Saturday, April 09, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Halfway home, and sorely missing it

Ernie Sites of Wendell, Idaho, sits by the campfire during the Review-Journal Centennial Ride on Friday. Riders navigate a ridge during the Review-Journal Centennial Ride on Friday. The three-day ride follows the Old Spanish Trail. Riders pause to water their horses. Friday was a day of aches and pains for the riders, who covered an estimated 25 miles. Rylee Dick, 8, sets up her tent Friday at a campsite during the ride. Wildlife could be seen along the trail during the Review-Journal Centennial Ride on Friday. Photos by Isaac Brekken.

ON THE OLD SPANISH TRAIL -- About 40 riders came into camp bow-legged with dusty hats and dirty hands Friday afternoon.

Two days of following explorer John C. Fremont's trail had been challenging, even for the more experienced riders.

"I was a little sore this morning. A couple of shots of tequila straightened me up," said rider Lou Godino, a former New Yorker who owns horses in Las Vegas. "Coffee and tequila, that's what started me today."

Aspirin was part of breakfast for many of the aching riders.

But they were relieved to have a shorter ride and calmer horses than they had Thursday, the first day of the three-day trek that commemorates the 100th birthday of the Review-Journal.

The 60-mile trip that started in Tecopa, Calif., will end at Bonnie Springs Ranch today. It follows much of the Old Spanish Trail, which was used by traders and settlers to travel from Santa Fe, N.M., to Southern California or Northern Utah.

"Tomorrow is the last day, and you know you're halfway home," Steve Austin said Friday morning. "It just couldn't be worse than yesterday."

It was supposed to be a 20-mile journey Thursday. But Ladd Dick, the head wrangler, estimated it at 25 miles. And a rider who carried a Global Positioning System said the group rode 37 miles.

"Somewhere between there is the truth," said Steve Schlieper. "If you ask my fanny, it was 50."

On Friday morning, Dick knew the group had pushed too hard and vowed to ride only about 10 miles and truck the horses and riders for some of the way. But about 20 riders chose to remain in saddle the 18 miles to camp, located on top of Lovell Canyon Road.

"Last night, because of the weather, we also didn't get to enjoy ourselves," Dick added.

Everyone went to bed Thursday night almost immediately after a dinner of stew, biscuits and bread pudding. There was no campfire, and Waddie Mitchell, the cowboy poet who was there for the night, wasn't waxing poetic.

The wind that had closed Thursday's ride with a foggy haze at dusk battered the tents all night at about 50 mph and prevented the bard from entertaining.

As the riders emerged from their tents about 6 a.m. Friday, at least two, one of whom was slightly injured from a fall, were gone, having left for home during the night.

Another rider, Review-Journal ad designer Paul Nitch, remained hospitalized with a broken collarbone, dislocated shoulder, partially collapsed lung and fractured ribs, injuries he suffered when he was thrown from his mule Thursday.

The aches of Thursday made the first stretch of the ride Friday a painful experience for many. But as they slowly became one with the saddle, their muscles loosened.

"This is not for wimps, that's for sure," said Ellen Ross. "You keep going from mountain range to mountain range wondering whether you'll ever get to see an orange port-a-potty."

A master gardener, Ross pointed out the change in desert vegetation as the group headed into the Spring Mountains. Joshua trees became a popular road marker, and there was also more creosote.

"It's pretty close to the real pace you'd have as an explorer or a pioneer," Ross said of the ride.

The group entered camp around 4 p.m. Friday, started a bonfire and prepared for an evening of cowboy music and history recounted by Hal Steiner, an expert on the Old Spanish Trail.

The campsite marks the last bits of Fremont's route on the trail that the group will see, Steiner said.

While Fremont kept going on what is now Highway 160 into the Spring Mountains to Las Vegas, the group crossed the highway and went into Lovell Canyon. Today the riders will trek through the Red Rock area and into Bonnie Springs Ranch for a steak fry.

They'll follow the Old Spanish Trail used by such horse thieves as Thomas "Peg-Leg" Smith and William "Old Bill" Williams, who drove stolen ponies to the markets in Santa Fe.

By Friday night, the group had gone through dry lakebeds, grassy plains, sandy marshes, muddy streams and thicketed canyons. And though the riders faced challenges, many said they proved to themselves that they had more pluck then they thought.

"It's nice to be able to sit back and breathe real air," said Las Vegan Kacey Santeiman.

"And not have the phone ringing and the news on," said her mother, Judy Santeiman. "It's so good to get back on a horse and to know at age 58 I can still do it."