadows and the sagebrush.  We felt a kinship to
the riders in the past who traveled from one ranch house to another on cold
clear nights covering the long miles in the darkness.

The final miles on the Bates Creek Road were cold.  The stars were clear and
bright and we saw quite a few meteors.  The air that was chilled on the
Owyhee Mountains flowed off the peaks and funneled down through the canyons.
We rode up the canyon and into that cold breeze on a crystal-clear night.
Linda, Regina, and I rode silently on our last few miles of the season.  As
we headed up the road I saw another shooting star and shed a few tears in
the darkness as I thought about the good horses, the good trails, the good
friends, and the distances that we had all traveled this past season.

There was a small field in both the 100 and the 80.  We all got together in
Steph and John's ranch house the next morning for breakfast and awards.
Regina's horse Gypsy was the only horse to complete all nine days of the
Owyhee series.  Regina Rose and one other Totally Tough Sucker completed all
nine days of the Owyhee Trail Series.  There would have been three Totally
Tough Suckers except for Linda Black's heartbreak pull during the last 10
miles of the fifth day on the five-day ride.  Linda may be the toughest of
the bunch because she still saddled up and rode the 100.  Mary Forrester,
another Tough Sucker, came to help out with the 100 even though she weren't
riding.  After breakfast we all lingered and talked about the season as well
as a possible big-loop 100 next spring in the Owyhees.  During the awards,
we recognized Steph's fine ride at the 100, some other great performances in
the 80 and the 100, and we all said our goodbyes as we packed up and headed
home from Oreana.

During the Owyhee Rides, I had the privilege of riding two great horses.
Frank is a special horse and he has had an exceptional season.  I rode
Stormy for the final four days of the nine-day series and Stormy passed his
1000th AERC endurance mile at the completion of the Owyhee 100.  He passed
that milestone like he goes down the trail, with no complaining and a can-do
attitude.  They are both good horses and I've been fortunate to become their
friend.


Best Regards,

Tom Noll
SW Idaho



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