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- Aug 21, 2005
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Here is a quick write up on a camping trip I did a few weeks ago. The intent was to try and do a pack trip like they would have taken anywhere in the old west from 1865 through 1890. We tried to take stuff that would have been available then or something pretty close without spending a ton of money. We got pretty close I think. The other part of it was a learning experience for my friends and me on traveling back then. Everyone has seen westerns where they are galloping all over the place but the movies don’t really show much in the way of care of the horses and how much time that takes..
So for starters I can say we did have fun, but it took a lot of gear and a lot of work to get this done. As far as personal gear this is probably my lightest trip ever outside of the military. But adding horse tack and canned food added a lot of stuff.
Going into this we had some bad weather coming but since my friends were flying in we didn’t change the dates any. We figured rain wouldn’t stop guys in the old days either.
It supposed to be a 4 day 3 night trip in the Chiricachua Mountains covering about 30 miles. Day one was to be the hardest, with day two a rest day for the horses and day 3 moving to a new sight, and finally day 4 coming off the mountains.
So day one was up at 4, get all the all the horses loaded, and get on the road for the trail head. Everything else we loaded the night before. We got as close as we could get to the trailhead with our truck and trailer combo. Got there about 7 and had all the horses saddled and the pack horse ready by 9. Day one was going to be about a 12 mile ride most of it up hill. None of the legs were going to be that long because with just me trying to get 4 head of horses in shape for this, was a pain. I just don’t have that much free time. About 3 miles into the trip it started pouring rain and for most of the day it rained so hard visibility was about 200 feet. Some other gremlins that reared up where the spotted mare that I am riding was not supposed to go. She is a pretty old horse and had a pretty rough life before I got her. The pack horse is her 4 yo boy who I was supposed to be riding and my mule was supposed to be packing. The short version is that there is a trainer in Tucson that I am very irked at over the job done on the 4yo. So even trying to walk as much as I could to make it easy on the mare, she still pulled a muscle and I ended up walking the whole first day. The other horses did fine. Due to some trails being over grown and the pouring rain we missed one cut off and the first day was about 15 miles, with me walking close to 17 because I had to go scout out our alternate spring when the first stopping point the spring wasn’t flowing. The rain finally let up in the evening and we got a rough camp set up and cooked some canned food after a pretty trying time getting a fire going. Camp was at 9300 feet, wet and kinda cold. So much for day one.
Day two is when things went a little down hill. The first evening none of the horses would drink. I had that happen before and weren’t two concerned but now it’s day 2 and no ones drinking yet and I am starting to stress a little. So out comes the emergency cell phone and after some call to the wife who is a very experienced horse person, it’s a wait and see game. After some more time and more calls finally around 1300 I make the decision to cancel the trip due the horse issues. The only problem is the closest trail head is at the top of a narrow mountain road and our truck and trailer combo won’t get up there. By the time the wife secures a trailer that will get there and haul 4 horses it’s to late in the day to try and make the trip out. Also by this time the horses are doing better. Between the temperatures warming up, sunshine, alfalfa pellets and 10ccs of banamine 3 out of the 4 have finally drank some water. Number 4 hasn’t drank but really doesn’t seem to be showing signs of distress. I will admit it was still freaking me out though that the horse hasn’t drank water. So we improve the camp, get fire wood and try and get set for night number two. Get about 4 small showers during the day with some sunshine. Clouds up at evening time but no more rain for the rest of the trip. Got pretty cold that night even though the camp was more prepared I did wake up in the middle of the night shivering my ass off.
Day 3 was get up, get some chow and start breaking down camp. All but one horse were now drinking a lot and things weren’t too bad. We had to be at the trail head by 10 and its an easy 3.5 mile ride there. Since my horse got injured on the way up I just tied off the reins and kicked her out behind my buddy in the lead and she followed him out and I lead the pack horse out on foot since the trail was sort of crappy after all the rain. The ride to the trail head was uneventful and we got everything home in one piece. When it was all said and done no one got hurt and all the horse were fine.
This trip was a blast but I am not sure I will do one again. I will do other pack trips but there are now folks doing ulta light horse trips and that is what I think I will lean towards. The water issue in this part of AZ is also a pain right now. We are at half our average rainfall right now and springs that have never gone dry are now DRY.
What I took personally other than what I was wearing. The wool blanket ended up in the pack saddle as extra padding.
2 metal canteens
civil war mess kit
Knife,fork,spoon
Cup
Wool blanket
Civil war poncho
1 spare long sleeve shirt
3 spare pair socks
Wool mittens
Folding knife
Fixed blade
boots
duster
hat
matches
Our whole equipment list. I figured the pack horse was toting right around 240 pounds, which included 50 pounds of alfalfa pellets.
 Pack Trip Checklist
Clothes & Personal Items
 _____ Jeans
 _____ Trouser belt
 _____ Long sleeve shirts
 _____ Socks
 _____ Underwear
 _____ bandana
 _____ Riding gloves
 _____ Vest
 _____ Toiletries bag
 _____ Canteen
 _____ Tooth brush
 _____ Tooth paste
 _____ Toiletries bag
 _____ Wash rag
 _____ soap
 _____ Cowboy boots
 _____ wool blanket
 _____ poncho
Kitchen/Cooking Gear
 _____ skillet
 _____ big spoon
 _____ big fork
 _____ big spoon
 _____ pancake turner
 _____ coffee pot & filters
 _____ steel grill
 _____ scouring pads
 _____ can opener
 _____ dishwashing soap
 _____ matches
 _____ dish rags
 _____ toilet paper
 _____ garbage bags
 _____ menu
 _____ food
First Aid
 _____ band aids
 ______ adhesive tape
 _____ gauze
 _____ Neosporin
 _____ Water purification tablets
 _____ aspirin
 _____ Insect repellant
Miscellaneous gear
 _____ camera & case
 _____ hunting knife
 _____ Pocket knife
 _____ maps
 _____ Compass
 _____ Sewing kit
 _____ Safety pins
 _____ Pencil
 _____ Note pad
 _____ String
Horse Equipment
 _____ Pellets (on packhorse, PH)
 _____ High line Rope & rings (on PH)
 _____ Horse hobbles(on PH)
 _____ Halters & lead ropes
 _____ Bridles
 _____ Saddle pads / blankets
 _____ Saddles
 _____ Saddle bags
 _____ Breast collars
 _____ Curry comb (on PH)
 _____ Easy boots(on PH
 _____ hoof pick (on PH)
 _____ Hole punch & Repair leather (on PH)
 _____ 3 # coffee can (on PH)
 _____ lash cinchas (on PH)
 _____ horse first aid kit & fly spray (on PH)
Camping Equipment
 _____ axe
 ______saw
 ______shovel
 ______grill
 ______ tarp
Emergency only kit
Leather man
Flash light
GPS
Cell phone
Work radio
Guns
 _____ Handgun
 _____ Gun belt/holster
 _____ Ammo for handgun
 _____ Rifle
 _____ Ammo for long guns
 _____ Hunting knife
pics to follow
So for starters I can say we did have fun, but it took a lot of gear and a lot of work to get this done. As far as personal gear this is probably my lightest trip ever outside of the military. But adding horse tack and canned food added a lot of stuff.
Going into this we had some bad weather coming but since my friends were flying in we didn’t change the dates any. We figured rain wouldn’t stop guys in the old days either.
It supposed to be a 4 day 3 night trip in the Chiricachua Mountains covering about 30 miles. Day one was to be the hardest, with day two a rest day for the horses and day 3 moving to a new sight, and finally day 4 coming off the mountains.
So day one was up at 4, get all the all the horses loaded, and get on the road for the trail head. Everything else we loaded the night before. We got as close as we could get to the trailhead with our truck and trailer combo. Got there about 7 and had all the horses saddled and the pack horse ready by 9. Day one was going to be about a 12 mile ride most of it up hill. None of the legs were going to be that long because with just me trying to get 4 head of horses in shape for this, was a pain. I just don’t have that much free time. About 3 miles into the trip it started pouring rain and for most of the day it rained so hard visibility was about 200 feet. Some other gremlins that reared up where the spotted mare that I am riding was not supposed to go. She is a pretty old horse and had a pretty rough life before I got her. The pack horse is her 4 yo boy who I was supposed to be riding and my mule was supposed to be packing. The short version is that there is a trainer in Tucson that I am very irked at over the job done on the 4yo. So even trying to walk as much as I could to make it easy on the mare, she still pulled a muscle and I ended up walking the whole first day. The other horses did fine. Due to some trails being over grown and the pouring rain we missed one cut off and the first day was about 15 miles, with me walking close to 17 because I had to go scout out our alternate spring when the first stopping point the spring wasn’t flowing. The rain finally let up in the evening and we got a rough camp set up and cooked some canned food after a pretty trying time getting a fire going. Camp was at 9300 feet, wet and kinda cold. So much for day one.
Day two is when things went a little down hill. The first evening none of the horses would drink. I had that happen before and weren’t two concerned but now it’s day 2 and no ones drinking yet and I am starting to stress a little. So out comes the emergency cell phone and after some call to the wife who is a very experienced horse person, it’s a wait and see game. After some more time and more calls finally around 1300 I make the decision to cancel the trip due the horse issues. The only problem is the closest trail head is at the top of a narrow mountain road and our truck and trailer combo won’t get up there. By the time the wife secures a trailer that will get there and haul 4 horses it’s to late in the day to try and make the trip out. Also by this time the horses are doing better. Between the temperatures warming up, sunshine, alfalfa pellets and 10ccs of banamine 3 out of the 4 have finally drank some water. Number 4 hasn’t drank but really doesn’t seem to be showing signs of distress. I will admit it was still freaking me out though that the horse hasn’t drank water. So we improve the camp, get fire wood and try and get set for night number two. Get about 4 small showers during the day with some sunshine. Clouds up at evening time but no more rain for the rest of the trip. Got pretty cold that night even though the camp was more prepared I did wake up in the middle of the night shivering my ass off.
Day 3 was get up, get some chow and start breaking down camp. All but one horse were now drinking a lot and things weren’t too bad. We had to be at the trail head by 10 and its an easy 3.5 mile ride there. Since my horse got injured on the way up I just tied off the reins and kicked her out behind my buddy in the lead and she followed him out and I lead the pack horse out on foot since the trail was sort of crappy after all the rain. The ride to the trail head was uneventful and we got everything home in one piece. When it was all said and done no one got hurt and all the horse were fine.
This trip was a blast but I am not sure I will do one again. I will do other pack trips but there are now folks doing ulta light horse trips and that is what I think I will lean towards. The water issue in this part of AZ is also a pain right now. We are at half our average rainfall right now and springs that have never gone dry are now DRY.
What I took personally other than what I was wearing. The wool blanket ended up in the pack saddle as extra padding.
2 metal canteens
civil war mess kit
Knife,fork,spoon
Cup
Wool blanket
Civil war poncho
1 spare long sleeve shirt
3 spare pair socks
Wool mittens
Folding knife
Fixed blade
boots
duster
hat
matches
Our whole equipment list. I figured the pack horse was toting right around 240 pounds, which included 50 pounds of alfalfa pellets.
 Pack Trip Checklist
Clothes & Personal Items
 _____ Jeans
 _____ Trouser belt
 _____ Long sleeve shirts
 _____ Socks
 _____ Underwear
 _____ bandana
 _____ Riding gloves
 _____ Vest
 _____ Toiletries bag
 _____ Canteen
 _____ Tooth brush
 _____ Tooth paste
 _____ Toiletries bag
 _____ Wash rag
 _____ soap
 _____ Cowboy boots
 _____ wool blanket
 _____ poncho
Kitchen/Cooking Gear
 _____ skillet
 _____ big spoon
 _____ big fork
 _____ big spoon
 _____ pancake turner
 _____ coffee pot & filters
 _____ steel grill
 _____ scouring pads
 _____ can opener
 _____ dishwashing soap
 _____ matches
 _____ dish rags
 _____ toilet paper
 _____ garbage bags
 _____ menu
 _____ food
First Aid
 _____ band aids
 ______ adhesive tape
 _____ gauze
 _____ Neosporin
 _____ Water purification tablets
 _____ aspirin
 _____ Insect repellant
Miscellaneous gear
 _____ camera & case
 _____ hunting knife
 _____ Pocket knife
 _____ maps
 _____ Compass
 _____ Sewing kit
 _____ Safety pins
 _____ Pencil
 _____ Note pad
 _____ String
Horse Equipment
 _____ Pellets (on packhorse, PH)
 _____ High line Rope & rings (on PH)
 _____ Horse hobbles(on PH)
 _____ Halters & lead ropes
 _____ Bridles
 _____ Saddle pads / blankets
 _____ Saddles
 _____ Saddle bags
 _____ Breast collars
 _____ Curry comb (on PH)
 _____ Easy boots(on PH
 _____ hoof pick (on PH)
 _____ Hole punch & Repair leather (on PH)
 _____ 3 # coffee can (on PH)
 _____ lash cinchas (on PH)
 _____ horse first aid kit & fly spray (on PH)
Camping Equipment
 _____ axe
 ______saw
 ______shovel
 ______grill
 ______ tarp
Emergency only kit
Leather man
Flash light
GPS
Cell phone
Work radio
Guns
 _____ Handgun
 _____ Gun belt/holster
 _____ Ammo for handgun
 _____ Rifle
 _____ Ammo for long guns
 _____ Hunting knife
pics to follow
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i love riding horses.. i ride with some friends that own horses.. i dig the old skool set up too...
