Oregon Trail Ride

On July 31, 2008, Willa and I took a day to go along the Jeffrey Goodall cutoff with the Oregon-California Trail Association Ride. On our particular day, we went from Canyon Creek Station to Slater Creek. This is about 23 miles and is the section of the Oregon Trail that runs behind the ranch. Someday, we would like to have trail rides that go out to this section of the trail.

Here is a pond that we discovered along the way. It was so beautiful and since it is still pretty full, likely has water year around.

Next we aimed for this lone tree (actually it was several trees together). This location is behind the ranch and will be pretty easy to travel to someday when we can do trail rides in this direction.

Here is where we stopped and had brunch. We rested our horses for awhile. At this point, we had not yet caught up to the wagon.

The wagon was driven by Dell Mangrum. It was pulled by two four year old Shire horses, Tina and Nick Turner. It was a joy to watch him drive the team.

Here we are finally catching up to the wagon. Dell is waiting patiently for us and also resting the horses. He rested the horses very often when going uphill. This was because it was a hot day and they were pulling a heavy wagon.

Dillon (Willa's horse) did just fine at this point. But as we got closer to the wagon, he freaked out, certain it was a horse eating wagon. It took awhile before he would get close. Autumn (my horse) was not quite as spooked. And as it turned out somewhere in her past, she has been trained to walk behind at the right side of a wagon. Because several times during the trip she just parked herself there and walked along. I really wish I knew her whole history.

This was the view from the road (trail) toward the ranch. Those little trees in the distance is where the ranch is located.

It looks pretty barren, but really it isn't. There is lots of wild life, grass, and sagebrush. There really is lots to see along the way and the view is really beautiful.

Here is the view from on the other side of the road toward the mountains. Hard to believe they actually took their wagons over those hills--but they really did.

A little farther along the trail--we got a bit ahead going down hill. And so we waited at the bottom for Dell and his team to catch up. It was pretty at the bottom--we found a small creek with clear running water. So we stopped to water the horses there. Dillon and Autumn are pretty picky about their water--but by this time they were both really thirsty and took a long drink. Thank goodness, because we still had a long way to go.

Here you can see the trail a little bit better.

This was toward the end of the day. It was a pretty reminder that the old things do pass away but it's good to remember them.

By the end of the day we had gone 23 miles (approx.) It had taken us 10 hours to do it because we stayed with the wagon. If we had gone by ourselves, we probably could have done it during the morning.

It is safe to say, that by the end of that very hot day--we were all exhausted. I was amazed that our forefathers actually did this. I got to thinking that we were well fed, had plenty of water, and didn't have to set up camp after the day's ride was over. Although Dell did--he had ridden the trail the whole way from Montpelier (that's in eastern Idaho).

And to think that the pioneers did this every day for around 4 months before reaching their destination.

I admit it, I'm a wimp. But again, it's no wonder to me, that the Oregon Trail is called the longest graveyard in the world. It took some kind of stamina to make it through to the end. And exhaustion leads to disease and accidents. Either of which could be fatal. How I admire the courage it took to decide to undertake such a journey and to have the wherewithal to carry it out. This is the kind of people who settled this country. People of rare courage and perseverance.

I really respect these people.