April's New Blog

Okay folks,
Honeychild and I have a new blog. Come read about our adventures in Oregon at http://aprilandhoneychild.blogspot.com.

We'll leave the Wind Riders blog up, but won't be making new posts to it. Next week I'm going to download the rest of our photos from the Bob Marshall Wilderness, but that will be the last activity here.

Thanks for following us on our ride across Montana.
~April and the rest of the crew

New Website on the Way

Hi Friends,

Dana and I are going to be closing up this website and I'm going to be moving the adventures of April and Honeymule to a new site. That process will take a few weeks since I'll need to transfer so many links and the Heifer International info, but it will come soon! I'll post the new link within a few days once I've got a few things organized.

Thank you,
~April

News From Dana

From Dana:

"I look back on my goals and reasons to go on a horsepacking adventure. Some of them have been played out such as connecting with people, raising money, and inspiring others to live life fully. Truly, the relationships made on this trip were the greatest reward. Other things, like connecting with the earth, were moderately successful.

My intuition grew greatly, following it always made the trail smoother. Awareness also grew. The best example of it was spending a day off in the bush. I was reading "A New Earth" when I felt like someone was coming up behind me. I turned to look, and there stood a large buck looking beyond me at the horses. Things like meditation, stretching, crafts, and primitive tools, or collecting and eating wild plants, was miniscule due to spending the entire morning packing up panniers, the whole day riding, then the whole evening finding a place to camp, caring for the horses, and cooking dinner. In fact, I have proof that we were often hungry due to my pant size receding to a size one.

The most disappointing goal of mine was horsemanship. I had hoped to improve my skills and relationship with horses while developing a program. Instead, day after day of 20 to 30 miles made me feel like a slave driver. To plod along at walking pace due to a pack horse was monotonous, desensatizing, and boring. Motivation from the horses decreased as we continued the journey. I can't tell you how many miles I slept in the saddle. Actual sleep, even as I led Nama. To feel more enlightenend, joyful, motivated, and exuberent, was a joke for me.

I know where I am doing my best with horses and people, where I find joy, enthusiasm, and excitement. I am that when I am teaching horsemanship. It's when I'm explaining horse behavior and communication. It's when I see a student grasp a fundamental piece of horsemanship. There I find joy. So after two months of journeying and 600 miles, I've decided to end this story.

I reflect on the hardships my animals received and no longer want to subject them to more. Each horse had saddle sores even with adjustable trees and treeless saddles. The horses were also restrained much of the time either by bridle, halters, or tie line. Nama slipped down a cliff in the Bob Marshall (escaping alive but with some scrapes). Breeze suffered from blistered paws even with booties and a broken and indented skull due to a neighboring mule kicking her in the head. Along with insufficient feed at times, I felt like they had gone through enough.

Winter is coming on, hay for four horses, and firewood needs to be stored. Along with retrieving my bird Tiki, who misses me greatly, and my dear Punkin, who I pay to board in Vermont each month. It is certainly time to end this chapter in my life, so I left April to do as she pleases with her mule. Best of luck April, I hope you find what you are looking for and feel fulfilled. May we all find the power to live life to the fullest.

Joy within,
~Dana"

Upcoming Heifer Presentations

[April greets the day in Grass Range, MT]

I'll be talking about my journey, adventures, and Heifer International this weekend in the Kalispell area. All are welcome!

Location: Episcopal Church, Conns Road, Columbia Heights, MT

Date: Sunday, August 24, 2008

Time: 10am and 12am (after the 9am and 11am morning services)

~April

Columbia Falls

Hi All,

A quick update to set your hearts at ease. Last Thursday I made a three-legged trailer journey (three different haulers) around the Bob Marshall wilderness and up to Columbia Falls in the Northwest corner of Montana. I am being hosted here by the wonderful and generous Barnetts who run the Outfitters Supply tack shop in Columbia Falls and from whom Dana and I purchased most of our pack gear last winter.

Staying here has brought sweet relief from the stress of the road and Muley is more relaxed than I have ever seen her (she finally has some mules to graze with). Russ (the owner of Outfitters Supply) has helped me adjust, fix, and replace various pieces of tack and is helping me get road-ready again. There are also some serious mule folks in the area whom I hope to meet up with before moving on.

My plans: I'm currently trying to set up trailer rides for the remainder of my trip from here to Corvallis, Oregon, where I've arranged to work in exchange for Muley's keep at a mule training facility and where I'm looking into working on a nearby veggie farm in exchange for my own keep. From this end, I'm trying to find trailer rides from here to Spokane, WA, and from Spokane into Oregon, bit by bit. If anybody has any leads, let me know.

In the meantime, I've been talking to some local churches about giving Heifer presentations while in the Columbia Falls/Whitefish/Kalispell area and have been met with enthusiasm. The Barnetts have been giving me a good tour of the area and today I'm going to visit Glacier Park.

Once in Oregon, I hope to keep working with Muley so that the two of us can arrange a conclusive journey to our long ride. I'm hoping to make arrangements with the Oregon Coastal Trail Association to allow me to lead Muley (in a pack saddle) down the Oregon Coast Trail during October. In that case (my leading Muley) folks could come out and join me for sections while Muley carries the gear and gives us sweet brays and hee-haws.

More news soon and love and thanks for all for the support and encouragement.
Happily yours,
~April

Two New Posts

Two New Posts below, posted in quick succession -- read them chronologically, though, "Bob Marshall Wilderness" first, and then "Divergence," above it.

Divergence

During our last night camping in the Bob Marshall, Dana told me over the bonfire that she had decided not to continue on the horsepacking trip and that she'd be returning to Grass Range with her horses and Cowboy John.

After this pronouncement, I spent a bleak, bleak night wide awake in my sleeping bag watching clouds sweep back and forth across the stars. Every so often I'd turn my head to look at Muley's dark silhouette standing over me. "What do you think, Muley?" I'd ask her, "Do you think we can do it?"

The reality of the situation was this: Muley was a halter-broke pack animal. I had ridden her five times. I hadn't exposed her to traffic. Furthermore, to continue on alone I would need some gear, which I didn't have the funds to secure. If I was going to stick with Muley, we'd need to find a place where I could work temporarily and where Muley had a paddock and I could continue preparing her for the road.

I briefly considered the possibility of continuing on without Muley. What if I sent her back with Dana and John to graze in Grass Range? I would still be broke, I would be completely alone, I didn't even have a backpack, and I couldn't fit my sleeping bag into my saddlebags, which was my only version of travel luggage.

I considered further. I had made a commitment to Muley, I'd made a commitment to reach the ocean with an equine, I'd made a commitment to our fundraiser. I did't feel finished! I'd been fantasizing about the Oregon coast for months! I'd been preparing for this trip for over a year! Besides, if Muley left me, I felt the story would end, and I knew with certainty that I wasn't ready for an ending yet. Furthermore, part of our mission statement talked about exercising faith in humanity and experiencing vulnerability at its hands. "This is my test," I told myself.

No matter which way I looked at the situation, I couldn't see moving on without Mule. So Muley would stay. I would find a way for us to get to Corvallis, Oregon, where I had friends and where I'd heard there was a small mule training stable. Once there, I decided, I would look for a temporary job, give Heifer presentations, keep preparing Muley, and eventually complete our trip as we'd envisioned completing it in Oregon anyway -- along the 362-mile Oregon Coast Trail. With this plan resolved, I fell into restless sleep.

First thing in the morning, I tacked up Kayah and rode across the river to visit with the two couples who were camped there with their horses and mule. We'd met them the day before and I'd learned they were from Spokane, Washington. I briefly explained my situation to them. "Do you think you could trailer me as far as Spokane?" I asked. "Absolutely," said Dean, with such ready kindness that I might have hugged him if I hadn't been on horseback. It turned out that they were exiting the Bob Marshall on the west side, and if I wanted to ride with them I'd need to get my mule 100 miles or so north to Columbia Falls by Saturday morning. We exchanged phone numbers. "Maybe I'll see you again," I said, "and maybe not."

That evening, after a long hard day of riding, we emerged at the trailhead just as the sun was setting. I had scarcely an hour to untack Kayah and the pack horses, make sure our pack harness fit Muley, and go through all of our gear to pull out what I thought I would need to continue on to Oregon alone. The tent and camp stove were Dana's -- I didn't need the tent (I had a tarp) but I asked to borrow the stove so I'd be able to cook for myself. Dana and John let me keep the left-over food, and with that, we loaded the horses, and drove back out the long dirt road towards the closest town.

Riding into town, watching the sky grow darker and darker, I recalled my flight into India two summers previous. I had just spent a month traveling through Tibet with friends, and I remembered how I felt leaving them to travel off alone through Hong Kong to the airport to board my plane to New Delhi. Once on the plane, night fell, and we didn't land in Delhi until nearly midnight. I had felt the same then as I felt now -- suddenly abandoned, completely on my own, worried, and quietly resigned to my fate. I closed my eyes and imagined strength welling up from my toes in little waves of yellow fire. I took a deep breath to loosen the lump in my throat, and watched the last of daylight ebb away.

In order to lessen my stress, I began to consider what exactly I was worried about and then worked backwards to reduce it to its simplest form. I realized then that I was stressed simply because I didn't know what was going to happen to me next. "That's silly," I told myself. "You never know what's going to happen next."

My last feel-better trick was to imagine how ridiculous my concerns were in the grand scheme of the world. It didn't take more than a few seconds to realize that I was simply experiencing another twist in the adventure -- I'd asked for adventure, and I was getting it. Here I was living a dream on horseback -- okay, leading a mule -- in the Pacific Northwest, meeting cowboys and scrambling over mountains. Now I would get to hitch-hike with my mule, work in Oregon, walk the coast with a pack-mule! What was there, really, to worry about?

The moon was bright and the stars were out once we reached little Augusta, population 250. I stepped into a bar to ask for directions to the rodeo grounds, and was pointed down the next alley. Once there I made a quick survey of the grounds with my headlamp and found two trees between which I could stretch a tie-line for Muley. Dana and John helped me pile my gear by the front gate, and with a quick hug and last words from Dana, they were gone.

While Muley waited in a little pen, I dragged all of my gear into a secluded corner in the back of the grounds. I had my saddle, longbow, pack saddle, and two full panniers, so I was sweating once I had everything settled, four trips later. I tied a long rope over high grass between two tall trees, and then found a hose and filled a bucket with water. I let Muley drink her fill and then tied her leadline to a swivel hook loosely attached to the suspended rope so she could wander back and forth grazing during the night. With that, I lay out my saddle blankets and unrolled my sleeping bag at the edge of Muley's grazing reach. I was too dejected to do anything but lay down and look at the sinking moon. I saw several stars fall in the west, and I took them as good omens. "We'll be okay, Muley," I said, "I think we have to be."

The Bob Marshall Wilderness

[photo: the trail behind us as we rise up to White River Pass]

















Adventure persists. Dana and I packed up our gear and left Grass Range on Tuesday, August 5, to head to the Bob Marshall Wilderness. We were accompanied and trailered by Cowboy John, who brought along his dog, Tick, two horses he was training (a grey colt named Clyde and a palomino we called Yellow Horse), and a mighty arsenel of guns and fishing lures.

During the last of the thirty miles of remote dirt road leading to the trailhead, the truck engine sputtered and coughed and finally cut off. We replaced one fuel filter, drove a half a mile further, and then stopped and removed a second fuel filter completely. Darkness rising, we made it to the trailhead, unloaded, and crawled into our bedrolls for the night.

We headed in for the morning, rode nine miles, camped along what I believe was the west fork of the Sun River. We had delicious fish for dinner, fresh caught, and kept the embers alive through the night to ward off any roving grizzlies. The next morning we road to the Chinese Wall, where we traveled along the base several miles and then cut up through Larch Pass and over the Continental Divide. The scenery was some of the most spectacular I've seen, and the mountains some of the most lovely. Cutting down, over the other side, we camped again, at dusk, exhausted.

On Friday, we crossed over Pagoda Mountain, where the trail was the narrowest yet. Clyde and Nama, tied together pack-string style (Clyde's lead tied to Nama's pack saddle), slipped over the edge at a section where only a slab of rock formed the trail footing. Tumbling down the steep rock face for 50 feet, they came to rest where Clyde came up against a large boulder, flat on his back, with all for feet in the air. Lying immobile, I didn't know if I'd ever see him rise again. Nama scrambled out after John cut the lead line connecting her to Clyde, and once Clyde's tack had been unbuckled, he miraculously rose and scrambled out as well, legs bloody but unbroken.

We took the next day as a rest day, rode a short distance south along the Flathead on Sunday, and camped again at the base of the White River Pass. On Monday morning, some wandering mules from a neighboring camp came over to socialize. When Breezey-pup tore out to chase them off, one of the iron-shod mules kicked her smack in the head, breaking the skull around her eye. Fortunately, a veterinarian was camped across the river, and he was able to give her an anti-inflammatory shot and bandage her up. He told Dana that her eye would heal but that she might have a dent in her skull above it, though surgury could reconstuct the bone.

Once we'd reassembled, we mounted up and passed back over the Continental Divide and made it the whole way back to the Benchmark trailhead by dusk, the entire group dirty, sore, and exhausted, but intact.

New Photo Galleries Online

I updated the photo galleries with new images and also added links to the individual galleries in the "Our Pages" section.

The direct links are:
Photo Albums All
Gallery Part 01
Gallery Part 02
Gallery Part 03

A Name for Muley

Sweet Muley needs a name -- check out the POLL on the right side of the screen. Thanks to everybody for their suggestions. Also, see the Photo Album link (also on the right) to see even more photos of Muley. I bought Muley from Joe, and I found Muley because of Morris (to explain several of the name options).

Progress with Muley:

Muley is training well. I've been driving her from the ground to get her used to the bit -- a process that involves saddling and bridling Muley and then running long reins from the bit through the stirrups and back to the driver, who stands behind or left of the mule and steers from the ground while walking behind.

After driving Mule for several days, I finally got to take my first ride (yesterday) and all went well. I first spent a while gradually leaning my weight over Muley's back. Once she was okay with that, I began putting weight in the stirrup and leaning over her from higher up. Finally, I eased a leg over and sat astride her. Muley was very puzzled to see my feet hanging down her belly, but after she gave them a good sniff she was okay with their placement. We walked around a bit and did some very very light and minimal bit work. Muley did very well and didn't even get upset when I dismounted her (she's about 16 hands, so it's a bit of a slide and hop down -- I was afraid she might spook on my way down, so I held her lead line in my hand while I came off so I could keep her head towards me in case she spooked forwards and got her hind legs into me).

Don't forget to cast a vote for the name you think best suits Muley!

~April

Heading to the Bob

Our Plans:

We've spent almost three weeks in Grass Range resting up and getting Muley ready for the trail. We plan to leave on Monday morning to head into the Bob Marshall Wilderness along with Cowboy John and his entourage (a horse, mule, and dog). The eleven of us (three people, four horses, two mules, and two dogs) will spend a week trekking through the Bob before John heads back to Grass Range and Dana and I continue on through western Montana into Idaho.

To clear up any confusion... We've been staying on a ranch in Grass Range owned by Joe Delaney, who sold me my mule. We heard about Joe and the mules from John, one of Joe's live-in ranch hands. We met John in June in Hardin, during the Custer reenactment we visited (we were invited to Hardin by Morris, whom we met in Ingomar, and have since seen in four other towns).

Henry's Cabin

We've gotten a nice break from the trail in Grass Range, albeit longer than we expected. During our second week on Joe's ranch, we rode up north with Joe and the rest of the crew to check on some cattle at Henry's Cabin. The ride took a good hour, and the greater part of it was on a pair of dirt ruts running through almost completely uninhabited land (we passed just one set of buildings and one truck in what must have been thirty miles). Once we got to Henry's cabin, Dana, John, and I took off in the pickup truck to look for the horses (Joe and John left three of them up there several months ago when they were up there last). They'd been turned out on a 60 acre piece and we found them without too much trouble. After luring them in with "cake" (pellets), we saddled them with saddles we'd brought up from the ranch and headed off to move seven heifers who'd gotten into the wrong field. We knew there were seven heifers loose because Joe has a little plane which he flies around to check on cattle and water and such (it's a lot faster than trailering horses around).

The three horses were all sorrels. I rode one of Joe's horses, named Snake Bite, and John rode one of his, named Dummy. All of John's horses have simple, descriptive names (Booger and Shorty are two of his other horses). Dana rode another of Joe's horses. Once we moved the heifers into the correct field, we took off to ride the fence line to make sure it was all in good shape. The pastures here are an awful lot bigger than they are in the east, so that job took a few hours.

On our way back to Henry's Cabin, we stopped to water the horses at a watering hole (I think they call them "tanks" here). Dana and John had swapped horses so she was astride Dummy. They had waded in about knee height when John's dog, Tick, came paddling around the corner. Dummy took a mighty big start and careened off through the pond belly deep. They went lunging along through the water, Dummy thinking he was about to be taken down by a croc, and Dana rather enjoying the ride except for the big, mostly submerged dead tree Dummy was headed for. Well, Dana got Dummy turned right (left, actually) so they didn't hit the log -- they hit the bank instead, and came out dripping and breathing hard. Dummy was fine, but Dana had waterlogged boots.

We relocated a bellowing bull on the way back to the cabin, but didn't see anymore excitement until we got back to Henry's Cabin. Wasps had taken over the outhouse! We sat down around a little fire while Leeann pulled together dinner and Mitchell took a nap. Joe beat down the fire about every five seconds with a wet broom. "I've seen green grass burn faster than you can run" he said. The day was about as dry as a day can get, so I didn't blame him for wielding a wet broom.

I practiced roping on an overturned chair and Joe gave me some good tips (loosen up my wrist, bring my elbow down, see my target through the hoop). After a good hot dinner and cold beer and watermelon we rolled on out and didn't get home until well past dark and even weller past bedtime.

New Photos Online

More photos are online now. Check them out in the gallery.

Gallery

We've Got a Mule!

Yes, it's official, April owns a mule. A big mule. She's an 11 year old Belgian-donkey cross, so she's basically a draft mule. Her withers are several inches over April's head, and she probably weighs 3/4 of a ton more than April, too. She's big and blond, like Beligan draft horses, with a big old head and ears longer than a jackrabbit's. Furthermore, she can pack a good 400 pounds. How did we come across this mule?

Back at the reenactment in Hardin, we met a fellow named John who said his neighbor was selling some mules. Well, we stayed in touch with John and once we were in Helena, decided to backtrack a bit to check out the mules in person. Our current packhorse, Nama, doesn't have the endurance our riding horses have, and we decided she'd be better suited as a spare riding horse or occasional pack horse. She makes a very nice riding horse, so Dana might try to sell her along the way. A mule is typically a hardier animal than a horse, and a draft mule can pack an awful lot of weight.

In the end, John came out and trailered us back to the ranch so we could have a place to stay with our ponies while we met the mule and worked with her a little. She'd been out to pasture for the better part of the past three years, so she needed a little refreshing.

For the past week we've been enjoying ourselves while getting a sampling of ranch life. Joe, who sold us the mule, showed us how to pack manties on a decker saddle. We've been busy braiding manty ropes, working with the mule, baking bread, moving cattle, checking fence lines, haying, haying, haying, cooking and eating good food, riding, and so on. Yesterday we went to a dance in town (a tiny town) where local musicians jammed for hours cranking out two-steps and jitterbugs and waltzes. April is trying to learn how to rope with a lassoo, and figures that with enough practice she'll be able to impress the folks back home once she gets her nose turned east again. The ponies are happy to have the time off to rest up before the Bob Marshall venture.

Yes -- our next destination is the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Our cowboy, John, is planning to come with us for a while with his hoss (Booger) and pup (Tick), which is a good thing -- the more heartbeats, the better, in grrrrrizzly territory. He also packs a big gun.

I guess that sums it up for the moment. OH -- NEW PICTURES. Check out the new pictures online -- they should be posted within a few hours - just click our "photo" link to the right. Pictures of Molly Mule should be up within the week, along with a poll -- Molly Mule needs a name!!! A molly is simply a female mule (a john is a male), and this molly needs a real name. One we've got a picture posted, we'll put up a poll so our devoted readers can help us settle on a name.

Love to all and thanks for the notes and support,

~April, Dana, Breeze, Kayah, Gypsy, Nama, and Molly Mule

Heifer Presentation

Dana and I will be giving a presentation on our journey and Heifer International in Helena, MT.

Location:  St. Paul's Methodist Church, Helena, MT

Time:  7:00 pm

Come meet the ponies, check out some of our gear, hear some tales from the trail, and find out more about Heifer's projects in the US and abroad.

Swimming, Mountains, and our First Presentation

Hello Friends,

Dana and I have reached Helena, the state capital of Montana. Our contact at Heifer International put us in touch with Barbara, the fantastic MT State Volunteer Coordinator, and she's been instrumental in helping us organize our first presentation. We will be speaking at St. Paul's Methodist Church on Monday, July 14th at 7pm. Amazingly, our Helena hosts and I discovered that we have several friends in common from other states! Oh Earth, so vast and yet so small.

After a full month of riding through the grasslands, our fifth week finally brought us into the foothills and even our first mountains. We've now traveled some 500 winding miles since our departure from Buffalo Gap, ND in early June. Last week we passed through Helena National Forest where we saw several vestigial snowbanks and I saw my first wild bear.

After twisting back and forth down the steep road out of Helena National Forest, Dana and I finally arrived along Canyon Ferry Lake. We camped for the night along the northeastern shore of the lake at Hellgate Campground. Once we'd settled in and set up camp, Dana decided to ride Gypsy into the lake for a swim. I came along on Kayah, and Nama and Breeze tagged along, too. The wind was strong and blew from the west, peaking small waves and pushing them onto the shore. Dana and Gypsy strode right into the lake, gradually disappearing from view as Kayah and I stepped carefully in behind, one apprehensive hoof at a time.

By the time the waves were skimming my footsoles, Dana and Gypsy looked like a mythical sea creature gliding through the lake. Gypsy was immersed to her neck, and Dana was visible only from the shoulders up with her hands forward on Gypsy's neck. The bright low sun was reflected on the water, so the two were backlit into a silhouette against the choppy waves.

Breeze and Nama waded in with Kayah and me, and slowly we made our way out until the water was above the horses' bellies. Gypsy and Dana rode closer to shore, luring Kayah and Nama out into deeper water. Kayah strode forward until she began to lose contact with the lake bottom, and then began to lunge about on her hind legs, rearing up to keep her head above water. I slid off but kept hold of her mane and reins and floated alongside until she calmed enough that I could pull myself back aboard. We plunged back to shallower water to take a breather and then tried again. The second time, Kayah swam out until her hooves struck bottom only frequently enough to reassure her of its continued existence. We were deep enough that I could hold onto her mane and float along on my belly. Dana and Gypsy took a few long passes in the deep water, and then Kayah and I climbed out to take a picture of them.

After our presentation in Helena we'll be taking a short time off to coordinate the probable purchase and initiation of a mule into our band of travelers. The mule, a Belgian cross, is located back in Eastern Montana so the maneuver will take some planning. (Just when I thought we were finally into the mountains!) Traveling with an additional pack animal will allow us to rest our horses more frequently, pack more weight in remote areas, and accommodate potential visitors. Once our party has reassembled and seems to be working smoothly, we intend to ride on into western Montana for some remote horse packing. After that, only Idaho, a corner of Washington, and a corner of Oregon separate us from the coast!

That's all for now... stay tuned for developments and photos! Also - we were in the Billings Gazette last Monday - a search online might turn up a photo and article...

~April, Dana, and the rest of the crew