Trip ReportThis wonderful ride was organised by Dominique and Ron Bowers and booked through Hidden Trails. This ride is two weeks but I only did the last week. Here is HiddenTrails description of the ride, and below is mine! We were only four female participants, me from Sweden, two from Germany (Karin and Simone) and one from Switzerland (Monika). There was also Sibylle, Dom's "helper". The horses were one Appaloosa, one Quarter horse, one Arabian, one Paint/Arabian, one Quarter/Arabian, and one Quarter/Mustang cross. Riding style was of course western and the tack was hackamore and lightweight cordura saddles, very comfortable for the 5-7 hours we spent in the saddle each day. |
 00.jpg Badger Creek camp, first night (for me): Ron is showing how to use the lasso. |  01.jpg Badger Creek camp, early next morning. At the table, they're waiting for... |  02.jpg ...Ron's blueberry pancakes! |  03.jpg The ride goes through the hot and dry high desert plain, always with Mt. Hood in the background. |  04.jpg Sibylle on Boyo and Karin on Lady are waiting in the shade. |  05.jpg Sneakers, 13 years old Appaloosa gelding, gets a well-earned break. |
 06.jpg Boyo, 9 years old Paint/Arabian gelding.  07.jpg Lady, 15 years old Arabian mare. |  08.jpg Blacky, 4 years old Quarter horse gelding. |  09.jpg After the open dry areas, we continue through the woods on Barlow road. |  10.jpg After arrival to the camp at White River station, we take the horses down to the river to wash them and us! |  11.jpg Next morning we continue on Barlow road, here we have a short break. |  12.jpg On dusty Barlow road, we're approaching tonight's camp at Devil's Half Acre, with Mt. Hood in the background. |
 13.jpg After lunch we head out on Palmateer view trail. Here are Simone, Karin and Dominique at Palmateer meadow. |  14.jpg Sibylle on Boyo.  15.jpg Me on Blacky. |  16.jpg And here's me on Blacky again, at the beautiful Palmateer view with Mt. Hood in the background. |  17.jpg Simone on Sneakers. |  18.jpg Sibylle, Simone and Karin at the view point. |  19.jpg At Twin Lake, maybe the horses want to swim? |
 20.jpg Karin and Dominique (on Casper, a 7 year-old Quarter/Arabian gelding) are having fun.  21.jpg Blacky only wants to play with the water, as usual. |  22.jpg Back at the camp, we take the horses out into the meadow to let them graze while dinner is being prepared by Ron (what a luxury!). |  23.jpg Blacky, the beautiful (almost) black young Quarter horse! |  24.jpg After a nice dinner (grilled ribs, baked potatoes and salad - yum!), we sit around the campfire, trying not to burn the marshmallows over the ember while talking about today's and coming events. |  25.jpg Third day, we start out on Barlow road but then continue onto the Pacific Crest Trail, up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. |  26.jpg Dominique (on Casper), leads us on this narrow trail, through open fir forest and... |
 27.jpg ...more dense forest with an undergrowth of mainly huckleberries.  28.jpg Lunch break on the beautiful alpine meadows of Mt. Hood. |  29.jpg When it's time for photography, Boyo always stands nicely. |  29-2.jpg Sibylle on the flashy Boyo. |  30.jpg So beautiful landscape! Stopping to take photos all the time gives many opportunities to canter to catch up with the others... |  31.jpg Riding on steep slopes up towards the Timberline lodge (at 6000 feet). |  32.jpg The sign says: "Pacific Crest Scenic Trail, Canada 498, Mexico 1852". Sorry, no photos of Timberline Lodge, but have you seen the movie "The Shining"? Yes, it was here it all happened... |
 33.jpg Scenic photo of me and Blacky in front of the top of Mt. Hood.
|  34.jpg The 4th morning we head off on the Pacific Crest Trail towards Timothy Lake. Parts of the trail goes through fir forest, the steep slopes covered with Rhododendron. |  35.jpg Through openings in the forest we get a wonderful view back towards Mt. Hood. |  36.jpg We stop at Little Crater Lake to admire the extremely clear and cold water. |  37.jpg We also stay here to eat the lunch sandwiches we brought in our saddlebags. |  38.jpg Stevie and Blacky, the two young mischiefs, always up to something, never standing still during the breaks. |
 39.jpg Blacky again.  40.jpg We reach Timothy Lake in the afternoon and stop to let the horses drink. |  41.jpg Dinner (hamburgers) at Joe Graham's horse camp. Here we stay the last three nights.  42.jpg Next morning (5th day), we ride around the large Timothy Lake. Here's Monika on Stevie. |  43.jpg Today, Ron (on Casper) is our guide (and the pace is much faster!). |  44.jpg Hot day, good thing we're riding around the lake. Sibylle is riding Blacky today. |  45.jpg Lunch break in the sun after swimming with the horses (well, all of the horses didn't like to swim). |  46.jpg I'm riding Boyo today. Simone on Sneakers. |
 47.jpg 6th and last day we ride on Pacific Crest Trail to Warm Springs river, where we eat lunch and then go back the same way. On the way back, we pass this clearing in the forest covered by Epilobium angustifolium. Here's Karin on Lady... |  48.jpg ... and here's me on Blacky! |