What Happened to Belinda and The Long Ride!

Friends, some time has passed since the last update on Belinda Dougherty's ride through Wyoming and Montana to the Canadian Border. In mid-October, I became concerned about the lack of word so I send an email to a friend of Belinda's, and Belinda responded back in late October, just before I went on vacation. In the spirit of catching up, here's the final update that I received from Belinda in October.

Hi Paul,
How's it goin'? Didn't realize that you didn't get the last update to my ride.
We rode as far as Ennis MT. By that time, what started out as a bruise, on Jim Bob, had the hair rubbed off- a spot about the size of an egg, just below his withers. We didn't want to wait 2 weeks or more for the hair to grow back, and we didn't want to get him rubbed raw. We dodn't have a replacement for him, so we came home. Went 392 miles, over 12 mt passes, averaging 6-9,000 verticle ft per day. We both hated to quit. I hope I can take some time to continue next summer. I really have the bug now.
After we left Gardiner, we rode north then west through the Gallatin Petrified Forest. It rained the entire night, before we rode the next day, up to the Gallatin Divide, a steep muddy SOB. Going down the other side, the horses were sliding about 10ft per stride. A bit hairy and steep. The steep downhill is what started JB's bruise getting more sore. The downhill puts all the weight on the front of the horse. Teriffic views of course. Came down to the highway near Big Sky- hikers and mt bikers everywhere. Then. crossed the highway and rode up Buck Creek Ridge. This ridge goes up to 9,500ft. We followed the ridge, camping on it-awesome views of mts all around. The ridge circled around to the ski area before climbing up a narrow ridge and dropping steeply down the west side into the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area and down into the forest..
Our final trail out of there, towards Ennis ws on a trail that hadn't been used in many years. Had to be very attentive as to the route. Tons of deadfall everywhere. It was a hard trail. Don't think I'll take that one again.
I kept a journal and am writing it up. Also did some paintings. Hopefully, I can figure out a way to get it published.

Meanwhile, I have decided to do 4 Renegade Rides next spring.

I'm sorry that Belinda was stopped short of her goal, but the health and welfare of our horses comes first. I hope that she has the opportunity to try again next year.

If anyone is interested in riding with Belinda in 2010, please let me know and I'll forward your email to her. I rode with her in Wyoming in 1993 and 1994, and they were absolutely wonderful trips. For the scheduled trips in 2010, Belinda intends to include some time with colt starting, where riders will have a colt of their own to work with.

Long Rider Belinda Reaches Cooke City and then Gardiner, Montana

Belinda has emailed two updates -- the first one describes a rough trip to Cooke City, MT, through the mountains east of Yellowstone, including two grizzly bear sightings. The second post describes the trip west from Cooke City to Gardiner, MT, across some very rugged mountains with more grizzly bear sightings. Here's the latest:

We are finally in Cooke city,now. Had a few detours that probably cost us 3 days. Trails we rode to were not brushed out from the fires. Spent a day going in circles, up to 10,000 ft, almost. Hard work for the horses. Our first day out of Pahaska we saw a male griz. Probably 100 yds away. He didn't even give us a hello or anything. We camped at Camp Monaco, Buff Bills old campsite. The whole place was burned in 88, kind of a drag. The next day we climbed to over 10,00 ft to a pass. The descent on
the other side was pretty hairy. A thousand vertical feet of rocks about the size of grapefruits, on average, plus quite a few snow fields, wind, rain and hail kept us company, too. Hard going for the ponies, wading through the rocks and steep descents. Finally got to the bottom, in a nice wet forest. The creek was running hi and muddy. Camped at an old cabin that was pretty cool. Also saw a female griz and cub the second day out of camp. Wildflowers were to die for. The smells were great, especially in the deep forest. Nice to ride in a forest that wasn't burned. Due to
the closed trails, we had to ride the road from Little Sunlight to Crandel, where we stayed at a campground and had showers! Really good grass everywhere and the horses may be gaining weight. 2 more days brought us to here. The whole place is tore up with road construction. We had rain every day and night until now. Nice to have the sun all day and have dry feet for once. My mule is sore footed, so a shoer
is coming from Cody today. Then we will be on our way to Gardiner. Guess we will be in some deep wilderness then. Hope the trails are brushed. We have met some interesting and nice people along the way. Some real characters. They probably think the same about us.

Well, that's the short version.
Happy trails,
Belinda

Next update:

Made it to Gardiner MT. Haven't seen one elk or moose, but did have a
griz walk by camp one morning. Rode in lots of snow, rainand wind. But
also had sunny days. Gorgeous country from high to low. Wildflowers
everywhere. I have so many flower pictures. Here in Gardiner, bought hay
from Bill Hopppe, 5th generation rancher. Nice guy. His great grandad
was the first white person born in MT. Horses are holding up well,
except Jim Bob threw a shoe. Had one put on this am by an old guy who has
shod 23,000, by his count. We all swapped some good stories. We are at a
campground above the Yellowstone river. Lots of rafters an kayakers
going by.
The way we got here is Cooke city, over Daisy Pass, over Wolverine Pass,
camped on Wolverine ck. Rode over the divide between Wolverine and Lost
creek, to Slough Creek, up again over another pass, down to Buffalo Guard
station, camped. Out of Buffalo,up over another pass, down to
Hellroaring (what a creek and cool bridge crossing), camped. Rode to Fawn
Lake, camped and then to Jardine, an old mining town,old mines everywhere,
a cool graveyard with lots of people dying in 1902, from flu, I believe.
Rode on towards Gardiner, stayed at Eagle creek campground, then on to
Gardiner yesterday. We will leave here Sat for the trails to Ennis.
Guess we may see some mt goats along the way- I hope!
Take care all,
Belinda

If you check the map at the top of the page, you can see that the route from Cooke City to Gardiner and now to Ennis to the northwest crosses some very rugged mountains. I'm sure we all wish Belinda and Jim a continued safe trip and good weather crossing that territory.

Bad Luck Hits the Long Riders

Bad luck hit the Long Riders as they completed the first segment of the ride. Here is Belinda's description of the ride and what happened:

Hi Everyone,
I'm afraid, after one week on the trail, crossing the Big Horn Basin to Meeteetse, that the ride is over for now. We arrived in Meeteetse and Christina got on line , only to find out that her mom had been hit by a car, while riding her bicycle! She sustained some head injuries and Christina had to fly home to take care of her. I dropped her off at the airport this am and picked up the horses in Meeteetsee. So... does anyone out there want to come out and continue the ride with me? I have all the food, horses, bear-proof panniers, etc and I am going crazy having to put the ride on hold.

We had a very hot ride across the Basin. By the second day, it was apparant that the little grey mule, Rosie, as not going to work. She is very round backed, short necked, narrow shouldered. The first day I had not only the britching on her pack saddle, but also a croupper. The saddle stayed in place pretty good. The second day we discovered that the croupper had rubbed her tail raw. Took off the croupper, tightened up the britching as much as possible. Didn't matter if we were in the hills or flats. The saddle slipped forward onto her shoulders. We had to constantly re adjust her pack, poor girl. Some of you may think that we could of tightened the britching more. Believe me, it was tight, didn't matter. So, once we made Worland, I traded her out for my old horse Reggie. He's an ace and I was gled to have him. The ride from Worland to Meeteetse was very hot and dry. There were times when I'd be dreaming of ice tea, or jumping in a big pool of water. It took us 3 days to cross from Worland to Meeteetse.( 2 days- Ten Sleep - Worland). We saw lots of antelope, some wild horses, eagles, hawks and crows. Had to use the water filter the last night. We camped at an old cow camp. There was a waterhole that looked like a milk shake. The filter worked great, although it plugged up. The water came out clear and tasted great. Took overnight to get a gallion. The terrain leading to Meeteetsee was colorful badlands formations, with no rhyme or reason as to the lay of the land. The steep hills ran everywhich way, and there was no easy way across. Up and down, back and forth we went. There were quit a few severe thunder storms that threatened us but always went around us, luckily. We were quite happy to finally make town, take showers and have a cold drink. I thought we were doing pretty good and was really looking forward to getting into the mountains. That is until Christina got the news. Then the world came crashing down. Hopefully, her mom will recover. Perhaps Christina may be able to come back in a few weeks. But, she may be strapped to get the $ for the plane tickets. Arggh!
The first day out of Worland, we saw a big cottonwood tree, in the middle of the hot sagebrush covered badlands. Rode over to take a break. Got in the shade and 2 great horned owls took off out of the tree, right over our heads. One more just sat there, 20 ft away, just staring. There were a couple nests there. I told Christina that the Sioux Indians consider owls bad luck and that we should take our break under another tree. I guess, in retrospect, that they could of been bad luck. Well, I'm ready for some good luck- anyone want to join me?

Belinda

If any of you Mature Riders want to join Belinda to continue the ride, let me know and I'll put you in touch.