Day Four of the 2001 Death Valley Encounter Ride

At this years Death Valley Encounter Ride - I saw what the
phase "snow capped mountains majesty" really means. Riding
through Death Valley on Day 4 of the ride - we come over the
crest of a hill and see this majestic range of brilliant
white snow covered peaks rising out of the floor of the
desert.  The bases of the peaks are wrapped in a light grey
cloud cover over the desert as we ride parallel to them on
our way into to lunch vet check.  The peaks continually draw
your eyes with the sunlit pure white of the snow in
contrast to the browns and grays of the desert.  This view
is unforgettable.

The early morning start was made under a full moon lighting
up the desert with about 65 riders making a controlled start
up the canyon toward Darwin.  As we ride along the canyon -
the strata lines in the uplifted rock of the walls exactly
matches the shadow line of the sun rising over the hills.
You can look at the limestone and shale lines in the hills
and see the remnants of an ancient sea long before there was
a desert here.

This is pretty lonely country now.  As you ride along - you
see signs of previous times - abandoned mines, an "open
house" sign pointing off into nowhere, old rusting VWs and
other cars, Joshua trees - each with their own separate
territory as if they can't stand to be near each other.

The colors of the desert we see change a great deal with the
time of the day.  As we ride out in the early morning - the
range of mountains behind us is blue in the rising suns
light.  As we ride back toward them in the afternoon -
they're brown in the setting sun. The same mountains but
looking very different.

We reach Darwin - a tiny odd town out in the middle
of the desert - that now has a web page now describing it as
"Somewhere in the middle of nowhere".  It has something like
60+ structures with about 30 described as "habitable" in an
old survey of the town.  In the ride through town to the
water stop - the only people we see are a mother and her
daughter who ask if she can get a picture of her feeding a
carrot to our horses.  On the way out - we are greeted by
interesting sculptures created by objects discarded in the
desert.  On the way back - it's even quieter with the only
people visible being the water crew handing out candy bars.
There is one living town creature visible - a dog watching
us go by then dashing out to spook our horses.  It's indeed
an odd little town trapped in time like one of the pieces of
amber with a fossil inside it.

In the whole ride - other than plants - there were few
creatures to be seen.  Some crows - burro tracks in the sand
- lots of stallion piles - but no wild horses visible.  And
if there were - you wonder what they would eat.  We found
the wild horse spring so it's certainly possible to live out
there - at least in the winter.  But I'm still impressed
with how lonely it is.  I'm glad I'm out there with 64 other
endurance riders and horses.

One hero in the ride for my horse - the farrier hadn't come
before we left for the ride and at the lunch vet check -
three shoes are loose.  Robert Ribley turns out to have
tools in his crew bag and puts in 2 nails in every shoe to
get us through.  This day is rocky in the Darwin Canyon area
and my one EasyBoot would not have gotten us through.
Thanks again Robert.

The completion rate is very high on this last day - 64 of 65
finish in the 50 and 19 of 19 in the LD with Dave Nicholson
as head vet. Thirty plus riders and horses complete all 4
days and according to Jackie - a record number.  QSER
members attending the ride include Maryben, Julie and Bob
Suhr, Kathy Mayeda, Ken Cook, Barbara and Doug White,  Bing
Voight, Heather Bergantz, Judith Ogus, Jan Jeffers, Pat
McKendry, Mike Maul, Hillorie Bachmann, Scott Sansom, Lori
Oleson, Trilby, Robert and Melissa Ribley, Becky Glaser,
Dawn Perrine,  Steve and Michele Shaw, Hugh and Gloria
Vanderford, and Eric Thompson.

A number of these are in the 30 that completed all 4 days -
Lori, Judith, Robert, Heather, Trilby, Dawn,
and probably more. Kathy Mayeda gets her first top tens on
two of the days.

Jackie mentions the fact that Barbara White has finished
more Tevis events that anyone else in the world but is still
doing her first multiday here and in the LD portion of the
ride.  Nick Wharhol rides Zayante for all four days to just
145 miles short of Zayantes 10,000 mile goal.  What an
incredible horse....Jim and Joanne Dietzs 26 year old Hawk
did 3 days of the limited distance ride - another incredible horse.

The dinner is excellent - prime rib, salad, baked potato,
and rolls.  Only Trilby finds a way to get a dessert with
the meal...There's a band and party later for those who can
stay up until the New Year comes.  Most of the endurance
riders look after their horses and know it's already the New
Year on the east coast and go to bed early.

On New Years eve, as we welcome the coming year and remember
the highs - and deep lows of the last - the full moon has a
huge halo around it shining over our ridecamp.  While it's
usually due to high thin clouds with ice crystals - I'm
going to take it as a good sign for the coming year for all
endurance riders and their horses.

One last thing to remember as we are coming out Darwin
Canyon at the finish of the ride is hearing a faint whinny
echoing off in the distance - probably from the real owners
of the desert - the wild horses.

A great ride again Jackie,

Mike