Horses and Trails

My dad and our favorite horse, Phooey riding through the mountains.

Riding horses through a heavily timbered area is difficult enough. When the trail has not been cleared in over twenty years, it is work. The fallen trees across the trail cause the horses to step over them, slowing their pace. When they are too high you have to find ways around them. After many hours of clearing the trail where we were able and making new trails where we couldn’t, we finally reached a good spot to camp.

The three of us unsaddled the horses and staked them out in a small meadow to eat a few bites of grass. Then we turned our attention to setting up camp. We started a fire in a ring of rocks we gathered. We put up a cover and laid down a tarp for sleeping. We rolled out our sleeping bags hoping we had chosen a spot with soft rocks. The thin layer of canvas provided some padding from the cold and hardness of the ground.

We pulled food from the canvas bags the horses had carried and cooked it over the open fire. A little ash from the popping of the fire gets into our pan but we eat it anyway. It contains different vitamins most people don’t get. Making everything as comfortable as possible we finally eat. The food tastes extra good in the high country of Wyoming and the air is fresh and clean.

We can now sit back and enjoy the beauty. We hear the soft noise of the small stream nearby. Once in a while a horse will stamp his foot or let out a little whinny. The tall mountains and rocky ridges reflect the color of the setting sun. This is what we came to experience.

Then someone spoiled the moment by saying that we could be home sitting in our nice chairs. We could have been eating in a fine restaurant. We could be sleeping in a comfortable bed. But no, we worked hard to get to this spot. We drink out of a little stream. We cook over an open fire. We sleep on the hard ground out in the open. And we call this “really living.” Then it was said, “What fools we mortals be.” The interesting thing is that as soon as we were home, we can’t wait to do it again.

The experience of being in the mountains and doing such things is a cherished memory. Most people never had the opportunity. The same could be said for being a Christian. The joy of an intimate personal relationship with God is something many people will never know. They might even say we are foolish to believe in God. They just don’t know what we have in Christ. I do not think it is foolish to trust the eternal God. It is a great life! I cherish the experience!