Quick Post

Pack Trips Past

New Topic
Pack Trips Past
  • I finally got Photobucket!


    A walk down memory lane..... pack trips past.

    In '08 I packed 91-year-old Grandpa Jack 17 miles into the Olympic National Park.

    Me on Taz, Grandpa Jack on Sweet P, Peach is in the rear, she was the pack horse


    Peach's first pack trip.  Grandpa Jack's son, Ken, led her while I took care of my horse and Granpa.  Peach was plumb green and handled all the new sights, sounds, and smells really well.


    Grandpa Jack and Sweet P


    Hayes River, 17 miles in


    Grandpa Jack splitting wood.... AFTER hiking 4 miles and riding 5!



    A moment by the fireside



    Grandpa Jack passed on the following winter.  He lived a noble life in service of our country and as a steward of our land.
  • Here's some from elk camp last September, with my boyfriend Harris, in the Hells Canyon Nt'l Forest on the Oregon side of the canyon.

    packing in, riding Sweet P and packing Peach


    Harris on THunder, packing Roxy


    elk camp


    moonrise from camp


    packing spike camp


    riding a ridgeline


    taking a rest


    Harris gets his bull.  With a bow and arrow, not a rifle.  Big, 6x7 bull, I think we packed out about 400 pounds of meat



    Sweet P takes the head and cape


    packing out


    last load - you know what Sweet P thinks


    my cayuses and I with Hells Canyon opening up below us



    I have a PDF format document of the journal from the trip and pictures., but I don't think I can load it here.



  • Elwha river trip, Olympic Nt'l Park, last summer with Harris.  Featuring the Haflingers, Sweet P and Peach; the goofy gray, Thunder, and Gizzy the little Morgan mare



    the trail


    This was the trip where Thinder learned how to cross bridges...


    Elkhorn meadows


    across the flats at Wilder


    Camp cook!


    Gathering up the horses


    crossing the Elwha


    some mules came into our camp at Stony Point


    and the Haffies were just not to sure about that....


    And if you wonder how we manage pulling a pack horse over 24 miles of backcountry trails, here's your answer (hint: that ain't water)


    Some scenery



  • Wow - Stunning pictures!!!  Thank you so much for sharing.  Love the haffie eye candy as well.

    Now here is what I keep thinking - I hope I can go packing when I am 91!!
  • I've got a few I can add to this thread.
     
    Last Friday in August 2004.  We showed up at the trail head and it started to rain. We debated whether to saddle up. We did and rode in 10 miles to Four Lakes Basin in the Uinta Wilderness.  The rain turned to snow and by time we reached our camp site we were pretty wet. Threw up a tarp  and lit a fire under it to get warm while we unloaded the horses and set up camp.


     
    Three days later on Monday Labor day, the snow had all melted and we enjoyed some fantastic weather. Horses out in the meadow at treeline.

     
    Same Summer in the Wind River Wilderness of Wyoming. This was around the first week of August.

     
    Later that fall we set up a elk camp.
     
    Here I'm packing out the camp on the Grey Horse and most of the meat off an elk on the Sorrel horse.

     
    Elk Camp

     
     
    This is from a warmer fall hunt. No snow.

     
     

     
  • My daughters used to join me for a lot of horse rides and few pack trips each summer. They have all got part time jobs or moved off to real jobs or college. So I'll be lucky to get them out of an afternoon ride.
    This is near Farmer Lake on the South Slope of the Uinta Wilderness.  4th of July weekend.

     
    My daughter taking her turn leading the pack mare.

     
    Another daughter crossing the East Fork of the Bear River.

     
    Lots of bridges in this area for the horses to get used to.  Some not very high. just path ways over boggy areas.
    Love the sound of the hooves clipity cloppin on the wood.

     
  • Nice picks, PH!  Just love how the weather can change so quickly up in the high country.  My boyfriend's daughter decided that she doesn't want to go out there with Dad anymore, she is almost 18, but they had many fine trips together while she grew up and maybe when her life slows down again she'll want to come back out to elk camp.

    I soo want to get out there with the horses, it is just killing me, and this year I might not be able to go on any fantastic trips; too busy with graduation form nursing college, moving, and trying to find my first job as an RN.  But, who knows what the summer will bring - things might all work out after all. 


  • It kept snowing through April. It's rain most of May. Every weekend when I want to go ride, It's raining.Can't get up into the high country because of all the snow. So we are stuck riding the foothills or heading out into the desert.
     

  • WOW that canyon reminds you of your place in the Universe, doesn't it?  I would like to spend some time riding in the SW states.  many many years ago when I was 16 I hiked through the Escalante canyon region of Utah.