Whistle Grin & Ride on the Continental Divide

I mentioned on a blog a few days ago, that Wayne and I had been on a trip, and rode over the Continental Divide. It made me realize that I was being amiss in not blogging about that trip. It was the end of August, to the first of September. It is an Annual by Invitation Ride only to honor Ray Hunt, and his philosophy to just "Whistle Grin and Ride" We left on a Thursday and got together near Salmon, Idaho for an evening with friends. Of course there are lots of stories of Ray, and other events that many of us have shared in, or are hearing about for the first time

When we got to Frank's house (Frank gave me away at our wedding a few years ago, and was a great friend to Ray) He lives in Salmon Idaho, and this year hosted the Whistle Grin and Ride, ride. He has some wild sheep that roam near his cabin, and Wayne spotted them, and went after them using stealth to sneak up and get these photos.

This is where our horses were kept, while we were there. I don't think they had any complaints about the accommodations. Fresh air abounded

Frank had set up some Skeet shooting, and of course Wayne took him up on that, and I got to photograph

This is the back side of Frank's house.... How amazing is that view? *

We had a couple short rides, but this is the start of the first long day of the first half of the Continental Divide Trail.

I love seeing old cabins, fallen down or not, and just wonder what stories they may have told, if they could talk.

Trail Markers

As will happen on a trip, flat tires, or blow outs....or maybe a horse loses a shoe. * Thankfully, Frank brought along some spares, and Wayne shod a friend's horse, using a rock as a hammer.

Of course I packed my camera along, around my neck. Every now and then, a view was just too much to not photograph it. We'd come quite a ways up, and looking down was a spectacular sight.

Judy lives in Idaho Jenny lives in California

Carolyn of course from Idaho, and Frank, from Salmon Idaho

Sandy, is also from California, is a previous Tevis Cup "Best Horse Condition" but this year, she decided to hike the trail with us...and let me tell you, she is awesome. *

I was amazed at the condition of the trails. * This is UP VERY HIGH...and it's maintained! It's fascinating to me that someone takes boards up there and keeps this trail in this condition. We even met a few hikers up there. Not many, but a few.

We would stop for a break about Mid day, and let the horses rest also

At the end of the day, even a horse might like a beer

Our horses stayed a friend of Frank's place overnight. This place had such amazing looking history. This is in Wisdom. And the owner's name was Jim Wise. He was an Olympic Ski Coach, and also was a pupil of Ray Hunt. THAT is an awesome coincidence I think. He went to dinner with us that night in Montana. He had some stories to tell of some of his lessons with Ray. We stayed the night in Montana, and then rode the Divide back to Idaho the next day. The little town was small, but had a nice hotel of cabins that we shared, and also an outstanding restaurant with a natural hot springs hot tub. What more could we want?

Start of the 2nd day of the ride.

Do you remember hearing of Hank Williams Jr, who in 1975 fell off Ajax Peak in Montana? We talked a lot about that, and the songs and movies that made it memorable. It's not hard to imagine it happening on the steep mountains that we climbed and scaled. If you're into that type of thing, watch the movie with Richard Thomas (John Boy Walton)

2nd day of the ride, we passed over many of these little bridges. Again, lots of work for someone to keep them up. But I thought they were awesome, and happy to say that none of the horses with us gave any thought to crossing over them

This is where we stopped the 2nd day.

Always good to pull off the saddles and let the horses cool off while they rest

We ran into a young couple who had this dog who didn't seem any the worse for wear

We saw this fella a few times along the trail, and I was actually a little worried about him. It was HOT and he was hot and tires and running out of water. But he just kept going.

I kind of feel like these photos don't do this justice. I've been on lots of steep trails, and have kind of gotten used to rough terrain, over the years. There were a few times that I watched the horse in front of me slip a hoof off the trail, and I gulped a few times. I was eternally grateful that I ride awesome horses, as did we all

These last photos were about 7 or 8 in the evening, and we'd been riding a long long time. The horses were tired and foot sore from all the rocks

this was a sight for sore eyes, when we came around the bend and saw our friends waiting for us with cold drinks and a place to rest our horses.

I enjoyed the time with friends no end...and can't wait for next year!