In which we girls head for the hills, and packing up is(n't) hard to do

As we have done for the past three years, Sky and I begin our Annual Adventure in her carport:

Every year we get a little better at packing stuff.

We add new gear, we take out stuff we didn't use last year, we strap everything together a little more efficiently, and we take notes along the way so that we'll remember what we've learned.

I've had those large black packs for yonks...I got them when I did a little packing with Story back in the Olden Days. They are great for trail repair work, because I can fit all kinds of tools and stuff in them. The purple packs are "new" -- I picked them up cheaply at a used tack sale last winter. And they are even purple!

Santa brought Sky some new teal packs last December, and this was her first opportunity to use them. I am deeply jealous. Look at all the room she has in those packs for her sleeping bag and stuff! I'm beginning to think that some larger packs might be needful before I head back out again.

Poor Fiddle looks like a bag lady, with all that gear tied onto her patient self. It worked fine this time, but on a rainy trip like we endured in 2008, all that stuff would get soaked. Hmmm. Something to consider.

Packing the gear onto the horses takes 60 to 90 minutes, starting with empty packs. The books I read about packing horses and mules recommend that the large bags in back be filled with bulky but not heavy items. That means clothing, sleeping bags, and the tent, as well as the freeze-dried and other lightweight foods we've packed for ourselves, like tea and coffee and snacks.
The front packs carry the horse's food (beet pulp, mostly, plus a small amount of grain), and little, heavier stuff like the stove's fuel, water bottles, and some books and maps.
We both brought canvas water scoops this year, which are useful as feed buckets as well as water buckets. Several of the lakes we visited didn't have safe access for the horses, so we carried water up to them, and they pretty quickly learned how to smash their dainty noses down inside to get what they wanted!The scoops are also exactly the right size for carrying an Easyboot--how convenient.

Into the corners and crannies of the packs, we cram the tent poles, the water filter (a new addition to the pile of gear this time, and it's a wonderful thing!)

and heaps of rope, which we use for tying the food above "bear height"
and for high-lining Fiddle at night.Cricket is a "puller-backer" so she gets tied to a tree at night, and spends time in a "fake hotwire" fence when it's time to graze. Cricket is perfectly happy to stay within the confines of the non-electrified tape, but Fiddle would bust through it in minutes. Instead, I put her on hobbles (which don't really work well for Cricket, as she proved last year)

Fiddle not only enjoys the freedom to wander around camp for hours, she enjoys the physical and mental challenge that the hobbles provide. She can do whatever she wants when she's hobbled...if she can only figure out how to do it. That's my mare's idea of a good time.

(I had seen her do this maneuver the previous night, but hadn't captured it with the camera. I was delighted to help her repeat the performance)

One of the essential skills of packing is making multiple use of stuff. Therefore, Fee's fleece blanket is a good backrest for me during the day, and keeps her warm and somewhat protected from mosquitos at night. Her saddle pad also serves as the pad under my sleeping bag (my Thermorest is off in the wilderness with Willy this summer!) and my sitting-on-the-beach pad. Sky brought a "navaho" saddle blanket this year, which was really handy as a sleeping pad as well as a saddle pad. That's something to remember for next year!

We're done packing up at last...it's time to head down the trail. Coming soon:

Where We Went and What We Saw.

Life. It's good.