Story By Sky Baldwin
I camped next to Connie and her husband Dale this past August in Horse Ranch Park while I was a “trail boss” for the Women’s Surface Creek Saddle Club camp out. That is where I got to hear her story– around a campfire under a sky bright with stars and breathing crisp mountain air. Quickly into this conversation, I realized they had not only been to every place I had been horse camping and trail riding, but they had been to what seemingly was every horse camp I had dreamed of exploring!
Wow, a chance to get first-hand information from an experienced horse person. A person who would tell it to me straight and prepare me for any challenges and difficulties I should know before venturing there. It doesn’t get any better….I drug out my clipboard and pen (really, I am old school). What would she recommend? What less traveled spots had she and her husband uncovered? What were some of her favorite places? She recognized my enthusiasm and appreciation, but asked tentatively “You won’t be bringing a group will you?” Oh no, I assured her, this was personal information just for me. She dragged out some of her maps and proceeded to recommend places for me to horse camp and ride in Colorado and neighboring states.
She and her husband have been horse camping and trail riding for the past 20 summers. They go out for months at a time in the same cab-over-camper they bought 20 years ago. It is nothing really fancy, but it is practical and easy to maneuver on rough and narrow dirt roads. And proving that point, she asked if I had driven on the nearby Coal Creek Road just a few miles up County Road 12 off Highway 133. It accesses a campground and trail head for the Throughline-Coal Creek trail plus a network of other interesting wilderness trails.
Now, I did pull my horse trailer up this same dirt road once and vowed never to do it again, even though it accessed some amazing backcountry. The road is not steep as it follows a creek drainage, but it is so narrow and severely rutted that you prayed you did not meet an oncoming vehicle which would require a delicate backing of camper and horse trailer to avoid dropping a wheel over the edge of a drop-off. I said, “ Didn’t you think that road was really bad?” She said, “ Yes, but the trails back there are amazing!” I am realizing these folks have a lot of grit and are willing to do what it takes to ride incredible country. Hum, my kind of folks, but I may need to check out access roads before pulling a horse trailer in to some of the recommended places.
At Horse Ranch Park the most challenging day ride for difficulty, technical riding, stamina, and distance is reaching Oh-Be Joyful Pass. I might add that the beauty of Buck Basin, just a few miles below that pass, is the visual pay-off for the effort expended in getting there. One always asks casually to other riders in camp, “Have you ridden to Oh-Be-Joyful Pass?” just to suss them out, find out how good they and their horses really are.
I had ridden there once in 2012. It took over eight hours total to go 19 miles and climb 3000 ft in elevation; I was younger and in better shape physically. Unfortunately, my girlfriend and I chose to do it too early in the season–mid June–and the trail descending into Buck Basin still had a bit of a snow drift and was slippery. The horses had trouble staying on the trail, and it was too steep to allow us to turn around or even get off the horses. We had to keep going. We decided when we had to go back up it, we would lead the horses. The fear of returning on this section of the trail weighed on us as we continued into this basin with its dramatic and stunning beauty. The sides of the basin are high, rocky, treeless scree slopes while the bottom is green and full of wildflowers and elk. The basin is huge, and at first you can’t see where the pass is located, but the trail is clearly marked.
I asked Connie where she and her husband went riding today, and she said Buck Basin. I am thinking how can that be possible? She is 77 years old and riding a 17 year old horse and her husband’s horse is 28 years old! She said their horses walk out faster than most horses, so they can cover more ground in a day. And, she said we always take a good, long break at lunch. We hobble the horses and let them graze for 1-2 hours, while we rest before returning to camp. They traveled 15 miles in rugged terrain averaging 3 miles per hour on their ride today. Their horses are called “spotted saddle horses,” and she said they have a natural gait. I asked her how the trail was that goes down into Buck Basin. She said it was not too bad but a little narrow. Of course you need a sure-footed horse, she quipped. Now I am really impressed, because neither my horse nor I could have done today what she just did.
She was tired after her ride today and said, as we talked about the many places she recommended I visit, “You know, sometimes I think I am getting too old, my horse is getting old, and maybe I should just stop riding all summer and start visiting my grandchildren more!” Well, I am sure she has lots of grandchildren she could visit, because they have 8 children between them.
I am saddened though at this thought. I think about Connie quitting riding and camping and instead rocking grand babies in a rocking chair. I am not sad for Connie, as she may be ready for a change in her life. I am sad for me as I realize that I won’t be able to meet up with her and her husband Dale unexpectedly somewhere in some camp, some day to swap horse tales and advice, report on the current status of this camp or the other. I wonder, how far this “cowgranny” did go in a day when she was a mere “cowgirl?” I will never know the answer, but what I do realize is that we can all go further than we think we can, and this “cowgranny” reminded me of that fact. I ask if I can give her a big hug. She doesn’t realize how she has touched me. It’s okay that she doesn’t know, because she enjoys the hug, and says, “Do you want me to call you if we come riding in this part of Colorado again?”
