Vacation Day 9 – Horseback Riding

Today we decided to take an all day horseback ride into the Lee Metcalf Wilderness in Montana.

On Sunday when we were out shopping I saw a sign in a store we had just left advertising an outfitting business that offered various hunting and fishing trips as well as plain horseback rides. On Monday we went back and booked an all day ride for Friday. We told her that we were experienced riders who were looking for a long ride into the backcountry, not just a simple dude ride.

This morning at 9am we met our guide and the one other rider at a turnout north of West Yellowstone. After some paperwork and last minute planning, we headed west into the wilderness area to the trailhead. Once there they unloaded our horses and we hit the trail.

We knew right away that this was a different type of ride than we had ever been on before. We immediately started up a narrow trail, climbing through steep switchbacks up a mountainside. Stacie was immediately comfortable on her horse, but I was still struggling to find my seat and get comfortable with my horse as we rode through forests and meadows, continually climbing up into the high country.

Our first stop was after a two hours of serious riding. A female black bear and her cubs were up ahead of us on the trail. Luckily they were out in the meadow a little way from the tree line so we were able to see them ahead of time and wait for them to move on. After a couple minutes she took he cubs back into the woods and disappeared, and we moved up into the meadow and stopped for lunch.

We got food out of our saddle bags and enjoyed a fantastic mountain view while having a leisurely lunch. After about 45 minutes we got back in the saddle and continued on down the trail.

By this time I was settling in and had mostly worked things out with my horse, Tonto. We descended down a steep slope into a valley with a stream running through it. After watering the horses in the stream we continued upstream for a while until the trail disappeared. Our guide got out the map and figured out that we needed to climb back out of the valley and take a different fork in the trail.

We continued to work our way deeper into the foothills through numerous steep, technical climbs and descents. We took another break after a couple hours in the saddle, which I was thankful for as my bad knee was starting to hurt. At this point we had to turn back, because the trail was too long to make it a loop in a single day.

The long ride back was just as challenging and technical as the ride out, plus we were now tired from half a day of almost nonstop riding. During one narrow stretch of trail above a steep rocky drop-off the ground collapsed under my horse’s right front hoof, causing him to drop almost to his knees and balance on three feet while trying not to slide down the slope. Luckily I was able to stay balanced and let him recover and get back onto the trail without any serious issues.

Stacie and I knew that we were going to be sore and painful from a ride this long, given our current amount of riding, but we were not prepared for how challenging this trail was and for the different types of aches and pains we would be experiencing. During the ride back, the pain increased until we were riding more on willpower and determination than strength and skill. Instead of the typical riding aches, we were having most of the pain in our knees, and ankles. Is this another sign that we are getting old, when our joints get tired faster than our muscles? My bad knee was tightening up until I could only move it a couple degrees in each direction, making it impossible to use my right heel on my horse. Luckily our guide was also feeling the ride, though not as bad, so she had no problem taking a couple short breaks on the way back.

We got back to the trailhead at 4:30pm, gave the horses back to the outfitter and headed back to camp. We spent the rest of the evening taking pain relievers and trying to relax. Between the standard muscle pains, the joint pain, minor dehydration and sunburn it is taking us all evening to recover. However, it was a once in a lifetime ride and we are gladly paying the price. This was the perfect way to finish out our vacation.