Introduction
This trip actually began in 1984. In September of 1984, a group of riders hauled
their horses to White Pass, Washington in order to spend the weekend pleasure
riding out of Soda Springs horse camp. While riding they admired the beautiful
landscapes and dreamed of spending a week or so just milling around the meadows
and lakes; viewing another group who had been camping in the area for a week,
made the desire grow even stronger.
During the summer of 1985, Debie Boyd gathered maps and information on packing and
the trail between the Columbia River and White Pass. She talked with other riders
who had ridden the trail in those areas and weighed the time and dangers, deciding
to exclude the portion of the PCNST (Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail) known as
Old Snowy or Elk Pass.
Unable to find other riders to accompany her on the journey, Debie set out from the
"Bridge of the Gods" along the Columbia River on September 14, 1985. It
rained continuously during the next four days. In the afternoon of the fourth day,
she arrived in a wonderfully grassy area; she was cold and wet and one of the horses
had lost a shoe. She flagged down a couple of cars on the nearby road and had them call
for pick-up.
It had been a thrilling and rewarding experience to accomplish the distance that she
had, by herself. Her goal had been "Berry Patch" just below "Snowgrass
Flats", but she had made it to "Surprise Lakes", less than half the
original distance.
In the summer of 1986, she began making plans to finish the journey that she had
started the year before. Pam Boyd, her tepdaughter, had expressed an interest in
accompanying her. As the summer progressed, Kirstin (Kiki) Berdinka (who had wanted
to go the year before), Dena Evans (who had envied the year before), and Kesi Kitchell
(who was invited, to the envy of her mother) also joined in to plan the trip.
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