Sunday

We arrived into camp around 2pm on Sunday. Cavalcade peeled off from the base camp group and set-up for an over night stay in Buffalo Hall - the camp rec hall. After dinner, we all grabbed our gallon ziploc bags and bedrolls and headed to the stables.  

There were twenty total people on the cavalcade this week, so they divided into two groups of ten:  Cavalcade A and Cavalcade B.  Since Troop 61 already had nine members, we only had room for one more.  We met Garrett, the tenth member in our cavalcade (from a troop in Houston). He was a huge help to our crew, and we really enjoyed getting to know him.

The wranglers answered questions about our upcoming trip and looked over our gear.  It turns out, we could bring a lot more than we thought we could in the saddle bags.  I was able to pack in my travel pillow - which made the trip a whole lot more comfortable :o)  Many of the boys had extra room in their bags.

We then headed back up to Buffalo Hall, set-up our sleeping bags on the mattresses provided and settled in for a 5:30am wake-up. Cavalcade B (our group) had drawn the short stick and had to do the morning feeding (Cavalcade A fed Sunday evening)

<A big thank you to Kyle for the photos - as I didn't bring my camera!>

Monday

We woke up before the crack of dawn on Monday and went down to feed the horses. We then went up, had an early breakfast and went back down to the stables.  

Josh getting to know his horse

The morning was spent learning some new knots, getting our helmets and *finally* meeting our horses.

Cory on Dillon

The camp spent a lot of time assigning horses to riders, based on their level of experience.

Kyle on Millie

Thomas and Mesquite

Chris with Rehab

Cole and Shadow

Me with Rooster

Unfortunately, they did not spend as much time assigning  horses by size. Our tallest boys were assigned some of the shortest horses and our shortest boys the tallest. Oh well!

We learned how to pick out the horse hooves. This is probably the hardest task of the whole week. In order to make sure the horses don't have rocks in their hooves, you have to clean out all of the dirt between their hooves and shoe. So, you had to pick up each hoof, and hold it while you used a small pick to clean out the dirt. Needless to say, most of the horses did NOT like having their feet picked up.This task frequently required the boys to work together, as it was too difficult to accomplish alone.

Cole and Mike picking out hooves

Of all the horses, Grant's horse Pumpkin was definitely the hardest to pick!

We also learned to saddle our horses, bridle them and put on the saddle bags and bedrolls.

After we had them all loaded up, we went up to the mess hall to grab an early lunch, and then headed back for our first trail ride.  

Leaving base camp and heading up the mountain!

The first afternoon, we rode to Whiskey Bottle - about a mile straight up the mountain to the top of the Canyon. 

It took us about two hours, though some of that time was us adjusting and learning how to get our horses to move.  

Grant, Chris, Josh and our wrangler Donald heading up the mountain!

They day was cloudy and cool, with growing clouds overhead ... 

Just as we reached the campsite, the clouds opened up, and we got poured on.  We hopped off our horses, and hustled into our rain gear.  We then sloshed through the rain to unsaddle our horses. 

It was cold and wet, but the sun soon came out, and we saw the most beautiful rainbow!

As we set up camp, the wranglers made dinner - a combination of rice, canned chicken and picante sauce.  it is a true indicator of how hungry and happy the boys were, as a few claimed it to be the "best meal they'd ever had". :o)

Thomas at the overlook

Whiskey Bottle had an overlook at the edge of the canyon that looked down over base camp. Many of the boys spent time just enjoying the view

The overlook at Whiskey Bottle, with a small glimpse of base camp below

The rain continued off and on throughout the day and night.  

Our shelter for the night was a tent with walls on two sides. Those on the edge soon learned to wrap themselves in their tarp in order to keep dry. Grant, Cole, and Mike set up hammocks outside.  They wrapped themselves in their tarps to keep dry.

It was a pretty cold, sleepless night for most.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning, we headed back down the mountain.

We went back through base camp. We picked up some supplies, and exchanged Rooster for Tari.  My horse had thrown two shoes the previous night, and couldn't be ridden.

We ate lunch at a really pretty spot beside a stream.

Our pack horse, Wichita

Kyle and Grant enjoying Peanutbutter and Jelly sandwiches

Josh - digging in :o)

A huge smile from Cory!

Grant, Cole and Chris

After lunch, we got on our horses and continued on a few hours to our campsite for the night.  As we approached the campsite, it started to rain once again. This campsite had a more permanent shelter with doors to keep out the rain. Most of the boys slept in the shelter, but Mike, Grant, Cory and myself decided to chance the weather and sleep outside.

Kyle, Grant, Cory and Thomas hanging out at the stables on Day 2

We camped across the stream from the Mountain Man campsite, but other than hearing them, we didn't see many others. 

Our stables for the night

Wednesday

Every morning, it was our responsibility to feed the horses, clean their hooves and saddle them up before we ate.  Each day, this task became quicker. 

Josh and Garret clean Flax's hooves

The boys learned to work in teams, and those that finished early helped those that were slower.

Grant and Cole working together.  The saddles were heavy!

We got on the trail again, and headed to Jenkin's Cabin.  This was probably our hardest day.  As I mentioned earlier, there were two Cavalcades.  Cavalcade A started from Point A and headed to point D.  Cavalcade B headed in the opposite direction, from Point D to Point A.  

We basically followed the stream for most of the day, but this direction was less traveled, and the trail was hard to find. Many times our wrangler had to get off horse to find the trail... and many times we were waaay off trail. 

Thomas fording the stream

We forded many streams, and the fauna in the area was gorgeous!

But somewhere along the way, Cory's saddlebags fell off his horse. One of the wrangler's went back to look for them, but since we were off trail, it was difficult to retrace our steps and find the bags.  Cory toughened the rest of the trip without his saddle bags.  The whole troop worked together to help him through this.

Our lunch spot (no pictures) was beside the stream, close to some Indian paintings that were over 4,000 years old.  Since this was the half way point of our trip, we met up with Cavalcade A to share the meal, and then head to the paintings.

We then headed away from the stream and up to Jenkin's cabin for the night. The sun came out solidly for the first time of our trip.

We all bedded down in the open, under the stars.  

Looking up at night was amazing, the milky way was a bright patch across the sky, and we all saw many shooting stars (at least anyone who was awake past dusk!)

Thursday

Our last full day on the trail, and our longest trail ride.  We all saddled up in the morning. At this point, we had already become pretty comfortable with the routine of gearing up our horses.

We headed toward Hunter's Cabin, a camp site shared by the Cavalry program.

We were up high, and had beautiful views of the canyon and hillside.

We ate lunch at a spot along the way, near a small pond so we could water our horses. The ride was hot and dry, and our horses were tired (and so were we!).

After we arrived at Hunter's Cabin, we joined the Cavalry team and walked back along the trail to a small swimming hole. The boys cooled off with a nice swim in the cool waters.

Chris getting in

Grant cooling off

Unfortunately, Kyle's battery died at this point, so we have no more pictures.

We spent the night with the Cavalry team.  It was a memorable night.  As dusk was settling in, someone noticed a flashing light from the other side of the canyon, where Cavalcade A was spending the night.  An adult with the Cavalry team saw it and "recognized" it as an SOS signal.  Our camp radioed base camp, who tried to radio Cavalcade A, but they got no response.  Due to limited battery life, the wranglers turn their satellite radios off when they are not in use. Not knowing if there was a problem, base camp sent up a Search and Rescue team, driving their horses in the dark up the mile long path to Whiskey Bottle... only to find the entire Cavalcade A bedded down with no concerns.  It turns out the signal may have been their wrangler trying to use his flashlight to charge his "glow-in-the-dark frisbee", or someone taking photos.  Most likely, it was just a scout playing with his flashlight at overlook.  Either way, it was an exciting night, and we were glad no one was hurt.

Friday

On Friday morning, we were all excited to head back to base camp, with showers and real food.  We got our earliest start to the morning, but on the way down, we came across a hurt hiker from the Cavalry team. We waited with them until base camp was able to send up an ATV to bring them down.

As we arrived in camp, we were greeted by the applause of base camp!

We unsaddled our horses, and watched them roll around in the ground.

We all then headed up to the swimming pool.  It felt amazingly good to jump into the cool clean water!

Cavalcade was an awesome experience for all of the boys. As I mentioned to them, there were hard times, and there were amazing times.  And the hard times made the amazing times all the more amazing :o)

Thanks for sharing your boys with me for the week!  We had a great time!