3-week pack trip coming up!

Yep rod, I'd call those hills. And yes a day spent going up and down those will wear you out as fast as a day spent on our mountains. It's still all a matter of cummulative elevation gain or loss. Up and down 10 hills is still as much elevation gain as up 1 mountain. It's just that when I get to the top I can see farther.
 

 

You sure can!!!!!!

Nice pics, PH!  Sometime in the next few years I want to go on a pack trip in the Rockies.  Get up in some real mountains!  The Cascades are pretty nice, but the trees are so thick that you don't get to see much until you are above 6000 feet.

My goal right now is to take the Haflingers and ride the Pacific Crest Trail through all of Oregon and Washington in 2016.  It will be an ultralight style trip, with minimal gear and only one pack horse or mule.

Thats the big difference between my mountains and yours. I live at almost 5000 foot and our mountains are really just getting started at 6000. So a good climb takes us up around 10,000 11,000 foot. Tree line is at 11,000. So it really opens up when we hit that elevation.
 
You can visable see where the 11,000 foot line is.
 The trees just stop growing

 

 
I think you would have a great ride along the Pacific Crest,  We have a trail that traverses most of Utah North to South called the Great Western,  It supposedly was a trade route for the indians as they traversed the state. There is over 1800 miles of trail, so it would take me a while to traverse all of it.
 
 
http://www.utah.com/hike/great_western_trail.htm
 

KEEP UPDATING US ON YOUR PROGRESS 3EQUINES!!  So what about the freezer?  You gotta keep it all on this thread in case Rach shows up!!

Freezer is almost done, has weights on it in the shop right now getting the foam in the lid to cure right.

Been busy today.  Here is 3 weeks worth of dry goods:

expanded version


sorted, inventoried, and packed version


the box on the left is what goes into camp the first week.  The box and bags on the right are the "general store" that stays in the truck/horse trailer for resupplying with.  We spent $250 on groceries today and forgot the bacon ! ! ! !

here's my homemade nosebag




and my fiancee did some fixing on the metal pack racks, we had problems with them gouging the quarters of the packhorse.  He put a cap on the ends, they used to be just sharp hollow square metal pieces sticking out, and also put a new ring on that allows us to get the racks to set higher up on the horse's back.



that's Peach in her fatness and dirtyness modeling.  The Haflingers have been committed to the barn for the rest of the week to lose a few pounds before we head out. 

see the cap?  The edges of it have been ground smooth, too. 


here is the pack rack the way it was, sorry bout the graphic pic, that is what we do at elk camp!



that is Sweet P carrying a 250 pound load.  She only had to carry it about a mile, to camp.  She is such a tough little fireplug!

Some people (more English) are so hyper about where a rider sits.  I've seen some Linda Parelli videos demonstrating why the "proper" English position is actually too far forward to be optimum.  Now I see where pack horses carry their load and that "gotta sit forward" stuff is just hooey.   Anyway, that's an awesome picture of the Elk!

I'm still in awe of your food fixing skills.  I'd like to see what the dehydrator looks like...

The pack saddle sits farther back than a Western saddle.  It stays off of the shoulder and ideally should only place weight over the barrel, stopping before the kidney area.   This puts the weight of the load over the meatiest and strongest part of the back.  A pack load is dead weight and the horse must be strong in the quarters and sure-footed to carry it.

  The English rider seat is trying to facilitate forward movement of the horse so that the horse's energy can be used for propelling itself with ease.  A pack saddle, fully loaded, does the opposite.  When the horse goes uphill the load is pulling downhill.  When going downhill it is riding onto the front quarters when a horse needs to use its hinds for balance.  That is why the harness on the pack saddle is so important.  The breeching (britchin') that goes around the butt must be adjusted quite snug to keep the load from shifting over the shoulder and bruising the withers/scapulae.  The cinches need to be kept tight and the *** collar adjusted so that when the load pulls backwards it does not cut the air off of the horse.  Most importantly, a load mus be of equal weight and density on both sides.  The one Sweet P was carrying in the picture was awful in tat the head and hide on top kept rolling the pack load, my fiancee had to hold one antler and balance the load while we walked the horses out from the kill.

pics of the dehydrator coming soon

Food dehydrator: circle on bottom is intake for fan, vents on top are outflow of warmed air and can be adjusted with a slide like a wood stove vent



it has wheels so we can move it outside or into a back room when in use (the fan is kinda noisy)

fits up to 14 screens for dehydrating food on


dried roma tomatos there for effect.  Have both wood framed and metal screens. 

close-up of wood screens.  We staggar them front-to-back to force the air to flow over the top in a folded-fan pattern


The heat system is 2 ceramic heating cones (110 volt) and a fan to force air over the cones and through the dehydrator


there is a sheet metal drip tray just above the fan and heating cones.

Each cone can be turned on/off as can the fan.  This way you can control the temperature and air flow.


the cats like to hang out up there!  We do not live in a sterile household .

[quote=3equines]
the cats like to hang out up there!  We do not live in a sterile household .


I really LIKE this girl!! []

Thank you SO much!  I could have never dreamed what that dehydrator looks like.  He's got some skills!  A real keeper! 

looks like an egg incubator with out the turning racks (actually don't turn-
just tilt from side to side.)
And the heaters are bigger to get into the 200 degree range.
 
 

The chaos grows.....

We did a thread on another forum about piles around our houses - on countertops, etc.  (I did NOT post pictures - my piles are worse than any I've seen)
I think this would fit right in!!  [] 

I'm excited!  When do you leave?? You should keep a journal!

leaving first thing tomorrow morning.  I do keep a journal and then type it up with the best pictures inserted, friends and family enjoy reading it online and in hard copy. 

This year is going to be so much easier than last year!  I have 2 pack horse loads packed and weighed out allready, all we have to do is put them on the horse.  Last year we spent hours at the trailhead sorting and weighing loads.  I also have some 'extras' I had been really wishing I had, like rubber dishwashing gloves and a potato masher  - both for doing laundry by hand!  The masher agitates the laundry and the gloves will keep my hands from getting chapped when wringing it out. 

Well, here goes, last minute panic!  We'll be loading everything but the horses tonight, I should get some pictures of one overstuffed tack room!  We look like something from The Grapes of Wrath.  My fiancee has a Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins diesel and it uses all of its power pulling us up the mountain when loaded for elk camp!

AAAGGGHHHH!  Tomorrow!!!   *runs around squeaking*
 
I have to admit.  I've had to go to several 6-week schools out of state.  I've made one month and even 6 month deployments.  You definitely learn from experience!  Sounds like you're really getting it down.
 
Can you give us a zip code where you'll be so we can watch the weather?  []