Nick's post - Death Valley - Long

[Steph Teeter <step@fsr.com>]

Nick couldn't post to Ridecamp, so asked me to forward
this. As usual, Nick's stories are great reading :)

Steph


-----Original Message-----
From:	Warhol, Nick [SMTP:Nick.Warhol@kla-tencor.com]
Sent:	Monday, January 05, 1998 1:21 PM
To:	'ridecamp'; 'steph'; 'judy'; 'endurowest'; bill; caballist; dcnsurv; dick; jean; jetmec; kds; lb; margie; marilyn; marion; pripleas; rita; rjr; sally A; sally P; sam C; susan; tom S; wildhair
Subject:	Death Valley - Long

		Death Valley Encounter 1997  (Or- how I spent my
Christmas vacation in the desert)

		Hi everyone- Happy new year!  We're back from the annual
Death Valley Encounter 4 day multiday ride.  This was Judy's and my
forth trip down there in the past five years, and are we ever glad we
went.  This year's ride was an all new DVE, which made the event about a
thousand percent easier for the always hard working crews. (I've been a
crew a couple of times on the old ride.  Talk about a drive-a-thon!)
Ride Manager Jackie and Jim Bumgardner started the ride from their house
in Ridgecrest this year, but I don't think they were quite prepared for
the cold weather on Friday night.  It was so cold in Ridgecrest I could
not believe it!  There was about a half inch of ice on the water
buckets, which required a pipe to break.  Lucky for us the weather
warmed up (?) to above freezing for the duration of the event.
	We drove down from the bay area with our endurance buddy  and
long time endurance rider Marrilyn R. Russell and her fiesty mare
Cresta.  Jennifer Dzakowicz brought her gray gelding Sqoundrel along as
well.  Lots of folks from the bay area were in attendance as usual- the
incredible Julie and Bob Shur, Beth and Scot Wachenheim, Hugh and Gloria
Vandorford, (Hugh and I walked the last 12 miles of day 3 on foot
together 2 years ago),  Ron and Ruth Waltenspeil, Robert and Mellisa
Ribley,  Judy Ethridge, Joyce, Dennis, and Jennifer Souza, ridecampers
Becky Hackworth, Jim Mitchell and family, Jennifer Heim, and Karen
Chaton from Nevada.  Raimy and Cynthia-Peticolas Stroud made the long
voyage from Oregon, and my Tevis riding partner Stephanie
Schroder-Teeter and her hubby John made the trip from Idaho to hit the
desert.  Judy was a bit on the nervous side all week since this was once
again another comeback ride for her nutty Appy Warpaint.  He was only
able to do three rides all last year due to all of his unbelievable
unrelated injuries, but he seemed to be as sound as he has been since
his colic surgery almost four years ago.  I was depressed since my horse
Shatta whacked himself in the leg somehow and came up gimpy a few weeks
before the ride.  He was 10 for 10 last year, and I was looking forward
to the DVE since that's the ride he injured himself on two years ago.
Much to my delight Jackie Bumgardner came to my rescue and offered me a
ride on one of her horses.  She set me up with a 12 year old Arabian
gelding names Sarya Gobask, also known as "Charlie."  He's from Wyoming
and looked like a wooly mammoth due to his furry coat.  I rode him a
little on the day before the ride and wondered what I was in for- he was
a bit of a wild thing, complete with little bucks, lots of jigging, and
a serious case of  "I GOTTA catch that horse in front of me."  Jackie
told me he had a hard mouth- uh, you might as well have put a bit on a
concrete fence post.  No question he's a powerful guy, so lets get
started and see what happened. 
		DAY 1-  The start was a nice easy walk up a dirt road
form the Bumgardner's ranch and out into the desert.  Funny- Charlie
Horse was walking along nicely with the other horses.   I rode with
Marilyn and Jennifer as we headed out into the desert.  This riding
across the open desert is so cool- I grew up in Las Vegas riding dirt
bikes, and I just can't get over how neat it is to be in the dez on a
horse.  I noticed immediately that Charlie was a different animal- it
took him about two miles to relax and turn into a super-horse.  We
turned east and headed across the rolling desert towards the infamous
town of Trona.  There were well  placed water stops along the trail
which was marked quite well.  We had to negotiate a really nasty, steep,
rocky downhill which required careful walking,  but once clear of that
and across the railroad tracks we turned left and began the 7 mile trot
down a nice road to the vet check.  Judy was fighting Warpaint at the
back of the pack the whole way and caught up to us just as we arrived at
the check.  We all made it through with no problem and headed back out
up a wash heading for the actual town of Trona.  We had to ride right
through the middle of town- as I was walking across a paved street an
old lady came running out of a house with a can of 7-up for me.  "Here,
this is for you!" she said.  "I have water for your horse, he's so
beautiful!"  That was neat.  The people of this sleepy town don't have a
lot to do, and the ride coming through was quite an event for them.  I
got separated from my riding partners when I thought they were behind
me, but it turned out to be Julie and Bob.  I went on ahead on an
incredibly strong  Charlie horse who would not spook, shy, or even be
concerned with anything!  Very different for me, since Shatta is a
spook-a-matic, but I liked it.  We trotted along behind the town and
turned up a long uphill sandwash which went for a long time.  After what
seemed like a few miles we turned down hill into another wash and headed
towards the finish.  After some nice cross country and a 3 mile road we
finished at a place called Valley Wells.  I finished in the twenties
with a very strong horse, but was even more happy to see Judy come in
with Warpaint sound.  Her plan was to do the first day, give him a day
off, ride the third, then decide about the fourth.  Marilyn and Jennifer
made it in as well.  Some of the riders at the rear of the pack got lost
after dark, but eventually everyone made it in safely.
		DAY 2-  Jackie told everyone this was the toughest day,
and it would be the one to skip if you were not going to do all four
days.  She was correct.  It started out easy enough- we trotted a few
miles, climbed up a nice wash, rode over some up and down rocky trails
which climbed up over the Slate range, and ended up down in a valley
which led to a water stop at the vet check of the old day four ride,
just below Goler canyon.  Now all we had to do was trot 7 miles down a
road to the vet check at 30 miles, and then do a 25 mile loop in the
mountains.  Sounds easy enough.  I arrived at the vet check at 10:50 am
for an hour stop.  Unfortunately my crew got messed up on the time frame
and was not expecting me that early.  No problem- I was able to bum some
lunch for me from friends, but more importantly Jackie was there and had
plenty of stuff for Charlie Horse to eat.  He's an eating machine- just
what you need out here in this VERY desolate terrain.  I can't for the
life of me imagine what those wild horses survive on out here.  After a
nice break we left just before eleven am- lots of time to do this
mountain loop.  Uh- huh.  We started out walking up a steep climb, and
just never stopped climbing.  The valley floor was somewhere around 2000
feet- the summit of where we went was almost 8000.   This climb was by
far the biggest climb me or anyone else on the ride have ever been up.
It never ended!  We trudged up that thing for what seemed like three
hours, knowing full well we had to go back down again later.  There was
a nice spring about four/fifths of the way up the climb- good thing,
since we were all giving our horses our drinking water on the way up.
When we finally got to the top it was a sight to behold- a huge high
desert meadow that was a couple square miles across.  It was being
guarded by a wild donkey who kept charging at us across the meadow,
screaming for all he was worth.   We trotted across the meadow, climbed
up a small rise near some old mines, dropped into another neat meadow,
and started the next climb.  The next climb?  Yep- more climbing, this
time up a long grade covered with snow.   The horses started getting a
little bit balky as we kept going up.  I was off Charlie leading him up
most of this stuff- as a result my toes were frozen from the snow.
Riders were getting a little cranky as we finally hit the summit- the
top of the world.  Not many people on this planet have seen that view of
Death Valley from up there, but there were about 30 more people added to
the list this day.  There was the infamous Sparrow up there with his
truck and the much needed water for both horses and riders.  He said the
horses were averaging between 2 and 3 gallons each.  Now we began the
trip down- as in like 12 miles of it.  The first 3 or 4 were on foot
once again, since it was just too slippery to ride through that stuff.
Snow, Ice, water, mud, rock and steep downhill- interesting footing to
say the least.  I kept myself amused by eating the wonderful pine nuts
off the pinon pine trees which lined the road, trying to ignore my
frozen toes.  (I love my trail runners, but they are designed to keep
your feet cool, not warm)  I also kept reminding myself how glad I was I
was not doing this section in the dark, which some riders did. (Egad!)
We finally dropped down low enough to be out of the snow when the road
became rideable,  but it was very steep and rocky all the way down.  I
didn't want to trot Charlie down that stuff, so I hopped off and we
walked and ran all the way down the 9 miles or so.  It began getting
dark as I worked my way down the mountain- at least there was no way to
get lost.  About 4 miles from the finish the road / wash we were on
turned into a stream thanks to these wild springs up there.  Now my feet
were really soaked.  It got dark, but we just kept on jogging down the
hill, splashing through the water as we went.  Charlie is a superb horse
- he really knows his job, and would just follow along down behind me at
whatever pace I wanted to go.  Now It's pitch black and I'm finally able
to get back on Charlie.  Ever been in the desert with zero moon?  Way
dark.   We trot the final couple of miles and hit the finish at 6:00pm-
in ninth place!  The winner finished at something like 3:45.   Special
mention goes to fellow Internet buddy Kat Swiggart for riding drag and
helping the last five riders get down off that incredible mountain.
What an event!  It was one of the most spectacular rides I have even
been on.  Day two of the 97 DVE goes down in history as a true test of
what an endurance ride is.  Special congratulations go out to all of
those determined riders who completed the thing.  There was a big
spaghetti dinner waiting for riders at the bottom- I don't know if pasta
ever tasted so good!
		Day 3-  Much better!  Charlie still feels good as we
trot out along a nice flat road on the way to Indian Ranch for a water
stop.  Judy is back on Warpaint who feels like he had not been ridden
yet.  She goes sailing by Steph, Johh, and I as she tries to keep him
trotting. (nope- no chance)   This day is an easier ride which just sort
of wanders across the desert on the way from the start at Ballarat to
Panimant Springs.   Nothing special happens during the morning, except
that Charlie is tripping a bit from his new easyboots on front, and
Steph's big Orlov  Bunchuck  (what a great name) develops a strange
cramp after we leave a water stop.  Judy and I go on ahead while Steph
gives her big gray horse a massage, but we only get as far as something
called "Rocky Road."  Yeah, right, something more rocky than the rest of
this place?  Yep.  It requires walking off the horse for about 6 miles
down to the valley floor.  That took a while, but the water at the
bottom was a welcome site.  We went cross country for a while before we
entered a long, deep up hill  sand wash which was also very slow going.
Charlie was slowing down a bit, but plugged along up the long climb into
the vet check.   It took another forever to get there, but once we left
lunch it was 5 miles of downhill wash to the road!  Turn left, trot 11
miles.  Long, Long, trot.  We made good time on the flats, but not as
good as Judy. She finally decided to let Warpaint go since the footing
was good enough to boogie.  She and her Appy  went by Melissa Ribley and
I on that road like one of the many F-15 jets that buzz the desert out
here.  See ya Warpaint!  I watched his dust cloud disappear miles in
front of me.  We finally hit highway 190 and turned left for the final
trot uphill to the finish.  Charlie was still moving along, but I
noticed he was really slowing down, and I had to ask him to trot the
final couple of miles.  We walked in at dusk in 18th  or so.  Charlie
passed the vet check fine, but I could tell he was tired.  I decided to
let him eat and see how he looked, but when I got up at midnight and
took him for a walk I could not get him to trot on the lead rope
willingly.   Nope- that's enough for this wonderful horse.  There was no
way I was going to ask him to go back out there if he did not have that
spring in his step.   I was done after three really fun rides.
		Day 4-  Crewing again!  Judy got going at the back of
the pack again, since her horse felt like he had not been ridden yet.
Day 4 was an out and back ride that goes up a long canyon, then descends
into the town of Darwin.  A water stop here and the riders took off
across some perfect desert out to the lunch stop at 25 miles.  Steph
decided Bunchuck deserved a day off as well, so the two of us went out
to help out our riders.   Steph's husband John was up in the top ten on
their superb horse Squeak. (HCC Saccuro- spelled that wrong, yes?)  I
helped out a few riders, including the infamous Bob Edwards from Arroyo
Grande, Ca.  He's the guy I bought Shatta from almost 3 years ago.  Bob
is amazing- the guy has to be over 70, and is still out there riding and
doing ride and ties.  He ended up in fourth today on a mare who's a half
sister to my horse.  We were buzzed by the jets a couple of times- very
unnerving for the horses to say the least.  Judy made it in with
Warpaint pulling all the way.  John left the check in 6th place!  Steph
worked doing P&Rs until it was time to head back to camp.   We made it
back in time to see John take 5th place, and to top it off he won BC!
She says he's hooked now.    There was one almost serious thing which
happened on the trail a few miles from the finish.  One of the juniors
riding with Cynthia Peticolas-Stroud stopped to take a rest room break
when her horse got away from her.  Judy and another woman were walking
down a steep hill with a cliff to the low side when they see the runaway
horse coming at a full run straight towards them!   It was not going to
stop, so they moved apart as best they could as the horse split the gap
between them at a full run.  Very scary!  The horse was stopped further
down the road, and was re-united with its rider who went on to finish.
I was at the finish line just after dark waiting for Judy when I could
tell by the sound of a jigging horse on pavement it was her.  Here he
is, still wanting to jam after the three days.  The good news is he
finished sound- At long last it looks like he might be back.  
		After the ride there was a gala new years eve party and
awards celebration in Panament springs which was quite a show.  There
was dancing, party hats, a live band, and yes, there was drinking.  (OK,
so I got snockered for my once a year party.  It was fun!)   Jackie
gives out a special award each year to the rider who performs the most
honorable feat, or to someone who gives of themselves in a special way.
The vote was unanimous for Kat Swiggart.  She was the drag rider who
really helped the last group of riders make it down the mountain on day
two.  She gave them food, water, grain for their horses, she led some of
the horses down the snow all while keeping a cheerful attitude.
Everyone tip their helmet visors  to Kat now.   We had a great vacation,
met some new friends (my two new buddies from Salt Lake), and got to see
some truly amazing desert terrain.  A lot of things were learned during
the week, and the next DVE should be even better as a result- the
weather could not have been better.  Special thanks go out to Jackie
Bumgardner who not only went through the effort to put on this ride, but
also let me ride her Charlie horse.  He's for sale- anyone looking for a
truly wonderful horse?

Nick Warhol
Hayward, Ca.