I thought I’d write up the first few days of our Eagar to Panguitch trip this year, so our followers would understand what took place to cause our current delay.
Last Tuesday, our departure day, we got out to my pasture, where the horses were kept, and started sorting and packing our gear. Of course, it took longer than we hoped to get packed up. Separating our food supplies and gear into separate piles, packing them into paniers, saddling the horses, etc, is a real chore. We eventually just started stuffing things into paniers and figured we’d reorganize stuff in camp the first night. We just wanted to get underway.
We finally got saddled and underway about 12:50pm. Three of my grand nieces rode with us the first several miles.
The day was clear, not a cloud in the sky, but we faced a direct headwind blowing at about 40 miles per hour, gusting, I’m pretty sure, to over 60. At over 7,000 feet elevation, any wind is a cool one. Our first 11 miles were across a treeless high plateau, just west of Eagar, with that wind blowing in our faces. It was absolutely miserable! I fixed my eye on a cinder pit in the distance, which marked an uphill grade that would eventually take us into the trees and give us some shelter from the wind, and just kept heading for it, one step at a time.
The going was quite slow, as the horses didn’t like the wind any more than we did and we didn’t push them. We averaged about 2.89 miles per hour for the day, according to my GPS.
Late in the afternoon we reached the trees and worked our way along Route 260 to Forest Road (FR) 1325, which we took northward. We looked around and ended up settling on a campsite just off of FR1325, about a quarter mile from Rt 260. There was plenty of lush grass, a small stream of water for the horses, and a nice, level spot for us. We stopped around 6:30pm and settled-in for the night.
We picketed the horses on the grass and let them get their fill. We let Reno and Jimbo go free and picketed Ranger and Black, since they were the leaders of the bunch. However, when I poked my head up out of my sleeping bag in the morning, all the horses were gone. While Dad started breakfast, I headed out to look for them.
It didn’t take me long to find them. Apparently the grass was just too good for them to leave it, so they just stopped at a fence at the end of the grassy pasture. Not long after, I had them tied back in camp and we were working on getting loaded up. Seemed like we had plenty of time, so we took it, and ended up heading out around 9:30am.
The plan was to head north on FR1325 about 3/4 mile to a point where the road changes direction. We would head off the road and bushwhack about 3/4 of a mile west to get out on top of the plateau, about 400 feet higher. Right off the bat we found an old logging road that took us precisely in the direction we wanted to go, so we followed it about a half mile before it simply petered-out. By our maps, we could see that we were only a few hundred feet short of the top, where it would open up into high meadows on the plateau. We tried several different routes before giving up. We just could not find a way through the trees that a pack horse could negotiate going up that last sidehill.
We turned around and headed back the way we had come and decided to head back out to Rt 260 and follow it on up to the top. That turned out to be a wise decision for us, as it was an easy climb and the road easement is very wide. Â At one point we found a tunnel that crossed under the highway for cattle to pass through. It was about 8′ tall and 6′ wide, or so. We took the horses through it and back, thinking it would be good experience for them for when we hit that tunnel at the bottom of the South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon.
Once we made the crest of the hill and started out onto the plateau, we again hit the wind. Just as strong as the day before, but colder. We were now somewhere around 9,500′ elevation. We had to push through the wind again, with no shelter at all, for about another mile, before we found a gate in the fence that allowed us to head back into the trees.
We followed a little two-track northward about a half mile and found a valley. The map indicated this was the valley of Fish Creek. As we approached the valley we spied an elk watching us. It eventually headed down over a drop-off into the valley. As we got closer we saw about 10-15 elk reposing and grazing in the valley. It was a beautiful sight.
We found our way down a steep decline into the valley, by way of an elk trail, where we located a running spring. We stopped there and let the horses graze a bit while we refilled our drinking water containers. By that time we were tired and Reno was obviously uncomfortable. He was starting to give us trouble, pulling back and having to be dragged along. We decided to find a campsite and call it a day. We located a site just a couple hundred yards away that suited us perfectly: lots of grass, running stream, and a nice, level spot that was somewhat sheltered from the wind.
When we had unloaded all the horses, we found that Reno had a very tender back. He had been carrying a heavy load, over 200 pounds, for two days now, and he was very sore. We decided to make the following day a rest day, despite the fact that we had made only about 20 miles in our first two days, about 3 of which were in the wrong direction.
Finding plenty of firewood at this campsite, we decided to make a campfire for cooking, to conserve our propane. It was pleasant, sitting around the campfire that evening, but we were tired and went to bed directly after eating our supper. We again tied two horses – this time to trees – and let the other two graze freely all night.
The following morning we slept-in a bit, since we were not going to be moving that day. We got up at around 6:30am. We still had all our horses there in the pasture. Dad untied Black and let him graze, but, out of an abundance of caution, I kept Ranger tied. I’m glad I did, because while we were busy cooking our breakfast, the other three horses headed for home without us noticing. Ranger started snorting and we looked up and only had one horse.
I saddled Ranger and went after the other horses. I was able to follow their tracks well enough to see that they were heading directly down the valley southeastward, following Fish Creek. I found them about a mile and a half down the valley, where the trees began to choke the valley. When they saw me and Ranger, they walked our direction and were easy to catch up. I took Black’s lead and headed back, assuming Jimbo and Reno would follow. They did…for a few hundred yards, but then began falling behind, grazing along the way. Figuring they would continue to follow and eventually get back to camp, I headed on back.
I arrived back at camp, tied Black and Ranger, and ate breakfast, which Dad had prepared in the meantime. When the other two horses hadn’t appeared by the time I finished, I decided I had better go find them. I figured they’d be right about where I last saw them, grazing in the valley. I mounted Ranger and headed out, but they were nowhere to be found. I headed back to camp and Dad saddled up Black and we headed out together to search for our lost pack horses.
Not far from where I last saw them, I located their tracks heading up a cow trail that led back out on top. We followed until we lost the trail, but it was apparent they were heading back towards Eagar. I eventually caught up with them about a half-mile from our last camp. Again, they were glad to see Ranger and came right to me. I caught up Jimbo’s lead and led them back toward camp, with Reno following. He, in fact, did follow this time.
Having learned our lesson, or so we thought, we then tied three horses and let one graze freely, but being the enterprising individuals we are, we devised a method whereby all the horses could get their fill of grazing. We tied rather large rocks to the leads of Jimbo, Ranger, and Black. We tied the horses by their front left foot with a bowline hitch, such that the rock acted as a stake. When we wanted to move the horse to better graze, we simply moved the rock. We were pretty pleased with ourselves, until the next morning, when I poked my head out of my sleeping bag and found that we were horseless. All four had left the valley.
After looking around, it became apparent that something, elk or maybe a coyote or lion, had spooked them during the night and they had dragged their rocks until they had come off the leads and the horses ran freely with their 35′ foot leads attached.
This time, while Dad made breakfast, I headed out on foot to locate our wayward herd. I was pretty sure I knew where they had gone, so I headed out. I again located their tracks on that same trail as before, heading up onto the plateau and off toward Eagar. This time they didn’t make it quite as far as before, and I might have walked right by them, except that Ranger nickered at me when he saw me. There they were, standing back in the trees, looking like they were waiting for me to find them.
They let me approach and I started catching up leads and tying them to trees, while I untied the foot-ropes. Ranger had a knot and scrape on his nose, but other than that all the horses were unharmed. Â As far as I knew, none of the horses had ever been ridden bareback. I would have trusted Ranger, but at 16 hands, there was no way I was going to be able to get on his back. So, I led them all back to camp on foot. When I got back, my GPS indicated I had walked about 3 miles, not counting the distance I walked earlier without the GPS. I figure I walked about 5 miles that morning. I was pooped!
So, there it was Friday morning and we had made a total of about 17 miles, and a bit.
Reno’s back was nearly back to normal now, as we had been giving him a helping of bute each morning to ease his pain and reduce the swelling. He was still a little tender, but wasn’t flinching when I brushed his back. We realized that our packs were overloaded, due to the fact that we had brought 100 pounds of Equidyne pelletized alfalfa feed with us to supplement the horses’ feed. We made the decision to dump the feed, since there was plenty of grass available. This brought our loads back down to far better levels and allowed us to redistribute the weight among the two pack horses more evenly. In an effort to take it easy on Reno, we decided to put the heavier load, the hard-sided paniers and top pack, on Jimbo and let Reno carry the soft paniers.
We got packed up and were back on the trail by about 1pm, heading west along Fish Creek, toward FR 117.
What a beautiful ride it was. We met FR 117 less than an hour later and headed northward. We joined FR 61 several miles up the road, near the base of Green’s Peak. We followed it about 7 miles west and north toward FR 96, but stopped about 3/4 of a mile short of it, making about 11 miles for the day. We had decided to keep our mileage around ten miles to take it easy on the horses and to avoid soring Reno’s back again.
This day’s ride was the kind of ride Dad and I had dreamed about. We had horses that got along well, so we could ride side-by-side, which we did almost all day. We talked, dreamed, schemed, spoke of the ranches we wished we had, and talked of horses and dogs we had known over the years. I loved hearing Dad’s stories of his youth, growing up in Panguitch, Utah and surrounding areas. As badly as the day started, this day became one of those perfect days for us.
Several miles up FR 61, we came upon several Pronghorn Antelope. One of them had a fawn that could not have been more than a day old. Dad had seen the fawn, but I hadn’t. Suddenly it jumped up and ran across the road in front of me. I was able to snap a quick photo of it. It was something one does not often see.
We had hoped to reach FR 96 before stopping for the night, but as we passed through Gillespie Flat, we saw a beautiful campsite, several hundred yards off the road, back in some Ponderosa pines, at 8,653′ elevation, with a spring and good grass a short distance away. It was too nice to pass up.
As we were unpacking the horses, we heard something snort from back in the trees. We eventually spied a cow elk watching us from about two hundred yards away. None of our horses took note at all, except Jimbo, our mustang. He located that elk the first time it blew and was watching her with piqued interest. The elk would snort at us and Jimbo would snort right back. This went on for several minutes, with the elk working its way closer all the time. Eventually, the elk approached to within about 30 yards of camp, inspecting us and our horses closely, before moving off.
We again decided to make a campfire for cooking and it was a good decision, because it got very cold that night, down into the 20s. We let the horses graze freely for the early evening, but made sure we kept a good eye on them. After eating our supper, we tied all four horses, Ranger and Reno by foot-ropes, so they could graze freely on the good grass. It was their turn.  After supper, Dad and I sat around the fire and enjoyed the evening. We hit the sack around 9pm.
About 2:00am I was awakened by the sound of pounding hooves. I jumped up out of my sleeping bag, grabbed my flashlight and shined it toward the sound. I saw Ranger tied up against a tree and struggling. I ran to him and found he had wrapped his foot rope, around the tree until he was snubbed against the tree with his right side against the tree and his left front crossed in front of him and twisted around the tree trunk tight against the rope. He was pulling back against it with all his strength. I tried to calm him, but he was in a panic and there was no way for me to help him but to cut the rope. I ran to my bed to grab my knife, and about halfway there I heard a loud “snap”, like a large tree branch breaking, and I knew I was too late. I grabbed my knife and was back at his side within seconds. I slashed the rope with one pass, releasing his leg, but I could see his left front leg was broken, up high near the elbow. It hung awkwardly and useless, as he stood three-legged.
Ranger didn’t struggle, didn’t try to walk. He just stood there looking at me as if I might be able to help him. I held his neck and talked to him as I sobbed, knowing there was nothing I could do; knowing I would have to put him down.
By this time, Dad had made it to us. He held Ranger while I went to my saddle and retrieved my .22 rifle. I loaded it with several rounds of ammunition and carried it back to where Ranger was standing with his head held low. I spoke a few comforting words to him, mostly of comfort to me I suppose, but maybe it helped him too. I rubbed his face, said my goodbyes, then I placed the end of the barrel on his forehead and squeezed the trigger. Ranger went down immediately, shuddered a little, then relaxed. It was all I could do to contain myself.
After putting Ranger down, Dad and I went back and slid into our sleeping bags. We both shed tears as we tried to console ourselves, me for my horse, Dad for me. Surprisingly, I fell back asleep.
About 3:30am I was suddenly wide awake, with the words ringing in my brain, “Go re-tie Reno!” I had forgotten all about him being foot-tied as well. During the incident with Ranger, he had been twenty feet from his tree, grazing calmly. I jumped out of bed immediately, grabbed my flashlight and ran to Reno. I found him with about one more turn around the tree left in the lead rope before he would have been in the same predicament as Ranger. I tied him by his halter rope, then untied the foot-rope and went back to bed, passing the lifeless body of my dear friend, Ranger.
This has been difficult for me to type. The image of Ranger struggling against the rope and the sound of his leg breaking are fresh in my mind. The knowledge that just ten seconds more would have turned that tragic incident into a simple learning experience fills my heart and mind with ”what-ifs”. Knowing that if I had tied him by his halter rope, rather than a foot-rope, fills me with regret and sorrow. I just didn’t know.
The following morning, we contacted some friends, who drove out and helped us load up our horses and gear and return to Eagar.
I left Ranger there at our camp, feeling like there was no better resting place than right where he lay. Â I, myself, have often thought I would prefer meeting my end leaning up against a tree overlooking a beautiful valley high in the mountains, to being buried in a cemetery. His body will eventually return to the earth, providing nourishment for plants and animals alike. I like that thought. Nothing wasted.
I clipped a few locks from Ranger’s beautiful tail. I plan to make a hat band from them, which I will keep in his memory, so that part of him is always with me as I ride my trails.
I hope I am not judged too harshly for what happened to Ranger. He had been foot-tied many, many times in the past and never worried me in the least. I never considered that such a thing could happen. I had no idea. I have learned. It was a hard lesson, one that will not be forgotten.
See you on the other side, Ranger. I miss you already.
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