“What’s a horse call?”
“It’s an old trick of my people. I will make a sound like the whinny of a lost horse, and if we are lucky, the packhorse will answer.”
“That’s a new one for me.”
“Sometimes you have to think like a horse. Right now, that horse is scared and alone, he wants nothing more than to return to the safety of the herd, even if the herd is only five other horses.”
They moved a little farther up the creek. Joe dismounted and placing his hands around his mouth made a very good sound of a horse whinnying. He waited a minute, then repeated the call.
Dan asked, “What was on the missing packhorse?”
“The tent and the saddle for Alice.”
Hearing a horse whinny from across the creek, Joe turned to call again, but one of the other packhorses answered first. After another whinny from across the creek, the lost packhorse broke through the trees and crossed the creek. Joe approached the packhorse slowly, talking to him quietly. Taking the lost horse by the lead rope, Joe walked it over to the rest of the horses. After checking the horse and pack over carefully, he reattached the lead rope to the other packhorses and mounted his horse.
“She looks pretty good considering, a few scratches from the run through the trees, but I didn’t see any claw marks.”
“Glad to hear it. How far are we behind schedule?”
“Maybe an hour, maybe less, the trail ahead is steep and slow, but that will be good for the horses.”
The creek narrowed to a small stream, then to a dry wash, but they continued north toward the ridge. The trail was rocky and slow. Just before reaching the top they had to dismount and lead the horses on foot.
After they were over the top Joe said, “That was the Divide.”
“What is the altitude here?”
“Close to ten thousand feet, I guess.”
“What lies ahead?”
“A long day of easy travel, we will be going downhill for the next twelve to fifteen miles then starts back uphill for the ten miles after that. We will across the Divide again tomorrow morning on the north side of this valley and then move into the area you hunted before.”
“Yes, we entered that area from the west.”
Joe said, “This area ahead of us is open to the east. The Colonel never sent hunting parties to this side of the Divide, the access was hard, and there was plenty of game on the west side of the Divide.”
“Will we come back out this way?”
“Not if we can go west, but this is one of our options.”
They moved down the slope toward the valley below. The valley slopes toward the east on a long gentle grade and travel was easy compared to yesterday.
After three hours, they came to a large creek. Joe said, “Let’s cross this creek before we rest the horses again.”
“Do you know what the name of this creek is?”
“No, but it flows east to the Rio Grande.”
They crossed the creek, dropped the packs and saddles off the horses and let them graze. They took the time to build a fire and fix lunch.
As they ate, Dan asked, “Do we start back uphill now?”
“Yes, the upslope of the valley ahead is about the same as the slope down to here was. This is a high valley, and there isn’t that much drop.”
“Are we going to camp on this side of the Divide or the other?”
“On this side, the other side is steep and rocky.”
“How long before we start out again?”
“I want to give the horses another hour before we load up.”
“Good I will take the time to clean the pistol.”
“Does it need cleaning after three shots?”
“No, but I have the time to clean it, and I like to get the powder residue out of the barrel and action when I can.”
“Well, I am going to take a nap.”
Dan went to his pack and got out the cleaning kit for the pistol and a box of cartridges. He sat on the trunk of a fallen tree near the creek, and spread out the cleaning kit on the tree trunk beside him. Removing the magazine clip and cycling the action to eject the round in the chamber, he unloaded the gun. He placed the ejected cartridge back into the clip and added three more from the box to replace the ones he had used on the mountain lion. It took just a minute to strip the auto pistol down and to clean it. He reassembled the gun and installed the clip. He returned the gun to his holster and the cleaning kit and cartridges to the pack. Taking his shaving kit, he went down to the creek and shaved. The water was cold, but he was used to that. He poured himself another cup of tea and returned to his seat on the trunk of the fallen tree. Looking at the mountains to the south, he thought how different it was from his ranch in Texas, but how he loved them both.
They got the horses ready and moved east up the gentle slope, following game trails where possible.
Dan noticed that Joe was leading them to the left when he could; and he said, “What are you looking for?”
“A small stream running from the mountains to our left, down to this creek below. By following it, we will be lead to the pass over the Divide to the north.”
“Didn’t we just cross the divide traveling east?”
“Yes, but the divide is now running west to east, we will turn north to cross it again.”
“With as much time as I have spent in these mountains, I still fail to remember that the divide runs east and west sometimes. Are there many passes from this valley to the north?”
“Yes, but most of them are to the east of us, and this one will bring us out near the sawtooth hills we are looking for. I found this pass when I was scouting this area before you came.”
“Well, lead on.”
They found the creek and moved north along the creek. The slope had been gentle but was getting steeper, and the horses had to be rested more often. By late afternoon they were deep in the mountains, but still following the stream. They had to ride up the streambed itself through a narrow cut in the rocks. A few hundred yards after entering the stream they topped out into a small alpine meadow. The meadow was only a couple of hundred yards wide by two hundred fifty yards long, and was surrounded by high rock walls on all sides. The stream that they had been following, flowed out of a small hanging valley on the east side of the meadow and fell forty feet into the meadow where they stood. On the west side of the meadow stood a small stand of pines. The meadow itself was covered with knee-high grass. Joe moved across the meadow toward the pines.
Reaching the pines, he dismounted and turned to Dan and said, “This is where we spend the night.”
“Where are we?”
“We are just below the Divide. Isn’t this a great little spot?”
As Dan dismounted and brought the packhorses up, he said, “This is a nice spot, but I am not sure it is worth the trip, since we have to go back down that streambed to get back to the trail to the pass.”
“This is the trail to the pass; in fact, you could say this is the pass.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The trail passes out the back of these pines, out of this basin and over the Divide.”
“There is no sign of a trail. How did you find it?”
“From the other side of the divide, by following a game trail.”
“Then this is a great spot.”
Joe said, “Let’s set our camp back in these pines. The ground out here in the meadow has a lot of water in it, and it will get very cold here tonight.”
“Thanks for the warning.”
They unloaded the horses and turned them out to graze and began setting up camp for the night. They carried their packs, saddles and other gear back in the trees. Joe found the fire pit he had made on his trip through the pass before and they set their bedrolls around it. Dan gathered firewood and started a fire, while Joe got the gear together to cook supper. While Joe cooked supper, Dan went out to check on the horses. He watched them for a time from a distance to see if any of them favored a leg or l
imped. Seeing nothing out of normal he walked over to them for a closer look, but he saw nothing to be concerned about and returned to camp. When he returned, Joe had supper ready. It was simple, beef jerky, beans, tortillas, and hot tea, but it was hot and good.
Joe said, “Water boils at such a low temperature at this altitude, there isn’t much we have I can cook.”
“That’s okay, I have eaten this before, it’s good, and it’s hot.”
“It’s been a long day, and it’s good to sit on something besides a horse.”
“Yes, it is, a day on a horse in this high country isn’t like a day of working cattle on the open range.”
“You like this high country don’t you.”
“Yes, I do, very much, like a second home.”
After a minute, Joe said, “But it’s not home.”
“No, Joe it isn’t. I have tried to tell myself that it is just a ranch, just a piece of land that I can take or leave, but it’s not, it’s my home, its more than just my home its part of me. The sacrifices and hard work of my father and grandfather bind me to it in a way I cannot express.”
“In a way, I know how you feel, my people thought of this land as theirs, not theirs too own but theirs to use and protect for the good of the tribe. But what I miss is the not the land because it is still here but the family of the tribe.”
“Family is something I once thought I would never miss, now I am the last O’Neil, and it feels very lonely.”
Joe nodded knowingly and said, “The Colonel is the closest thing I have of a family left.”
“How long have you and the Colonel been together.”
“Since he was eight.”
“How did you come to know the Colonel?”
“My father was working as an army scout and was assigned to Captain Jack Simms Company. Captain Jack was Colonel John’s father. On one of the last patrols that Captain Jack made, my father was killed trying to rescue a wounded trooper. Later the Apache scouts were disbanded, they and their families were sent to live on the reservation. Captain Jack asked my mother if she wanted to come live on his ranch. She said yes, and we moved. Colonel John and I were the only boys on the ranch, and even though he was younger, we became close friends.”
Dan said, “The Colonel grew into a good man.”
“His father was always very proud of him.”
“I will clean up, if you want to check on the horses.”
When Joe returned, Dan had the dishes clean and was drinking another cup of tea.
Dan asked, “The horses Okay? Did you see anything I didn’t see?”
“All things considered, they are in good shape.”
After adding some more wood to the fire, Joe said, “I think that’s all the talk I have in me tonight, let’s get some sleep.”
“I am ready, goodnight.”
“Goodnight”
It was a very cold night, and after a couple of hours, the cold woke Dan up and he got up and added more wood to the fire.
As he was drifting back off to sleep, Joe said, “I will get up next time to put more wood on the fire.”
“I was trying not to wake you up.”
“I was already awake, you just got up before I did. This is the highest elevation that we should camp at and the waterfall cools the air even more.”
They went back to sleep, but true to his word Joe awoke a few hours later and added wood to the fire.
The cold woke them early, so they built the fire up and started the morning. While Joe went to check on the horses, Dan put some water on the heat up for breakfast.
Joe returned and said, “The horses look good.”
“Good, how much farther is it until we reach the ridges.”
“We will be in the area by afternoon, but I do not know how long it will take to find the place you are looking for.”
“I think I can locate it without too much trouble. I entered from the west. I travel along the back of the last ridge for several miles until I found a large opening in the trees. After exploring the area, I found the meadow went all the way to the top of the ridge to the north and stopped short of the creek on the east.”
“Let’s eat and get moving.”
They finished their breakfast of hot tea and jerky, then they saddled and loaded up the pack horses.
Joe said, “We will have to lead them on foot through the split in the rock.”
“Lead the way.”
They passed through the pines to the base of the rock face. At the rock face, they turned into a split in the rock face that was offset from the wall. It was a trail so narrow that the horses could barely pass. The trail rose up only five or six feet before it began to slope back down. After about thirty-five feet, they came out the other side of the split rock onto a ledge trail that looked like it was better suited to mountain goats than horses.
Dan said, “Whoa, how do we get down?”
“It’s not as steep or narrow as it looks.”
“That still looks steep, but you lead, and I will follow.”
Joe turned and walked down the trail leading his horse. Dan followed, leading his horse and holding the lead for the first pack horse with the rest of the pack horses tied to one another’s lead. The trail ran along the rock face, where the rock face meets the weathered rock debris at its base. The intersection of the rock face and the debris angled downward across the rock face. After about an hour, they reached the tree line, and the grade lessened, and they were able to mount the horses and shorten the leads on the pack horses. An hour later they stopped to rest the horses.
Looking back at the rock face Dan said, “If I hadn’t just come down that rock face, I wouldn’t think it was possible. There is no sign of a trail from here. How did you find it?”
“It was earlier in the summer, and it was hot. Moving through these trees headed east toward another pass, I spooked an old bull elk. He didn’t head east or west, but straight up the hill, so I decided to follow him. I lost sight of him for a while, then I saw him traveling along the rock face, and I checked it out and found the trail.”
Dan said, “Looking at the rock face from here, I remember it from the hunting trip. A couple of hours traveling down this slope and we should come to the sawtooth hills.”
“Do you think you can find the trail in you need?”
“Yes, I think so, but I am not sure if we are east or west of it now.”
“Let’s go ahead north until we reach the first sawtooth then you may see something that will help you.”
“I remember that creek on the east side of the meadow flowing down from this slope to the back of the first sawtooth and then it turns east.”
“Good that will tell us which way to travel.”
They traveled north for two hours before coming to a creek running east. They crossed the creek and turned west. Less than an hour later they came to a point where the creek flowed down from the mountain above.
Joe asked, “Does this look right to you?”
“Yes, we should be able to travel west from here and break out of this creek bottom into an open meadow that runs right to the edge of the sawtooth ridge.”
Joe urged his horse forward through the trees and broke out into the meadow as promised.
“Which way now?”
“You see where the trees run all the way to the edge of the sawtooth ridge on the other side of the meadow?”
“Yes.”
“The game trail down is just inside the edge of the trees.”
“Let’s go check it out.”
The meadow was only about a quarter of a mile across, and they crossed it quickly. They tied the horses to one of the trees and followed the game trail to the edge of the ridge of the sawtooth.
Looking over the edge at the trail, Joe said, “You went down this; it is worse than the trail down the rock face.”
“Yes, but I didn’t have four horses behind me.”
“Okay, where do you want to set up camp?”
“Since it needs t
o be near water, how about the other side of the meadow near where we broke out of the trees.”
Joe said, “I would prefer closer to this trail.”
“I would too, but I still think over on the other side is best.”
“Okay, let’s move back over there and get set up.”
They rode back across the meadow to a point just north of where they had come up from the creek. While Joe unloaded the packhorses and unsaddled their horses, Dan located a game trail down to the creek. Using one of the camp axes he opened up the game trail to make it easier for them and the horses to reach the creek. Next, he cut several long, thin pine trees and stripped the limbs, so they could be used to erect the wall tent. He returned to the camp area, dragging the poles with him.
He asked Joe, “Where do you want to set the tent?”
Walking toward the tree line, Joe said, “Let’s put the tent here, it’s relatively flat and close to the trail you cut to the creek.”
“I will get the Tent.”
By late afternoon they had the camp in order, the tent was set up, the fire ring built, firewood cut and stacked, padding for the bedrolls in place and gear stored away.
Dan asked, “Is there anything else we need to do?”
“I don’t think so, but if there is I can take care of it while you are gone.”
“Let’s get my gear ready.”
They laid out the packs and other gear Dan had packed back at the ranch house. Joe placed the pack frame next to the gear. The European pack frame was a light frame built of birch wood. The horizontal members had been steamed to allow them to be bent at the ends. The ends were bent on a three-inch radius to almost a ninety-degree angle. The ends of the horizontal members terminated in a vertical member. Between the vertical members on each side, a rectangular canvas back peace was laced through holes in the frame and holes in the hemmed edge of the canvas. This creates a soft surface against the back of the wearer. The frame was stiffened with four vertical members spaced across the outside of the horizontals. The shoulder straps were attached about three-quarters of the way up the frame, and a waist strap is attached to the lower part of the frame. The frame measures eighteen inches wide by thirty inches tall and weighs about twelve pounds. The gridwork of the frame allowed bags, packs and other gear to be strapped to it, and the strap arrangement allowed part of the load to be carried by the shoulders and part by the hips.
High Country Rescue Page 7