This is the fourth in a series of posts about gear for horse packing. Again, a reminder that my kind of horse packing is not normally packing in to a base camp, but is packing from point to point, from a specific point of origin to a point of destination, sometimes hundreds of miles away. Understanding that makes a difference in gear one takes along on the trip. Things one is not sure they will need are left behind, as a general rule.

This post will deal with personal gear, things each individual will need for their personal needs, as well as a few things that are just handy to have, while on the horse pack trip.

Personal gear (other than what is worn to begin with):

• Doc kit (personal hygiene items)
  • toothbrush and paste
  • medications
  • fingernail clippers
  • deodorant
  • chap stick
  • sun block
  • hand soap/shampoo
  • bandaids/anti-biotic ointment
  • hair brush
  • etc
• Clothing
  • multiple changes of socks
  • change of shirt
  • change of pants
  • multiple changes of underclothing
  • thermal underwear (depending on weather)
  • camp shoes (if desired)
  • handkerchief or bandana
  • Jacket or coat
  • bathing suit
• Sleeping gear
  • sleeping bag (suitable for weather)
  • water resistant sleeping bag cover, bivy bag, or small tent
  • camp pillow
  • stocking cap
  • sleeping pad
  • ground sheet (obviated if you have a bivy bag or tent)
• Other
  • camp knife (such as a “hunting knife” with a 6″ or longer blade)
  • utility tool (such as a “Leatherman multi-tool)
  • handgun, ammunition and supporting gear
  • spurs
  • silverware, plate, cup (some folks consider these to be personal gear)
  • small whet stone or diamond rod
  • sunglasses
  • rain slicker
  • canteen(s)
  • chaps or chinks
  • smart phone/camera
  • extra memory cards
  • charging cables
  • preferred snack foods (particularly if you have special needs)
  • cigarette lighter
  • strike-anywhere matches in a waterproof container or flint/steel if you now how to use them
  • fire starters
  • compass
  • map (both paper and digital on the phone)
  • notepad and pen
  • flashlight and extra batteries
  • chemical hand warmers (depending on weather)
  • toilet paper and wet wipes

We’ll start at the top, with the “doc kit.”

I keep all my personal hygiene items in a small, durable bag I call my doc kit. It contains things such as are on the list above.  In addition to those things listed, a tube of hemorrhoid cream or hydrocortisone come in handy on occasion.

I always take a pill container with Ibuprofen, Acetaminophen, and Benadryl in it. Ibuprofen relieves muscle and joint pain, Acetaminophen relieves cold symptoms, and Benadryl relieves allergy symptoms as well as helps one fall asleep at night.

A change of clothing is not absolutely necessary on a horse pack trip, but it is very nice to have, particularly on long trips. One never knows when something may happen that could result in wet, soiled, or ruined clothing. It is nice to have a spare pair of pants or shirt along.

Extra socks are important for keeping feet healthy. I like to change socks daily, although that is not always feasible. On long pack trips I carry several pairs of liner socks, such as men’s nylon dress socks.  I change these often, while wearing a heavier pair of athletic or wool boot socks over them which can be worn for several days at a time. The liner socks are easily washed and refreshed and take very little drying time, as opposed to heavier athletic or wool boot socks. An additional benefit to this system is that the liner socks prevent blisters in the event one has to walk awhile in riding boots. Each night I air out the heavier socks by hanging them over my boots.

Camp shoes are an optional thing. A pair of “crocs” or running shoes can be quite comfortable of an evening, after the riding boots have been removed. They are also quite easy to slip on in the middle of the night when the call of nature comes or when something starts bothering the horses and you need to take a look-see. In all the times I have taken camp shoes on my pack trips I have rarely used them. Unless I am going on a very long pack trip, in which I will have rest days during the trip, I don’t take them.

A bathing suit is very light and takes up very little space, but is very handy for bathing and for wearing while clothes are being washed on a long pack trip. I often toss one in my clothes bag when packing for those longer trips.

Not listed above is a good cowboy hat (because I’m normally wearing mine). Many people nowadays prefer a helmet and I will say nothing against that, but my preference is a good felt cowboy hat with a decent brim. A cowboy hat keeps sun off of your ears and nose during the part of the day when the sun is most intense and I consider it a protective measure against skin cancer. I prefer a hat to sun block cream on my face, because the sun block tends eventually to get into and irritate my eyes. Also, when passing through brush and tree branches, I can just duck my head and they just slide over my hat without getting sticks and leaves and pine needles down the back of my shirt. A felt hat works much better than a straw hat or helmet in those situations.

Something else not listed above in personal clothing, which I have never tried, but which I have been told is very effective in eliminating or reducing saddle sores on riders of both sexes, is a pair of women’s panty hose worn under the riding pants. It’s worth a try, if you have concerns about rub sores on your hind quarters or knees!

For personal sleep items, of course the sleeping bag is indispensable.  Make sure you select a sleeping bag that is appropriate for the place and season in which you will travel. I once took a summer sleeping bag on a pack trip through southern Arizona in April, thinking I would be fine, however, when we passed through the Chiricahua mountain range, we spent one night above 7,000 feet and our water froze before we went to bed. I passed a cold and miserable night with little sleep. You can always unzip your sleeping bag if you get too warm.

The bulkiness of the sleeping bag and weight are also things to be considered. I keep a canvas covered sleeping bag with a very nice flannel lining in my trailer bunk, simply because it is very comfortable, however, it is far too bulky and heavy to consider taking on a pack trip. My regular sleeping bag is a 4-pound fiberfill bag, which packs into a reasonably sized stuff sack. However, as I mentioned in the first post in this series, I recently learned that leaving the sleeping bag un-stuffed in a top pack works very well also.

After having tried one on a pack trip with a friend, I recently purchased a military surplus bivy bag. This bag is made of a water-resistant material (Gore Tex) and is quite tough, obviating the need for a ground sheet. The bag has both zipper and snap closures, effectively sealing out rain.

I keep my camp air mattress inside the bag with my sleeping bag. The whole shebang can either be rolled up and tied or left loose in the top pack. Preparation for sleeping is a simple matter, then, of preparing the ground, then laying out the bivy bag/sleeping bag combo on the ground and airing up the mattress. One drawback I found with the bivy bag setup is that, despite the breathability of the Gore Tex material, I found my bag a bit moist in the morning up around my head area, I presume from my breath. This was only the case during very cold nights when I had the bag closed over my face. A good airing-out of the sleeping bag after spending a night in the bivy bag is necessary before packing up again.

Up until I bought the bivy bag, my sleeping arrangement consisted of a canvas ground sheet (one of the manty tarps or pannier covers) on the ground, horse saddle pads on top of that (two per person), my air mattress on top of the saddle pads, my sleeping bag on top of that, and lastly, another canvas tarp over the top.

I have used that combination for many years and stayed dry even through heavy rains. My canvas tarps are in the heavier range, about 18-ounce or so, and treated with waterproofer.  This makes the ground sheet resistant to ground moisture. When moisture falls on the top canvas, the weave tightens up, creating a very stiff and water-resistant cover. One can then simply kick up under it, causing the stiffened tarp to form a domed cover over the sleeping bag, effectively running the water off. The key to remaining dry with this arrangement is to make sure the edges of the top cover extend out over the edges of the ground sheet. Also, canvas tends to wick water wherever it touches something that absorbs water, such as a sleeping bag. The waterproofing treatment helps, but doesn’t completely eliminate the problem. This is why it is important to kick up under the tarp to form the dome over the bag during rain.

I find the canvas manty tarps commonly sold by suppliers to be too small and too light for this application. They generally run about 7X8 feet and are in the 12 ounce range.  Mine are 8X10 and in the 18-20 ounce range. Mine are considerably heavier in weight, though.

A camp pillow is an important item. It will greatly improve sleeping comfort. Also, a decent sized pillow will enhance the warmth of the sleeping bag immensely, as it helps prevent air movement around the head/neck area. My camp pillow is stored and packed inside my sleeping bag for travel.

A stocking cap is standard equipment for me, with regard to sleeping gear. Above 70% of body heat is lost through the head. A good stocking cap, or beanie, as they are sometimes called, will greatly improve your body’s heat retention, making the sleeping bag more effective in that regard.

For “other” personal camp gear, I have made a list of things I generally have on hand, either on my person or in my saddle bags (remember, I consider saddle bags and pommel bags to be part of my primary saddle horse gear).

I find a good camp knife to be indispensable on a pack trip. Now, this may be a hunting-type knife worn in a belt sheath or a folding belt knife, such as made famous by Buck Knives. In my experience, this knife should have at least a 6 inch blade. A pocket knife is handy, but I find them too small to handle some jobs a marginally larger knife can handle easily. I have a very large Bowie-style camp knife I used to carry, but over the years I have gone to a folding Buck Knife, due to the convenience of carrying it in a small leather or nylon pouch on my belt. The Buck is significantly lighter than my old Bowie, which I made from a truck leaf spring and and a deer horn. However, the Bowie style knife has sufficient heft to be used in place of a camp hatchet, possibly eliminating the need for that piece of gear from the pack.

I have found a multi-tool, such as those made by Leatherman or Gerber, to be very useful on pack trips for handling makeshift gear repairs. Select one that has useful tools in it, such as a knife blade with a long, sharp tip, a strap cutter, scissors, file, screw driver heads, etc. Long-nosed pliers are a must – nothing is better for removing cactus spines.

Multi-tools made for specific trades or purposes sometimes contain tools that are rather useless or ineffective for horse packing purposes. For instance, a knife blade with a short, blunt tip is useless for making holes in a strap for a buckle tongue or making a bleed knot. I normally carry my multi-tool in the saddle bag.

Another small item I routinely carry in my saddle bag is a rope saw. This is a piece of wire or chain with small embedded teeth with a metal ring or nylon strap at each end. It is useful for cutting branches that may be difficult to access with a regular branch saw. I often do not carry my branch saw, but I always have my rope saw, just in case. They are quite inexpensive, very light, and come in a handy little nylon pouch. My dad once had an experience in which a rope saw was the only possibility for getting a horse out of  a tree unharmed…but that’s another story.

A small-caliber handgun is something I carry when a larger caliber handgun is not called for.  As stated in another post, I often carry my .45 Colt revolver when I ride, partly because it is “cowboy” and partly for personal protection from varmints (both animal and human varieties). However, when I do not carry my revolver, I carry a small handgun, either a .22LR or 380 Auto pistol. The primary purpose is to have it in case the need should arise to have to put an animal down.

A small caliber handgun is sufficient to humanely euthanize an injured horse or mule, if properly done. I have had the unfortunate experience of having a horse break a leg during a pack trip and having to put it down. I was glad I did not have to put my .45 Colt against my faithful friend’s head. However, that would have been far preferable to having to put him down by cutting his throat due to the lack of a firearm on the trip. I know people who have found themselves in that very unfortunate position.

Chaps or chinks are always handy on a pack trip. They not only protect your legs and clothing from branches and rocks, but they help keep your clothing clean as you handle horses and gear. My chaps have pockets situated on the front of the legs that are perfect for holding such items as cigarette lighters, chapstick, and my cell phone/camera. I use batwing chaps of my own manufacture. I find them to be protective, but not too hot for even summer wear. They are, in fact, quite cool to wear. They also shed water well to supplement my rain slicker. Chinks are just short chaps that come to just below the knees. They are cooler for summer wear, but still protect the legs and pants from offending branches and rocks. Chinks tend to be made of lighter leather and are generally much lighter in weight than chaps, but do little to protect the lower legs and boots in wet weather.

Personal emergency gear is always a must for horse packing. I include matches in a waterproof container and a liquid compass in my saddle or pommel bags. I also carry a flint/steel tool that will work when matches don’t, but you have to know how to use them. Cigarette lighters are handy, but they don’t function well at high altitudes and run out of fuel at the most inconvenient times. That is why I also carry matches. I carry small homemade fire starters made from paraffin with a wick in a small cup, such as an aluminum bottle cap. There are a number of ways to make fire starters, or you can purchase them in bags and carry a few with you. These also stay in my saddle bags. The liquid compass is my “don’t get lost” insurance. Smart phones are nice, but when they break or run out of battery, they aren’t much help. On longer pack trips, I also carry a paper map to supplement the USGS topo maps I download onto my cell phone.

Speaking of cell phones, not only are they useful for viewing maps and GPS apps, they have absolutely awesome cameras in them nowadays. However, it is easy to run out of memory space on them during a pack trip. If your phone has an SD card slot, make sure you bring extra memory cards. Now, since I have an iphone and its memory is not expandable, I bring along a GoPro 4 Silver to take most of my video footage. I carry several 64G memory cards and extra batteries as well. Always bring your own cords and cables for your electronic equipment, as your buddy with the charging gear may not have what you need. I covered my electronics in this post, but some of the information (such as pricing) is outdated.

A word or two about rain slickers. For many years I used a plastic rain slicker, partly because they were cheap and partly because I didn’t know any better (being an Arizona boy we rarely found need for them).  These are suitable for a pack trip only if you have nothing better. They tend to make you wet on the inside, while protecting you from rain on the outside, because they trap body moisture, and they are not durable.

I later graduated to the more durable and higher quality rubberized yellow slickers with the flannel liner. The flannel on the inside helps keep you a little drier, but the body moisture problem is still there. Better ones are made with a variety of vents to reduce the problem. I currently have three of these that I lend to friends when needed. These yellow slickers are fairly inexpensive, usually running under $50.

Several years ago I shot the wad and bought a very nice lightweight slicker made of a lightweight waterproof synthetic material, under the Muddy Creek label.

It is a very nice slicker in a much more subtle brown color, with a vented back, vented underarms, and a zipper closure that works both directions (from the bottom and from the top). It is full-length, reaching past the tops of my boots when in the saddle or on the ground. It is full enough to cover the back of my saddle, whatever is tied behind my cantle, and most of my saddle bags. It can be unzipped from the bottom to accommodate my saddle horn while keeping my legs covered. It has velcro tabs to close the flap over the zipper for extra protection against moisture intrusion. If I have one complaint against this slicker, it is that its skirts blow in the wind, because it is so lightweight. However, it breathes very well and I find it quite comfortable in the rain or just wearing it as a wind breaker. When wearing it on the ground, care must be taken not to step on its skirts, because it is full-length. This handy little slicker ran me $199, not including shipping. Worth it? I don’t know. It rarely gets used, but when I need it, I’m glad I have it.

One thing the yellow slickers will do that my Muddy Creek will not do, is that they can be configured, using snap buttons, to split the backside and close the legs, almost like a body suit, thus protecting the legs both while on the ground or in the saddle.

I have never tried one of the “fish oil” slickers or “Aussie oilskin duster” style slickers. My dad has an Aussie style oilskin duster and he reports that under long rainy conditions, water will penetrate it.

I always carry a notepad and pen. Generally, I carry my journal with me as well, but on shorter rides, it’s just the notepad. You never know when you will need to leave a note somewhere, so that somebody knows what happened to you and where you went. A cell phone is handy, but they don’t always work out in the back country. I carry several ziplock sandwich bags in my saddle bags that may be used to protect a note left on a tree or in camp in an emergency.

My dad once ran away from home as a young boy. His grandfather told his worried grandmother, “Don’t worry! The first time he has to wipe his butt with a stick, he’ll head home!” There is wisdom in that for horse packing as well.  One should never depend on anyone else for his/her own supply of toilet paper. Always keep a personal supply in a waterproof container, such as a ziplock sandwich bag, in your saddle bag. A larger supply should be included as group camp gear, but never fail to keep your own personal supply in your gear.   In the same vein, wet wipes are handy to have on a pack trip as a means of personal hygiene when water is unavailable for bathing and hand washing.

The rest of the stuff is self-explanatory. I’m sure I have forgotten a few things and I’ll think of them later. I’ll edit this and the other posts in the series on horse packing gear as I think of things I forgot and insert them where appropriate. Check back now and again to see if anything new has appeared on any of the lists.

So, that’s my horse packing gear from start to finish. Hope it helps some of you get started on your own adventures.

Stay tuned for some posts that will go into more detail on particular subjects, such as pack-breaking horses, loading up, tying the Diamond Hitch, navigation, knot-tying, rope braiding, etc.  Let me know your questions and I will try to address them as soon as possible.

TH

 

This is the third in a series of posts about my learning and experience in horse packing.

In this post we will cover general camp gear that I take on my horse pack trips. I have talked, in the previous posts, about saddle horse gear and pack animal gear. Now we’ll talk about the people gear.

Let’s start with lists.

Camp Gear:

• Cooking and eating items
  • Aluminum or stainless steel cook kit (including at least two pots, a coffee pot, and a frying pan)
  • Single-burner propane cook stove
  • Propane cans and base
  • Metal silverware (fork, spoon, knife)
  • Spatula
  • Plastic cups (stackable are best)
  • Tin plates (one per person)
  • Dishwashing soap (biodegradable)
  • Rag (for dishwashing, etc)
  • Roll of paper towels
  • Salt and pepper and other spices
• Camp utility items
  • foldable shovel (such as a military surplus pack shovel)
  • Camp axe or hatchet
  • Limb saw
  • Camp shower bag
  • Water filter and extra filter(s)
  • Solar chargers and associated cables
  • Accessory high-capacity batteries
  • GPS unit
  • Binoculars
  • Small caliber rifle and ammunition if small-game hunting is a possibility, large caliber rifle or shotgun and ammunition if in Grizzly Bear country
  • Plastic tarp (for rain protection in camp)
  • Canvas tarps (for pack protection and bed protection)
  • collapsible water bucket
  • Nose bags for horse feed
  • Fence tool and a few T-post clip
  • Farrier kit
  • First Aid kit

When I first started horse packing, the temptation to say, “The horse will be carrying it,” was strong, so I packed not only what I thought I would need,  but also what I might need, and then some of what I probably wouldn’t need, but thought I might just take anyway, because if I did need it, it would be nice to have. However, at the end of the first leg of my Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip, when Dad and I went over our gear and took inventory of what we really needed, as evidenced by what we actually used, I started seeing the folly of taking along unnecessary camp and personal gear.

For example, I packed a small camp lantern that used a special canister of fuel and had a tiny little globe and an itsy-bitsy mantle in side. We never even unboxed the thing during the entire trip. When we got home and unpacked, I found the thing smashed to bits, still in its box.

So, over the intervening years, I have put together a list of gear that I actually use on my horse pack trips.

Starting with the cooking gear seems to flow well. Not a lot is required for the kind of horse packing I do. Again, this is for long-distance packing and not for packing in to a base camp. Think of my style of horse packing like you would a long-distance backpacking trip. You go light, utilitarian, and discard what you don’t really need.

For my pack trips, I have relied heavily upon dehydrated and freeze-dried foods. These require re-hydration with boiling water. In order to prepare a decent meal, I have found that two cooking pots are nice to have, so that two different courses can be prepared simultaneously. Actually, it’s not quite simultaneous – one can be cooling while the other is cooking. Remember, we are using a single-burner cook stove.

I have also found a small frying pan, the one that comes with the cook kit I like, to be useful for breakfast foods, such as dehydrated eggs and hash browns. A small spatula comes in handy for turning those foods, as well. A coffee pot is also handy to have around. It can be placed on a fire to heat water while cooking is done on the burner.

I use a single-burner Coleman stove that is attached directly to the propane can. I use the normal propane cans that can be purchased  just about anywhere. Walmart is a good source. The particular stove I use hasn’t been manufactured in many years, though. It is small in diameter and virtually indestructible, which is why I still have it after all these years. I bought it as a Boy Scout when I was about 12 years old. The modern single-burners are quite a bit larger and don’t seem to work any better. I have one of those as well. I took both burners on the first leg of the M2C trip, thinking it would be nice to be able to have two burners going at once – cooking on one and hot chocolate water on the other – but in practice, we didn’t use it. Now I take just the smaller one.

Metal silverware is very handy. It doesn’t melt if it gets too close to the flame, cools quickly, cleans easily, and bends instead of breaking. I like the sets that fit together into one (left) the best. Each person keeps his/her own. I keep mine in my saddle bags

I have a large porcelain covered steel cup that I have had since I was a kid, which I used to take on all my camp trips. I had a nylon thong with a metal clip tied to it, with which I would clip it to the outside of my backpack, so as to have it handy at all times. I have since decided that plastic stackable cups are much handier. Besides, the ones I use also have volume measurement marks on them, so they are handy for measuring when making meals from dehydrated ingredients.

To round out my cook gear, I take along a rag and a small squirt bottle of biodegradable dishwashing soap. The rag also helps keep the pots and pans from rattling, once they are packed back into their kit. A rag makes less trash than paper towels. However, I have found that a roll of paper towels tossed into the packs sure comes in handy now and again for the cook.

Finally, no camp cook gear would be complete without salt and pepper containers. I prefer plastic ones with snap-on caps. That keeps the salt and pepper in its place and seals them from moisture.

Now for the general camp gear.

The first leg of our big pack trip took us through the deserts of southern Arizona and up through the elevations of the Chiricahua Mountain range. Not knowing what to expect, but having learned by experience that most trails in the USFS and BLM lands are not well maintained, I thought a camp axe and limb saw would be important to us. That turned out to be the case. There was at least one day in the Chiricahuas during which we spent more time clearing dead trees from the trail than actually traveling on the trail. We would never have made it through without our axe and saw.

However, when packing in lower areas, or in areas that are well-traveled and maintained, such as on a trip I took through the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, a camp axe was more of a luxury than a necessity. However, a camp hatchet was quite useful in making camp firewood. A good camp knife, of the Bowie style, was also quite useful, but that is considered to be personal gear, rather than general camp gear.

Having said all that, I will note here that during the first leg of our Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip, which took exactly 28 days and spanned 355 miles, we built exactly five camp fires. Prior to the trip, both Dad and I had visions in our heads of father and son, sitting by the camp fire, talking about the mysteries of life. Fact is, we were so tired at the end of each day, except on rest days, that we just made dinner and hit the sack! The conclusion being, a camp axe or hatchet as camp gear is useful depending on the terrain, vegetation, and travel you will be doing. If your potential firewood is nothing more than juniper branches or greasewood twigs, you can break those with your hands and feet. If you don’t think you’ll need an axe or hatchet, don’t take it.

The same can be said for the limb saw. I have one that slings comfortably beneath my stirrup leather in its sheath, but it seldom gets removed. It’s useful for clearing smaller trees from the trail and for making firewood, but its primary use is pruning trees along the trail for trail maintenance. So, the purpose of your travel comes into play here. If you are horse packing with the intent to accumulate trail maintenance hours for your Back Country Horsemen Association, it’s a handy tool.

A foldable shovel is useful for a number of things, not the least of which is digging a hole and burying your morning business affairs, before heading out for the day. It is also useful for preparing a bed area at camp, as well as a safety measure alongside your camp fire. I never take a horse pack trip without one.

Mine is a foldable military surplus style shovel. I used to have a canvas military surplus cover for it, but that article is now laying somewhere along the Mogollon Rim on the General Crook Trail in Arizona. Since I lost it, I have found the cover to be superfluous – just extra weight. I don’t miss it.

Modern horse packing differs markedly from the old days, particularly with regard to the electronics we like to take along. I have found a cellular telephone is not only a handy safety device, with regard to communication, but a wonderful camera. I have found my iphone 7 to be indispensable on my pack trips.  In fact, most of the photos you see on my website were taken with an iphone. I have a protective cover on mine, but it is not waterproof. I keep it in a pocket in my jeans or in my chaps, where it remains safe from moisture and from harsh treatment that might damage it. It is also always handy to pull out for that once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity.

I also have a DeLorme/Garmin GPS unit that communicates with my iphone. My unit not only tracks my location and travel data, but also allows me to send and receive texts via satellite, so I can let my wife and my mom know where I am and that I’m ok (I’m 60 years old, but she still worries about me).

It also enables my other followers, here on Western Trail Rider, to follow my progress in real-time, by clicking on the “Trail Map” button on the main menu of this website. The subscription rate for those services is quite high and the minimum time frame is one month, so I don’t enable them on every trip.

The various electronic devices one might take on a pack trip require power. I have started carrying large-capacity accessory batteries on my pack trips, which allow my iphone and GPS unit to be recharged two or three times before the accessory battery needs recharging. I have three solar panels, ranging from 10 to 13 amps each, made by Goal Zero, which I use to recharge things when possible at camp.

However, I have found their usefulness to be limited, due to the fact that I try to be making tracks each morning by 9:00am and don’t normally stop to make camp until around 4:00pm or so. At those times, the sun is at such an angle that there is insufficient charging time to make any progress in charging my accessory batteries or devices. These panels are most useful on rest days, when I can set them out all day long and change their angle periodically to keep them directed as much as possible toward full sun. Of course, their usefulness depends on sunshine. Clouds spoil everything.

I have also, occasionally tied a solar panel onto the back of my saddle, over the saddle bags and successfully put enough charge into my cell phone to keep it alive, but it is not very efficient, as there is little ability to keep it faced directly in to the sun.

I have found the bag-style water filtration systems to be excellent for my style of horse packing. You simply fill the bag with water and hang it on a tree in camp. One bag will fill two military style canteens and do for cooking needs for the evening. A straw-type or pump filtration system takes a long time to fill anything, but they are handy to have when no running water can be found. I have found that unless the water is very clean to begin with, the filters in any of these systems will not last very long. In the higher elevations of Arizona, where we found no running streams, Dad and I resorted to getting our drinking water from stock ponds, filtering it through paper towels held on a bandana, before boiling it. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste too bad. I’d hate to have to do that in an area with a lot of cattle, though. The bag filter I prefer is made by Katadyne, but there are a number of good brand names available.

I own a camp shower bag, although I have never used it. I guess this is an optional thing, depending on your personal needs/desires. I have bathed in streams and puddles, but have never used the shower bag. Guess I should try it sometime. The extra space and weight to carry it along is negligible.

I have traditionally used canvas tarps to cover my panniers on pack trips, then tied everything together with a diamond hitch. However, with hard panniers, particularly when there was no threat of rain, I have simply hung the panniers and put a top-pack over them, strapping the top-pack on with it’s own straps. I still carry the canvas tarps, however, because I use them for my bed. My tarps measure about 7X8 feet or 8X10 feet (I have two sizes) and they are made of heavy canvas, 18 ounce or so, and treated.

When I make up my bed area, I clear out offending rocks and clumps, create a shallow dip for my hips, then lay down a canvas tarp. Over the canvas, I then lay down a couple saddle pads, then my sleeping pad and bag on top of that. I use a good camping air mattress and a good, lightweight sleeping bag. I then cover them with a second canvas tarp. This arrangement keeps my bed warm and dry, even in a steady rain. When the canvas gets wet, it tightens and stiffens up. I can then kick up under it and it forms a dome over my sleeping bag and effectively runs the water off.

On a recent trip, however, a friend introduced me to the military surplus Gore Tex sleeping bag systems. These systems include a good sleeping bag with an outer Gore Tex cover that has water resistant zip and snap closures. I bought one and have found it to be pretty darn unbeatable as a sleeping system. I now place my air pad and sleeping bag inside the outer Gore Tex cover and just leave them there, rolling the whole shebang up together. The unit packs easily on top of a pack animal or left loose inside a top pack and adequately protects the sleeping bag and air pad. I may eventually stop taking my canvas tarps altogether, because they weigh a ton!

A plastic tarp is light weight and very handy for a rain fly when needed. It is also useful for covering pack gear while in camp to keep the dew and little critters out of the panniers. I usually carry a plastic tarp in the 10X12 size range.

Coming down the home stretch, I have always carried a set of binoculars with me on my pack trips. I have used them for everything from spotting game, to trying to locate landmarks, trails, and roads. Having said that, I do not consider them to be a necessity, but a desired luxury item. I like to have them along, but I seldom get them out and use them.

Now for the firearms. I generally take a handgun, worn on a gun belt. I prefer my replica 1873 Colt revolver in .45 Colt. I like it because it is a cowboy weapon and keeps with my penchant for old-time stuff. I even made the holster for it. Why do I carry it? Mostly because I like to. I have never needed it on the trail, and if I needed it for bear protection, I hope it’s not a Grizzly, because that’s just not the right caliber for that kind of threat. It is a reasonable caliber for self-protection and for plinking, and could be used to put down an injured animal, but not at all practical for much else on a horse pack trip. It’s just my preference. It’s cowboy!

I have often carried a .22 LR lever-action rifle on my pack trips, particularly when there was the possibility of small game hunting for camp meat. I have never actually bagged any small game on my pack trips, however, on one trip I was very glad I had it along. During 2016, while on a pack trip, my primary saddle horse got tangled in his lead rope in the middle of the night and panicked. Before I could free him, he had broken his front left leg. It broke my heart to have to put him down that night. I was glad I had the .22 LR rifle with which to put him down, rather than to have to put a .45 Colt bullet into his head.

The collapsible water bucket is handy around the camp for fire safety and occasionally for watering the horses. The nose feed bags come in handy for feeding pelletized feed, when it becomes necessary to haul feed for the stock. In some parks, feed bags are required, so as not to spread non-native plant seeds and waste in the environment. They also keep horses from wasting feed. They are light and don’t take up much space, so if I have to carry feed with me, I always carry them.

A tool Dad and I have found indispensable on our back-country camp  trips is a good fence tool. In the back country, particularly when bushwhacking (no trail), coming upon a fence line can be a game-changer. Now most ranchers will make a gap/gate in a fence line at reasonable places where they can pass cattle through the fence line, but in the past few years, the Bureau of Land Management has built some fences that go for miles upon miles without a gate in sight. In such cases you have the choice of wasting as much as an entire day trying to find a gap in the fence or you can use your handy fence tool to remove a few fence clips or pull a few nails and lay down the fence to allow your horses to cross over. It’s not as difficult as it may sound. You simply look for a rise in the terrain, where the fence’s tension will tend to pull the fence wires down, remove the fence clips from three or four T-posts, or nails from wooden posts, then have one of your group stand on the wires while your stock passes over.  Afterward, you simply reattach the fence wires to the posts and go on your way, leaving the fence probably better than before.

On my longer horse pack trips I will carry a minimal farrier kit. The kit includes basic stuff: a shortened rasp (handle cut off), a hoof knife, a hammer, and a small box of #5 city head shoe nails. Other items may be added to taste, but these basic tools will get you through in a pinch. On very long trips, I also take spare shoes, one for the front and one for the rear for each horse. These spares have been pre-formed and labeled for each horse. On one pack trip that lasted more than 15 days, I replaced three shoes on two horses. On another pack trip my own horse lost three shoes and I had no spares to replace them. Luckily, by taking it easy on him, we were able to make it back out to our destination. For the benefit of those who swear by barefoot horses, a barefoot horse carrying a load will not make a long pack trip. Take it from me. One or two days max in our western mountains without shoes or you risk bruising the soles of their hooves and causing abscesses or road founder. That is for horses. Mules can go longer unshod under most circumstances. I had one pack mule that lasted about 170 miles before her hooves wore so short and she became so tender, she had to be shod.

A first aid kit for both the stock and the humans is a necessity. Without going into everything in my kit, I will mention just a few things. I carry bandaids, of course, and larger bandages for humans, as well as gauze and wraps for horses. I have pre-packaged suture kits to close cuts. I carry antibiotic salves for both horses and humans, as well as a home made sulphur and alum “yellow medicine” concoction we came across many years ago from an old horseman, that is useful and effective for healing scrapes, rub sores, and minor cuts on horses and humans (I will give that recipe in another post at some point) and a container of bute for the horses. I like the powdered bute that is mixed with water in a large syringe and administered by squirting it down the horse’s throat. They will often not eat pills or powder mixed into their feed, so it’s hard to know whether they got a full dose. I also carry a bottle of penicillin and a #20 hypodermic in case of serious infection (I once had a mare get stuck in one of her teets by a mesquite thorn, which became infected and swelled up nearly the size of a football overnight), however penicillin should be refrigerated, so you may have to toss it after the pack trip. Learn how to use these medications. Don’t just experiment and see what happens.

My first aid kit is contained in a plastic ammo box container that has proven to be very durable, riding in the bottom of a pannier.

So, that’s a pretty complete list of my general camp gear for my style of horse packing. I’m sure I’m forgetting a few things, but then I figure they’re probably items I can live without for a week or so. 🙂

Next up: Personal camp gear.  Stay tuned.

TH

Another leg of my Mexico-to-Canada horse pack trip is coming up in May. A couple friends and I will be horse packing from Flagstaff, near where Dad and I stopped in 2016, to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Actually, we’ll be stopping this leg at Tusayan, but may take a day and ride a few of the equine trails in the Grand Canyon National Park along the South Rim. This leg, as close as I can calculate, will be about 108 miles. We’ll start making tracks from Flagstaff on May 13…if all goes according to plan.

The next leg will take me through the Grand Canyon and up to the AZ/UT border, east of Kanab, Utah. Not sure just when I’ll be making that trip. Hopefully this fall or next spring. Once across the “big ditch,” I should be able to make two or three legs per year and maybe get this whole thing done before I’m too old to ride!

So, I thought I’d write a post about horse packing gear and what I’ve learned so far, in the 555 miles I’ve packed from the US/Mexico Border in Arizona to Flagstaff.

A pack trip such as this, in which I travel from one place to another, and then another, never spending more than one or two nights in the same camp, is a little different than one in which an outfitter packs into a base camp, from which riders ride out and return each day.  For instance, packing to a base camp might include a pack kitchen, complete with stove and maybe even limited cabinet space, while my camp kitchen consists of a single-burner on a propane can. Whereas the outfitter’s meal plan might include such luxuries as chile con carne and beef steak, mine is normally re-hydrated foods, including soups, stews, or scrambled eggs, and jerky. I don’t pack a tent, but sleep under a canvas tarp, whereas an outfitter would pack wall tents for his guests. Non-horse folks might equate the two different methodologies to family camping with a camp trailer and long-distance backpacking.

On this and related following posts, I will be talking only from my experience with regard to long-distance horse packing. Your mileage may vary, so to speak.

In this post, I’ll talk about the primary gear for the saddle stock, the stuff that carries the stuff on the riding horse. Here’s a list of my primary gear:

• Riding saddle
• Bridle
• Halter and lead rope
• Saddle pad
• Breast strap
• Crupper or britchin’ (optional)
• Saddle bags
• Pommel bags
• Hobbles
• Brush and/or curry comb

The riding saddle for a long-distance pack trip should be a well-made, sturdy saddle. I do not recommend saddles with flexible trees, such as are sometimes marketed for gaited horses, with claims that they flex to move with the horse. I have seen some serious saddle sores caused by saddles of this type. They tend to flex width-wise, such that the weight of the rider sits directly on the horse’s spine, right under the cantle. I recommend a saddle with rawhide covered wood tree, with a gullet width and bar angle suitable for your horse. The style of saddle (Wade, Association, etc) doesn’t really matter, except that it should have saddle strings for tying on saddle bags, pommel bags, slicker, jacket, etc.  Show saddles normally lack good saddle strings. The saddle should fit the rider comfortably. A saddle with a seat length too short will become very uncomfortable to the rider within a few miles. Aussie stock saddles are quite comfortable, when properly sized for the rider, however, the inexpensive ones have very lightweight trees that are not very strong. They can fail under stress and cannot be loaded heavily with the rider’s personal gear.  A riding saddle need not be expensive, but should be of good make and condition.

I bought my saddle used, in good condition, for under $400. It is probably over 60 years old, but it would be the equivalent of a modern new saddle in the $3500 range.

The saddle cinch is something I have carefully considered and experimented with. I use only 17 or 19 strand mohair cinches. I have not yet tried cinches made of alpaca, but they appear to be very similar to mohair. Cotton saddle cinches tend to stretch when wet and can become too loose during a long day of riding. I stay away from the wide roping-style cinches (right below). They are too wide and tend to cause rub sores behind the horse’s elbows. I absolutely stay away from neoprene and felt cinches, which also tend to rub sores on the horses, behind the elbows. These cinches also tend to hold moisture and heat against the horse, making them uncomfortable for the horse during a long day under saddle.

The standard 17-strand mohair cinch (left) is the gold standard for me. I have never had a horse develop a serious cinch sore from a mohair cinch. They stretch very little, pass water and heat quickly, and dry quickly. They are easy to clean and return to near-new condition after being washed in a bucket of water with a little soap.

The saddle pad should be of good quality. I prefer a 3/4″ wool felt saddle pad. Mine happens to be made by Five Star, but there are less expensive saddle pads available through various sellers that would work nearly as well.

My second choice would be a mohair saddle pad. These pads are quite firm and hold their shape well. They also wick sweat away from the horse’s flesh and they dry quickly. Avoid thick, pillowy saddle pads. These pads are not suitable for long-distance travel. I also recommend against neoprene and other synthetic materials for a saddle pad. Just like the cinches, they tend to hold moisture and heat against the horse and can cause saddle sores during long miles under saddle. Some people have brought it to my attention that the US Calvary in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, used only a folded wool blanket for a saddle pad. It should be remembered that calvary soldiers traveled very lightly loaded and it was their practice to ride for about an hour, then dismount and walk for about an hour. You won’t be doing that on a horse pack trip. I also caution against over-padding, such as using a too-thick saddle pad, even one of wool felt or mohair. A too-thick saddle pad will cause a well-fit saddle to fit too tightly on the horse’s withers and can cause pressure points and possibly saddle sores.

While some people adamantly recommend break-away halters and lead ropes, in my opinion those items have no place on a horse pack trip. You simply cannot have your horse break away in the night and head back to the trailhead that might be 50 miles away. I always use heavy-duty nylon flat-braid halters with welded steel or brass rings and buckles. I have also found that the weak link in an otherwise heavy-duty setup is the lead rope buckle. I have eliminated the buckles from my lead ropes. I make my own lead ropes from 5/8″ poly rope, into which I braid a loop in one end and a return on the tail. The rope I prefer can be purchased by the foot from Rigging Warehouse. A horse cannot break it, yet it becomes soft to the feel with wear and is quite comfortable in the hand. The halters I prefer come from Outfitter’s Supply. These allow the lead to be attached on a side ring for pack animals and under the chin for a horse under bridle.

The bridle for a trail horse should be simple and sturdy. I prefer a bridle made from 5/8″ or 3/4″ harness leather with a browband and throatlatch. I prefer split reins of 5/8″ harness or latigo leather, at least 6′ long, although I knot them together, so I can lay them on the horse’s neck when I need to use both hands on something else. These reins tend to have a comfortable feel and balance in my hand. I use a curb bit marketed by Robart, which has proven to be comfortable and effective on my gaited horses. I occasionally use a braided rawhide bosal for training, but I do not use any form of bitless bridle for horse packing or trail riding. This is a personal preference for me, as I consider it to be a safety issue.

I consider a breast strap to be standard gear for horse packing. It keeps a heavily loaded saddle from slipping too far to the rear on a sweaty back when moving uphill. I prefer a mohair breast strap, because it passes moisture away from the horse and dries quickly. I have found that a heavy leather breast strap, such as is used for cattle work, will wear sores on the horse’s breast as it gets wet from sweat and gathers grit from the ride.  I currently use a breast strap made by Hilason, but have still gotten mild sores on my horse’s breast during a long pack trip. The rub sores come from the leather medallion in the center of the breast strap. I intend to fabricate my own breast straps with no leather medallion and see how they perform. Keep an eye on my website, because if they work, I may offer them for sale to my followers.

A crupper or britchin’ is an optional accessory. A crupper is made to hold a saddle in position on the horse’s back when moving downhill.

They are effective for trail riding, but I do not use them on long pack trips, as they can wear sores under the horse’s tail. I also use a crupper for training my trail horses, because it teaches a horse not to be too concerned when a lead rope gets pulled up under its tail. For those horses or mules that are “mutton-withered” (rounded withers) or slight shouldered, that allow the saddle to move too far forward when moving downhill, requiring the cinch to be uncomfortably tight, a britching or “butt strap” is useful. My horses have sufficient shoulders and withers to keep the saddle in place under normal circumstances, so I do not use them on my saddle stock on pack trips.

Accessories such as saddle bags and pommel bags are useful on trail rides and pack trips, but care must be taken not to overload the horse. I usually put in them things I may need to access during a day of riding. I carry lunch and snack items for the day, as well as several survival/emergency items, such as a compass, waterproof matches, cigarette lighter, and flashlight. On pack trips I also may carry a change of clothing  in my saddle bags, unless there is sufficient room in a pack pannier.  For trail rides I may also carry water bottles in saddle or pommel bags, but on a pack trip I use a military canteen hanging on the saddle horn. For pack trips I also carry a power pack for my electronic accessories, such as my iphone and Garmin GPS unit.

I prefer leather pommel bags, but I have used canvas saddle bags for many years and have found them satisfactory. I like the canvas saddle bags with heavy flat-braid nylon or leather straps and metal buckles. I do not like plastic buckles, due to their propensity to break when you need them most.

I do not like the saddle bag/cantle bag combinations units, as they are not convenient for what I carry on my saddle during pack trips. I prefer saddle bags over which I can tie a slicker and coat without having a cantle bag in the way.  A few year ago, I purchased a very large set of saddle bags, made of a heavy synthetic “bear cloth” material. They are very handy, due to their large capacity, but it is easy to overload the horse with them and I am careful to watch what I put in them. The same is true of many of the high-capacity pommel bags commonly offered by various makers.

The final item for this post is a short discussion about hobbles. It is important for a horse intended for trail and/or pack trips to be trained to hobbles. Hobbles restrain the front legs and are handy for allowing a horse to graze during breaks and in the mornings and evenings on pack trips. However, hobbles should not be used to allow a horse to graze overnight. Most horses will learn to move along pretty well, despite their front legs being hobbled. As they do so, they tend to wear sores on their pasterns from the hobbles. Many people fix the hobbles to the cannon area of the legs to avoid the sores on the pasterns, but my experience is that the hobbles will eventually end up on the pasterns anyway.

Years ago, I spent a bunch of money for several sets of very nicely made leather hobbles. I still have them in storage, most of them unused. They quickly wear sores on my horses, to the degree that I consider them unusable. Besides that, they are bulky and heavy. I have used flat-braid nylon hobbles with some success, as they are easy to clean and maintain and are durable, but, again, if left on too long, or if the horse tends to move around a lot while grazing, they will wear sores on the pasterns. The best hobbles I have come across were made by my dad from a soft nylon rope we found along the trail. I keep a pair of those in my saddle bags at all times. They let my horses know they are hobbled, but allow some freedom of movement. They are light enough that they do not wear sores on the pasterns. They are light, easy to clean,  and easy to store in my saddle bags.

That’s about what I consider to be my primary gear for my saddle horse for horse packing, based on my experience. In future posts we’ll talk about camp gear and personal gear to fill out our equipment lists.

Next post we’ll discuss primary gear for the pack stock.

TH

This is the second installment of my four-part blog post about my trip in September 2018 to Alaska for a moose hunt with my friend, Derek Habel.

Part 1 ended with Derek and I arriving at our trailhead destination of Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, Canada, where we parked the rig and prepared to head out on the horses to Derek’s hunt camp.

After arriving at Beaver Creek about 7pm (local time), we got the rig parked and the horses fed, watered, and cared for, then headed into town for a fine dinner at Buckshot Betty’s Restaurant.  We made it just in time, before they stopped serving. It’s pretty much the only game in town for sit-down eating, but it was also surprisingly good food for a one-dog town like Beaver Creek! Derek had made friends with Betty during his previous visits. She owns the parcel where we park the rig and set up camp at our trailhead. She allows Derek to park there during his stay during the moose hunting season.

The following morning, which would be Thursday, September 13, I believe, we loaded up our horses and headed up Beaver Creek to Derek’s special hideaway hunt camp. There really isn’t a trail. It’s just about 19 miles of rough riverbed country with close to 30 river crossings between the trailhead and the camp.

As we started out, while it was beautiful country, the visibility was limited to the river and the trees lining it. While there was no trail, to speak of, Derek’s experience of the previous years in getting to and from his hunt camp proved valuable in picking shortcuts through the thickets and cutting off long bends in the river.  There were a couple times when Derek told me to take the lead and I got us into a mess in the thickets.

With our string of Missouri Fox Trotters and Tennessee Walkers, we made great time packing in. My DeLorme (now Garmin) GPS gauged our mileage at 18.4 miles (a later run had it at 18.7 miles). We made it in 4 hours and 10 minutes, including stops and about 30 river crossings. Our top speed was 9.6 miles per hour and our average moving speed was nearly 5 miles per hour, through some absolutely treacherous country. Doing that kind of speed on Quarter Horses would have resulted in our gear being strung all along the trail and our backsides being seriously pounded, but on Fox Trotters and Walkers, it was easy.

These are the actual readings from my GPS unit at our camp:

Location: N6*11.2104 W141*2.3048 (accuracy 16′)
Time moving: 4:10:38
Mileage: 18.4
Max speed: 9.6 mph
Average speed (moving): 4.5 mph

On the trip in, Derek’s big Tennessee Walker, Finn, took a few missteps here and there. There was one instance, during a river crossing where I was leading and was just coming out of the river, when I heard Derek yell. I turned back to look and saw him looking like a fishing bobber on the water! His horse had tripped and gone completely under and all I saw was Derek sitting the saddle, thigh-deep in the river. The horse quickly got his head up and regained his footing, however, and made it safely across the river. Derek said that happened three times on the trip in. On the trip out, we put Finn under a pack saddle.

Luckily, both Derek and I wore waterproof pants, and so stayed pretty dry. Derek also had waterproof boots, but I had on my leather packer boots. Despite all the care I took to treat and wax them, by the time we had made a half-dozen river crossings, my feet were wet and cold.

We saw tracks of both Grizzly and Black Bear in the sand along the river shore, but we didn’t actually see a bear. The tracks made it exciting, though, whenever we headed through the thickets to make shortcuts to bypass bends in the river!

Here’s a short video of us just after starting out, during our first river crossing:

We rolled into camp late that afternoon, due to a late departure from the trailhead. We situated the horses and immediately set up our camp. Derek brought a small four-man tent for sleeping quarters. He also had a camp kitchen disguised as pack panniers, made of welded sheet aluminum with a cook top in it. Pretty cool.

As the framework for the canopy from the previous year was still standing, we pulled out the tarps and other gear Derek had cached nearby from previous years, and got our kitchen area covered. Once we got our camp area settled and set up, we made ourselves a very tasty dinner.

I thought I was a pretty experienced and learned horse packer, but I learned plenty from Derek during our preparation and execution of this trip. For instance, Derek’s wife, Traci, provided home made dinners for us, including lasagna, beef stew, ham, chicken pot pie, and other things, which she packed in freezer bags and froze. Derek has two large Yeti cooler bags in which all these frozen meals were packed. One Yeti went in each side of a set of soft panniers, where they fit much better than a set of hard-sided coolers. Even after 15 days, we still had frozen meals in the cooler bags in weather hovering around 50 degrees F most of the time.

I also learned Derek’s system for loading top packs. I have always tried to compartmentalize everything: sleeping bags tightly packed in stuff sacks, clothing in nylon bags, doc kit, accessories, all things in their proper bag. Derek, on the other hand, simply throws everything loose into a top pack. Effectively, each person has their own top pack and it becomes one’s personal suitcase. In other words, no compartmentalization, no little bags. Sleeping bag goes in loose. Clothing loose.  Small personal items, like soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, and meds (Ibuprofen came in handy!) in a small bag, but that’s all. In this way, the top pack contents stay loose in the top pack and the top pack stays soft and balanced. It does not have the tendency to get off-balanced by all the bagged and bundled items getting jounced around and settling to the heavy side. With everything loose in the top pack, it stays in place better. I found Derek’s system to be very effective and efficient. You have to sort of dig around to find your socks, but that’s a small tradeoff for not having to re-settle a top pack every few miles. In the past I solved that issue by covering the top pack with a canvas manty and binding everything in place with a diamond hitch. Derek’s way saved weight, time, and effort.

Derek also packed in a small chainsaw for clearing trails. It is a Stihl with about a 12″ blade. The model is normally used at the end of a long pole for trimming tree branches. It is perfect for packing on a horse and for clearing trees up to a foot in diameter. Perfect for clearing trails in Alaska. I’m going to have to take a look at getting one like that.

We packed in about 200 pounds of feed for the horses, which was supplemented by local grasses. However, the grass isn’t as nutritious as what the horses were used to, so the sack feed went fast. We saved a bag for the last day of the hunt, to give the horses an energy boost for the trip packing back out to the trailer. It would have been nice to have been able to bring in more feed, but that would entail another pack horse to feed, and there wasn’t enough local grass to begin with. There comes a point of diminishing returns…

Once we got everything settled in camp, we did a little camp maintenance and then just relaxed. In the evenings and mornings we glassed the surrounding hills for moose and other game, but it was apparent early-on that we had arrived before the moose rut season had begun. So, our first few days in camp were pretty easy and involved a lot of time spent reading Louis L’Amour novels and pleasant conversation about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We got a sprinkle or two of rain, but in general, the weather was surprisingly pleasant.

I noticed the first evening that the Northern Lights were showing a pleasant glow in the western sky. It wasn’t the spectacular display I have seen in some documentary shows, but it was plenty beautiful for me. That was one of the “bucket-list” things I was hoping to check off on this trip. I enjoyed watching the display every evening when the western sky was not obscured by clouds. Sadly, it wasn’t bright enough to get a good video clip.

After a day or two lazing around camp, Derek guided me up a trail he has developed over the past several years, which leads up into the foothills to the northeast of camp. Up in those hills is where Derek has done most of his hunting and has had good luck in coming out with some very nice bull moose over the past six years.

On the way up the trail, we passed a very fresh Grizzly Bear rub on the trail. We were happy we had Lucky, Derek’s trail dog, with us. Lucky is half Bernese Mountain Dog and half Border Collie and Derek has trained him to run ahead of the horses about 10 yards or so, to warn us of bear in the trail. When the dog senses a bear, he sets up a very noisy warning for us and allows the riders to get set up defensively in case the bear becomes aggressive. In camp, the dog is also a very effective bear alarm. He slept right outside the door to the tent. As it turned out, we had no bear in camp on this trip, but it has happened in past years. It is particularly dangerous when there is meat on the meat pole after a successful hunt.

Interestingly, we had a bull moose walk right through our camp area one night, passing not far behind our tent,  and Lucky didn’t make a sound. I was the one who heard the moose snorting as he walked by. I couldn’t even wake up Derek. I had to show Derek the tracks the following morning, so he’d believe me!

When you get into the thick forests in that area, it’s a bit spooky, knowing there are Grizzly around. You can’t see very far in any direction and the footing is poor, so you can’t rely on the horses for a quick getaway. In the event of a bear encounter on the trail, if the horse were to spook and bolt, it is likely both horse and rider would end up on the ground.

In the photos on this post, you will see what looks like beautiful ground upon which to ride, but in reality it is tundra-like, in that most of what you see is covered in about a foot of moss with mud underneath. The moss and mud is spider-webbed with roots of all sizes, hidden in the moss, creating a serious footing hazard for the horses. It is truly tough going for them and they need to be in top condition before the trip. Derek has found that MFT’s are very capable horses in that country and can move through it well and quickly. My grade TWH seemed to handle it well, but Finn proved to be pretty much a stumble-bum in it. It was probably the particular horse and not the breed in his case.

Derek’s trail has been used and maintained annually by him and is also used by game in the area, so the trail has stayed pretty open. However, it is sometimes hard to stay on, due to many game trails crossing it. Even after several passes on the trail, I still found a way to lose it in one particular spot. Once up into the foothills, however, we just found our way across the hillsides and gullies. We had particular difficulty finding our way across certain areas that were so soggy our horses would sink up to their knees in the mush. We tried to avoid those spots, but it was sometimes difficult to see them. We also had trouble finding our way across some gullies, as the streams would cut deeply and the sides were covered in dense growth. We looked for game trails passing through them, but even so, moose can go places where a horse and rider cannot. We had at least three occasions in which we narrowly avoided injury as horses went down crossing gullies.

In one such instance, Derek’s big Tennessee Walker stumbled coming up out of a deep cut and went over backwards. Derek was able to unload safely, but the horse continued rolling over backward and ended up in the bottom nearly folded in half, with his feet in the air. Derek and I were able to use the lead rope and get enough weight behind it to pull him out of the hole and back over on his side, to where he could get his feet under him enough to get back up. That was a close one, but there was no permanent damage to man, horse, or equipment. We felt pretty fortunate that there was no damage to Derek’s very expensive hunting rifle or scope on that one.

As you can see from the photos in the gallery below, we arrived in the area just as the seasonal change of colors was beginning. By the time we left, it was over and everything was brown for the winter.

We were in camp 15 days. During the latter part of the second week we discovered the moose rut had begun and we began to see a few moose. Nothing yet like the bull we were after, but game  all the same. We also saw one black bear sow with a cub from a great distance, who roamed a particular hillside for several days before disappearing. We also saw numerous Dall Sheep up on the steep hillsides above us. Their white coats stand out in sharp contrast to the surrounding terrain and they can be seen from a great distance even with the naked eye.

Since I was the horse-handler and Derek was the hunter (I didn’t even buy a hunting license), I spent a lot of time just glassing the areas and enjoying the tasty berries that covered the hillsides. We found patches of late-hanging blueberries and hillsides of low-bush cranberries. I snacked on them as often as I could. There were also a couple other kinds of berries available, but I didn’t like the taste as much as the cranberries.

Our camp was on an island, several acres in extent. As it was completely surrounded by the river, we felt comfortable allowing the horses to range freely to graze on the local grasses. For the first few days we had no trouble, but then a couple of the horses began crossing the river near camp to graze. We decided to start putting hobbles on a couple of them, but continued to allow the rest to roam freely. That seemed to work. Sometimes they would be gone for hours and then return to camp.

One evening, on the 11th day out in camp, two of our horses decided they had enjoyed enough of the outdoors, so they headed back toward the trailer at the trailhead. The lead horse, Ginger, a Missouri Fox Trotter mare, who has been on this trip several times before, led out at a pretty good pace, with her trail buddy, another MFT, following. My Walker, J Golden, who was grazing with them at the time, decided he’d rather stay with us. He whinnied at them a couple times, as they crossed the river headed north, then returned to camp. When I saw him come into camp alone, I suspected what had happened. I hiked over to where they had been grazing and their tracks were plain to see, where they entered the river on the trail back up Beaver Creek toward the trailhead.

I’ll save that story and the rest of the hunt for another post.  Enjoy the photo gallery.

Stay tuned for more.

TH