On the Pony Express Trail - June 19 2011

Greetings,

June 19, 2011 – Stinking Creek to Murphy Ranch – Today we crossed the North Platte River and rejoined the Pony Express Trail southwest of Casper Wyoming just west of emigrant gap.  We rode across the Bates Creek Stock Driveway.  In Wyoming, there are various stock driveways that are still used to move animals from winter pastures to summer pastures.  On the Big Horn 100, there are two – the Dugway and one that I cannot remember the name of that goes from Trapper Creek on the valley floor to Jack's Creek  on the Big Horn plateau.  Today we rode down the Bates Creek stock driveway that goes from the Shirley Basin to the North Platte River.

We crossed the North Platte on an old highway bridge that is now used for pedestrian travel.  The North Platte is flooding and the river is very swift.  The bridge pylons made substantial wakes in the water and I would not want to swim across the North Platte under these conditions.  However, one rider's horse got away and swam the river twice.  The story is that the horse crossed the river once and then ran scared and ran hard.  The horse was spooked by something real or imagined and was running wild.  The horse then became cornered by a fence line and jumped into the river at a full gallop with a magnificent splash, swam back across, and disappeared into the sage-covered hills.  After an hour or so of searching, the horse was found and reunited with its owner.

We rejoined the trail just west of Emigrant Gap and our lunch stop was near the Devil's Backbone on the Oregon Trail.  We should be able to follow the Pony Express Trail the rest of the way to Virginia City except for a short section in Eastern Utah through Salt Lake City where there is too much development to ride safely.  Our detour through the Shirley Basin was a very nice diversion but now we are back on the historic trails.

We are taking a two-day break to resupply.  The main camp is in Alcova Wyoming but some of us have moved to the Natrona County Fairgrounds in Casper.  Frank and Whiskey are in a large field and roaming freely for the first time in several weeks.  We plan to purchase hay and do laundry in Casper.  We shopped for groceries today at a Smiths and it was nice to visit a real food store with an acceptable produce selection.  We plan to rejoin the main group on Tuesday and head back out on the trail on Wednesday.  The next five days of riding will take us across Wyoming to Fort Bridger.

Best Regards,
Tom N

On The Pony Express Trail - June 18 2011

Greetings,

June 18, 2011 – Across the Shirley Basin in Wyoming – I started early this morning with only a few other riders.  There was ice on the water buckets and it was good that we blanketed the horses last night.  We left the ranch and headed west across the Shirley Basin.  In 25 miles of trail, we passed one ranch house and today we are camped on Stinking Creek – a tributary to the North Platte.  An eastern name for Stinking Creek would be Stink Brook.  Esterbrook, where we camped a few days ago, was named after a lady with the first name of Ester so Stink Brook would be a fine name for a small waterway.  And tomorrow, we will rejoin the Pony Express trail near the North Platte River.

The Shirley Basin is a remote area north of Laramie.  I have met descendents of the Shirley Basin ranching families and I have looked across the Shirley Basin from Interstate 80, but I have never explored the area.  Today, I rode across the north perimeter of the basin and the country is very remote.  The wind was blowing and it was cool, but the scenery was true west – red soil, sagebrush and antelope, a few cows, and the endless sky.  I thought back to Kansas and Nebraska and it seems like we have come a long way in four weeks.  At any moment on the trail, our pace seems slow, but as the miles are added  together, we have traveled from the Missouri River to central Wyoming.  I like traveling at 50 miles per day.  When Cindy and I step off the trail to buy groceries or gas, 2011 America seems foreign.  We have our own community and we are working together to get the horses across the Western US.  Right now, our lives are simple and the complications of modern America seem unnecessary.  Cindy and I have become accustomed to living on the trail.

The other thing that has impressed me is how difficult it would be to fully support someone who was riding fifty miles per day, every day.  We are four weeks on the trail and some crews are falling apart.  The details are sketchy, but it appears as if working together and living together under stressful conditions is too much for some personality combinations.  I generally ride half days and Cindy and I use the second half of the day to resupply and meet the needs of the horses.  As far as I know, there is only one person who has completed 50 miles every day and her crew is totally committed to her travel.  The rest of us find ways to work with our crews to lessen the responsibilities.

Best Regards,
Tom N

On The Pony Express Trail -- June 17 2011

Greetings,

June 17, 2011 – Esterbrook to Marshall Wyoming – Our trip today took us through the high alpine country north and west of Laramie Peak.  Last night it stormed and the day dawned clear and cold.  It was 44 degrees in the van this morning.  Cindy and I took both Frank and Whiskey out and we both rode the first 28 miles of the ride today.  We climbed from Esterbrook to 8,000 feet on the trail and it was windy and cold the whole way.  A few days ago we were warm but today it was windy and quite cold.  As usual, I have all of the clothes necessary to make the conditions pleasant, but those closes were in the van.  I was wearing a polo shirt, turtleneck, and a wind shirt.  Adding a fleece vest would have been nice.  Even so, the alpine meadows were spectacular.  As we came around to the west of Laramie Peak, we could see the Medicine Bow Mountains south of Interstate 80 and the Never Summer Range in Colorado.  The Never Summer mountains are still covered with snow.  We descended to the Shirley Basin and we are camped at a ranch in Marshall Wyoming.

The owner of the ranch is in his early 70s and is a true Wyoming rancher.  His family homesteaded the area over 100 years ago, but the ranch house was at a slightly different spot and the ranch is technically not a Wyoming Centennial Ranch.  In the 1950s, there were sixteen families and a school in Marshall, now there are two families.  He and his father drove school buses and used horse-drawn sleighs to fetch the school children in the winter.  He talked further about the winter conditions and he mentioned that he got his truck stuck in a drift on January 20th this winter.  He did not free the truck until April and used a snowmobile to get to the ranch house.



Tomorrow we will cross the Shirley Basin.

Best Regards,
Tom N

Pony Express -- July 16 2011

Greetings,

June 16, 2011 – Guernsey to Esterbrook Wyoming – Wyoming high plains leading to the mountains – Esterbrook is a mountain townsite just west of Laramie Peak in central Wyoming.  We are camped south of the townsite at about 7,000 feet.  Four weeks ago we were in Beatrice Nebraska at well under 1,000 feet.  Laramie Mountain is another landmark on the Oregon Trail and the mountain has been in our view since east of Torrington.  The top of Laramie Peak is over 10,000 feet.  Today at lunch we were east of Laramie Mountain, our camp is north or the peak, and tomorrow we will ride far to the west of Laramie Mountain.

We followed the Pony Express trail for about three-quarters of the ride today.  The Pony trail then heads north to Casper and we are going south to avoid the traffic and the pavement.  Going south also allows us to enjoy some mountain riding on our way to the Shirley Basin in Wyoming.

For those who regularly drive Interstate 25, we crossed under the road at Wyoming milepost 104.

Best Regards,
Tom N

On the Pony Express Trail June 15 2011

Greetings,

June 15, 2011 – Torrington to Guernsey Wyoming – Today I rode the afternoon section on Whiskey.  We passed through Fort Laramie on the North Platte River.  Fort Laramie was strategic in the Western US during the middle 1800s.  Fort Laramie also was the site where two key treaties with the Native Americans were signed.  The Horse Creek Treaty of 1851 and the Treaty of 1868 were both signed at Fort Laramie and the treaty of 1868 is still contested in the US Court system today.  The relations between the US Army and the Native Americans began amicably and grew hostile as the number of immigrants increased.

Just west of Fort Laramie we rode through swales and grasslands still marked with the ruts of the Oregon Trail and the Conestoga Wagons.  We descended to the North Platte through a gap in the rocks that was passable by wagons 150 years ago but today is rugged and rough due to erosion.  We are camped on ranch property just west of Register Cliff where some of the pioneers carved their names in the soft sandstone.  Some were dead on the trail a few weeks later and never made it to the west coast.

Whiskey has gone every other day for over a week and he is weary from the travel.  When we arrived at camp this afternoon, Whiskey was very tired, laid in the grass, and dropped into a deep sleep.  He has awakened and is eating well.  The commotion of the past few days and the close quarters in the camps has not been restful for us or for the horses.  Whiskey started the trail slightly foot-sore, most likely resulting from trimming his hooves and his new shoes and after a few miles he was moving freely.  We are hoping that we will be off the hard county roads by tomorrow or Friday.  Tomorrow morning, I will take Frank out for a long morning on the trail.

Best Regards,
Tom N

On the Pony Express Trail - June 13 and June 14 2011

Greetings,

June 13, 2011 – Melbeta Nebraska to Torrington Wyoming – The gypsy caravan left Nebraska today and I left Nebraska meeting one of my objectives – arrive in Wyoming with two sound horses.  Whiskey and Frank are doing very well.  Both horses have 225 miles on the Pony Express trails and both horses are due for new shoes tomorrow.  Frank's shoes seem to show more wear than Whiskey's.  We will spend more days in Nebraska than in any other state and the trails in Nebraska have mainly been section-line county roads.  Many of the XP horses are footsore from the hard surfaces.  I chose to ride half-days and I am satisfied with the results and the performance of my two horses.  It would have been very nice to ride every mile but some of my friends that rode the XP in 2001 cautioned me not to prematurely wear out my horses in Nebraska.  In a few days we will be following the exact Pony Express Trail on primitive roads and two-track trails and Frank and Whiskey will be ready.

We have seen some very fine country and met some very gracious people.  I joke that I may look like a vagrant but if I wear a bandana and step out of a van pulling a horse trailer containing two horses I am treated far better than a vagrant.  One my cross-country bicycle friends described himself and his partner as "bums on bikes" and I am afraid that I am not that much different.

I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing Kansas and Nebraska at the pace of 50 miles per day and I have enjoyed camping in back-lots and vacant fields.  We have seen the country like few others.  Also, I have profound respect for the pioneers who crossed this countryside when it was wilderness.  How many of us could match the fortitude shown by the pioneers in the mid-1800s?  Crossing Kansas and Nebraska was long and we generally had good weather and only minor troubles.  St Joseph Missouri to Portland Oregon is a long and tough walk along the side of oxen and a Conestoga wagon.

Today we rode through the Scottsbluff area which is rich with history.  We rode over Gun Sight Pass and dropped into the North Platte Valley.  Gun Sight Pass is near the site of the Robidoux trading post established by an Indian trader in 1848.  Today, the pass is well-maintained county road and the traders, mountain men, plains Indians, and the pioneers are only a memory.  Today, they would all recognize the landforms but they would feel out of place in the valley of the North Platte River.  The world has changed and those who choose to see the world from the back of a horse traveling along county roads are an oddity in 2011 America.



 June 14 – Torrington Wyoming – Rest Day – Early this morning Kevin and Mike stopped into camp to shoe horses.  Mike and Kevin are Natural Balance horse farriers and they will have a full day here at the camp.  So far, there are at least seven horses that need new NB shoes.  I found Kevin through the Natural Balance online directory and Kevin brought Mike along because of the work load.  The two arrived at eight and ready to work.

Whiskey's feet still show signs of laminitis, but his feet are much improved since his last trim five weeks ago.  In January, Whiskey could hardly stand so it is remarkable that Whiskey is even along on the trip and doing so well.  His feet are recovering and today his shoes are one size smaller on both front and rear (ones up front and zeros in the rear).  Whiskey's feet are smaller because the flaring that was due to weakness in the hoof wall has been replaced with more normal and stronger hoof growth.  Kevin replaced Whiskey's front pads and Whiskey should be ready for the remainder of the trip.  Mike looked at the wear on Frank's shoes and made some minor therapeutic adjustments to the shoes which should help Frank move easier.   We'll spend the rest of the day shopping, doing laundry, and other chores and then we will head out for five days on the Pony Express trail before our next break in central Wyoming.

Best Regards,

Tom N

Pony Express - June 12 2011

Greetings,

June 12, 2011 – Mud Springs to Melbeta, Nebraska – Last night we had a small thunderstorm and the rain softened the roads so that the horses had good footing during the morning.  I rode the half day, 28 miles, on Frank.  Frank was animated and full of energy.  After about thirteen miles, we met Cindy at a water stop and I put the bit in Frank's mouth.  I have not used a bit with Frank for almost two years.   The bit made a significant difference and we were able to ride with others without turning the group's pace into a full race.  I will likely use the bit with Frank for the next few trail days and see if the bit reduces Frank's energy to a more manageable level.  Frank's plan is to reach Nevada by tomorrow night and I need to readjust his expectations.

So far, I have ridden Frank 225 miles and Whiskey 200 miles and their shoes are starting to wear.  Frank wears his shoes down on the front outside edge on all four feet.  I have not looked at Whiskey's shoes that closely, but I think that Whiskey's wear is more even.  Both horses have significant hoof growth and I have an appointment with a farrier in Torrington Wyoming on Tuesday June 14th.

Tracy Blue found a hay source and we arranged to have hay brought by Melbeta.  I picked up two additional bales of grass hay.  I place the hay in the back tack compartment of my trailer and I can fit six bales in the back tack compartment.  Cindy and I are very satisfied with the hay storage in the back part of the trailer.  It is easy to store the hay and we have had no problems with the rain spoiling the hay.

Today we rode by Courthouse Rock, Jail Rock, and Chimney Rock.   Chimney Rock was a major landmark on the Pony Express Trail as well as on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails.  The California and Oregon Trails are on the south side of the North Platte River and the Mormon Trail was on the North side.  However, both trails closely followed the North Platte River.  We passed Chimney Rock in a day whereas Chimney Rock may have been in view for three days or more for the pioneers.  Our pace is fifty miles a day while the pioneers traveled ten to twenty miles in a day.  The Nebraska prairie may have seemed desolate to the early pioneers but to someone from SW Idaho, the Nebraska prairie is very good agricultural land.  It would have been something to see this country 150 years ago before the towns were settled and the land was wilderness.  Still, I am lucky to be able to see the land at our pace of fifty miles a day.

Last night we camped at Mud Springs.  Mud Springs was a Pony Express Station, a stage coach station, and a point on the first transcontinental telegraph.  Last night, I made cell phone calls from Mud Springs and thought how the technology has changed in 150 years.

Our trip today skirted the north side of the chalk cliffs south of the North Platte and we were in prime wheat and cattle country.  The farmland is beautiful and I am impressed with SW Nebraska.  The weather has been good to us but I can imagine very hot summer days and bitter cold winters.  Our trip has been blessed with cool and pleasant weather.

Best Regards,
Tom N