The Outlaw Trail Ride
by Timothy Bratten
The Outlaw Trail Ride is a 100 mile, week-long trail ride that covers part of the old Butch Cassidy Outlaw Trail in Wyoming. This is my journal of the 2004 ride.
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Note: The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily the views of Outlaw Trail, Inc.
Friday, Aug. 6, 2004
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We arrived at the Fairgrounds in Thermopolis, WY. about 3PM.
We unloaded the horses and put them in 2 empty paddocks that were already setup. The background was just a hint about how
colorful this
experience was going to be.
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We met Vince Hays, the trail boss, and picked up our packets
with detailed information about the upcoming ride. We took a little time to sit under the shade of a tree and visit with some of the people that we would be spending the next week with. Checking into a hotel and having dinner rounded up the day for us. |
Saturday, Aug. 7, 2004
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The trail ride is scheduled to coincide with the annual "Gift of the Waters Indian Pageant" and fair in Thermopolis. And what celebration would be complete without a parade? Many of the Outlaw Trail riders participated in the parade through downtown Thermopolis. For those who have never ridden their horse in a parade (like myself), this can be a very "exciting" event. Fortunately, all of us came thru it safely. That evening, we all met at the Super 8 Hotel for our orientation meeting and dinner. There, we were introduced to all the volunteers who made this ride possible. We were also assigned to 1 of 4 groups, denoted by color (orange, blue, green and yellow) with 2 leaders for each group. |
Sunday, Aug. 8, 2004
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Sunday morning, we fed and watered the horses at 5:30AM. At
6:30AM, we had breakfast at the high school next to the fairgrounds.
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Once we arrived, the poor horses had to be dusted off before we could even start
tacking them up!
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Portable johns were already setup and the lunch wagon was
ready for us.
We all enjoyed a good lunch and adjusted ourselves to the fact that we were about to leave the life of ease behind for a week |
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The 4 groups were sent out about 15 minutes apart. Our group was to be 3rd out. We started grouping up while the first 2 groups headed off down the trial. Notice the bright orange bandanas hanging from some belts. Each group was given an Outlaw Trail Ride bandana in the color of their group. Ours was clearly the most visible.
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By 1:30PM, we were under way. Unfortunately, we were only 15 minutes into the ride when our group leader received word that someone in the first group had been injured. We had to stop and wait until this emergency was taken care of. This delayed us about 1/2 hour. One of the riders in the first group was thrown from his horse and suffered several cracked ribs. We grimaced as we pondered the implications of this auspicious start. Fortunately, no one else was injured the rest of the week. |
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The easy afternoon ride carried us 12 miles and took us past Indian
teepee rings, rock cairns (marking trails from days past), historical
markers and vast, open
vistas. We would ride past canyon openings off to our side that begged us to
investigate. Already, we were wishing that we had more time. Many of the horses were overly excited and somewhat hard to handle. “My horse has never acted like this before” seemed to be the common phrase of the day. Some of the horses had to end up getting a sedative in order to be able to keep riding them. It turns out that this is a fairly normal reaction to horses who have never been in a crowd of horses this large. |
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Several
vet techs accompanied us on the ride. They took excellent care of the horses whenever the need arose. We also had a Medical Doctor (who complimented me for wearing a helmet) and a nurse who volunteered their week to ride with us. We arrived at out campsite about 5PM. The campsite was about 3 miles from the actual Hole In The Wall. Some people were done riding for the day and proceeded to setup their tents while others continued on to Hole In The Wall. This picture shows the Hole In The Wall sign pointing to the actual site. The Hole is not really a hole at all. It's a very steep corner where 2 wall-like rock formations come together. |
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This is a closer view of the Hole. Look closely and you can
see people climbing up the "hole". The Hole is currently not able to be scaled on horseback, at least not by anyone in their right mind. There have been geological changes such as rock slides since the Outlaw days that make this impossible. However, at the turn of the century, this is the escape root that Outlaws would take to elude the posses that were on their trail. |
Monday, Aug. 9, 2004
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At 5:30AM, Monday morning, the peaceful camp was jolted awake by the shrill whistle of our group leader, Tim, followed by shouts of "Everybody up! We're burning daylight!". This was not true, of course, since the sun hadn't yet made an appearance at this early hour. Nonetheless, sleepy heads started poking out of the tents as the realization dawned on us that we had a long day ahead of us. |
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Today was to be the longest day's ride of the week: 23
miles. The daily routine of feeding and watering the horses, packing up our camping gear, eating breakfast and saddling up was to become so familiar to us that we could do it in our sleep. Come to think of it, I think some people did ... This picture was taken about an hour after leaving camp. It looks back over the valley that hosted our campsite for the night. |
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The day's ride was filled with stunning vistas and gaping
canyons. By day's end, we would gain 3000 feet in elevation, camping at 8300
feet above sea level. As the horses burned off energy, they started to settle down a little. There were several people who were life-long ranchers who came out to ride. It was interesting to listen to them talk about how hard it is to make money ranching nowadays. I heard this kind of conversation on several occasions. Some of them have gone into business doing other things such as opening hardware stores, lumber companies, etc, in order to make a living. But because they love ranching so much, they continue to ranch “on the side” or they lease their land to others just to keep the ranch going. |
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It was also interesting to note that there were quite a few
people who ride a lot where they live. And yet when it came time for a
vacation, what they wanted to do was to ride some more. This kind of
ride gives people a chance meet other people who share their love for horse
riding. It's also an opportunity to ride in a different type of
terrain. We arrived at camp around 5PM. The evening ritual of watering and feeding the horses, setting up camp and eating dinner was again practiced. Each evening afforded something different in the way of entertainment or relaxation. Some nights we sang cowboy songs around the camp fire. Other evenings were laced with talks by local historians, telling jokes and the like. |
Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2004
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Our group was last out this morning, so we had a little more
time to get ready. The horses, having been thoroughly exercised the day before, were starting get used to the routine. They seemed to pace themselves better so as not to wear themselves out. Several horses threw shoes today. Normally a volunteer farrier accompanies us the whole ride. This year, however, he wasn't able to join up with us until Thursday. Fortunately, one of the riders, who had been a farrier, was able to replace the thrown shoes that evening.
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Today's ride covered 17 miles. Much of the land that the Outlaw Trail crosses is private property. If it weren't for the generosity of the property owners, we would never have been able to trace this historical route. We felt privileged not only to retrace the Outlaw Trail but to do so on privately owned land that is only accessible to very few people. |
Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2004
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Wednesday's 18 mile ride unfolded more beautiful vistas.
It was like being on another planet. Work, home, cares, our "normal" lives
seemed so far away. It was truly a time of refreshing and reflecting. The horses seemed to start concentrating more on herd dynamics. The newness had worn off and they were now starting to think more about who was going to be #1, #2, etc. in the herd. The "ears back" posture of the Alpha horses was more prevalent as tried to sort out the pecking order. |
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Ann was our volunteer nurse for the ride. She was also an
experienced mule breeder and trainer. Her little mule kept up with the best
of the horses even though it took 3 steps for every 1 step of some of the
other horses. Another horse went lame today and had to be trailered out. The Rosebud Café and Catering Service, out of Montana, provided food for the ride. Each day they moved their truck and trailer to the next campsite. The food was excellent! They cooked hot breakfasts and dinners and made up sack lunches for us to take for each day's ride. On this particular day, their truck sustained some damage to the propane pipes while driving over the rough roads. Dinner was a little late, but still excellent and much appreciated. |
Thursday, Aug. 12, 2004
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Thursday was designated a day off for horses and riders. We
got to sleep in late; breakfast wasn't until 9AM. The damage to the catering truck meant that there was no hot coffee for breakfast, but everyone took it in stride. People found various ways to relax; playing bridge, learning how to lasso, watching a local land owner show off his rope trick expertise. We even had a band come out and provide music for a dance that evening. Yes, there were people who were not too tired to dance! |
Friday, Aug. 13, 2004
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Today's ride was the 2nd longest of the week: 21 miles. The
crest of every hill seemed to reveal a new panorama that had been waiting to
show itself off to us. We never tired of the ever-changing, but always awesome scenery. The handiwork of the Creator was present in every direction. |
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Today we enjoyed one of the rare lunch stops where there
were trees. Never one to miss an opportunity, I managed to catch a few winks. |
Saturday, Aug. 14, 2004
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Saturday's 14 mile ride was, in many ways, the most spectacular ride of
the week. We threaded our way thru some steep and color-splashed canyons as
we approached our final destination.
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When we first caught a glimpse of Thermopolis in the
distance, we were flooded with conflicting emotions: the ride was coming to
an end (sad); soon we would get to take a shower (happy); the quiet beauty of the trail was already
beginning to feel like a memory (sad); tonight we would sleep in a real
bed (happy). Joy and sorrow; it was kind of hard to know how to feel. When at last we arrived at the fairgrounds, from which we had started a week earlier, one last time of unsaddling and watering the horses seemed to punctuate the ride with a final period. It's impossible to describe the feeling of accomplishment and fulfillment that we all experienced. |
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Saturday evening was a time for eating one last meal
together, recognizing and appreciating the hard work of all the volunteers
and one last fling on the dance floor. Addresses were exchanged, farewells were spoken and a good nights sleep was had by all. We were now veterans of the Outlaw Trail Ride. This was truly the ride of a lifetime! |