Echo River Ranch

   Five Plus Three
   Equals Eighty

   
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Thursday - August 7, 1986 page 4




 Stopping to
   adjust a
 falling pack
saddle. Left
   to right:
 Pam, Kesi,
 and Debie.

The terrain began to level off on the lower slopes of the mountain. The dust was so thick (the worst so far), that it was difficult for both horses and riders to breathe. The horses continually snorted the dirt and dust out of their noses. Kiki felt so sorry for Jennie that she moistened her scarf and tied it around Jennie’s face, but Jennie became quickly annoyed with the scarf going into her nostrils.

When the trail came to a bridge that crossed a tributary to Muddy Creek, there was a sign to warn the riders that the bridge was unsafe. The bridge was about six feet long and three feet wide and made of little poles about three inches in diameter. It obviously wasn’t made for horse traffic, yet there were four or five places in it were horses or someone had stepped through the rotting wood. There was no way a horse could safely cross the bridge.

Debie began to search for a way around. The water was in a ditch about three feet deep and about five feet across, even though the water was only about eight inches deep. It was too wide to jump and the soft, muddy banks with heavy trees and brush on both sides made it difficult to ford.

     

     

   
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