|
Eagle's Eye Riding Schedule Chances are good we will see some eagles on this ride, as the views are incredible every day. If the skies are clear we will be able to see all the way to Montana! That’s a long, long way. This is a good ride, with a large variety of scenery and a lot of miles in the saddle. In fact, it is hard to find another ride with such a wide variety of terrain, all of it gorgeous and vast.
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. Day Three: We will have breakfast, pack lunches, saddle up and leave camp. Our destination is Big Trails. It is a long ride, and we will travel through a variety of land, with some breathtaking views along the way. There are some places that we have to be really careful and trust out horses to be surefooted and there are some places we can open them up and have a good run. We have lunch along Otter Creek. There's some good grass for the horses and shade for us, to relax in. After leaving Otter Creek, we climb away from the creek, riding on a primitive road. We top out in an area that had a huge fire seven years ago. The sage was burned and the grass has come in really good. There's a great stretch to run the horses. It's a good adrenaline rush as the horses really open up for a mile or more. We are picked up, at Big Trails, in the van. The horses are trailered. We all return to the Nowood Camp.
Day
Four: After breakfast, we pack our lunches, and also our things.
We will move camp today. We'll load up in the van, the horses in
the trailer and head to Mahogany Butte. This incredible butte rises
steeply above the Nowood Creek. Huge limestone cliffs attest to
a period millions of years ago, when Wyoming was covered by ancient
oceans. In more recent history, buffalo climbed up steep rocky slopes
to reach the grassy meadows at the top. We will use the same trails
as the buffalo did, to eventually make our way to camp. It is a
long, steep climb. But it is worth it. We ride on through vast sage covered meadows, with some great places for gallops. We will pass through another small canyon, filled with quaking aspen that remind you of an impressionists painting. After a lot of up hill, we reach camp on Cherry Creek Hill. We are up quite high and the views of Wyoming are tremendous. You can see for a hundred miles, clear up to Montana, and south towards, the Wind River Range. We will stay here two nights. Day Five: We are on the Hampton Ranch and chances are that Sam Hampton will need some help working his cattle. He may need some rounded up and trailed to another pasture, or he may have calves to sort, etc. So, we will help Sam out, and get a little taste of what it's like to be a cowboy. Sam loves to have us there and you will enjoy his western sense of humor as we trail the "doggies". Cherry Creek Hill is also a great place to ride, with stands of pine trees and aspen, and we have a good chance to see some elk as we ride. It is a fun day to immerse ourselves in the local cowboy culture. Day Six: We pack all our things as camp will be moved back to the Nowood Camp. We ride off of Cherry Creek Hill, traversing along another huge canyon, where we may catch a glimpse of Sam's horse herd. He raises Paso Finos. They are beautiful to see, mares and colts running along with their manes and tails flying along. We continue on down and eventually find ourselves riding along the bottom of giant red cliffs, finally climbing up through them, to have lunch in a place with another great view. We are making our way, up and down, in some rough, scenic country, to Big Trails. It is the geologic border between the Big Horn Basin and the Big Horn Mountains. The landscape is quite convoluted and broken up. Giant red Ten Sleep Sandstone bluffs dominate the horizons.
The
views are breathtaking as we ride up and down the slopes. You can
see 100 miles across the Basin towards Yellowstone, the Rocky Mountains
and even up to the Pryor Mountains in Montana! 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. 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. Included are all meals at camp and during the ride, dinner the first and last nights of the ride. Horses and tack are included. Not included is lunch the day of arrival or breakfast on the departure day. All tips or gratuities should be given to the trip leader at the end of the ride, to be distributed among the crew. |
