[pct-l] CURRENT trail conditioins Mammoth to S.City

[Edward Anderson]

Hi Puddlejumper,

Thanks for your post with info.


To answer your question:  It depends on how much he is carrying and on how long and steep the pass is. Is it really rocky - with step-ups?  I might ride  or "tail" on long uphills like that. I would not either walk alongside or lead. I tail a lot with my horses. I rode Primo on my long PCT journey to Canada.  "Tailing" is when you walk behind the horse while holding on to its tail with one hand and the extended reins with the other. I can walk up a 15% grade as easily as if I were on the level by this method. I sometimes tail during 50 and 100 mile endurance races. This summer I will be riding Neekalos. He is also an Arabian, is very tough and sure-footed. He has won five endurance races and holds two course records. His most recent win was last August - a 50-miler at Chamberlain Creek. That is a very challenging course with 6920 vertical feet of accumulated gain. Our ride time was about four and one-half hours, which included his recovery time at
 the three Vet checks. The clock continues to run until your horse's pulse drops to criteria, which on that course was 60bpm. I met hiker Tom Bache during my PCT ride in 2008. He hiked while I rode, and sometimes walked and tailed.  You can find Tom's post and description on search by typing in:          edandersonpct         just one word, no spaces. Then scroll down

MendoRider


From: Personal <valentijordan at gmail.com>
To: Edward Anderson <mendoridered at yahoo.com>
Cc: "pct-l at backcountry.net" <pct-l at backcountry.net>; "ned at mountaineducation.org" <ned at mountaineducation.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 4, 2011 8:26 AM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] CURRENT trail conditioins Mammoth to S.City

I don't think any pass I saw in mid/late July was horse passable.  We kicked steps on almost everything, and all but selden had at least 3/4 mi of consolidated snow and deep (2'-thigh high) suncups.  Selden may have been but I don't remember enough.  Nor do I know what is possible for a horse.

Personal curiosity: Do people ride the horse up the pass or walk next to it?

Puddlejumper

Sent from my iPhone (please excuse typos!)

On Aug 4, 2011, at 7:15 AM, Edward Anderson <mendoridered at yahoo.com> wrote:

> With Ned's recent post on the subject of "trail report words" in mind, I can say that I have had confusion in interpreting trail information coming from hikers. Of course, they are describing what they recall and from the perspective as hikers with various levels of capability.  Since I will be riding a horse, simple descriptive words like "doable" or "piece of cake", etc. don't tell me much. I have been monitoring the snow melt and stream crossing descriptions for the past two months. I have talked to hikers at Carson Pass, Pooh Corner and Sierra City, asking what they remember about what they saw and experienced between Mammoth and Sierra City. I did get one very detailed description from one hiker named "leave it Be".  He described deep snow on some steep north-facing slopes and under the canopy of trees that he thought would be very difficult or impossible for an equestrian. Describing one spot, he wondered if the snow would melt enough THIS YEAR.
> If there is no safe way around, some of these places could be trail-stoppers for me. That is why I have postponed my start date to ride south from Sierra City until August 23.
> 
> What I am hoping for is that some of the hikers who have RECENTLY passed through parts of the PCT between Mammoth and Sierra City will post reports with an equestrian in mind.
> 
> I would like to thank my hiker-friends in advance for posting this information
> 
> MendoRider
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