Trail Log: 7-28-2023

 Fish Lake - Lee Camp

Ninja Lee and King to the Rescue

Part 5 - The Final Frontier

• June 28^th – Lee Camp – Fish Lake Area
• Trail: Sugarloaf Peak
• Miles: 10.4
• Riders: Self – Lee – Bernice – Jim
• Horses: Drifter – King – Cash – Wolf

The final ride of the camping trip. Marc and Pattie had packed it up and headed for home. Lee decided on riding to the top of Sugarloaf Peak. The view from the top is worth the 1709 ft elevation gain. (No lost GPS tracks for this ride!) I settled on riding Drifter. A group ride would be another first for him. He'd taken everything else in stride up to this point so I was confident he would do fine.

Lee let me and Drifter take the lead. We would make a loop up Naked Guy Trail and coming back via Russell Mt. Lookout.

We left the trail at the base of Sugarloaf and made the zigzag ascent to the top. It was a lot to ask of a three year old fresh off the desert. Sugarloaf peaks out at 7946 ft. He has youth on his side and handled it as well as the others. I tied Drifter to a bush at the top instead of using his hobbles. The back side of Sugarloaf drops straight off a cliff to no-mans land. It was not a good place to hobble a newly hobble trained horse...especially if it's one you like.

The peak provides a 360° breathtaking view. The 180° view south of the peak encompasses Fish Lake – Clear Creek Lake, Deadman Trail, One Tree Meadow, Naked Guy Trail and other POI's we visited throughout the week. The 180° panoramic view north of the peak expands to the headwaters of the Imnaha and beyond. Patches of snow clung to the lee-side of the cliff. I snapped pictures...my favorite of the day is one I think Susan will like of Lee on a ledge overlooking the headwaters of the Imnaha.

We dog-legged a short section of the trail leading home to have lunch at the Eagle Cap Wilderness Boundary sign. Lee and I hobbled our horses while Jim and Bernice's horsed grazed at liberty. I downed a handful of trail mix, ate an apple and gave the core to Drifter; another first. He's never liked apples in the past. This one he nibbled on and apparently decided they weren't so bad.

I went for a short hike to a higher point to snap some pictures from above. The others rested in the little meadow while the horses grazed contently. Well...Drifter and King grazed contently. Jim and Bernice's horses, Cash and Wolf, appeared to be on the move. Jim and Bernice retrieved them a couple of times so I didn't worry much about it. I figured if they took off, Jack could catch them. I wasn't riding Jack. Shit. That realization crossed my mind the same moment Cash and Wolf made their move. I quickened my pace hoping to head them off without them thinking I was chasing them . I was ignored and if a horse could give you the finger, I got it from both barrels.

By the time I got to Drifter – Lee had removed Kings hobbles, swung into the saddle and was gone like a ninja. Drifter, now left all by his lonesome –did not like being left alone. It was a good lesson for him. He stood pretty calm while I removed his hobbles and gave me about 2 nanoseconds to climb on board. I am not Lee or a Ninja. I saw no point in trying to climb on an anxious three year old in the middle of chaos meadow. I listen to Warwick Schiller of Attuned Horsemanship. One of his principles of training is “only ask yes questions. There was no way I was going to get a yes answer from Drifter in this moment in time. It would do more harm than good if I did eventually get on and take off chasing them to hell and gone.

Lee and King followed at a respectable trot so the escapee's wouldn't feel they were being chased. He waited until the horses tired and stopped for a drink before swinging around and capturing Wolf. In under 10 minutes, Lee and King popped back over the hill with Wolf and Cash in tow and handed them to Jim. He rode up beside Drifter and I with a big grin on his face: “I think I'll keep my old horse...what do you think?” I think I'd keep him, too. At 29 years old, covered in sarcoids and hips like a dairy cow – that horse is all heart. There isn't a horse out there at any age that can out do him. Lee rides a lot and he rides hard. King has spent his entire life a mountain horse and excels immeasurably. Yes, Lee...he's a keeper.

Everyone gathered their belongings and continued on the trail no worse for ware...if not a little out of breath. I told Jim and Bernice not to feel bad. Anybody that rides for any length of time has had a horse beat them back to camp story. Been there...done that. I would make Jim an extra brownie ...he had earned it.

After delivering Brownie Jim his brownies as promised, I packed up camp in preparation to head back to The Cabin. I had met my goals for the week: 1. To get a better feel for this area that has been my backyard since before I could sit a horse. 2. To see if Jack's feet would hold up in rough terrain wearing boots. 3. To expose Drifter to life as a partner on the trail.

I met those goals with help from my friends, Lee and Susan, Marc and Pattie and new friends, Jim. and Bernice. I am picky about who I ride with, especially in the back country. There are as many ways of developing a relationship with your horse as there are the people that ride them. I don't want to hang out with a horse that's been “broke” or trained to do something out of fear or merely for the sake of the training itself. I want a horse that wants to go with me. He wants to go because he likes me, he trusts me, he enjoys my company and mostly, because he chooses me to go with him on this journey as well.

Lee...always on the edge