FROM: Wendy Anderson, Schellbourne Re-riders Pony Express
PST
Hello, fellow Pony Riders, well we have all done it once again. Hope it was a great experience for everyone involved.
Our group of 21 riders was scheduled to pick up the mail at 11:30 p.m. Nevada time, it was a few hours late. Shortly before 4:00 a.m. we took off down the trail. Our riders were all lined out clear to Tippets Flat. In the lead, we had our Nevada State President, Arthur Johnson lighting the way for us on his 4-wheeler. It was a huge help in making it safer for our riders as we passed 8 cattle guards from where we started until we reached Rock Springs. So, thanks Arthur for all your help!
Riders riding from Ibapah, Utah clear to Rock Springs included the following: Tony Zamora, Wendy Anderson, Savannah Anderson, G.N. Christensen, Chris Christensen, Gene Ockert, Claude Malnack, Jordan Starbuck; then at Tippets Flats we had Eva Jensen, Bridget Jefferies, Sue Ann Cornwell and Carol Hunt ride. This took us up to Rock Springs turn off, where Doc Christensen and his son took another 4 miles up to the Pony turn around spot. Savannah Anderson and Marilyn Linares rode over 8 miles through a mountain range that reached over 8,000 feet in elevation at one point. Although they were not able to move quickly up the trail, they covered some tough mountain miles. Good job ladies!
At the top of Rock Springs we dropped off Ariel, Jordan and Candy to cover some tough miles (about 9) down to Voglers Ranch. These miles were covered at break neck speed, they almost beat the trucks and trailers down the mountain.
Candice Bridgers had a rough trip this year. Before she even arrived at the Hicks Ranch, she blew a tire. On the top of Rock Springs she lost another tire. She ended up with two young girls and a couple kids too. Boy, my cowboy hat is off to her, that would have taken a lot of patience to put up with and have all the vehicle/tire problems she had. Candice covered 8 miles for us on a really great horse, who has always been very dependable for Candy. She came to us all the way from Colorado, and I personally hope to see her back again next year, as we really need her help.
Schellbourne Pass was next with 13 tough up hill miles to cover. Riders like Gene Ockert, Claude Malnack, Bridget, Sue Ann, Eva, Carol, Candy and anyone else that wanted a few miles in the first half of the ride lined out to cover the miles up the pass and down to Schellbourne Station and the monument for breakfast.
Calvin Kennedy, Barbara Anderson and Mandy Dickerson had arranged to take time off from work to come to Schellbourne Station and prepare breakfast for our group of tired and hungry riders. So, thanks to you three for doing this for all of us. They have been riders in the past and could not make it all happen and ride this year, but we appreciated their contributions to our group.
At Schellbourne, we ate, cleaned up, watered and fed horses, put air in tires and fuel in tanks and took off again.
The mail did not stop, Savannah lined out for 2 miles and handed off to Pi Linares of which handed off to Marilyn Linares, and everyone else started lining out across the valley heading to Egan Canyon. I am not sure who all got into this line up, as the rest of the riders headed around Cherry Creek to get into place on the other side of Egan Canyon.
At Schellbourne Station, we lost Savannah, of which had to leave to go home to start preparing for her upcoming wedding, but we picked up Ken Heinbaugh and his daughter, Holly Omar. Savannah is marrying Kade Jensen and we hope to get him into Pony Express some day too!
Doc Chris and his son, Chris took the mail up into Egan Canyon and handed off to Claude Malnack and Gene Ockert. It is a long way across this mountain range and you have to have good horses, we were actually short a horse on this pass, but the guys covered the miles and in pretty good time too. Thanks guys, I know it was tough, but I knew you could do it too.
Eva Jensen brought the mail down from the mine road to the Butte Valley road where she handed off to Bridget Jefferies and Sue Ann Cornwell. These ladies ride some big, strong horses and they always cover the miles that are asked of them in good time.
Tony Zamora and Jordan Starbuck went where only horses can go through White Rock, about 8 miles. They did great, covered the miles in really good time, but their horses were definitely tired when they came out of the last mountain and out to the road where all our riders were waiting.
Ken Heinbaugh and Holly Omar took the mail from here. Even though they did not move really fast down the trail, they were there and they covered the miles for us.
Coming up in the Mavericks, we had a truck get stuck and some of us spent a bit of time trying to resolve this problem. Special thanks to the ham operators for all their help during this time. As luck would have it, we had riders in the front all lined out thanks to Tom Love and Carol Hunt keeping people going. As the Ride Captain, I was fit to be tied not knowing what was going on, but when we moved up the Mavericks, we found out that Candy and a few other riders had covered the miles to get us to Ruby Valley where they sent Ariel and her horse down the trail. Tony and I took off after her, knowing that she did not know the trail and where to go. It was a good thing that we did, she left the trail and we had to catch her and turn her around. It only cost us a few minutes time. We sent Jordan down the trail with Ariel. The wind was blowing hard and the temperatures had dropped, it was beginning to rain. The girls covered the miles and we all met up for the final 20 miles of 144. Everyone with a horse with anything left, got in line to cover the miles.
I even got in line twice and did 4 more miles. I say even, because a few weeks ago I took a shoulder dive into the dirt off a horse. The first time I have come off in over 13 years. Not really good timing on my part and my shoulder separation made it painful to ride too many miles this year, but not even my physical therapist could keep me off my horse. My last ride was a good one, my horse had decided he was not going to be left behind, so he ran as fast as he could to keep up with the trailer. That was a fast 2 miles.
Ariel rode her horse up a mile or so and handed off to Chris Christensen of whom, took off riding straight uphill to cover part of the final 4-5 miles where he would hand off to his dad, who has been riding for 32 years straight. So, the toughest ride of the 18 hours comes late with Doc Christensen handing the mail off on the top of the Diamonds (Overland Pass). They reported to me that they handed off at 8:11 p.m. Although we could not make up all the time, we did shave some time off to help get it closer to on time.
I hope everyone had a great time and good experience. It takes a lot of time, talent, good horses, trucks, trailers, tires, money and devotion to make it all happen in our group, as well as in yours too. Special thanks to all my riders for this devotion! 🙂 I may have forgotten, or not known where someone rode or did something great, if so, forgive me for not giving you credit where it was deserved.
Thanks to all the ham operators who were there for us through the miles of Pony Express trail– you are awesome!