{"id":135,"date":"2013-02-05T21:32:51","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T02:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westerntrailrider.com\/?p=135"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:27:25","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T01:27:25","slug":"what-has-been-decided-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westerntrailrider.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2013\/02\/what-has-been-decided-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"What has been decided so far…"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\t\r\n\t

Here\u2019s where things stand up to now with regard to my long ride in 2015.<\/p>\n

The plan is for my buddy, Dale, and me to make the ride from March to about mid July, or whenever we get to Canada, 2015. \u00a0I had figured the mileage would be between 2,000 and 2,500 miles. \u00a0The mileage by road is about 1500 miles, as I recall, according to Google Maps. The Great Western Trail website,\u00a0greatwesterntrail.org<\/a>, says the trail includes 4455 miles of trails, however that includes the mileage for all the trails in the GWT trail system, not just one direct route. \u00a0Some sites indicate the mileage to be approximately 3,000 miles, but I have not yet found any indication of how they came to that number. \u00a0As far as I can tell, nobody has ridden the entire trail from Mexico to Canada in one shot. \u00a0I have found mention of several individuals who have ridden from either Canada to Mexico or Mexico to Canada, but through California, Oregon, Washington State, on the Pacific Rim Trail and not on the GWT.<\/p>\n

The website for The Arizona Trail<\/a>, which is the Arizona portion of the GWT, has a much better website. It has precisely detailed maps of the entire trail, including GPS data points, and information regarding trail conditions, regulations, etc.. They show the Arizona Trail to be 800 miles from Mexico to Utah. As a grand finale, of sorts, it passes through the Grand Canyon and ends near Jacob’s Lake at the Utah border.<\/p>\n

There is a group of four young men, including Ben Masters, \u00a0who are currently gathering funds to make the trip in 2013. \u00a0You can find them under the name \u201cUnbranded\u201d on Kickstarter\u00a0here<\/a>. They are doing the ride to benefit the preservation of the American Mustang, a worthy cause, and to promote wilderness preservation. \u00a0They will actually be riding and packing mustangs purchased at auction from the Bureau of Land Management and trained by themselves. \u00a0They are currently seeking contributions for funding and are hoping to make a documentary film of it. \u00a0Look them up and lend a hand. I am looking forward to monitoring their progress to help with the planning of my own trip. \u00a0I have made contact with Ben via email. \u00a0He was very cordial and free with his help and advice. I plan to keep in contact with him and pick his brain and learn from his experience as much as possible.<\/p>\n

I am currently in the early stages of gathering equipment for the trip. I am going to need a lot of new equipment, since my stuff has worn out over the past 40 years or so, less from use than from storage, while I moved around the country with my career. \u00a0I am going to need a new saddle, at least two pack saddles, all associated tack, new camp gear, and even new horses.<\/p>\n

Right now I have a 7-8 year-old Quarter Horse mare I\u2019m working with to see whether she has the makings of an excellent trail horse. \u00a0So far she\u2019s doing fine. \u00a0I bought her about 18 months ago as a green-broke and have been slowly bringing her up. \u00a0Since I retired in March, I have been able to work with her regularly and have been able to get her training pretty much up to speed.<\/p>\n

Problem is that there isn\u2019t anywhere to ride out here in Virginia that even closely approximates the\"Penny\"<\/a> trails I\u2019ll be riding on the GWT. \u00a0I plan to get her out into the Shenandoah National Park several times this year to put some miles on her. \u00a0I\u2019ve read there are over 180 miles of trails there, however, overnight camping with horses, it says in the regulations, \u201cis allowed, but discouraged.\u201d \u00a0Now what does that mean? \u00a0Do you set up camp and the park rangers come by to give you a hard time? \u00a0One rule says that if you can see your horse\u2019s hoof prints on the trail, then you can\u2019t ride on that trail and you must stay on the improved gravel trails. \u00a0What?!<\/p>\n

So you see. \u00a0While there are places to ride out here in Virginia, it\u2019s truly a different experience than out on the western trails.<\/p>\n

I will need to purchase at least two pack animals in the coming year and get them trained up and ready. \u00a0I\u2019ll need to get them out on some long, multi-day trails to get the kinks worked out of them. \u00a0I will also need to train them as saddle horses. No sense in having horses you can\u2019t ride.<\/p>\n

I plan to build my own saddle and pack saddles. This is something I have wanted to learn to do for many years. I particularly love antique saddles. \u00a0I love to see a brass horn and a tall shovel cantle. While I was visiting my parents in Arizona during November, my dad gave me an old saddle he has had in his workshop for many years. He can\u2019t even recall where he got it. He called it his \u201ccactus saddle\u201d. It didn\u2019t look like much. The only leather left on it was the pommel cover. The rawhide on the tree had been cut away in places, as repairs were made to the tree. I stripped off the leather and rawhide and took the tree completely apart and found the cantle and fork broken and the bars badly damaged. The brass horn is a little bent, but not bad. I found the remnants of rawhide braid around the base of the horn, evidence that the brass horn was hidden under braided rawhide. I was surprised to find hidden under the rawhide on the top of the seat-side of the cantle, a label that said \u201cVisalia\u201d. \u00a0I expect this saddle was once a Walker Visalia saddle, which would have been very collectable.<\/p>\n