Blazing Badlands Ride

Riding Schedule
Pictures from Blazing Badlands 2007 I.
Pictures from Blazing Badlands 2007 II.

In the heat of the summer, the badlands are hotter than blazes, but in the spring they are green and blazing with wildflowers. This is a great time to enjoy this seldom visited, rough, rugged land. It may appear rather desolate at first. However wildlife abounds here, including pronghorn antelope, coyotes, eagles, prairie dogs and sage grouse.

This is a great spring time ride, while the grass is green, and the temperatures are moderate. This vast, open land has many hidden surprises, including striking cliffs, hidden gullies and castle like badland formations of reds, ocher’s and browns. There are some great places to do some long trots and gallops.

Arrival Day: Guests are picked up at the Worland Airport, or Cody and transported to Ten Sleep, pop. 304. There you will be taken to camp, 2.8 miles south of town. The camp is located along Nowood Creek in an oxbow full of old Cottonwood trees. Guests will stay in spacious Cowboy Teepees (2 per teepee unless requested). There will be a large Indian tipi to lounge in and enjoy. We will get settled in and have orientation at this time and many of your questions will be answered. We will also have a look at the horses. Delicious meals will be home-cooked, at a local restaurant.

Day Two: After everyone is assigned a horse, the wrangler will demonstrate saddling and help riders to tack up. We will be packing a lunch. Horn bags are provided for each rider, however you need to bring your own water bottles; 2 – one quart or liter bottles. We begin the ride from Belinda’s house, where the horses and tack are kept, not far from camp. We will be riding in some rough country with hidden cutbanks and some rocky ridges. It is a good place to familiarize yourself with some of the natural hazards we will encounter during the week. There are also some fabulous views of giant red cliffs and the Big Horn Mountains rising beyond them. It reminds you of a western movie, at times. The pace will vary according to terrain, but there are some great places to open up the horses and make some fast tracks. There are also some places that are steep and brushy with junipers, that might make you want to hang on to the saddle horn.

We stay in the Nowood camp again.

Day Three: After breakfast, we pack our things, which the camp crew will haul, make our lunch, and saddle the horses. We will load the horses in the trailer, us in the van, and drive to the start of the ride, near Worland. We will be riding up and down, through some scenic badlands formations. These colorful formations were formed when Wyoming used to be a giant inland sea and dinosaurs roamed the land. The hills are covered with buffalo grass and sagebrush. It is a long ride to camp. It is a welcome sight when we get there. The cowboy tipis will be set up, snacks on the table and a cold beer or soda in the cooler, to welcome us. Dinner will be hearty and plenty of it. You never go hungry at Renegade Rides. Guests can relax around the campfire and recount the days ride. Perhaps coyotes may sing us to sleep.

Day Four: We pack up again, as we will ride to a new camp. We will continue on, seeing new country. It is easy to picture what it must of looked like when the buffalo were here. Today the buffalo are gone and cattle get fat on the rich grass instead. We will ride by Chalk Butte. This is a large sandstone outcropping of cliffs that can be seen for miles.

Camp is on Big Cedar Ridge. It is up high and you can see for miles. The Big Horns lie to the east, and you can easily pick out Cloud Peak, the highest peak in the Big Horns at over 13,000 ft. Big Cedar Ridge has evidence of what may have been the asteroid impact that may of spelled disaster for the dinosaurs. You may be able to find some fossils here.

Day Five: Today, we pack up again. We will be riding back to the Nowood camp. On the way we will ride to the top of Wild Horse Butte. It is one of the tallest peaks in the area. The view is awesome and its slopes are often carpeted with wildflowers. It is a steep descent off the peak. At the bottom is Castle Gardens. This large sandstone outcropping has fantastic shapes weathered into it. Some remind you of castles, some of weird animals and other things. There are junipers and Ponderosa pines in and around it. This is a great place to have lunch.

After lunch, we ride on and eventually make it down to Ten Sleep. We may want to stop for a drink at the local ‘waterhole’. From there it is a bout 3 miles on to camp.

Day Six: We will stay at the same camp tonight. After breakfast, we pack our lunches, and saddle up. We trailer the horses, us in the van, to the start of the ride.

We will be riding up and up, through giant red hills, above Ten Sleep. Lunch find us in the shade of junipers, on a ridge, with great views. After lunch, we traverse along rocky limestone ridges and tabletops, to the Salt Lick Trail. This trail will take us down to the bottom of Ten Sleep Canyon. The trail winds down through Ponderosa pines, while limestone cliffs rise above. The views across the canyon will take your breath away. This is one of the most scenic, rugged, trails you will ever ride. The trailer and van are at the bottom, to take us back to camp.

Day Seven : We leave camp, cross the Nowood road and ride to the top of a giant red rim. The view is, once again, breathtaking, as we look down to Canyon Creek and up to the Big Horn Mountains. After taking it all in, we ride to Ten Sleep, passing up and down red hills, covered in Junipers, with different views coming up as we top another hill and see some new sights. After lunch, we arrive in Ten Sleep, where we tie our horses up to the waiting horse trailer. It is the last day and riders usually have built up quite a thirst by now. We can go to three different places according to your thirst; the bar, the soda fountain or the coffee shop. One way or another, your thirst will be quenched.

Guests will stay in a local motel and enjoy Ten Sleep dining in one of our fine restaurants.

Day Eight: Time to load our things up and head to the airport. You will have a sense of accomplishment as you step on the plane, knowing you did a ride that many people only dream of and fewer ever do.