Hiya Darlin',
Had an excellent night sleep, woke up to fog, waited for it to burn off before heading out around 10:30. Today we checked the White River trail, though there didn't seem to be hardly any damage on this trail, and the markings were fine. Had one tree down and a couple of closed gates, which I reported to my handler Steph. I had forgotten how much gravel there was on the river part of the trail, so Flash and I weren't too happy about that, but once we swerved away from the river, I took his boots off. The rest of the trail had much better footing. He was behaving very erratically, though, like he was in pain, then suddenly he'd take off for 50 yards, then slow down to nearly a crawl. Several times I even got off and walked beside him, I just don't know what's wrong. He finally sped up a bit on the last mile home, but I'm not sure it was because he was feeling any better, just anxious to get home and pushed through the pain. Suffice to say, it was a long day, and we got back to camp around 3:30. Steve and Cam, who I met here last year, had just come in. They parked right next to me so our awnings face each other. I washed down Flash, gave him a bute and rubbed some Absorbine on his legs. He does seem to be favoring one a bit, though not the same one as before, so I'll have to keep an eye on it. One more day of riding tomorrow and he can relax the rest of the weekend. I had a quick dinner, then sat outside and chatted with my neighbors for a bit before coming back for my tea, cookies, shower and bed! Good night, sweetie! Love you!

Hey Sweetie,
The rain that came in yesterday afternoon continued intermittently throughout the night, so my sleep was equally intermittent. I got up before the alarm, did my chores and breakfast, then killed some time until the radar showed the rain was just about gone. Saddled up Flash, who was extremely cooperative, so I got the impression he was happy and ready to go! We headed out around 11:30 on the shortest trail that I'll be doing, the 13.5 mile red trail, which, from what I've heard, had some of the worst damage done to it from the hurricane last year. That was, indeed, an accurate description. Some sections were fine, but some were completely torn up, hundreds of trees down and shoved off the one side, really ugly in some places, though it was well-marked as I had expected. I did some trimming as I went so now it's better, but it will take years, if ever, for some of this to recover. Still, I'm riding at the Biltmore, I'm on my boy Flash, the weather was fine once the rain moved out, so life is good! Good to be back on the road again! Love you, babe! Good night!

Hi Sweetie!
Woke up bright and early, got everything packed up after breakfast, and we managed to leave camp by about 9:20, almost right on schedule. Today was another day of lovely trails, though the noticeable difference was the number of other hikers that were also on the trail. The terrain was again beautiful, and we had to go by several hot springs and take a bridge over a hot stream, which, in an abundance of caution, Maureen took each mule over separately. Apparently a number of disasters have occurred on that bridge, and with a steaming hot stream to fall into, several animals have been badly scalded. We got over it with no problems, just taking our time. And before we knew it, we arrived at the trailhead around 12:30, with the truck and trailer waiting for us! We unpacked, sorted, loaded and were heading out within the hour. We arrived at the airport a few hours later, where I secured my rental car, transferred everything over, said good-bye to my new trail buddies, and headed over to the hotel. A quick stop at Albertsons for a couple of frozen dinners and cereal pots for the mornings, and I was soon checked into the hotel again. I took a long hot shower (after I took a short bath, stopping the drain with a washcloth as best I could), and I'm not going to be long out of bed, I'm exhausted! Good night, my darlin'! I so wish you had been able to come with me in person, though I know you were there every step of the way in spirit! Love you forever!

Hiya Darlin'!
Hard to believe this journey is nearly over! Woke up to a mostly sunny morning, which gave me the opportunity to do a good cleaning and drying of my tent. It was a leisurely morning, and we celebrated that the sun was making appearances. We packed up and hit the trail after noon, in no hurry since we only had a bit over five miles to go. This was a beautiful trail, one of my favorite sections of the South Boundary trail. I don't know if it was because of some more stunning views, or because there was finally no dust, or that it just smelled so fresh after the rain, but I found the whole experience just lovely. We mostly followed the Snake River, though we often were quite a ways above it, and at the end of the day, arrived at our camp, again on the Snake River. All the rain has turned the river a milky color, but we expect it will be mostly clear again by morning. Keaton tried his hand at fishing, while my focus was to pull everything out of my canvas duffel and set it out to dry. That was mostly successful, with the bag and all the contents getting dry enough to put away after dinner. My sandals managed to get dry, as well as my sheepskin saddle pad. I had to wear my rain pants today, not because it was raining, but because my saddle was so wet. Had another lovely dinner and another evening of going to bed early and reading. We have an early start tomorrow, we have about nine miles to reach to trailhead and many hours to reach Cody. What an amazing journey this has been! Good night, baby! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Today was the day our party was to split up. Tony and Ann were headed out with Chase, while I continued on with Maureen and Keaton. It started to rain about 9:30 last night, and was off and on all night and most of the day. The others got out of camp at 9:00, and it wasn't raining then, but it wasn't long before it was pouring down in camp. We waited until after 11:00 when in finally let up enough to mostly get packed and it was after 12:00 when we finally hit the trail. It was a lot of working packing the new configuration, and it continued to rain off and on during the day. Fortunately our next camp was only a mere 3.7 miles, so we arrived before 1:45. More rain made the setup complicated and we all had to set up between downpours. At last, around supper-time at 5:30, the sun finally broke through. We all hung our wetter stuff out to dry. After dinner, I did my Snowy River poem, and then headed to bed. Not even 8:00 yet! But I'll read for a few hours, as usual, before finally dozing off. Another short ride tomorrow, with overnight rain in the forecast, but now only cloudy skies tomorrow, which is an improvement! Good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hiya Darlin'!
Finally! A wildlife sighting! After days of fruitless searching, and constantly being told, well, it's midday so they're all sleeping excuses, we finally saw a mama grizzly and her three cubs! They were skirting around the camp a few hundred yards away, and I got some good pix and video. Yay! Afterward, we got on the trail around 10:30, doing another 13 miles to the next camp. Some of it was the prettier terrain that I've seen, with rolling hills and rivers running through it. Sadly, Tony was hurting pretty badly from his incident with the bees the other day, so we actually stopped for a lunch break, which we hardly ever to. I was glad, though, because I have a hard time eating when I'm constantly surround by dust. It was cloudy today, but no rain to settle the dust, so I've been wearing a bandana around my mouth every day. Maureen decided to carry on with the pack mules, and in some ways, it was a relief because there was a lot less dust stirred up that way. Then I got a little frustrated because I though the priority after lunch should have been to get ailing Tony back to camp ASAP, but instead, Chase made a choice to school his young mule along the way, so we were constantly stopping and starting, which I felt could only be more detrimental to Tony. Unfortunately, when I tried to discretely mention it to Chase, he blew up a me as if I had insulted him, which, of course, was not my intention. Anyway, I wasn't very happy about being chastised just because I was trying to help someone in pain, but ultimately, I had to let it go for the sake of harmony in camp. Another bear was spotted around supper-time, so hopefully we'll have another wildlife sighting tomorrow. There's also suppose to be a hot spring around here somewhere, and they're hopefully going to find it not too far from camp. The thought of soaking in a hot spring is utterly delicious. I hope it happens. Meanwhile, I'm in bed by 8:00, still daylight, but what else is there to do but read? I'll do so for a couple of hours, at least, just to try to maintain some semblance of normal. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hiya Sweetie!
I took four ibuprofen before bedtime, and that finally seemed to do the trick. I mostly had an excellent night sleep. I woke up around 3:30 and took the opportunity to gaze at the night sky from my tent. Magnificent! Indescribable! Every part of the sky was filled with something amazing! Stars, the Milky Way, galaxies, nebulas, truly indescribable! What magnificence! After being totally awed by the stars, I returned to bed and slept for a few more hours, feeling fully refreshed by the time I started the day. We headed out of camp just after 10:30, and traversed through more pine forests on rocky trails (which has reminded me why I don't want to bring my horses out west!) and went nearly ten slow miles to our next camp. Our trail was slow going with many downed trees, which required our crack wrangler team to clear before we had safe passage. We ran into another string of pack mules on their way to resupply some other camp somewhere near Heart Lake, but otherwise, there wasn't much activity on the trail. We finally reached our camp, which our outfitter had never used before, but because of the peculiar configuration of this trip (with the other two guests leaving after ten days, and me continuing alone for two more days) they've had to do some things differently. Nevertheless, it's a lovely camp, right next to a creek, with lots of grazing for the animals and very convenient for the laundry I intend to do tomorrow. It was another gorgeous day weather-wise, though a bit hot for the locals, though perfect for this Florida gal! Dinner tonight was ribeye steak and a lovely apple dessert, and they even broke out into a rendition of Happy Birthday for me. I had cracked open my Jim Beam honey for the occasion. There were a few brief moments of cell connection which enabled me to send birthday greetings to my friend Jo, who shares my birthday, and found she'd sent me similar wishes as they crossed through cyberspace before I lost the signal. I forgot to mention, when I woke up this morning, a corner of my washcloth was frozen! Anyway, it was a lovely day, a lovely Birthday, and I'm looking forward to a restful day tomorrow! Good night,
darlin'! Love you!

Hey Darlin'!
I'm starting to work out the most efficient way to start the day. Get dressed, go do my due diligence with the shovel when necessary (I've down to every other day), have breakfast (preferably just as it's coming hot off the grill), then start the process of packing. t takes them so long to pack up everything, I have plenty of time to do a good job of packing and still end up sitting around for an hour or more before we leave. Meanwhile, last night I did go stand out in the field for awhile to see the stars, but it took so long for it to get dark, I gave up on it. I hoped that's tonight's location would be more open so I can see them from my tent. We headed out about 10:30 again, with more pine trees than I could count, and it was the most interesting trail we've taken so far. We crossed the Yellowstone River and headed up and over the Two Oceans plateau, where the continental divide splits a stream, and each goes to a different ocean. That actual confluence isn't in the park, so we didn't get to see it, but we clearly did cross the divide. Our big excitement today was a number of times we ran into bees. The first time was the scariest, partly because it was so unexpected and partly because it happened on a steep climb with a dropoff, though thankfully it was more open at that point, and not surrounded by trees. The mules in front started acting up, and Maureen tried to hurry them past. We waited for them to get clear, then Chase instructed that we were going to try to get past them as fast as possible, and started up the hill. Unfortunately, his pretty mule Betty didn't like that idea and she quickly turned around on the down side and started slipping down the side of the hill. My horse Randy started to turn around, too, but I figured I'd be better off following the original plan and get out of the way, so I headed him uphill and managed to get a brief but nice lope out of him. Meanwhile, Chase managed to safely dismount and his mule managed to stop herself from sliding down the slope, and everyone else turned around and headed back downhill. I got stung by a wasp that got caught under my black neck gaiter, but that seemed to be the only one. I stayed with the pack mules while Maureen went down to help Chase, and it wasn't long before we were back on track. We had two more run-ins with bees, and once Tony's mule did a few rodeo hops with him, but again, no one seemed to be hurt, though later it became clear that those hops affected Tony, he got real stiff and immobile later on. We took a break at a retired campsite and walked and climbed up a rock where two creeks converge, then traveled a few more rough miles before finally arriving at our camp at 4:45. By then I was exhausted, and only came out for dinner, but was happy that my tent was next to a meadow and a nearby creek, so I took advantage and did a complete wash down tonight. I'm also hoping to see some stars from my tent, assuming I can stay awake long enough for it to get dark. New moon tonight, so it should be brilliant. Long, tiring day, but we move again tomorrow, then have a day off Monday. Looking forward to that! Good night, babe! Love you!



Hiya Sweetie!
Today was quite a bit more relaxed. While I woke up around 6:00 to the sound of bells, foot stomping and horses grazing (evidently that all came back to camp), and I was wishing I had put my earplugs in, I got up and started packing. Breakfast was a breakfast muffin with eggs and bacon, and the tempo was pretty relaxed. It takes a lot of time to pack up and load the mules, so I mostly read until we finally departed around 10:30. Today we had an extra special occurrence. We stopped at the famous Thorofare Ranger Station, which is billed as the most remote place in the lower 48 (50+ miles from the nearest road,) but because there's a fire nearby, it was being used as a staging position for the firefighters, and was therefore manned. In fact, we had seen multiple helicopter flights heading in that direction, and either dropping off or picking up gear. The man coordinating the rangers, I think he said his name was Zack or Zeb, was very kind and generous, and gave us the rare opportunity of a tour around the inside of their cabin, which is typically unmanned and locked. What a treat! The ancient wood stoves and other paraphernalia were amazing! We also got to see inside their barn, which was mostly being used for storage for the thirty firefighters currently stationed there (mostly in tents) and the corrals and pastures that have obviously been there for ages. We heard a lot of history and had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch time with them. Tony found a very odd tooth, possibly a fossil, and the ranger took it, promising to find out what it belonged to. We finally headed out and weren't out of that camp for five minutes when another helicopter dropoff came by. We were worried about how the critters would react to a helicopter close up if it came into camp while we were there, but the timing was perfect. It wasn't long before we crossed a wide valley to our new camp. I was surprised that in the miles of open fields that we traveled that we didn't see a single specimen of wildlife. Not a deer, or bison, elk or mountain goat. I had high hopes of seeing wildlife, and have thus far been somewhat disappointed. But we're only Day Four, so there's still hope. I'm hoping to stay up late enough to see some starts. I still remember that magnificent night sky we saw in Wyoming that one time when we were camping, when the stars were so thick we couldn't even pick out the constellations. Since we're so remote here, I'm hoping for something similar, if I can stay awake that long! We did see some spectacular scenery, but frankly, nothing that surpasses some of the other sites I've seen. Looking forward to the rest of the trip! Good night, my darlin'! Love you!

Hi Babe!
Since today was slated to be our longest ride of the excursion, nearly 20 miles (though it turned out to be less than 18, for which I am grateful!), I was up bright and early, before 6:00. I again had a fitful night, waking every few hours, even though I had taken ibuprofen and melatonin, though the last segment was the longest and deepest, and again, I almost missed hearing my alarm. I had put my earplugs in after the wind kicked up and it got noisy. A quick breakfast of yogurt and granola, packing up (my tent took me five minutes just to squeeze it into the bag), and we were on the trail shortly after 9:00. Where yesterday was hot, dry and cloudless, today was cooler, cloudy and windy. We had one tiny couple of raindrops, but otherwise it was an uneventful, though beautiful ride, first along the shoreline of Yellowstone Lake, then following Yellowstone River, finally cutting into a draw that was our campsite for tonight and tomorrow. Everybody needs rest and this is a lovely, out of the way spot. I managed to get my tent up with only one small correction, and I'm working on getting more air in my skinny mattress than last night, in hopes I will get a full night sleep! I need to stop eating lunch, though, it's way too much food and I'd rather have dinner. It's touch eating on horseback with all the dust. Almost wishing it would rain and settle it, I've had my bandanna over my nose all day, almost! Dinner was chili and cornbread with cheesecake for dessert, and I finally cracked open my box of wine, since we have the day off tomorrow. Back in my tent just after 8:00, sure hoping I get a good night sleep tonight! Good night, sweetheart! Love you!