We just had one of the best adventures of our lives.

We went on a 3 day 2 night camping/horseback riding trip with the Icicle Outfitters in the Cascade Mountains and we couldn’t have had a better time! We got to their stables at 9am on Wednesday. We prepped all our belongings for them to transport, used a plumbed bathroom one last time, signed our life away to acknowledge that we knew we were riding horses and out in nature and accidents might happen, and then hopped in the truck and drove to our starting point.

We drove about 10 miles, were given a brief review of basic horseback riding tips and then were on our way.

Fred and Jeff were our wranglers and were great! Fred used to be on the rodeo circuit and Jeff used to work in the forestry service. Bruce the owner, is lucky to have both of these guys working for him because they totally knew their stuff!
My horse was named Comanche, Cats was named Juniper, H had Jimmy, Fred had Emerald and Jeff had Valley. It was amazing how each of our horses had their own personality. Juniper liked to go slow and be at the back of the pack, Comanche liked to sneak a bite of grass whenever given the chance, Jimmy didn’t like water and was competitive, Emerald liked to walk fast and be in the lead of the pack and Valley just did whatever Jeff told her to do.

Initially we just got used to the horses and took it slow but once we relaxed a bit,  conversation came easier and we really started having a great time. Cat did awesome from the very start. Her horse was a bit ornery at times and was at the back of the pack but Jeff always stayed with her and continued to give her helpful tips along the way.  We were about 2 hours into the ride and really enjoying the scenery when Juniper decided she wanted to lay down. I watched the whole thing happen and couldn’t even think to respond until it was too late. In a matter of a second, Cat was slowly lowered to the ground and then Juniper rolled a bit and rolled onto Cat’s foot. I think the situation scared her more than it hurt but she was very shaken up and favoring her left foot. H and Fred checked her out and even though her ankle was tender she was able to walk on it and got right back on the horse.

We rode on another hour and stopped at a beautiful wooded patch for lunch. We rested for about 30 minutes and then hopped on and rode some more. We mainly rode on the dirt path but did some “off trail riding” which was a lot of fun.  At one point the route got a bit rough to go thru and we headed back to the path.

I wonder who put these flowers on Juniper…

About 1 mile before camp, we broke off the trail again, rode thru the canyon under the canopy of trees and made our way to our home for the next 2 nights.

In all,  we were told we rode about 12 miles that first day. I don’t think words can express how sore our behinds were! We were really happy to see camp but sitting down once we got there was a bit of a challenge. We were greeted with cold beverages and Bruce’s smiling face. We set up our tent, organized our belongings  and  settled in.

Bruce made an amazing dinner of pork chops, baked potatoes, beans with bacon and an apple pie dessert (the same recipe that my Aunt Judy had just told me about 2 weeks prior!) with his dutch ovens. Jeff’s wife and stepson Brendan joined us at camp as well and Cat was in heaven to have someone her age to play with.

 

Due to fire restrictions, we couldn’t light a fire but we could still use charcoal bricks. We were getting a bit chilly so H grabbed our mattress pump to get them going! We all laughed around our fire pit, were thoroughly entertained by Fred and his stories and called it an early night because we were exhausted. It was a great day!

We woke up the next morning to the smell of breakfast cooking in the dutch ovens. Bruce made a breakfast egg  hash/pizza, cinnamon rolls and there was fresh cantelope and strong coffee.

With our stomachs full, we hopped on our horses again and readied ourselves for our second day of adventure (sore behinds and all)!

 

We requested more “off trail riding” as it was a lot more fun and challenging and such a change of scenery. We really got what we asked for! The horses really knew what they were doing and didn’t need much direction from us. To be honest, we probably messed them up more than we helped them at times! We went up and down a few very steep canyons and I will be honest, all 3 of us had moments of terror at times. That said, the horses knew exactly what they were doing the entire time and the feeling of accomplishment after each struggle was amazing. We felt so alive and had such pride once we got back down to the path. After about 3 hours, we stopped for lunch under some trees at the edge of a meadow. Jeff spotted a deer and its fawn about 350 yards across the other side of the valley. How he spotted them with his bare eyes, I will never know but we spent the next 20 minutes watching them and relaxing. (Deer count for the day was 14. No bucks though.) From here we continued up the meadow and headed back to camp and got there around 4pm. It was by far the most exhilarating and intense day of horseback riding of my life for this city slicker. Cat and H also loved the day as well. Cat even thought “the day was really fun but scary and kind of hard at times.” She even wants to do it again someday so it is good to hear we didn’t scare her off of horseback riding!


Chef Bruce used his dutch ovens again and made chicken and rice, salad and warm buttered bread with peach cobbler for dessert. We weren’t as tired that night and stayed up later listening to Fred’s poetry, funny stories and jokes. Brendan and his mom Shantelle came back for the night and the kids loved being able to hang out in the tents eating junk food watching movies on her tablet.


The sun dropped quickly and the moon slowly started to show itself. The stars became brighter as the night went on and by the end of the night the sky view was absolutely out of this world. It was a perfect way to end our last night of this “out of this world” adventure.  (Funny how the Boogieman doesn’t even consider coming to camp when H is around to protect us!)

I did have to laugh. ~Random funny story alert ~ It was dark and Cat and I were walking to go to the bathroom and a mouse ran in front of us. Neither of us were alarmed and we actually mentioned how cute it was. Then we both really started giggling because we realized what we were saying. If we happened to see the same exact mouse run across our kitchen floor I can promise you the word cute would not be part of our vocabulary!

We woke up the next morning, packed up our belongings, had an amazing breakfast of french toast and bacon. Then, we got ready for the last ride of this adventure. We rode for about 2 hours thru the canyon meadows alongside a river. It was relaxing and a lot more fun than going on the trail. At this point we were completely comfortable with our horses.

We finally saw our buck on the last day.

As our trip came to an end, we took some final pictures with our horses,

 

Said our goodbyes to Jeff and Fred,

and headed out on our next adventure.

 

We really had a great time! We pushed ourselves to try new things, we supported each other along the way and came closer as a family. It was great to be off electronics (Aside from Cat watching movies at night), meeting new people and hearing stories of lifestyles so different than ours.

On the ride, we asked Fred if he had any life lessons he could share with us because that man could seriously write a book! He responded with, “When in doubt, spur.” I believe you can translate that cowboy speak to: “When you aren’t sure what to do ~ you should go for it. Hold on tight, give it everything you’ve got,  and see where it takes you.  Those are words to live by if you ask me. Life is too short to let it pass you by.    That is definitely something I will remind Cat of as she grows up.

Of course we left some stones along the way…