Tough trip to my Paradise
I would like to take
you with me on a trip I took in 1979 to a special place. The trip started with
the sun rising out of the darkness lighting up the peaks above us, but the
darkness below was slow to relent its hold on the night. We were at the
entrance to Sun Valley, Idaho on our way to the Sawtooth Mountain range. Our
group consisted of my brother, my friend, three horses, and me.
We had the supplies
for an extended stay at nine thousand feet and the desire to obtain an Elk.
When the truck stopped at a parking lot with peaks on all sides, my brother
asked, “Where are we going?” Looking around then upward, I squinted my eyes a
little bit then replied, “About noon we should be right about there,” then
pointed to what appeared to be straight up at a peak above us. We unloaded the
truck and saddled the horses. Each packed with a survival kit and a portion of
the supplies. Cricket, a flighty appaloosa, was only carrying a pack since she
had decided to get hurt earlier.
I put my brother on Sissy, a horse who had a rock steady
personality, and I think was actually older than he was. Since he was a welder
by trade and not a known horseman this suited him. I saddled my girlfriend’s
horse Sunny, 16 hand Palomino Mustang; she was strong willed because she had
been wild for the first five years of her life and a man hater. A man hater
except for me; I buffaloed her into accepting me on a trial bases. Bob, a
friend of mine, put all his gear on the horses but walked since he was
horseless.
I put my brother in
front and watched his direction. I led
Cricket; I’m convinced that she was playing a game to see how much trouble she
could get into. We climbed and climbed until about noon, I told everyone to
look down and about 1500 feet below was the truck and trailer sitting all alone
in a small parking lot with no buildings, electricity, or anything. We
continued to a lake aptly named Sawtooth Lake which sat an eight thousand feet.
The only thing between us and our campsite was a ninety-five hundred foot pass
that consisted of a narrow switchback of shale.
It was dangerous and slippery; the perfect place for a horse named
cricket to play.
We made it to the camp with no difficulty, which worried me.
We made camp, picketed the horses, and started to hunt. I say hunt because that’s
all we did. We didn't see anything worth
shooting.
We sat on the third day with no phone, radio or any other
communication; what we did have was the sky and we watched the sky turn ugly
and then really ugly. I had more experience and explained that the shale pass we
crossed would turn into a death trap if it was covered with snow. If that
happened, the10-mile trip would become a 30-mile trip north to Stanley, Idaho.
If the system came from the north it would mean traveling to Featherville 70
miles away.
It took three hours
to catch the horses and break camp. By then there was three inches of snow, and
the pass was in a cloud and totally covered in snow.
In the time it took to make our way to the trail, five
inches of snow had fallen. Only a faint line showed the way down the mountain.
I sat on Sunny looking down the mountain for as long as I
could until I finally turned around to the others and made the decision. I told them to move the camp gear to Cricket,
move the guns and such to Sissy, and get off. I had my brother walk down
holding onto Sunny’s tail and leading Sissy.
I had Bob hold on to Sissy’s tail
and lead Cricket. I explained to Bob
that if Cricket acted up to let go. I knew that if she took one step off the
path, she wouldn't stop until she hit the lake 1500 feet below.
My brother looked up at me and asked, “Aren't you going to
walk?” I looked at my brother and my
friend, and then I looked at Sunny. I
told them, “She is the only one here that really knows what she is doing. I’m going to ride.” I kicked my feet out of the stirrups, wrapped
the reins around the saddle horn, and told her, “Get us down girl.”
Sunny took well over
two hours placing each hoof down testing the ice and then taking another step.
We finally got off the shale into a tight pine grove to rest. I got off Sunny
where she shook and from nervousness her entire body broke out in to lathered
sweat. We took the saddle off her and rubbed her down with appreciation of a
horse that kept us safe.
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