How, Where and Why....
In this page, find out all you need to know to horse trail ride our Mountain back country safely, from preparation, gear to take, camp cooking, trails to ride, what to look out for.......!
Disclaimer...All information, trails, gear included in this page, are given as a guide only, and based on my years of experience in the mountains.. I will not be held responsible for any after event that may occur as a result of folks following any of my guide lines..You proceed into the mountains at your own risk...!
Overview
I have been asked lots of times about this and that to do with my adventures with horses in the mountains, and on a recent trek with a fellow rider it was suggested that in my website it would be great to have a guide as to How, Where and Why for horse riding folks of all abilities..
As this page develops, we will discuss what preparation to go thru, the gear to take and the precautions to follow...
Following this initial stage, and on a regular basis I will post trails to ride out on, a guide to riding distances and times, places to stay, how to look after your horse, weather conditions etc... so here goes.....!
I have been asked lots of times about this and that to do with my adventures with horses in the mountains, and on a recent trek with a fellow rider it was suggested that in my website it would be great to have a guide as to How, Where and Why for horse riding folks of all abilities..
As this page develops, we will discuss what preparation to go thru, the gear to take and the precautions to follow...
Following this initial stage, and on a regular basis I will post trails to ride out on, a guide to riding distances and times, places to stay, how to look after your horse, weather conditions etc... so here goes.....!
Preplanning a trek....
Weather....
In our Canterbury mountain country we have to be prepared for the old true saying....the weather can have four seasons in one day..
Its not unusual to have a calm warm start to the day, then become quiet windy, perhaps a southerly change blows thru, bringing rain, and if the freezing level** is low enough, rain turns to snow.... all in one day..
Weather is perhaps the one main factor to carefully consider before and during any trail ride, some parts of the mountain country are ridable most of the year, others are best avoided at certain times..
For example, this past spring, I had planned several rides, but all had to be canned as we had continual wet weather that in turn caused rivers to be in flood for long periods, imagine on the far side of a major river to find it unpassable for a week or longer..
Canterbury weather "roughly" works on a 7 to 10 day cycle, Down country may start with a day or two of calm dry weather, then often a north easterly period will develop for another few days, then often again turning to the northwest quarter as the weather high pressure moves over the country, and this in turn attracts a low pressure front or a South Westerly cold front with rain etc, then as this low moves off, back to calm weather once again..
The Mountain weather is a little different, often only alternating between NorthWest (as the predominent weather) and SouthWest conditions..
Spring is always an uncertain time weather wise in the mountains, with a usual seasonal longer period of North westerly weather bringing windy and often rain in the headwaters, and this is a period I watch very closely when out in the Mountains... overnight it may not be raining at a hut we may be staying at, but further up it may be bucketing down, which in turn can see rivers rise before our eyes.
Personally I avoid treks that involve major rivers to be crossed, and especially treks where we may need to recross these same rivers a week or so later on our return in the early to mid spring period..
Treks that involve major river work are planned to travel from around Dec onwards when our average weather patterns become more reliable.
Canterbury mountain rivers are at there lowest and a lot more reliable, mid March thru to end of May.
This said, periods of NorthWeasterly weather can still cause rivers to flood any time of the year..
Also mainly in spring but can happen any time of year, is the risk of a snow dump, this can quickly change a great trek into a bleek existence, both for human and horse....
What does your horse eat when his dinner is covered in 6 inches of snow...? that Pass you rode over yesterday in warm clear skies.. and the same one you need to ride out over tomorrow to get out now has a good plastering of snow covering it and tonight it will freeze making it impassable for a while... what are you going to do about it...? Christmas time a couple of year back Fiona and I were in the mountains to experience 30 hours of torrential rain which saw all the rivers including side creeks raging flooded water for several days, then had to contend with washouts and two slips of mud slurry coming down hill and across the trail one of them around 600mm deep mud and 50 metres wide on the pass to get out,, you can read about that in one of the earlier treks into St James in the On The Trail section so we need to always keep a close eye on conditions..
When I have a trek planned for say four days for example and an approx date I wish to commence it on, I will keep that start day loose and watch the current weather pattern for the proposed start day, but will shift it forward or back a little, to try and coincide with the tail end of a Southerly front passing thru and as long as that front has not dumped snow on the proposed trail, head out then...
Often straight after a southerly, the weather will be calm for a day or so, then will slowly turn to the northwest quarter, but will often allow the four days to be trekked in good dry conditions.... longer rides, I study long range forecasts and if necessary plan to remain in a hut while the next southerly passes over.. my GPS is a great tool, in that it has a barometer function that can track air pressure dropping as the next low front approaches...
** Freezing Level explained.....
In summer days when the weather is warm and dry the freezing level may be as high as 20 to 40000 feet above sea level, but even in summer with a cold southerly weather change, the freezing level may lower to 1000 odd feet or even lower as the low moves up the country...
In early spring and later Autumn, Winter, the freezing level can be as low as direct sea level.....
The freezing level for example today may be around 600 metres above sea level, and with this, any rain falling above this level will fall as snow.. it never rains above the freezing level, but may rain below this...
This is why down country we may experience a wet southerly change with no snow, but in the mountains it is snowing and not raining, then when the weather clears and we look over towards the hills and see a snow line from say half way up those hills, we know the freezing level was where that snow line lays..
As the cold weather is gradually replaced with more mild weather, so the freezing level rises again...
If you listen to a weather forecast it will often give the freezing level for the next 24 hours, and if there is rain in the weather, you can expect snow above it..
This has a direct bearing on our horse treks into the mountains in the cooler months, I look at weather forecast patterns for my duration, especially any southerly changes that are forecast, and if so check what predicted freezing levels are included...
If a forecast is indicating southerly change with a freezing level of 600 metres and we are going into St James which is 1100 to 1500 metres above sea level, then we can expect snow.....
Interesting... Molesworth Station is one of the highest altitude stations in NZ, and with this alitiude the freezing level over nite may drop below the height of the station causing frosts.... Molesworth Station receives frosts even in summer some 300 days a year....
So to recap..... Weather planning is a very very important part in any trek undertaken.... I hope I have not put anyone off the mountain treks, but feel its an issue to be forearmed with for safe travel...
Plan your trek route....
Where will we go.
How long will we be away.
Daily trek time / distance management
Map reading / Orienteering
Horse fitness suitable for the terrain.
Horse feed available.
Horse containment at camp
Where will we go..?
We have thought of a nice ride that we would like to do and have looked on Topo Maps Online of the area.. its suits our level of confidence so all good..
( For this example lets say we have decided to ride the trail from CastleRidge Station in the Ashburton Gorge, out to the Boundary hut in the South Branch of the Ashburton River.. I have selected this as an example as I have ridden this twice this season and a commentary of the treks are in the Trail section as a reference)
How long will we be away..?
We know that it will take around two and a half hours to drive / float to the start point at CastleRidge Station, do we start out early in the morning arriving at the Station around mid morning, or are we leaving after work one night and wanting to spend the first night at the station shearers quarters..? questions you will answer yourself..
So we have one easy day to ride out to the hut for an overnight stop, and an easy day back next day, this also allowing time to travel home again..
Daily trek time / Distance Management
Tacking up we will need to allow sufficient time to get all the gear in bags etc, saddle your horse, and all the gear on the horse..
I have all my gear in the saddlebags and panniers and all weighed and balanced the day before leaving home to save time and stress on trail day but still allow an hour and a half to saddle and load the horses.
Having measured the distance approx from the station to the Boundary hut before leaving home, it indicates around 17 kilometres, and looking on the map the terrain is largely flatish, with a low hill saddle to ride over nearing the hut, so I calculate that once underway we walk at around 5 ks an hour plus stops for gates / feeds etc, so to be on the safe side allow 4 hours trek time each way..
On longer treks and with mountain passes I obviously allow more time for the distance, and stops for a breather along with feed breaks for the horse every hour or so.. I like to allow my horses to feed and water regularly on route.. they work hard at times and will loose condition over several days if feed is restricted..
On longer treks I plan each days ride between huts of no more than 25 ks max, ideally around 20 ks and this equates to 5 or 6 hours in the saddle daily
I like to also plan in days off for the horses every third day if possible.
Map reading / Orienteering ....
In the preplanning for a proposed trek I have two sources of maps I use to study the route and terrain..
(1) Topo Maps Online
(2) Google Earth
When planning a trek route, I study the area I wish to trek through carefully with the above maps, firstly using the Topo Maps available free online, and in this study the terrain and distance... asking myself.. is this terrain suitable for horse travel.. what are the possible hazards..?
Can I climb to that mountain pass and safely do so and down the other side.. how far is it..? with my experience I know roughly how long it will take with all things being normal..
Has that mountain pass got steep running shingle scree that needs careful decent / accent.... are there any rough gorges in the area..? is there a known way around these.? has this area been horse trekked thru before..? I ask around a number of my seasoned trekking fellow riders if they have or know riders who have been thru before..
Do I have an alternate route should I come to an impassable area on the original trail.?
How well used is this trail..? will I need extra gear such as a chain saw to clear possible overgrown areas, fallen trees across the trail etc..?
If the proposed trail looks ok from the Topo aspect, next I bring up Google Earth Mapping and in here can carefully look at the trail areas to further decide, if this trail is "do able"
Next I look at deciding how far I will travel each day, looking and working around huts available along the trail, and try to calculate the daily distances of no more than 25 kilometres max per day to coincide with overnight huts..
Some of the more remote trails may have no huts available, so need to decide using Google Earth where I will tent camp overnight, taking into consideration, near by water source for horses and our camp needs, available feed for the horses, and shelter both horses and us... is there an area that I can use to high line the horses overnight,, is the horse grazing area large enough to have two horses on the leg ties ( each needing a 24 metres circle .. is there available firewood source.?
Each question carefully worked thru...
As the start day nears, you can download from Topo maps Online a printed series of maps showing your entire trail and take these with you... great... but... can you read these maps ..... orientate it, finding reference points such as hills streams and other features shown to line the paper map up to find where you are,, it sounds simple and in many cases it is... but I have seen riders travelling along a distance, and ask themselves.. I wonder which stream along this main riverbed is the one we need to ride up to get to the hut etc.?? you will be suprised at some seasoned trekkers who if caught out in an unsure area, pulling out their paper map and becoming confused trying to pin point features in the country traveled over to actually find where they are on that map...
I may have mentioned in another area of this website, riding in unfamiliar country to be confronted with a southerly weather change that bought in dense fog, and although I did have a paper topo map, had trouble gaining reference points thru said fog to establish where I was... it happens..!
To counteract this these days I take and us a Garmin GPS, and as long as one has a good supply of spare batteries this has proved most reliable in direction,orienteering, and pin pointing my position even in dense fog or deep in bush trails...
Horse fitness suitable for the terrain.
I see a percentage of horses out trekking that are obviously out of shape for the terrain asked of them to ride over.. to my mind riders horses run a greater risk of injury and fatigue if not trekking fit..
At the start of a new trekking season I plan rides of an easy shorter distance, combined with regular road and home trail riding to build my horses to a level where they are able to handle the terrain asked of them.. obviously I would not ask my boys to carry me over the 6200 ft Stag saddle in early spring, but would ask them from December onwards.. there is a difference also between a horse that is riding fit and one who needs to be hill fit.
Horses that are trekked for greater than say three days should be shod or wear easy boots..Think of your poor horse carrying not only you, but all of your house load as well over often rough surface terrain.. horses deserve to be comfortable as well as yourself..
If you intend to trek a reasonable amount, you will from time to time need to address the issue of your horse slipping a shoe.. what have you in mind if this happens,,? Perhaps learn how to reshoe your horse, in which you will need to take along some basic gear to do so including some shoes of the same size that your horse takes.. or buy a fitted set of easy boots that just clip onto your horses hooves..
I keep the best of the old shoes coming off the horses when the farrier reshoes my boys every 6 weeks , and do carry a range of these shoe sizes from 2 to size 6 .. I seem to shoe other folks horses more than my own ones on treks..
Make sure your saddle is comfortable on your horse.. trekking is largely conducted at a walk and this shuffling of rider and load back and forth all day long does soon tell on your horse if the saddle doesnt fit properly.. sore backs are your fault and not fair on your horse.. allow for extra weight of all your gear as well as your own normal weight in the saddle fit..
I have a different saddle pad to my normal around home trail riding pad, its thicker and is designed to spread the load, also I have a fleece under this pad that is longer, I fold the front six inches over the main saddle pad and under the front of the saddle to stop it sliding back... this fleece is also longer out the back to help protect the horses back where my saddlebag and swag roll sit, again more comfortable on the horse... Keep an eye on saddle pads so they dont slip back causing discomfort to your horse...
This fleece ( a cut up single bed underlay fleece ) is great as it absorbs most of the horses daily undersaddle sweat with very little ending up in the main saddle pad, and at the end of the day hang it up and it dries quiet fast, ready for the next day.. when I know I have a day off next day, I throw this fleece in the creek and wash it... again it dries quite fast and is very comfortable on the horse.. I also use a fleece under the pack saddle pad on my new Phillips pack saddle for the same reason, but one needs to watch it as it will bunch up under the saddle area with horse movement, causing discomfort, so I make sure its tight from front to back as I saddle up..
As a general rule, you should not use any saddle pad under the traditional Kiwi style pack saddles, firstly as they cause the saddle to slip over more easily, and secondly, saddle pads are very hard to hold in place under a pack saddle.
Special thick saddle pads however are certainly required with the American style saw buck or decker saddles..
If riding over hill country, and most treks this is the case, please use a suitable breast plate and crupper to hold the saddle with all of your extra weight of gear on the saddle in its right place so it doesnt slip forward to rub the shoulders or wither down hill or slip back to far when riding up hill.. extra horse sweat acts like a lubricant under the saddle pad causing it to slip easily if not held in place...do I need to say any more on this..? (smilies)
Wash your horse down at the end of each days trail, under the saddle and in the girth area to avoid gall sores developing that are painful to the poor horse
Horse feed available.
Most of our high country has sufficient natural grass horse feed at huts in spring, in an average season thru till around Christmas..
If your horse has been on green lush grass before a trek be aware of colic out on the trek... good idea if possible, feed your horse gradually more roughage starting the change around ten days out from trek commencement.. perhaps gradually increase hay feed to create more roughage so the horse will be a little more conditioned to the change in feed out on the trail...
My home hill block has a fair amount of grass roughage and use this to avoid sudden changes in diet when venturing out on the treks.. horses once used to it, love native tussock, my horses almost prefer it over mountain grasses...
After Christmas if trekking to huts that you have not heard or know the feed content, its a good idea to carry some extra hard feed ration just in case.. this is largely a personal choice but there are areas that you can count the blades of grass on one hand per square metre during summer..
If your horse is content with the available feed at camp then he will more than likely be happy to stay around... restrict his feed and he will leave camp looking to fill his tummy.. the choice is yours..
Areas such as the Clarence reserve and much of Molesworth are two areas where feed is in short supply during an average summer, so extra hard feed is necessary.. content horses are happy horses...
Some working high country stations may allow you permission to ride over the property but ask that you dont put your horses in the various hut paddocks as this feed is reserved for the working station horses,, what would you do if this was the case to contain your horse while at camp..?
I use a mix of 50 / 50 oats and chaff as my hard feed and make each horses daily feed lot up in plastic bags and put them in the bottom of both panniers before leaving home, usually the equivalent of about half a ten litre plastic bucket full per morning feed.
Other dried feed such as Maxi Soy or fodder beets are great energy food to take along.. dont weigh much, just add water at each feed, the choice is yours, and your horse will appreciate it..!
I carry for each horse a canvas nose bag and feed them with this as I saddle up to move on each morning,,Nose bags are great as horses cant nic others feed and they can carry the bag around when distracted by those ever present sandflies..
A horse having a morning feed while we saddle up is often mind focused on that feed and easier to saddle,. it works for me.. (smilies)
Tip..
When saddling up in "sandfly country", I will give each horse roughly enough chaff in their nose bag to keep them eating until the tacking up is complete and... I dont tie them to a rail.. post etc but leave the lead rope dangling on the ground so they are largely concentrating on the feed and can take to odd step around as they deal with those fly bites..
I found a horse standing and tied can get quite upset after a short while with fly bites so this food distraction really helps..
Also in sandfly country, I have all my tack and gear going on each horse in separate piles in rough order that it goes on each horse, and have done all the other things such as cleaned and tidied the hut, and be all set to go before I bring them to the tacking up area..
I do this to minimise this standing time to be saddled, as those flies can be quite savage in some mountain locations..
From personal experience also.. be extra careful tacking around the kicking areas of horses... none of my horses kick in normal time, however they may kick out when feel flies biting them..I have been hit a number of times reaching thru to pull a girth under for example as a horse kicked to try and rid such fly biting...!.
Canvas nose bags are great multi purpose items, not just as feed bags, they hold water upright sitting on the ground where horses are grazing, great for washing the horse down at end of the ride, I use one filled with water beside open cooking fires just in case, and they roll up, weighing very little, and stored in one of the panniers...
I have asked my saddler to make up several nosebags using a heavy weight canvas rather than their standard lighter model,, heavy canvas stands up better when full of water on the ground, also I have asked them to use 10mm rope sewn around the top to help hold a round shape better, and also the leather strap on the standard one is just sewn onto the side but have asked that the leather strap be sewn right around the bottom as well as up the sides and well sewn on, as a result for a few extra dollars is a heavy duty version that for my use is great..
As you can read, I like to look after my horses well while away on treks, and in return they look after me each day...happy trails and all that..lol
Horse containment at camp...
Again this is largely a personal choice, if a suitable secure horse paddock is available then great.. problem solved, if not, then some folks carry and build temp electric fences around the hut or camp, some tie a long rope just to their horse halter and hope for the best..
Some hobble , some leg tie, some highline.. all have their place..time on the trail will give you the personal experience to decide which works for you and your horse..
Gear list....
On our laptop is a page containing my gear list... I put the laptop on the bonnet of the car as I load each item in, its ticked off the list... past experience has shown that forgetting even a simple piece of equipment on treks can make the difference between a fun trek and one I wish I was not on .....a simple box containing matches for example.... hard to get the gas cooker going or an open cooking fire with the matches sitting at home on the table Tony.....another long trek into Molesworth, forgot my reins and spent 9 days with baling twine as a steering wheel..lol
On treks I have enough gear to cover worst case senerios with weather and trail conditions, often some gear just goes for the ride, other times I am glad I bought it.... A chain saw, probably wont need it,..... but come across a downed tree on a narrow section of the trail with no way round and it becomes a handy item... (also makes easy work of firewood supply at camp...)
I take a long woollen swannie coat, and have experienced bitterly cold southerly wind and driving rain on several occassions this season, and only being able to walk with trekking horses the cold can get right inside, so along with the swannie, I take a sleeved vest, and on top of this my oilskin raincoat.... all this being necessary to keep warm.... at times having to ride in this cold wet weather for several hours.....
And gloves... ( I know, I know.... I am getting soft..lol....) but the last couple of bitterly cold wet rides I have to keep one hand at least on the reins, and that one hand seems to change to a funny colour blue after a while..
Below is my actual gear list I use, and just skip items if doing shorter treks without the pack horse but this list is largely fully taken on long week or more trails and designed for a three horse rig... suprisingly it all fits remarkdly easily either on the riding or pack horse, and gives luxury horse travel.. I love camp cooking along the trails so do take luxury items to make my culinary delights in the camp oven.. one day I am going to have a crack at making a fruit cake, taking the necessary ingredience... love making bread, scones, muffins etc.. easy peeezy.... lol
These fun things all go to making a great camping experience... ( as tony turns to see blue smoke rising out of the camp oven.... opps something is burning..lol)
Gear List
Riding saddles
Breast and Crupper plates
Two bridles and reins
Saddle pads and under fleece
Two saddle bags
My circingle
Chaps
Two rain coats and vests
Pack saddle / s
Half breed / s
Saddle pad and under fleece
Breach and breast plate
Crupper assembly
Spider assembly
Saddle cinch
Load circingle
Two hard pannier boxes
Two soft pannier bags
Pannier cover
Four load straps
Three long ropes
Three leg ties, spikes ,Soft rope
Three halters
Three lead ropes (short)
Lead rope (long)
Three horse covers
Three nosebags
Three hay nets
Hay and other feed as required
Insect Repellent
First Aid Bag
Horse shoe bag
Lunch bag
Thermette bag
Water drink bag
Hoof pick, brush
Pannier scales..
Tent fly and back and front wall,Tent pegs
Small sleeping tent and rope
Two swag rolls with lilos
Sleeping bags
Axe. Paper. Candle..matches.lighter, hand saw.
Chain Saw, fuel, bar oil, file..tension spanner..
Camp Oven…bread tin, trivet, tray, mixing bowl, muffin moulds
Fire box, flue , Poker , fire shovel, Chimney chain
Fire grill ( folding)
Small gas burner and canister
Pot set
Two cups
Knife spoon
tea towel. Long fork, long bbq spatchler.
Chopping board
Loo paper
GPS and spare batteries
PLB
Camera
Electric fence energiser, batteries, standards
Clothes one complete change
Long johns, woollen singlet
Socks
Towel
Woolly hat
Swanny
Hat
Gumboots
Sun screen
Sun glasses
Toiletries bag
Food
Loaf bread
Sausages
Onions, carrots, veges
Relish
Tea coffee
Milk Powder
Tubed condensed milk
Weet bix
Nibbles mix
Soup mix
Rice
Dried peas / Beans
Apples
Continental Instant meals
Instant Spud
Salt
Flour
Baking powder
Grape seed oil ( cooking)
Yeast
Butter
Sugar
Sultanans
Bacon
Eggs
Marg
Jam
Olive oil
Desert…tinned peaches ,Apple , blue berries, Fruit salad
Sunburnt lemonade....(bourbon)
River Crossing
River Crossing on horses......
River crossing is something that some horses dont mind, others do mind...often its a confidence issue...
If your horse is new to river work its a good idea to practise river crossing at home, perhaps out on a local trail ride or two, choose a river with around a foot deep to start with introducing your horse slowly, and with encouragement to cross and recross, so he gets used to the splashing and current around his legs..
Perhaps organise with a riding friend or two to ride down a riverbed for a few kilometres, crossing and recrossing the river, until it becomes second nature to him.. some horses that hesitate and our Quarter horse Bracken was one who took a while to be comfortable, can take comfort and follow a more conditioned horse thru the rivers to gain confidence..
Crossing a low flow stream is no issue where you cross, but as the streams are replaced with river with deeper, or rougher flows, where to cross becomes a more important issue..
The photo first above of myself and Shae crossing the Broken River, it didnt have much river water but was quiet rough and bouldery in places, so the trick here is to cross at the head of a rapid...
You can see from the photo, the river water is quiet broken on the immediate downstream side, but straight ahead of us, again at the head of this little rapid the river is both smoother with less bouldery bottom, so easier on the horse to cross.
This rule of thumb is is good to remember as almost no matter wheather crossing this simple one or the mightly Rakaia, or Waiau the same principle remains....
The top river crossing, the photo of Shae and Bailey was in flood and had a lot rougher bottom with large submerged boulders, requiring me to carefully choose where to enter and cross this river..
This particular river crossing held me up on my trek, and did wait around 24 hours after the rain stopped before crossing it...
Once committed it is difficult to change my mind half way thru, so careful choice is necessary...
As the top photo shows, I have a self policy, firstly before entering a river with a good current, choose carefully both the entry point and where I want to exit... making sure there is not a vertical bank , or excessive large boulders to negiote, secondly, rivers with a good current need to be crossed at a down stream angle, the faster flowing, the steeper the angle crossed, making sure again before entering you have a good exit point..
Some larger rivers such as the Waiau and clarence run quiet deep (at times a metre or so ) and these will push the horse along down stream so require you to keep him on course for your elected exit point... I always put a long lead rope on Bailey when crossing major or difficult rivers as I dont want him choosing a different area, and getting into trouble...
The Waiau River for example may well be around a metre deep and with a good current in early summer, standing at the head of a rapid, I will assess the current and distance across , and often take my horses up the river bank a distance and enter the river up there, heading across keeping an eye on my exist point, and working the horse slightly against the current crossing at around a 45 degree angle, making sure I dont stray too far downstream, having to then face not only the strong current but down the rougher rapid areas... keep out of these in deeper rivers. your horse may well loose its footing, and the rest can .....well end in swimming to say the least, so plan and try to stay on course...
Another serious point I consider when crossing wider braided deep rivers such as the Rangitata, or Rakaia, is I not only choose where to cross, but also consider... can I get back across this main stream if further over I find I cant cross further braids as possibly there is not an area ahead of a rapid available and need to get back across this same deep stream and try further up or down... it happens... be prepared... Major rivers are dangerous and need to be treated carefully...
Dont think that your horse can simply swim to get across... in rivers with a good current it may well take you and him down to far to safely exist.
If in doubt dont enter....!
Time and experience with lesser flowing rivers is a good thing before tackling some of the major Canterbury rivers..
Don't venture into our back country with your horse on your own.... only seasoned trekker with experience and knowledge to deal with the "what if's" that crop up in front of them should do so....
Take along at least one "experienced" person with you on your treks..
Never ask your horse to cross a river that is deeper than your horses belly until both you and your horse are conditioned to this environment..
New Zealand mountain country has unpredictable weather and climate conditions, that can and does change rapidly .... Reading in my website you will see I always take a lot more gear than necessary on treks.. much of this gear just goes for a ride and is not used, but when the weather chips are down this gear can be a life saver...
Rivers in Flood...
Experienced horse riders all know.. flooded rivers are dangerous... Keep out of them... your horse will sense and at times refuse to enter.. and for good reason..
If you come to a flooded river, turn back... if you are on your way out of an area.. camp up... there are many cemeteries with headstones that read of people drowned while crossing rivers, the horse stumbles, the current compounds, the riders is dislodged, and swept downstream... you cannot just hang onto your horse if he is also in trouble and floundering ....
Smaller rivers that come down in flood should be "horse crossable" with care after a 24 hour no rain period, even tho the river may still be discoloured..but this is not the case with major rivers.. sometimes it may be a week or longer of no rain before its safe to cross..
In spring, early summer, the best time to cross a river that is still running higher than normal is first thing in the morning.. overnight mountain snow will freeze with frost and first thing in the mornings the river will be lower than later when the sun comes out and the thaw continues.... . COMMON SENSE is the key...!
While at Mesopotamia Station which borders the mighty Rangitata river, I remember one deer stalking party who took a large 4x4 truck that stood some 2.5 metres to the top of the cab. up the river one labour weekend, to experience while up there a northwest storm and heavy rain which bought the river up..
Come Sunday lunch time , they decided they needed to return for the 5 hour trip back down the riverbed to the station but unfortunately drove into a hole in the river about opposite the Growler Hut and drowned the trucks engine, the river continued to rise quickly with 13 blokes clinging to this truck stuck in the middle of one of the main braids, which in turn saw panic spread, with the result in all jumping ship risking life and limb as they were all swept downriver...
Luckliy all made it and the alarm at the station was raised, several of us next day took horses up, to the truck to find its cab only sticking out of the river by one foot... so with my maths that braid was running at around 2 metres deep....
With this heavy rain and swollen river they experienced, was it sensible to try to return knowing it was sunday and had to be back at work monday morning ...?????
Hut Bound...
Over my adult life there have been a number of times when others and myself have been held up on the wrong side of rivers in flood blocking our travel..It can be quite an experience to be hut bound with others when rain continues for several days bringing up all the side stream as well as main rivers into flood..
People become restless after a few days confined to a small hut and its here that sometimes a less than pleasant side to some folks rears its head.. some become irrational and make plans to try and head out or continue when its unsafe...
At times arguments erupt with some wanting to move out no matter what conditions they may face while others know better and wish to wait until conditions become safe again...Here there is no easy answer... we cannot demand that another adult stay put..... what do we do...???
As a trek leader in these situations I prefer all of our party travel together, but have had to come to the decision that faced with others who are determined to move on even when its clear travel is not safe. I can only inform them that I don't feel its safe but if you must.... then go....!
Just recently while held up at a hut for a number of days one party member wanted to leave their horses and try and walk out around the sides of the mountains on their own as we had become overdue, and no amount of talking was going to change this persons mind..What do we do in this situation...?. we cannot stop people...!
Our Mountain back country has claimed countless lives, as mother nature is quick to punish the unaware, or under prepared... DON'T TAKE RISKS....!
The photo first above of myself and Shae crossing the Broken River, it didnt have much river water but was quiet rough and bouldery in places, so the trick here is to cross at the head of a rapid...
You can see from the photo, the river water is quiet broken on the immediate downstream side, but straight ahead of us, again at the head of this little rapid the river is both smoother with less bouldery bottom, so easier on the horse to cross.
This rule of thumb is is good to remember as almost no matter wheather crossing this simple one or the mightly Rakaia, or Waiau the same principle remains....
The top river crossing, the photo of Shae and Bailey was in flood and had a lot rougher bottom with large submerged boulders, requiring me to carefully choose where to enter and cross this river..
This particular river crossing held me up on my trek, and did wait around 24 hours after the rain stopped before crossing it...
Once committed it is difficult to change my mind half way thru, so careful choice is necessary...
As the top photo shows, I have a self policy, firstly before entering a river with a good current, choose carefully both the entry point and where I want to exit... making sure there is not a vertical bank , or excessive large boulders to negiote, secondly, rivers with a good current need to be crossed at a down stream angle, the faster flowing, the steeper the angle crossed, making sure again before entering you have a good exit point..
Some larger rivers such as the Waiau and clarence run quiet deep (at times a metre or so ) and these will push the horse along down stream so require you to keep him on course for your elected exit point... I always put a long lead rope on Bailey when crossing major or difficult rivers as I dont want him choosing a different area, and getting into trouble...
The Waiau River for example may well be around a metre deep and with a good current in early summer, standing at the head of a rapid, I will assess the current and distance across , and often take my horses up the river bank a distance and enter the river up there, heading across keeping an eye on my exist point, and working the horse slightly against the current crossing at around a 45 degree angle, making sure I dont stray too far downstream, having to then face not only the strong current but down the rougher rapid areas... keep out of these in deeper rivers. your horse may well loose its footing, and the rest can .....well end in swimming to say the least, so plan and try to stay on course...
Another serious point I consider when crossing wider braided deep rivers such as the Rangitata, or Rakaia, is I not only choose where to cross, but also consider... can I get back across this main stream if further over I find I cant cross further braids as possibly there is not an area ahead of a rapid available and need to get back across this same deep stream and try further up or down... it happens... be prepared... Major rivers are dangerous and need to be treated carefully...
Dont think that your horse can simply swim to get across... in rivers with a good current it may well take you and him down to far to safely exist.
If in doubt dont enter....!
Time and experience with lesser flowing rivers is a good thing before tackling some of the major Canterbury rivers..
Don't venture into our back country with your horse on your own.... only seasoned trekker with experience and knowledge to deal with the "what if's" that crop up in front of them should do so....
Take along at least one "experienced" person with you on your treks..
Never ask your horse to cross a river that is deeper than your horses belly until both you and your horse are conditioned to this environment..
New Zealand mountain country has unpredictable weather and climate conditions, that can and does change rapidly .... Reading in my website you will see I always take a lot more gear than necessary on treks.. much of this gear just goes for a ride and is not used, but when the weather chips are down this gear can be a life saver...
Rivers in Flood...
Experienced horse riders all know.. flooded rivers are dangerous... Keep out of them... your horse will sense and at times refuse to enter.. and for good reason..
If you come to a flooded river, turn back... if you are on your way out of an area.. camp up... there are many cemeteries with headstones that read of people drowned while crossing rivers, the horse stumbles, the current compounds, the riders is dislodged, and swept downstream... you cannot just hang onto your horse if he is also in trouble and floundering ....
Smaller rivers that come down in flood should be "horse crossable" with care after a 24 hour no rain period, even tho the river may still be discoloured..but this is not the case with major rivers.. sometimes it may be a week or longer of no rain before its safe to cross..
In spring, early summer, the best time to cross a river that is still running higher than normal is first thing in the morning.. overnight mountain snow will freeze with frost and first thing in the mornings the river will be lower than later when the sun comes out and the thaw continues.... . COMMON SENSE is the key...!
While at Mesopotamia Station which borders the mighty Rangitata river, I remember one deer stalking party who took a large 4x4 truck that stood some 2.5 metres to the top of the cab. up the river one labour weekend, to experience while up there a northwest storm and heavy rain which bought the river up..
Come Sunday lunch time , they decided they needed to return for the 5 hour trip back down the riverbed to the station but unfortunately drove into a hole in the river about opposite the Growler Hut and drowned the trucks engine, the river continued to rise quickly with 13 blokes clinging to this truck stuck in the middle of one of the main braids, which in turn saw panic spread, with the result in all jumping ship risking life and limb as they were all swept downriver...
Luckliy all made it and the alarm at the station was raised, several of us next day took horses up, to the truck to find its cab only sticking out of the river by one foot... so with my maths that braid was running at around 2 metres deep....
With this heavy rain and swollen river they experienced, was it sensible to try to return knowing it was sunday and had to be back at work monday morning ...?????
Hut Bound...
Over my adult life there have been a number of times when others and myself have been held up on the wrong side of rivers in flood blocking our travel..It can be quite an experience to be hut bound with others when rain continues for several days bringing up all the side stream as well as main rivers into flood..
People become restless after a few days confined to a small hut and its here that sometimes a less than pleasant side to some folks rears its head.. some become irrational and make plans to try and head out or continue when its unsafe...
At times arguments erupt with some wanting to move out no matter what conditions they may face while others know better and wish to wait until conditions become safe again...Here there is no easy answer... we cannot demand that another adult stay put..... what do we do...???
As a trek leader in these situations I prefer all of our party travel together, but have had to come to the decision that faced with others who are determined to move on even when its clear travel is not safe. I can only inform them that I don't feel its safe but if you must.... then go....!
Just recently while held up at a hut for a number of days one party member wanted to leave their horses and try and walk out around the sides of the mountains on their own as we had become overdue, and no amount of talking was going to change this persons mind..What do we do in this situation...?. we cannot stop people...!
Our Mountain back country has claimed countless lives, as mother nature is quick to punish the unaware, or under prepared... DON'T TAKE RISKS....!
This the confluence of the Clarence and Acheron Rivers in spring...
Spring last, we had to postpone a trek after arriving at this point... this Acheron / Clarence river was running at 1.5 metres deep across that far bank.. down stream was no better so decided to turn around and revisit this area later in summer..
Caution is needed with horses loaded with heavy trekking gear while crossing deep, fast flowing rivers.. this gear can get caught up in the current and unbalance the horse.... more importantly, care is needed to ensure water does not fill the panniers on the pack horse and pull him under...this has happened a number of time in my early days working on various high country stations..
The adjacent vehicle bridge across the Clarence was locked so couldn't access the Molesworth side to then possibly use the Stock bridge just upstream on the Acheron to continue..
We had intended on a further 7 days on Molesworth and then would have to recross this same river on return... this time of year is was too risky to rely the river level to be ok to recross...
Spring can see these major rivers running high for weeks at a time with the snow melt..
Caution is needed with horses loaded with heavy trekking gear while crossing deep, fast flowing rivers.. this gear can get caught up in the current and unbalance the horse.... more importantly, care is needed to ensure water does not fill the panniers on the pack horse and pull him under...this has happened a number of time in my early days working on various high country stations..
The adjacent vehicle bridge across the Clarence was locked so couldn't access the Molesworth side to then possibly use the Stock bridge just upstream on the Acheron to continue..
We had intended on a further 7 days on Molesworth and then would have to recross this same river on return... this time of year is was too risky to rely the river level to be ok to recross...
Spring can see these major rivers running high for weeks at a time with the snow melt..
Hill Work Trails.................
Many of you will already know much of the information given in here, but for others its a good general reference
Hill work requires your horse to be of a good fitness level as its hard work on these longer uphill trails not only with you aboard but also all your furniture for the duration included... It not fair on your horse to just take him from only doing arena flat work over the last 6 months and all of a suddden asking him to tackle something like the trail in the above photo...
There have been several riders I have come across out on hill trails with their horse blowing excessively even on much less inclines.... I feel like asking them to dismount and let the poor horse hop on their back for a bit of uphill to see how they all of a sudden feel... condition your horse first....
Once you have a reasonably fit horse many hill trails can be ridden uphill, remembering to have a suitable decent breastplate done up tight enough to actually hold the saddle and load in place,........lite around town breast plates are not suitable,, often too thin and narrow and will cut into the horses chest on the longer trails.....
Elastic saddle harness is also unsuitable for serious hill work trails.....
Give your horse breathers every ten mins or so... let him take small drinks at streams crossed on the trail, but not allowing him to excessively drink.... little and often is best...
On the subject of small stream crossings, try not to let your horse jump these fully loaded.. lately there have been several riders with horse jumping them.. often the terrain on the otherside is bouldery or uneven risking leg injuries, little own seeing riders with lots of air between posterier and saddle as the horse leaps over... if you are having trouble with this, ask someone to ride ahead and stop their horse a metre past the stream so there is no room for your horse to land, thus encouraging him to walk thru....
The pack horse saddle should have its breast plate tightened so your hand can just comfortably slide between his chest and the plate for the uphill section.. once at the top I slacken the breast plate back off the riding and pack horse, and tighten the breachplate and crupper on the respective pack and riding horse for the decent..
Again a hand being comfortable to fit between the breach plate and the horse... Dont forget to slacken it at the bottom... On the flat the pack horse harness should be looser front and back, making it more comfortable...
Keep an eye on your harness fit to make sure its not rubbing hair or skin raw... often as a result of harness being too tight for long periods..
On my longer treks, each day I will readjust the pack saddle harness so the breech and breast place sit in slightly different places on the horse, it doesn't require much of a shift to make sure hair is not being rubbed off anywhere.. this especially when on extended hill country trails...
Down steeper or rocky trails I always get off and lead the riding horse down the trail, letting my pack horse just follow along so he can pick his own decent ....
If you are new to pack horse travel, perhaps take the reins off your riding horse and tie him with your long lead rope thru a suitable light rope to the girth and up thru the hooks on the pack saddle and lead the pack horse down.. he has the heavier load and travel down at his speed..
Keep an eye on both horses loads while decending as both horses sway side to side down hill and can dislodge gear...
You will need reasonable boots as some of the longer trails requires some distance to walk as for example in the above photo....
If decending a hill that has no track, dont just walk straight down hill, its hard on the horse, instead, sidle down at an angle, in a zig zag pattern, he will appreciate it I am sure..
Uphill riding is the same... sidle up in the same zig zag pattern....again think of your horses comfort...
By electing to sidle up or down, the horse works the uphill side front and rear legs more than the down hill side legs, so can sort of rest the down hill side, until you turn and sidle up or down the other side, then this side does most of the hard work, and sort of rests this otherside now, if you understand what I am saying.. same as humans.. you walk uphill at an angle, with your uphill side leg doing most of the work, your other leg playing catch up every step, until you change direction then this other now uphill side does most of the work..
You arrive at the top of the saddle, and your horse as not worked nearly as hard to achieve this as if he was asked to climb straight up.. smart thinking...!
Footnote..
Over the years I have taken quite a few riding folks out into the mountains and over various pack trail routes, many often eager to experience the adventures, however I have noticed that not all have sufficient experience in even riding, little own looking after their mount properly,
Before taking anyone unknown to me away these days I like to take them firstly away just on a simple overnight trek to see how they cope with travel and looking after their horses daily needs..
There has been a number of incidences.... when on perhaps a narrow mountainside pack trails or crossing deeper rivers where either horse or the rider has found themselves out of their depth in experience... one rider half way up a narrow pack track panicking and deciding to leap off their horse onto the steep uphill side, but in doing so pushed the horse off his balance, with the result of the horse going over the side.. luckily there was a shingle siding down and the horse rolled down a distance with nothing but a few bumps and bruises and a very "second hand" looking saddle.
I tell new riders now if they feel vertigo or scared in any sections of the pack tracks,do not try and jump off..... just let go of the reins shut their eyes and hang onto the saddle.. the horse wont walk off the side on his own....
Another rider while crossing a deep, fast flowing Waiau river allowed her horse to be taken too far down river into a very rough bouldery area, the horse started floundering trying to head back over to the wrong side again, with the rider fighting the reins trying to now get her horse to continue down this fast flowing rapids area and over to me..... a disaster just waiting to happen....!.. and all after me asking her before hand to just follow me but she thought she knew better.....
We arrived at the river and seeing it was running quite high, I said I think we should walk up river 70 metres and start up there, but the lady just walked in straight at the head of the rapid cutting the corner, but failed to take into account the depth and especially the power of the current, as she tried to ride straight across... as a result the horse couldn't fight the side on current to maintain her heading and was pushed down into the bouldery rapid area still with a depth around 80cm just inexperienced and not wanting to listen........ a lesson learnt... we all need to learn to walk before we can run.... so to speak.....!
Sometimes its not a bad thing to listen to a bit of friendly advice...!
The last thing I want is any horse.... or riders being injured... horses don't ask to be taken out into the mountain country, so I like to make sure as little harm comes to them as possible on my treks...
Lost Horses from Camp........
One of the things we all try to keep to a minimum but occassionally it happens..
My new horse riding friend who is currently travelling the whole of NZ, was telling me of loosing both his horses twice in two weeks, both times it involved a walk by him all day, back the same way he came from to the last closed gate on the trail... 28 kilometres the last walk to pick them up again..
Most............. times horses disappear from camp, they will wonder off back the way they came from that day, often either looking for grazing, or something has frightened them at camp... pigs for one at night.. horses dislike and can smell and sense pigs easily....
Sometimes you can pick up their disappearing track and can follow these .... but not all horses go back the way they came from.. If a horse knows the country that you are riding over it can wander off in any direction...great....!
Good "horse keeping" at camp can certainly limit escapees doing a "houdini" act.......Personally, when I arrive at a new hut or camp site that has no horse paddock, I can unload, wash down and just let my horses loose for around 20 minutes to half an hour..
( You need to know and trust your horses before letting any of them loose at camp...)
I watch them closely after around 15 to 20 minutes, as when their tummies start to fill up on grass, they start taking more than just the odd step between grazing spots, its time to contain them, either leg tie or halter tight them...
Some huts that do have a horse paddock, but previous horses have eaten it right down so you are forced to feed your lot outside the paddock.. again, they are often too busy feeding their faces to escape for the first twenty mins, but after that period watch them....
Other riders may differ opinion, but I have found, leg tie the main horses at camp during the day, and I high line all my horses last thing just before I go to bed at night is a 99% safe and reliable way to contain my horses at the various camps....again this works for me..!
We have covered the most obvious things that trail riders will from time to time come across in the above page, so now our attention turns to getting out and exploring some of our beautiful trails and scenery along with a bit of overnite camping with our horses...
Riding out on the trail......
For this exercise, lets assume as discussed above that we have decided to ride a one overnight trail ride from Castleridge Station in the Ashburton Gorge out to the Boundary Hut in the South Branch of the Ashburton River which is all within a DoC conservation area ,via the Paddle Hill Stream route and that we intend floating the horses up early on the same morning that we intend riding out to the hut on...
I feel it quiet necessary to organise all of your initial trail rides to go with at least one other experienced rider...
So you have decided on the day, having checked that the weather is suitable, your horse has a reasonable level of fitness and is shod hopefully...
You have bought or downloaded a topo map covering the entire route, having studied it to familarise yourself in where you are going...... before leaving home have told someone where you are going to start your ride from, where you intend staying the night and when you intend returning home...
So now we turn to the gear you will need to take with you.... we know from reading on Tonys website, of his treks to this same hut, that there is a suitable horse paddock at the hut and that there is sufficient feed for our horses, so wont need to take any further feed to the hut....
There have been several riders I have come across out on hill trails with their horse blowing excessively even on much less inclines.... I feel like asking them to dismount and let the poor horse hop on their back for a bit of uphill to see how they all of a sudden feel... condition your horse first....
Once you have a reasonably fit horse many hill trails can be ridden uphill, remembering to have a suitable decent breastplate done up tight enough to actually hold the saddle and load in place,........lite around town breast plates are not suitable,, often too thin and narrow and will cut into the horses chest on the longer trails.....
Elastic saddle harness is also unsuitable for serious hill work trails.....
Give your horse breathers every ten mins or so... let him take small drinks at streams crossed on the trail, but not allowing him to excessively drink.... little and often is best...
On the subject of small stream crossings, try not to let your horse jump these fully loaded.. lately there have been several riders with horse jumping them.. often the terrain on the otherside is bouldery or uneven risking leg injuries, little own seeing riders with lots of air between posterier and saddle as the horse leaps over... if you are having trouble with this, ask someone to ride ahead and stop their horse a metre past the stream so there is no room for your horse to land, thus encouraging him to walk thru....
The pack horse saddle should have its breast plate tightened so your hand can just comfortably slide between his chest and the plate for the uphill section.. once at the top I slacken the breast plate back off the riding and pack horse, and tighten the breachplate and crupper on the respective pack and riding horse for the decent..
Again a hand being comfortable to fit between the breach plate and the horse... Dont forget to slacken it at the bottom... On the flat the pack horse harness should be looser front and back, making it more comfortable...
Keep an eye on your harness fit to make sure its not rubbing hair or skin raw... often as a result of harness being too tight for long periods..
On my longer treks, each day I will readjust the pack saddle harness so the breech and breast place sit in slightly different places on the horse, it doesn't require much of a shift to make sure hair is not being rubbed off anywhere.. this especially when on extended hill country trails...
Down steeper or rocky trails I always get off and lead the riding horse down the trail, letting my pack horse just follow along so he can pick his own decent ....
If you are new to pack horse travel, perhaps take the reins off your riding horse and tie him with your long lead rope thru a suitable light rope to the girth and up thru the hooks on the pack saddle and lead the pack horse down.. he has the heavier load and travel down at his speed..
Keep an eye on both horses loads while decending as both horses sway side to side down hill and can dislodge gear...
You will need reasonable boots as some of the longer trails requires some distance to walk as for example in the above photo....
If decending a hill that has no track, dont just walk straight down hill, its hard on the horse, instead, sidle down at an angle, in a zig zag pattern, he will appreciate it I am sure..
Uphill riding is the same... sidle up in the same zig zag pattern....again think of your horses comfort...
By electing to sidle up or down, the horse works the uphill side front and rear legs more than the down hill side legs, so can sort of rest the down hill side, until you turn and sidle up or down the other side, then this side does most of the hard work, and sort of rests this otherside now, if you understand what I am saying.. same as humans.. you walk uphill at an angle, with your uphill side leg doing most of the work, your other leg playing catch up every step, until you change direction then this other now uphill side does most of the work..
You arrive at the top of the saddle, and your horse as not worked nearly as hard to achieve this as if he was asked to climb straight up.. smart thinking...!
Footnote..
Over the years I have taken quite a few riding folks out into the mountains and over various pack trail routes, many often eager to experience the adventures, however I have noticed that not all have sufficient experience in even riding, little own looking after their mount properly,
Before taking anyone unknown to me away these days I like to take them firstly away just on a simple overnight trek to see how they cope with travel and looking after their horses daily needs..
There has been a number of incidences.... when on perhaps a narrow mountainside pack trails or crossing deeper rivers where either horse or the rider has found themselves out of their depth in experience... one rider half way up a narrow pack track panicking and deciding to leap off their horse onto the steep uphill side, but in doing so pushed the horse off his balance, with the result of the horse going over the side.. luckily there was a shingle siding down and the horse rolled down a distance with nothing but a few bumps and bruises and a very "second hand" looking saddle.
I tell new riders now if they feel vertigo or scared in any sections of the pack tracks,do not try and jump off..... just let go of the reins shut their eyes and hang onto the saddle.. the horse wont walk off the side on his own....
Another rider while crossing a deep, fast flowing Waiau river allowed her horse to be taken too far down river into a very rough bouldery area, the horse started floundering trying to head back over to the wrong side again, with the rider fighting the reins trying to now get her horse to continue down this fast flowing rapids area and over to me..... a disaster just waiting to happen....!.. and all after me asking her before hand to just follow me but she thought she knew better.....
We arrived at the river and seeing it was running quite high, I said I think we should walk up river 70 metres and start up there, but the lady just walked in straight at the head of the rapid cutting the corner, but failed to take into account the depth and especially the power of the current, as she tried to ride straight across... as a result the horse couldn't fight the side on current to maintain her heading and was pushed down into the bouldery rapid area still with a depth around 80cm just inexperienced and not wanting to listen........ a lesson learnt... we all need to learn to walk before we can run.... so to speak.....!
Sometimes its not a bad thing to listen to a bit of friendly advice...!
The last thing I want is any horse.... or riders being injured... horses don't ask to be taken out into the mountain country, so I like to make sure as little harm comes to them as possible on my treks...
Lost Horses from Camp........
One of the things we all try to keep to a minimum but occassionally it happens..
My new horse riding friend who is currently travelling the whole of NZ, was telling me of loosing both his horses twice in two weeks, both times it involved a walk by him all day, back the same way he came from to the last closed gate on the trail... 28 kilometres the last walk to pick them up again..
Most............. times horses disappear from camp, they will wonder off back the way they came from that day, often either looking for grazing, or something has frightened them at camp... pigs for one at night.. horses dislike and can smell and sense pigs easily....
Sometimes you can pick up their disappearing track and can follow these .... but not all horses go back the way they came from.. If a horse knows the country that you are riding over it can wander off in any direction...great....!
Good "horse keeping" at camp can certainly limit escapees doing a "houdini" act.......Personally, when I arrive at a new hut or camp site that has no horse paddock, I can unload, wash down and just let my horses loose for around 20 minutes to half an hour..
( You need to know and trust your horses before letting any of them loose at camp...)
I watch them closely after around 15 to 20 minutes, as when their tummies start to fill up on grass, they start taking more than just the odd step between grazing spots, its time to contain them, either leg tie or halter tight them...
Some huts that do have a horse paddock, but previous horses have eaten it right down so you are forced to feed your lot outside the paddock.. again, they are often too busy feeding their faces to escape for the first twenty mins, but after that period watch them....
Other riders may differ opinion, but I have found, leg tie the main horses at camp during the day, and I high line all my horses last thing just before I go to bed at night is a 99% safe and reliable way to contain my horses at the various camps....again this works for me..!
We have covered the most obvious things that trail riders will from time to time come across in the above page, so now our attention turns to getting out and exploring some of our beautiful trails and scenery along with a bit of overnite camping with our horses...
Riding out on the trail......
For this exercise, lets assume as discussed above that we have decided to ride a one overnight trail ride from Castleridge Station in the Ashburton Gorge out to the Boundary Hut in the South Branch of the Ashburton River which is all within a DoC conservation area ,via the Paddle Hill Stream route and that we intend floating the horses up early on the same morning that we intend riding out to the hut on...
I feel it quiet necessary to organise all of your initial trail rides to go with at least one other experienced rider...
So you have decided on the day, having checked that the weather is suitable, your horse has a reasonable level of fitness and is shod hopefully...
You have bought or downloaded a topo map covering the entire route, having studied it to familarise yourself in where you are going...... before leaving home have told someone where you are going to start your ride from, where you intend staying the night and when you intend returning home...
So now we turn to the gear you will need to take with you.... we know from reading on Tonys website, of his treks to this same hut, that there is a suitable horse paddock at the hut and that there is sufficient feed for our horses, so wont need to take any further feed to the hut....
Picture shows the actual Boundary Hut, and also of one of my riding friends horse, and the way she carries enough gear for the trail ride...
Her change of clothes, sleeping bag and food are all contained in a three compartment saddle bag that she just straps to the front of her saddle, with her coat as shown strapped to the top of the saddle bags with the rest of her gear stored in a small bag eitherside hanging off the saddle..( not shown )
She just uses a halter as a bridle which is optional, and the rope hooked to her saddle is long enough to teather her horse for its feed, either on the trail or at the hut...On the back of her saddle is a rolled up sleeping mat, and I think a further rope within the centre..
My friend, is an experienced trail riders whom has ridden all over the place with this horse and gear on, up to four day treks with just this set up, so its not to difficult a job to take enough gear and still be comfortable..
This horse is unshod all the time but my friend has a set of front easy boots she takes that she can strap on the horse for rougher trails..
So the basic gear you will need is, obvious a suitable horse, a saddle that fits properly,, perhaps a stock or western saddle is easier as both these styles have suitable saddle attachment "D" rings to tie your gear to..... a breast plate and crupper,a hoof pick, a long teather rope,some sort of First Aid kit and a brush for your horse....
Horse covers.... well thats up to you,,, most horses that trek dont normally have covers, but you can roll your horses cover up, by firstly turning it upside down, and rolling from the back to the front, tie this sausage so it stays a sausage, drap it over the front of the saddle and down eitherside of your horses neck and use the front cover buckles to tie the cover together, also tieing as much of the cover to your saddle to stop it slipping around.. its a bit bulky, but it will get to the hut and back this way...
On the trails most riders only take a minimum of extra clothes apart from the ones that they wear to save space, but thats up to you... you will need a towel , small...... toileteries bag, a sleeping bag, a good warm long raincoat, riding helmet, and as shown above , a sleeping mat is desireable just in case the hut is either full of other people or your horses have beaten you in the hut door and taken up all the bunks first, lol so you may need to sleep on the floor... not often this happens but.....
Food.... you will need todays lunch, and something delicious for your evening meal, tomorrows breakfast and lunch....along with a cup, plate, spoon, knife and small gas cooker, lighter, and small gas bottle,, all these things dont take up much room..... I always take a couple of packs of instant meals as an extra, as sometimes we get caught with wet weather, or one of the horses has skipped the country, causing a delay.... just in case...!
Good idea to store all your food in small plastic containers with tight fitting lids, as when at camp, you will be an honoured guest of Mr and Mrs tit mouse, and family, who will take great delight in helping lighten your culinary load overnight while you sleep... Nearly every hut has such residents.. before you hit the hay at night, hook your food bags up on a wire suspended from the roof which most huts have....
It is amazing where these gravity defying critters can climb to, but not too may have mastered the skill of sliding down a wire to your food sack..!
If you are frightened of the odd mouse, perhaps you can curl up at the bottom of one of these suspended wires as well......(smilies)... Tony, you are woffling again..lol
So thats about all you will need..... Ring and ask the owners at Castleridge Station if its ok to leave your vehicle and float in their yard for safe keeping a few days prior to departure day and as they say..... Happy trails and all that...(smilies)
A word on telling a responsible person your intentions and return time.....
Its up to you, but myself, I tell my wife, or whom I am leaving this information with, that I am due back home on such and such a day at roughly such a time, but...... if I fail to return at that time, I ask that person not to contact Police to report me overdue for a further 24 hours......
I do this, as in the mountains, things can happen to delay ones travel,, A lost horse from camp..... a river in flood blocking our path...... perhaps causing us to have to take a longer different route to get out...(if diverting from the planned route out, leave your intentions in the hut book, or if no hut book, write your new intentions on a piece of paper and leave it on the hut table, with a small stone on it to stop it blowing away.)
Even tho I do travel a lot on my own in the mountains, my wife knows that if I experience wet and wild weather, or come to rivers in flood, or any other thing that for safety, impedes my travel, I will stay put at the nearest hut, until its safe to continue... there has been the odd time when I have been unable to complete my trek by the due time out.. most times have managed to arrive home or make contact before the extra 24 hour period is up.....
DONT THINK, .......ITS BEEN RAINING AND HIGH OR DANGEROUS RIVERS AHEAD, BUT HELL i AM DUE OUT LATER TODAY, SO i HAVE GOT TO FIND A WAY OUT....!!
iTS FAR SAFER TO STAY PUT IN A HUT, AND EVEN THO YOU ARE NOW OVERDUE AND PROBABLY A SEARCH PARTY HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED,.... BY USING COMMON SENSE THIS WILL ALL END IN A GOOD SAFE RESULT... A SEARCH PARTY WILL EASILY FIND YOU ONCE THE WEATHER CLEARS AND WONT MIND AT ALL IN YOUR CHOICE TO REMAIN SAFE....!
By remaining at a hut after your overdue time is up, generally an initial Search and Rescue party will consist of one helicopter and crew who will do a sweep of your intended route area and along with this check each hut you listed as staying in so it wont be long till they do catch up with you, and it will all end in a nice result...
Take time out to "smell the roses" along the trek route....
When trekking I like to take things easy.. I dont mind rising at 6am if we have a long distance to travel this day, but time and time again other riders cant seem to relax and just cruise.... Many rumaging around camp at 6am when the old digger is still trying to snooze... 7am on most days is ample time to be rising...lol.. perhaps 10am would be even better..(smilies)..
This is why I love trekking on my own... I can go when I wish.. stop when I wish... divert for a look up a side stream etc if i wish...( BLISS )
Recently a couple of lady riders arrived at our camp site for an overnight camp and ride back out next day... the ride out was only a couple of hours, but these two were pounding the hut floor at 5.30am Sunday morning.... (even the birds hadn't woken at this ungodly hour) and away back home leaving camp at 7am.... its crazy... they could have infact enjoyed the day camping and left mid afternoon and still be home before dark......
ps..... Fiona reckons I am getting more and more grumpy as I am getting older.....( laughing..! )
Long Distance trekking......
Over the last year or so I have been extending the time and distances of some treks, and have noted on several occasions that this length has a marked effect on some riders..
It seems to be a certain mental attitude is required to be comfortable and content on these longer trails, this mental attitude needs to be worked on and conditioned prior to tackling long distance treks.. or in other words conditioning ourselves to be able to cope with everyday in the saddle day after day for many days...
There is a big difference between a trek ride of some four days duration and one over two weeks or longer....
This came to light on a recent trail with one or two expressing the view that they had had enough of long distance boring tracks....not wanting to ride day rides any further than necessary, even though, before this trek started everyone on it knew the daily itinerary , everyone knew the distance and had studied the route planned and were happy with it..
I have noted on another two longer distance treks others becoming agitated with many days in the saddle as well.. some wanting to end and go home, others not wanting to ride any more than necessary..and yet these same riders have been perfectly happy on shorter trails..
I had planned a further month and a bit long trek thru the South Island with a number of others interested in coming along but have postponed it as a result of this finding...
Personally being saddle riding fit, this distance travel is comfortable,and is something I had not given any thought to prior to this season..
I feel as a result longer treks could well be conducted just on my own with three horses to share the load and distance.... I have found that others pushing and pulling somewhat takes the enjoyment out of travel...!
After all, life is for living and enjoying what ever pass time we follow..!
Take extra supplies
Recently nearing the end of a 12 day trek into Molesworth we experienced 30 hours of heavy Southerly rain which brought the Clarence River ( and side rivers) up into a flood.... We were forced to halt the trek for three days being on the wrong side,
Three days after it stopped raining I rode up along the river still very high, looking for a possible place to eventually cross , but only one area along the entire 12 kilometres that we could travel on that side was suitable to cross.. without this one area we would have been forced to stay put in the hut for a number of extra days until the river went down enough to safely cross... what do we eat if we only take enough food ration for the 12 day trek,,??
I have a policy of always taking a weeks further meal supply over and above the trek quota of food..... and even then could do a number of days after that on bits and pieces...extra rice... weetbix etc.... its of little extra weight to throw in 8 or 9 extra instant meal packets and just leave these in the bottom of your pack...
If only doing an overnight trek then just an extra day or so is sufficient extra food, however if I am planning a trek that involves major rivers to cross and especially to recross a week or so later then I do carry extra weeks food ration.... Flooded rivers blocking our return path happen reasonably often so be prepared..!
Allow for things out of your control which hold you up on treks....!
Team pre planning....
In your group pre planning for a trek, talk about and plan in...".what will we do if this happens.....?" have a plan in place eg...... if someone comes off their horse and is hurt... at least one of your party should have some basic first aid ability...make sure the hurt rider has the three vitals.. A B C airways clear.. (the patients tongue not blocking their airway)..... Breathing.... Circulation....have a plan to use someones sleeping bag to keep the patient warm.... have a plan for one to stay with the patient while the other or others ride out for help... talk about where they will ride to seek help.. know the person riding out knows where they are going along the mountain trail..... make sure the help rider has the necessary information on the patients condition to aid the rescue party.. make sure the help rider can tell the rescue party where the injured rider is located.....
Make sure everyone on your group knows where help is available anywhere along your trek.. which stations are nearest.... even better, hire or buy a Personal Emergency Locator beacon....Make sure everyone knows where this Emergency locator beacon is stored on your trek, and show everyone how to activate it....!
By talking about these issues that may or may not arise before a trek, if anything does happen time can be saved.. and this time may be vital....!
One of the reasons I try to avoid trekking between huts or destinations in wet cold weather and prefer to just stay in camp until the wet weather passes is this cold weather can increase the chances of HYPOTHERMIA coupled with the initial injury such as a fall from ones horse...
Recently towards the end of a remote country trek we were caught out with a southerly that turned bitterly cold with sheets of rain driving straight in our faces while trekking between huts, with this particular day needing to be in the saddle most of the day, up a river, over a mountain pass and down a further riverbed totalling 42 kilometres... during this ride I thought.. if someone has a fall today and is injured there is no shelter.. no trees and we were a long way from the nearest hut.... we were all cold and had to ride all the way down this riverbed to the bottom to the next hut this day...
What would you do in this situation to keep an injured person warm and tend to any wounds etc with no shelter out on a remote riverbed in driving rain and very cold wind..?? A sleeping bag would only be ok for a short while before it became wet.....You all need a plan to cope with what ever situation you come across while trekking
To my mind here, yes a sleeping bag to wrap the patient in.. then I would take my canvas pannier cover off the pack horse and also wrap that over the sleeping bag to try and keep things drier...I would also take both hard panniers off the pack horse and put these together up wind to help a little to keep some of the weather in check around the patient...
With talking about the "what ifs" before hand, a cool head can be kept under these trying conditions to go about keeping the patient as comfortable as possible until help arrives
This is where a personal locator beacon is necessary in a situation where a patient cannot carry on riding.. I would otherwise have needed to leave the patient and in this case there was no where I could ride for help within a days ride...we were in the heart of Moleworth Country, so again anywhere along the trail we all need to have a plan to cope with the "what ifs"
This long days ride in the rain came about as a result of one of the party very anxious to get out of the mountains as we were becoming overdue and was heading out on their own if I didn't go, I was talked into riding an otherwise two day ride down this section in the one day in this adverse weather...Was this sensible..? We got thru this day ok.. but I have thought a lot about this particular days ride and wont be repeating this scenario.. We all compromised safety and minimising the risk factor by this decision....
This incident highlights what can happen when irrational decisions are made under stress..!
A simple aspirin chewed by a person suspected of having a heart attack, can make a huge difference in the time between attack and you gaining help either by riding out or activating a PLB to the patients chances of survival .. its all knowledge that needs to be shared... a while ago we had a riding friend who suffered a heart attack while out riding at Bottle Lake... what would you do if this happened to one of your friends..?
Again, mountain horse travel requires a bit of COMMON SENSE.....
I am somewhat sorry for pin pointing some of the adverse situations in the above page that have developed from time to time on the odd trek of mine, however have included these to show and hopefully help educate others in what to do if faced with similar situation.... most treks are a lot of fun , proceed smoothly and I have a huge amount of lovely memories of our travels....!
The above incidences are rare and generally love other riders company to share the laughs and fun of trekking..!
You can contact me via my email should you have any questions...!
In the TREKS section scroll down to the second half of that page where I will post Trail Ride Destinations from time to time that folks can plan and follow for differing levels of ability, showing routes, huts, distance and times etc...hopefully with a topo map included of the area...
We have a lot of beaut country so take the bull by the horns , plan carefully, and go do it..lol
Her change of clothes, sleeping bag and food are all contained in a three compartment saddle bag that she just straps to the front of her saddle, with her coat as shown strapped to the top of the saddle bags with the rest of her gear stored in a small bag eitherside hanging off the saddle..( not shown )
She just uses a halter as a bridle which is optional, and the rope hooked to her saddle is long enough to teather her horse for its feed, either on the trail or at the hut...On the back of her saddle is a rolled up sleeping mat, and I think a further rope within the centre..
My friend, is an experienced trail riders whom has ridden all over the place with this horse and gear on, up to four day treks with just this set up, so its not to difficult a job to take enough gear and still be comfortable..
This horse is unshod all the time but my friend has a set of front easy boots she takes that she can strap on the horse for rougher trails..
So the basic gear you will need is, obvious a suitable horse, a saddle that fits properly,, perhaps a stock or western saddle is easier as both these styles have suitable saddle attachment "D" rings to tie your gear to..... a breast plate and crupper,a hoof pick, a long teather rope,some sort of First Aid kit and a brush for your horse....
Horse covers.... well thats up to you,,, most horses that trek dont normally have covers, but you can roll your horses cover up, by firstly turning it upside down, and rolling from the back to the front, tie this sausage so it stays a sausage, drap it over the front of the saddle and down eitherside of your horses neck and use the front cover buckles to tie the cover together, also tieing as much of the cover to your saddle to stop it slipping around.. its a bit bulky, but it will get to the hut and back this way...
On the trails most riders only take a minimum of extra clothes apart from the ones that they wear to save space, but thats up to you... you will need a towel , small...... toileteries bag, a sleeping bag, a good warm long raincoat, riding helmet, and as shown above , a sleeping mat is desireable just in case the hut is either full of other people or your horses have beaten you in the hut door and taken up all the bunks first, lol so you may need to sleep on the floor... not often this happens but.....
Food.... you will need todays lunch, and something delicious for your evening meal, tomorrows breakfast and lunch....along with a cup, plate, spoon, knife and small gas cooker, lighter, and small gas bottle,, all these things dont take up much room..... I always take a couple of packs of instant meals as an extra, as sometimes we get caught with wet weather, or one of the horses has skipped the country, causing a delay.... just in case...!
Good idea to store all your food in small plastic containers with tight fitting lids, as when at camp, you will be an honoured guest of Mr and Mrs tit mouse, and family, who will take great delight in helping lighten your culinary load overnight while you sleep... Nearly every hut has such residents.. before you hit the hay at night, hook your food bags up on a wire suspended from the roof which most huts have....
It is amazing where these gravity defying critters can climb to, but not too may have mastered the skill of sliding down a wire to your food sack..!
If you are frightened of the odd mouse, perhaps you can curl up at the bottom of one of these suspended wires as well......(smilies)... Tony, you are woffling again..lol
So thats about all you will need..... Ring and ask the owners at Castleridge Station if its ok to leave your vehicle and float in their yard for safe keeping a few days prior to departure day and as they say..... Happy trails and all that...(smilies)
A word on telling a responsible person your intentions and return time.....
Its up to you, but myself, I tell my wife, or whom I am leaving this information with, that I am due back home on such and such a day at roughly such a time, but...... if I fail to return at that time, I ask that person not to contact Police to report me overdue for a further 24 hours......
I do this, as in the mountains, things can happen to delay ones travel,, A lost horse from camp..... a river in flood blocking our path...... perhaps causing us to have to take a longer different route to get out...(if diverting from the planned route out, leave your intentions in the hut book, or if no hut book, write your new intentions on a piece of paper and leave it on the hut table, with a small stone on it to stop it blowing away.)
Even tho I do travel a lot on my own in the mountains, my wife knows that if I experience wet and wild weather, or come to rivers in flood, or any other thing that for safety, impedes my travel, I will stay put at the nearest hut, until its safe to continue... there has been the odd time when I have been unable to complete my trek by the due time out.. most times have managed to arrive home or make contact before the extra 24 hour period is up.....
DONT THINK, .......ITS BEEN RAINING AND HIGH OR DANGEROUS RIVERS AHEAD, BUT HELL i AM DUE OUT LATER TODAY, SO i HAVE GOT TO FIND A WAY OUT....!!
iTS FAR SAFER TO STAY PUT IN A HUT, AND EVEN THO YOU ARE NOW OVERDUE AND PROBABLY A SEARCH PARTY HAVE BEEN NOTIFIED,.... BY USING COMMON SENSE THIS WILL ALL END IN A GOOD SAFE RESULT... A SEARCH PARTY WILL EASILY FIND YOU ONCE THE WEATHER CLEARS AND WONT MIND AT ALL IN YOUR CHOICE TO REMAIN SAFE....!
By remaining at a hut after your overdue time is up, generally an initial Search and Rescue party will consist of one helicopter and crew who will do a sweep of your intended route area and along with this check each hut you listed as staying in so it wont be long till they do catch up with you, and it will all end in a nice result...
Take time out to "smell the roses" along the trek route....
When trekking I like to take things easy.. I dont mind rising at 6am if we have a long distance to travel this day, but time and time again other riders cant seem to relax and just cruise.... Many rumaging around camp at 6am when the old digger is still trying to snooze... 7am on most days is ample time to be rising...lol.. perhaps 10am would be even better..(smilies)..
This is why I love trekking on my own... I can go when I wish.. stop when I wish... divert for a look up a side stream etc if i wish...( BLISS )
Recently a couple of lady riders arrived at our camp site for an overnight camp and ride back out next day... the ride out was only a couple of hours, but these two were pounding the hut floor at 5.30am Sunday morning.... (even the birds hadn't woken at this ungodly hour) and away back home leaving camp at 7am.... its crazy... they could have infact enjoyed the day camping and left mid afternoon and still be home before dark......
ps..... Fiona reckons I am getting more and more grumpy as I am getting older.....( laughing..! )
Long Distance trekking......
Over the last year or so I have been extending the time and distances of some treks, and have noted on several occasions that this length has a marked effect on some riders..
It seems to be a certain mental attitude is required to be comfortable and content on these longer trails, this mental attitude needs to be worked on and conditioned prior to tackling long distance treks.. or in other words conditioning ourselves to be able to cope with everyday in the saddle day after day for many days...
There is a big difference between a trek ride of some four days duration and one over two weeks or longer....
This came to light on a recent trail with one or two expressing the view that they had had enough of long distance boring tracks....not wanting to ride day rides any further than necessary, even though, before this trek started everyone on it knew the daily itinerary , everyone knew the distance and had studied the route planned and were happy with it..
I have noted on another two longer distance treks others becoming agitated with many days in the saddle as well.. some wanting to end and go home, others not wanting to ride any more than necessary..and yet these same riders have been perfectly happy on shorter trails..
I had planned a further month and a bit long trek thru the South Island with a number of others interested in coming along but have postponed it as a result of this finding...
Personally being saddle riding fit, this distance travel is comfortable,and is something I had not given any thought to prior to this season..
I feel as a result longer treks could well be conducted just on my own with three horses to share the load and distance.... I have found that others pushing and pulling somewhat takes the enjoyment out of travel...!
After all, life is for living and enjoying what ever pass time we follow..!
Take extra supplies
Recently nearing the end of a 12 day trek into Molesworth we experienced 30 hours of heavy Southerly rain which brought the Clarence River ( and side rivers) up into a flood.... We were forced to halt the trek for three days being on the wrong side,
Three days after it stopped raining I rode up along the river still very high, looking for a possible place to eventually cross , but only one area along the entire 12 kilometres that we could travel on that side was suitable to cross.. without this one area we would have been forced to stay put in the hut for a number of extra days until the river went down enough to safely cross... what do we eat if we only take enough food ration for the 12 day trek,,??
I have a policy of always taking a weeks further meal supply over and above the trek quota of food..... and even then could do a number of days after that on bits and pieces...extra rice... weetbix etc.... its of little extra weight to throw in 8 or 9 extra instant meal packets and just leave these in the bottom of your pack...
If only doing an overnight trek then just an extra day or so is sufficient extra food, however if I am planning a trek that involves major rivers to cross and especially to recross a week or so later then I do carry extra weeks food ration.... Flooded rivers blocking our return path happen reasonably often so be prepared..!
Allow for things out of your control which hold you up on treks....!
Team pre planning....
In your group pre planning for a trek, talk about and plan in...".what will we do if this happens.....?" have a plan in place eg...... if someone comes off their horse and is hurt... at least one of your party should have some basic first aid ability...make sure the hurt rider has the three vitals.. A B C airways clear.. (the patients tongue not blocking their airway)..... Breathing.... Circulation....have a plan to use someones sleeping bag to keep the patient warm.... have a plan for one to stay with the patient while the other or others ride out for help... talk about where they will ride to seek help.. know the person riding out knows where they are going along the mountain trail..... make sure the help rider has the necessary information on the patients condition to aid the rescue party.. make sure the help rider can tell the rescue party where the injured rider is located.....
Make sure everyone on your group knows where help is available anywhere along your trek.. which stations are nearest.... even better, hire or buy a Personal Emergency Locator beacon....Make sure everyone knows where this Emergency locator beacon is stored on your trek, and show everyone how to activate it....!
By talking about these issues that may or may not arise before a trek, if anything does happen time can be saved.. and this time may be vital....!
One of the reasons I try to avoid trekking between huts or destinations in wet cold weather and prefer to just stay in camp until the wet weather passes is this cold weather can increase the chances of HYPOTHERMIA coupled with the initial injury such as a fall from ones horse...
Recently towards the end of a remote country trek we were caught out with a southerly that turned bitterly cold with sheets of rain driving straight in our faces while trekking between huts, with this particular day needing to be in the saddle most of the day, up a river, over a mountain pass and down a further riverbed totalling 42 kilometres... during this ride I thought.. if someone has a fall today and is injured there is no shelter.. no trees and we were a long way from the nearest hut.... we were all cold and had to ride all the way down this riverbed to the bottom to the next hut this day...
What would you do in this situation to keep an injured person warm and tend to any wounds etc with no shelter out on a remote riverbed in driving rain and very cold wind..?? A sleeping bag would only be ok for a short while before it became wet.....You all need a plan to cope with what ever situation you come across while trekking
To my mind here, yes a sleeping bag to wrap the patient in.. then I would take my canvas pannier cover off the pack horse and also wrap that over the sleeping bag to try and keep things drier...I would also take both hard panniers off the pack horse and put these together up wind to help a little to keep some of the weather in check around the patient...
With talking about the "what ifs" before hand, a cool head can be kept under these trying conditions to go about keeping the patient as comfortable as possible until help arrives
This is where a personal locator beacon is necessary in a situation where a patient cannot carry on riding.. I would otherwise have needed to leave the patient and in this case there was no where I could ride for help within a days ride...we were in the heart of Moleworth Country, so again anywhere along the trail we all need to have a plan to cope with the "what ifs"
This long days ride in the rain came about as a result of one of the party very anxious to get out of the mountains as we were becoming overdue and was heading out on their own if I didn't go, I was talked into riding an otherwise two day ride down this section in the one day in this adverse weather...Was this sensible..? We got thru this day ok.. but I have thought a lot about this particular days ride and wont be repeating this scenario.. We all compromised safety and minimising the risk factor by this decision....
This incident highlights what can happen when irrational decisions are made under stress..!
A simple aspirin chewed by a person suspected of having a heart attack, can make a huge difference in the time between attack and you gaining help either by riding out or activating a PLB to the patients chances of survival .. its all knowledge that needs to be shared... a while ago we had a riding friend who suffered a heart attack while out riding at Bottle Lake... what would you do if this happened to one of your friends..?
Again, mountain horse travel requires a bit of COMMON SENSE.....
I am somewhat sorry for pin pointing some of the adverse situations in the above page that have developed from time to time on the odd trek of mine, however have included these to show and hopefully help educate others in what to do if faced with similar situation.... most treks are a lot of fun , proceed smoothly and I have a huge amount of lovely memories of our travels....!
The above incidences are rare and generally love other riders company to share the laughs and fun of trekking..!
You can contact me via my email should you have any questions...!
In the TREKS section scroll down to the second half of that page where I will post Trail Ride Destinations from time to time that folks can plan and follow for differing levels of ability, showing routes, huts, distance and times etc...hopefully with a topo map included of the area...
We have a lot of beaut country so take the bull by the horns , plan carefully, and go do it..lol
In Camp Cooking........Its easier than you think..!
The above photo of Scotties hut is very typical of an ideal camp to have a go at some real camp cooking..
Just outside to the left in the photo is an outside fireplace that we use... I dont need to tell you obviously in hot dry windy conditions open fires are often not possible but a lot of time outside this mid summer period they are possible..
You dont need a huge fire for cooking with, and I always just fill a nose bag with water and leave it near.. just in case..
You may get to this hut, look around and think... Darn... no trees for firewood....but... take a decent hand saw with you as Matagouri bushes make great hardwood firewood...
Walking around choose the dead branches within the bush. cut these off and use them.. even if its been raining, these branches still attached are dry in the centre..
Just outside to the left in the photo is an outside fireplace that we use... I dont need to tell you obviously in hot dry windy conditions open fires are often not possible but a lot of time outside this mid summer period they are possible..
You dont need a huge fire for cooking with, and I always just fill a nose bag with water and leave it near.. just in case..
You may get to this hut, look around and think... Darn... no trees for firewood....but... take a decent hand saw with you as Matagouri bushes make great hardwood firewood...
Walking around choose the dead branches within the bush. cut these off and use them.. even if its been raining, these branches still attached are dry in the centre..
Aussies make some of the best Camp Ovens.....
In previous sections I may have mentioned my first camp oven was a Cast Iron model that I had for many years in my early life as a junior Packy ..
There are still a lot of them around today, and with a little care these are fine to cook with, they do take a bit longer to preheat, but then do hold the heat more evenly for baking....
Many of them are a little limited in there ability to hold fire coals on the oval lid, and care needs to be taken when lifting the lid to avoid ash dropping onto your cooking..
Care is also needed that one doesn't pour cold water straight into a hot cast iron job as it can shatter.. Care is also needed that these are not dropped by mistake as they don't bounce well...!
These cast ovens still do serve many back country hut cooking requirements, and here and there some huts still have the larger models that have the capacity to bake four loaves of bread in one session..
Some folks prefer the lighter weight of the Aluminium camp oven, and these are perfectly fine, they don't need seasoning, but are a little susceptible to uneven cooking temps on windy days, also care needed in placing coals below and above as Aluminium as is inclined to be more susceptible to hot and cold spots...
Aluminium will melt at 1200 deg which is around an average fire temp, so not always a wise option to place them directly over yellow flame for cooking...
After my old cast oven slipped off the pack horse and broke, I looked around at different models and settled on the above Aussie made "Spud steel" model as a replacement.. I wanted an oven that would travel well, wouldn't break if dropped, hold heat well, and be easy to store hot coals on the lid....and only around $160 plus a bit of freight to get it here..
As with all new ovens they need a little time to "season".. and in that looking at the above photo after its first recommended seasoning it still had a long way to go to be properly done..
It should have a black smooth and shiny interior surface when done, and for me it took around 6 months of use to achieve this..
Seasoning is done for a number of reasons, the smooth black carbon finish makes the oven into a non stick appliance, helps prevent rust developing in between uses, helps with food flavour, makes cleaning easier...
Its amazing though.. you may look at this oven and think its strong steel constructed however it is pores ... some types of food cooking inside will stain the outside...
You have to be careful washing the oven after food cooked inside, if dish detergent is used it can get in to the pores and come back into the next lot of food cooked, so after washing it clean I put an inch of clean water in it and back on the fire until it boils again, rinse it around, tip it out, dry it and hang the oven upside down...
If you don't it can taint the next lot of food cooked....
Some folks only ever use dish detergent once on their ovens and thats right after purchasing a new one to help remove the factory oil film coating...
Generally after food cooking I will throw the oven in the creek, put a couple handfuls of river sand / shingle and with a bit of elbow grease clean the oven with this repeating with a new lot of sand a couple of times..
Sand will collect any fats and excess food from the oven..
I then as above just add an inch of water to the bottom and reboil that swirl it around, tip it out, dry and hang upside down..
A classic with this, is cooking a stew the night before, and then baking bread next morning.. if the oven hasn't been cleaned properly there is a strong stew smell thru the bread...
There are still a lot of them around today, and with a little care these are fine to cook with, they do take a bit longer to preheat, but then do hold the heat more evenly for baking....
Many of them are a little limited in there ability to hold fire coals on the oval lid, and care needs to be taken when lifting the lid to avoid ash dropping onto your cooking..
Care is also needed that one doesn't pour cold water straight into a hot cast iron job as it can shatter.. Care is also needed that these are not dropped by mistake as they don't bounce well...!
These cast ovens still do serve many back country hut cooking requirements, and here and there some huts still have the larger models that have the capacity to bake four loaves of bread in one session..
Some folks prefer the lighter weight of the Aluminium camp oven, and these are perfectly fine, they don't need seasoning, but are a little susceptible to uneven cooking temps on windy days, also care needed in placing coals below and above as Aluminium as is inclined to be more susceptible to hot and cold spots...
Aluminium will melt at 1200 deg which is around an average fire temp, so not always a wise option to place them directly over yellow flame for cooking...
After my old cast oven slipped off the pack horse and broke, I looked around at different models and settled on the above Aussie made "Spud steel" model as a replacement.. I wanted an oven that would travel well, wouldn't break if dropped, hold heat well, and be easy to store hot coals on the lid....and only around $160 plus a bit of freight to get it here..
As with all new ovens they need a little time to "season".. and in that looking at the above photo after its first recommended seasoning it still had a long way to go to be properly done..
It should have a black smooth and shiny interior surface when done, and for me it took around 6 months of use to achieve this..
Seasoning is done for a number of reasons, the smooth black carbon finish makes the oven into a non stick appliance, helps prevent rust developing in between uses, helps with food flavour, makes cleaning easier...
Its amazing though.. you may look at this oven and think its strong steel constructed however it is pores ... some types of food cooking inside will stain the outside...
You have to be careful washing the oven after food cooked inside, if dish detergent is used it can get in to the pores and come back into the next lot of food cooked, so after washing it clean I put an inch of clean water in it and back on the fire until it boils again, rinse it around, tip it out, dry it and hang the oven upside down...
If you don't it can taint the next lot of food cooked....
Some folks only ever use dish detergent once on their ovens and thats right after purchasing a new one to help remove the factory oil film coating...
Generally after food cooking I will throw the oven in the creek, put a couple handfuls of river sand / shingle and with a bit of elbow grease clean the oven with this repeating with a new lot of sand a couple of times..
Sand will collect any fats and excess food from the oven..
I then as above just add an inch of water to the bottom and reboil that swirl it around, tip it out, dry and hang upside down..
A classic with this, is cooking a stew the night before, and then baking bread next morning.. if the oven hasn't been cleaned properly there is a strong stew smell thru the bread...
The Camp Oven at work......
Placing hot coals out of the fire on top of the oven...!
Pic shows another of my favourite cooking gear, the hanging fire grill plate...
Simply hung from a couple of sticks as shown its great for pot boiling, frying etc over the cooking fire..
I can adjust the heat for cooking by raising or lowering the grill, and this is simply done by sliding this side stick towards the middle a little, thus lifting the centre stick and thus again... raising the grill..
This grill folds in half and is easily transported on the pack horse from hut to hut.. I use this a lot at camp...
Simply hung from a couple of sticks as shown its great for pot boiling, frying etc over the cooking fire..
I can adjust the heat for cooking by raising or lowering the grill, and this is simply done by sliding this side stick towards the middle a little, thus lifting the centre stick and thus again... raising the grill..
This grill folds in half and is easily transported on the pack horse from hut to hut.. I use this a lot at camp...
To bake a loaf of bread in the open fire pit, (below I will describe the dough making procedure) you need a fire that has smaller firewood sticks such as dry Matagouri or smaller Beech or Willow branches of up to 2 to 3 inch diameter
Set the fire alight and let this burn to form a good hot charcoal and ash base as in the above photo, adding individual sticks to keep a resupply of hot coals available..
Once the fire has burnt down, I scrap some burning coals out to the edge of the fire, and after having preheated to oven beside this fire for 20 mins, place the bread dough in its tin inside the oven on top of the trivet plate to keep the loaf tin off the bottom of the oven..
Different meals or baking requires different heat settings much the same as your home gas or electric oven, and for bread here, I don't want too much heat from the bottom up as baking will burn, or at best will cook too fast on the bottom half, so I want more heat from the top down..
To achieve this only four or so coal pieces are placed for the oven to sit on and around 6 to 8 coals are added to the lid..
Once the oven is preheated it doesn't take much to keep this heat going and its easy to overdo the coals resulting in burnt food..
What ever I am cooking or baking.. if the camp oven is sitting on coals its important to carefully rotate the oven every five minutes a quarter of a turn to prevent heat spots burning food..
Set the fire alight and let this burn to form a good hot charcoal and ash base as in the above photo, adding individual sticks to keep a resupply of hot coals available..
Once the fire has burnt down, I scrap some burning coals out to the edge of the fire, and after having preheated to oven beside this fire for 20 mins, place the bread dough in its tin inside the oven on top of the trivet plate to keep the loaf tin off the bottom of the oven..
Different meals or baking requires different heat settings much the same as your home gas or electric oven, and for bread here, I don't want too much heat from the bottom up as baking will burn, or at best will cook too fast on the bottom half, so I want more heat from the top down..
To achieve this only four or so coal pieces are placed for the oven to sit on and around 6 to 8 coals are added to the lid..
Once the oven is preheated it doesn't take much to keep this heat going and its easy to overdo the coals resulting in burnt food..
What ever I am cooking or baking.. if the camp oven is sitting on coals its important to carefully rotate the oven every five minutes a quarter of a turn to prevent heat spots burning food..
25 minutes later.......
Before treks I pre-plan my daily meals and with that pack in all the ingredients that go to making these meals each day.. Pack horse travel enables us to have luxury culinary delights and to me is a large part of the enjoyment of living and travelling in the Mountains...
Roasts of Chicken, or beef with delicious roast veges are easy to make, along with delicious deserts... this camping life is fantastic..!
Roasts of Chicken, or beef with delicious roast veges are easy to make, along with delicious deserts... this camping life is fantastic..!
Camp Oven recipes....
Camp Oven bread....
Starting the evening before in my metal mixing bowl I add half a tea spoon of salt, and one teaspoon of sugar to one cup of warm water, then one levelish teaspoon of Edmonds (red top) Active yeast mixture sprinkled over the water...
This is then covered (to stop insects etc flying into it ) and left in a warm place for around 20 mins..
Tip...
Be careful with the amount of yeast..lol its easy to be a little heavy handed and throw in a heaped teaspoon, but you might regret it as too much will overflow the bowl in the initial rising stage, and if like me using a smallish camp oven the baking bread can rise too much with the top of the bread hitting the underside hot lid burning it..
Once you see the yeast on the water surface start to foam a little its time with clean hands to add around a cup of plain flour, and start the thing I am good at..( stirring the pot) lol
When stirred smooth, add another one cup of flour and stir until combined,, I use my hands for the last part to avoid breaking the wooden spoon handle as its quite hard work..
One of my hard pannier lids is kept washed and clean,and to the upturned lid I add around a handful of further flour and turn the mixture out onto this lid, and with floured hands start to fold and kneed this dough to further combine and produce a smooth elastic dough...
I then wash my metal bowl and place this dough in it, then place this inside the camp oven if I am not using it further that night so insects and dust etc doesnt end up on the dough..
Place the camp oven in a warm spot but not too hot..over night, and next morning when you lift the lid you will see the dough has risen to two or three times its original size..
The first job this morning is to chop the firewood and get the fire going, then take the dough out of the oven, close the lid and place the oven next to the fire to preheat it for around 20 minutes, which is about the same time it takes to prepare the dough further this morning..
On the floured upturned lid I turn this dough back out and again with clean and floured hands kneed further to gain an elastic and smooth dough.. generally this time around it doesn't take long to achieve this..
Make sure with kneading, flour is always under the dough otherwise it will stick to the board...
When happy with your results, I roll the dough to form a sausage shape a little longer than the baking tin, then lightly flour said tin.. tip excess flour out and place the dough in it..
Leave the dough to "rest" in its tin for ten minutes, covering it if necessary, then when the camp oven is preheated place the loaf tin into the camp oven on the trivet, close the lid and proceed with the fire preparations and cooking as above..
Carefully lift the lid quickly at 25 mins to check how its doing.. sometimes its done, other times it needs an extra five mins.. depending on the heat applied to the oven..
This is then covered (to stop insects etc flying into it ) and left in a warm place for around 20 mins..
Tip...
Be careful with the amount of yeast..lol its easy to be a little heavy handed and throw in a heaped teaspoon, but you might regret it as too much will overflow the bowl in the initial rising stage, and if like me using a smallish camp oven the baking bread can rise too much with the top of the bread hitting the underside hot lid burning it..
Once you see the yeast on the water surface start to foam a little its time with clean hands to add around a cup of plain flour, and start the thing I am good at..( stirring the pot) lol
When stirred smooth, add another one cup of flour and stir until combined,, I use my hands for the last part to avoid breaking the wooden spoon handle as its quite hard work..
One of my hard pannier lids is kept washed and clean,and to the upturned lid I add around a handful of further flour and turn the mixture out onto this lid, and with floured hands start to fold and kneed this dough to further combine and produce a smooth elastic dough...
I then wash my metal bowl and place this dough in it, then place this inside the camp oven if I am not using it further that night so insects and dust etc doesnt end up on the dough..
Place the camp oven in a warm spot but not too hot..over night, and next morning when you lift the lid you will see the dough has risen to two or three times its original size..
The first job this morning is to chop the firewood and get the fire going, then take the dough out of the oven, close the lid and place the oven next to the fire to preheat it for around 20 minutes, which is about the same time it takes to prepare the dough further this morning..
On the floured upturned lid I turn this dough back out and again with clean and floured hands kneed further to gain an elastic and smooth dough.. generally this time around it doesn't take long to achieve this..
Make sure with kneading, flour is always under the dough otherwise it will stick to the board...
When happy with your results, I roll the dough to form a sausage shape a little longer than the baking tin, then lightly flour said tin.. tip excess flour out and place the dough in it..
Leave the dough to "rest" in its tin for ten minutes, covering it if necessary, then when the camp oven is preheated place the loaf tin into the camp oven on the trivet, close the lid and proceed with the fire preparations and cooking as above..
Carefully lift the lid quickly at 25 mins to check how its doing.. sometimes its done, other times it needs an extra five mins.. depending on the heat applied to the oven..
Yum... Hot bread.... and baked daily at camp is a real treat....
Roast Chicken and veges....... Serves two.....
Roast Chicken is so easy to make and produce at camp its not funny....
As with all meat taken on treks, its firstly frozen and well wrapped in newspaper and all meat is placed together in the bottom of one of the hard panniers.. its surprising how cool it stays down there
Chicken is the least able meat to be kept at camp so is first to be eaten
I buy the packaged boneless Chicken and stuffing filled packs and at camp, thaw it while preparing the vegetables
So to produce a Roast of Chicken...
Firstly as always prepare the firewood and get the fire going, and let it burn down to nice heat charcoals adding little sticks to keep it about this heat consistency.
Next preheat the camp oven for 20 mins and while it heating unwrap the chicken and place it in my round oven tin, and apply seasoning and a little olive oil..
Next I prepare my veges, such as Parsnip, Kumura, Spuds, Carrots Pumpkin etc, peel and cut all these into chunky style pieces as if too fine the camp oven will sort of de solve smaller pieces..
When the camp oven is preheated, open the lid , place the roasting tin inside on top of the trivet, sprinkle a little more olive oil over the lot, replace the lid and sit the oven on around 6 to 8 pieces of hot coals and only around 4 pieces on the lid..
Unlike bread cooked from the top down, roasts need heat under and not too much on top...
Dont forget to turn the oven a quarter turn every five mins, and the above results in just 30 mins.. yummmy..!
A chicken Gravy sacha mixed with boiling water added a further delight to this meal...
As with all meat taken on treks, its firstly frozen and well wrapped in newspaper and all meat is placed together in the bottom of one of the hard panniers.. its surprising how cool it stays down there
Chicken is the least able meat to be kept at camp so is first to be eaten
I buy the packaged boneless Chicken and stuffing filled packs and at camp, thaw it while preparing the vegetables
So to produce a Roast of Chicken...
Firstly as always prepare the firewood and get the fire going, and let it burn down to nice heat charcoals adding little sticks to keep it about this heat consistency.
Next preheat the camp oven for 20 mins and while it heating unwrap the chicken and place it in my round oven tin, and apply seasoning and a little olive oil..
Next I prepare my veges, such as Parsnip, Kumura, Spuds, Carrots Pumpkin etc, peel and cut all these into chunky style pieces as if too fine the camp oven will sort of de solve smaller pieces..
When the camp oven is preheated, open the lid , place the roasting tin inside on top of the trivet, sprinkle a little more olive oil over the lot, replace the lid and sit the oven on around 6 to 8 pieces of hot coals and only around 4 pieces on the lid..
Unlike bread cooked from the top down, roasts need heat under and not too much on top...
Dont forget to turn the oven a quarter turn every five mins, and the above results in just 30 mins.. yummmy..!
A chicken Gravy sacha mixed with boiling water added a further delight to this meal...
A Roast of Beef and Veges.... Serves two... ( love that chefs hat..lol )
Before a trek I will cut a roast of beef in half so its ample for just Fiona and I , then freeze both halves..
Placing each roast in a plastic bag and then well wrapping in newspaper, beef will keep like this for 9 days out on treks..
The cooking is much the same as the above Chicken meal, with the only difference is that beef will take around an hour on its own cooking in the camp oven before adding your chunky style veges to the oven for the last 30 mins... simple...!
Beef gravy added the finishing touches delicious..!
Roasts out at camp are delicious and so easy... yet it amazes me when folks turn up at camp and are amazed at this magic cooking... nothing too it really...!
Placing each roast in a plastic bag and then well wrapping in newspaper, beef will keep like this for 9 days out on treks..
The cooking is much the same as the above Chicken meal, with the only difference is that beef will take around an hour on its own cooking in the camp oven before adding your chunky style veges to the oven for the last 30 mins... simple...!
Beef gravy added the finishing touches delicious..!
Roasts out at camp are delicious and so easy... yet it amazes me when folks turn up at camp and are amazed at this magic cooking... nothing too it really...!
Camp stew with Spuds....!
If trekking for a week or longer on the mountains meat can be hard to keep fresh, so a little trick I learnt a while back is to buy dehydrated mince ( this is only available from Mac Pac Stores ), follow the directions on the packet to re hydrate it then add your own extra ingredients such as carrots,peppers,tomato. Mushrooms etc etc and boils this up in the camp oven..
A little corn flour to thicken the stew once the veges are cooked will see a delicious meal..
I also love those little gourmet spuds and boiled whole along with some dehydrated peas or beans..
Great bush tucker, and again so easy to make..
A little corn flour to thicken the stew once the veges are cooked will see a delicious meal..
I also love those little gourmet spuds and boiled whole along with some dehydrated peas or beans..
Great bush tucker, and again so easy to make..
Camp Oven Pizza....
Another very simple meal treat at camp..
I simply take my metal mixing bowl, add half a teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of sugar to half a cup of warm water, and sprinkle half a teaspoon of yeast on top of the water, leave it twenty mins, then mix in around one cup and a bit of flour, turn this out onto my up turned pannier lid and kneed it till an elastic dough..
I roll this dough out with a clean glass bottle or anything round you can find (other than my head hopefully .lol ) then place the rolled dough in my baking round dish, and into the preheated camp oven and blind bake this for ten to fifteen mins..
I like a crusty thick base so prefer this way but a thin base can be made by eliminating the yeast in this recipe..
Once blind baked, I take it out and apply tomato paste, or another favourite.. Ploughmans Relish to the bottom of the base, then salami mushrooms peppers ham .. anything you desire, and cover with grated cheese and even some dried herbs add a nice extra flavour..
Place this back in the camp oven for ten mins.. and enjoy......easy peasy.....!
I simply take my metal mixing bowl, add half a teaspoon of salt and one teaspoon of sugar to half a cup of warm water, and sprinkle half a teaspoon of yeast on top of the water, leave it twenty mins, then mix in around one cup and a bit of flour, turn this out onto my up turned pannier lid and kneed it till an elastic dough..
I roll this dough out with a clean glass bottle or anything round you can find (other than my head hopefully .lol ) then place the rolled dough in my baking round dish, and into the preheated camp oven and blind bake this for ten to fifteen mins..
I like a crusty thick base so prefer this way but a thin base can be made by eliminating the yeast in this recipe..
Once blind baked, I take it out and apply tomato paste, or another favourite.. Ploughmans Relish to the bottom of the base, then salami mushrooms peppers ham .. anything you desire, and cover with grated cheese and even some dried herbs add a nice extra flavour..
Place this back in the camp oven for ten mins.. and enjoy......easy peasy.....!
Bacon and Corn Fritters..... with extra bacon for Breakfast...
Into my mixing bowl goes one tin of creamed Corn, salt and pepper to taste, finely chop some bacon and throw that in, one teaspoon of baking powder, and flour to combine to a stiff dough..
Then into the frypan with a little cooking oil and a knob of butter for around three mins each side,
I can usually make enough fritters for Fiona and myself while the bacon is cooking in the adjacent pan.. then toasting some camp baked bread, what a delicious breakfast treat..
The remaining dough is cooked and I like them cold for lunch later..
Then into the frypan with a little cooking oil and a knob of butter for around three mins each side,
I can usually make enough fritters for Fiona and myself while the bacon is cooking in the adjacent pan.. then toasting some camp baked bread, what a delicious breakfast treat..
The remaining dough is cooked and I like them cold for lunch later..
Breakfast is nearly ready.......!
Camp Oven Scones..
Start the small cooking fire as above described and sit the camp oven beside it to preheat it...
In my mixing bowl goes two cups of plain flour, along with four heaped teaspoons of baking powder....half a teaspoon of salt.....about an inch long slice off a pound of butter, softened, and cut into small bits
Mix these dry ingredients with clean hands to combine, so it resembles bread crumbs then slowly add around a cup and half of milk...... ( I make up two cups of milk from my milk powder prior to cooking )
Stir this adding a little milk each time until you achieve a smooth soft dough, then turn this out onto my clean floured upturned pannier lid and kneed this soft dough a little more.. not too much as we don't want to squash too much air out of the dough..
Once complete I gently roll this dough out a little to about a inch thick and to the shape of my round baking tin, place it in the tin and score cut either cross squares or wedges from the centre out into the top of the dough, lift the camp oven lid and place the baking tin in on the trivet . close the lid.
I place the camp oven on about 4 odd pieces of hot coals and around 6 to 8 pieces on the lid , as with most baking I want the heat mainly from the top down..
Fifteen mins later, that beautiful smell of home cooked scones will be drifting thru the camp..
These are beaut to eat while still warm with your favourite jam.... yum....and so easy to make......!
In my mixing bowl goes two cups of plain flour, along with four heaped teaspoons of baking powder....half a teaspoon of salt.....about an inch long slice off a pound of butter, softened, and cut into small bits
Mix these dry ingredients with clean hands to combine, so it resembles bread crumbs then slowly add around a cup and half of milk...... ( I make up two cups of milk from my milk powder prior to cooking )
Stir this adding a little milk each time until you achieve a smooth soft dough, then turn this out onto my clean floured upturned pannier lid and kneed this soft dough a little more.. not too much as we don't want to squash too much air out of the dough..
Once complete I gently roll this dough out a little to about a inch thick and to the shape of my round baking tin, place it in the tin and score cut either cross squares or wedges from the centre out into the top of the dough, lift the camp oven lid and place the baking tin in on the trivet . close the lid.
I place the camp oven on about 4 odd pieces of hot coals and around 6 to 8 pieces on the lid , as with most baking I want the heat mainly from the top down..
Fifteen mins later, that beautiful smell of home cooked scones will be drifting thru the camp..
These are beaut to eat while still warm with your favourite jam.... yum....and so easy to make......!
Camp Oven, Bacon and Egg Pie.....
Flaky Pastry preparation..( this needs to be made prior to making this pie.)
Into my mixing bowl goes two cups of plain flour, a little salt and around an inch and a half slice off a pound of cold butter, cut up into little bits, and with clean hands combine these two to form bread crumb like consistency..
Add an egg and about a tablespoon of cold water and mix the dough until it just comes together... sometimes it just might need a tad more water to reach a smooth consistency..
On my very lightly floured and upturned pannier lid turn this dough out and kneed lightly until the dough is smooth and roll it into a ball.. this is then wrapped in glad wrap and then into a water tight plastic container and dropped under water in the stream with a rock on top to stop it taking off for half an hour to rest....
Pie Preparations...
Setting the cooking fire alight as above, and preheating the camp oven...
Into a small pot of simmering water place a quarter of a cup of dehydrated peas and give these ten mins to cook..
Into my lightly floured pannier lid I unwrap the pastry ball , cut off around one third of the volume and place to one side...
The remainder is then rolled out to fit my round baking tin allowing pastry size to fill the bottom and all the way up the sides and over the top a little..
When the size is ample and still on the lid, I spread out a thin layer of Ploughmans Relish and then place the pastry into the baking tin, then into this goes my strips of Honey cured Bacon to cover the bottom nicely, followed by cracking four eggs and leaving them whole as they land in there, then over the top layer my cooked peas..
The remaining one third of the pastry is rolled out and placed on top of the pie.. cutting the surplus off that overhangs the tin, then simply fold the inner and top pastry together around the perimeter , grab a fork or knife and poke a few small holes in the pastry lid to allow steam to escape, brush a little milk over the pastry and into the camp oven on the trivet, close the lid..
Sit the oven on 6 to 8 pieces of hot coals and around 4 to 5 coals in the lid, as this heat is required from below mainly..
25 mins later quickly lift the lid and it should be lightly brown and risen nicely....
Delicious........!
Desert treats..... Caramelised Apples...
Another delicious treat that is so easy to make...
Simply preheat the camp oven and I like to line it with tin foil for these sugar ingredient foods as sugar is hard to remove in the washing up afterwards..
While the oven is preheating take four apples, core them only.. then spoon in a couple or three dollops of brown sugar, and a generous spoon full of butter on top of the sugar and sprinkle some cinnamon on as well .... that's it..
Place the apples as per the photo, into the camp oven and around ten to fifteen mins later.the smell will drive you stir crazy alone.. divine.....lol
Now all I need to master is an icecream machine out at camp.....lol
So thats but a few simple ideas to make camp life a little more bearable...!.(.Wink)
Simply preheat the camp oven and I like to line it with tin foil for these sugar ingredient foods as sugar is hard to remove in the washing up afterwards..
While the oven is preheating take four apples, core them only.. then spoon in a couple or three dollops of brown sugar, and a generous spoon full of butter on top of the sugar and sprinkle some cinnamon on as well .... that's it..
Place the apples as per the photo, into the camp oven and around ten to fifteen mins later.the smell will drive you stir crazy alone.. divine.....lol
Now all I need to master is an icecream machine out at camp.....lol
So thats but a few simple ideas to make camp life a little more bearable...!.(.Wink)
Food Menu List......
Depending on the duration, and the type of trek I am heading out on dictates the Food Menu .....
If I am planning on a lot of travelling and moving on each day, I tend to eat more instant, or quick to prepare meals and vary this with a certain amount of pre prepared meals from home such as stews with portions put in plastic bags and then into plastic containers with air tight lids and frozen
"On the move" style treks takes a fair amount of time to unload panniers with camp oven and all the culinary ingredients and then to repack and balance loads to shift on, so On the Move treks I tend not to use the camp oven , but just pack my daily food menu needed all together so its easy to access and doesn't shift the balance a great deal
On the Move
Dinner Menus......
Frozen stew meals, or pre made curried Sausages etc, are had every second night and will stay fresh for up to 9 days max... after this, every second night I often mix up half a packet of dehydrated mince, a cup of beef stock made from small stock pot cubes, and add dehydrated veges along with carrots, mushrooms, peppers , simmer this for twenty mins then add a little corn flour to thicken...(Sometimes a little Curry Powder finds its way into the pot as well )
Along with this either whole spuds, boiled and mashed, or dehydrated spud...
Instant potato is made right at the end of the stew cooking, by preheating one cup of water per person in a billy along with a teaspoon of salt, then in a mixing bowl firstly add (depending on how much each wishes to eat ) up to one cup of potato flakes pp and then slowly adding boiling water to this stirring to the consistency desired..
I also like to boil up half a cup of Dehydrated Peas or Beans as well to make a delicious meal
On alternative nights I generally make up a continental type pre packaged meal, adding some carrots and peas to the pasta..
Most nights after the main meal I like to take or make some type of desert...... It may be some custard powder made up and a tin of peaches, or other fruit.. sometimes I may buy small packets of deserts at the supermarket and take these along , other nights may make pre packaged apple crumble etc etc.. yum..!
As a further treat I take along a range of instant Latte type coffees to have in the evenings...
Breakfast Menu...
Daily breakfast on the move is usually four WeetBix and a cup and half of milk powder mix, with a cup of tea...
Lunch Menus....
Lunch at the start of treks and up to four to five days consists of any one brand of high fibre bread... The higher the fibre, the longer it will keep...and on top of this cheese, salami, tomato etc.. what ever takes ones fancy..
Tip
Take all pre bought bread loaves out of their plastic bags and into paper wrap, or bags.. Plastic bags encourage mould very quickly out on treks..
High Fibre Bread after a few days will dry out a little but will still be quite palatable with good toppings.... any other style such as white or part grain breads will go mouldy within a few days and I feel these are not suitable for longer treks...
Most treks with the pack horse I take my thermette along and boil some water out of the mountain stream for a cup of tea to go with the lunch menu and in my Leather day bag, hanging off the saddle, I have tubed Condensed Milk and a little tight lid plastic container with sugar to make a delicious mountain cup of tea....
Plastic wrapped snacks are also taken for treats during the day along with a couple of apples...
Base Camp style Menus..
If I am planning a trek in which I am riding out into the mountains and setting up a tent or hut camp over a few days and doing day ride out from there, or a trek that I am intending spending a couple of days at each hut along a trail route, I tend to take and make more lavish meal creations using the camp oven etc..
Dinner Menu
Depending on how many days I am in camp for I pre plan each meal of each day at home prior to trek commencement..
I love a chicken roast with roast veges, so perhaps the first night, plan to purchase a boneless chicken roast, freeze this meat and well wrap in newspaper..
Along with this plan what veges I would like to accompany the roast and bag these all together for this meal.. the roasts and vege bags are marked for each day
Next evening meal may like Curried Sausages or perhaps a Pasta type meal so plan and purchase items for this and bag this meal all together and mark it ..
I sort of plan meat meals every other night, and work on the longest keeping meats for later on into the trek,
Vacuum packed meat meal portions keep the longest and my local butcher does this for me for a small extra charge
For an example a nine day trek.... first night as said may have a chicken roast with roast veges, followed by a desert, second night may have a pasta type meal and desert, next night perhaps a beef roast and veges, next a rice and meat patties etc meal and desert, next curried Sausage and spud followed by desert, next perhaps a Sheppard's pie and desert, next another beef roast, next perhaps Sausages eggs and chips plus desert, and another pasta style dish the last night..
Chicken is the least able to be kept at camp so consumed first.. roast beef will keep for up to 9 days if frozen and well wrapped in newspaper and put in the bottom of one of the panniers.... Precooked Sausages will keep for 10 to 12 days if treated the same as other meats..Vacuum pack smoked or Honey cured Bacon strips will last two weeks if kept in the bottom of the pannier unopened... from then on I use dehydrated mince as my meat source...
All these meals are delicious and easy to make ..
Lunch Menu ....
For the first couple of days I buy and make sandwiches out of high fibre bread taking toppings such as cheese, salami cold meats from the night before roast. etc etc along with cup of tea making gear on day treks..
In camp lunch menu I may plan in some culinary delights to make and purchase these ingredients as a part of my pre trek grocery list... such as pizza items, or corn or fish fritters, bacon and egg pie, making the pastry in camp with ingredients taken, scones, or muffins all of which are easily made in the camp oven, not to mention camp cooked daily fresh bread..
I love this camp life away in the mountains...
Breakfast Menu...
Mostly I like WeetBix and milk for breakfast , but also enjoy Bacon and Eggs, Baked Bean on toast... etc, so in my pre trek shopping just buy what ingredients are needed for duration...
Extra Food meals...
Depending on where and how many other riders are in the trek party I plan in extra days meals to cater for hold ups with weather and other unexpected delays in travel...
Base Culinary ingredients....
As a part of my hard pannier gear I have a number of plastic containers which are taken on every trek containing basic meal ingredients, such as Salt, Flour, Baking Powder, Butter, Yeast , Olive and cooking oil, Soup mix, Sugar, Milk powder, Tea and Coffee, Potato flakes, Rice , Relish, Tomato sauce, Corn flour, Stock pot cubes,dried Peas and Beans, dish wash liquid, etc so can create all sorts of alternative meal flavours..
Ha Ha.. and no....... I don't use the Dish wash liquid in many meal preparations..(wink)...
In summer, I find Butter stores better than Margarine with the latter often changing conformation into a yellow runny unpleasant consistency , and yet butter will soften and largely still retain it consistency..
I always contain butter in one of my plastic tight fitting lid containers just in case, at camp just place this container in the stream during the heat of the day to keep it cool..
A little funny...... several years ago Fiona bought along this large plastic bowl with tight fitting lid, and the first day arriving at camp placed all our meat taken for this trek inside said bowl closed the lid and placed it in the little creek with a rock on top...
Not sure what happened but said bowl had managed to free itself and set sail for Africa down stream... never to be seen again.. we looked for quite away down stream but nothing... a bit of a lesson there I reckon.....
All this goes to making camp life interesting and fun to be on.....
If I am planning on a lot of travelling and moving on each day, I tend to eat more instant, or quick to prepare meals and vary this with a certain amount of pre prepared meals from home such as stews with portions put in plastic bags and then into plastic containers with air tight lids and frozen
"On the move" style treks takes a fair amount of time to unload panniers with camp oven and all the culinary ingredients and then to repack and balance loads to shift on, so On the Move treks I tend not to use the camp oven , but just pack my daily food menu needed all together so its easy to access and doesn't shift the balance a great deal
On the Move
Dinner Menus......
Frozen stew meals, or pre made curried Sausages etc, are had every second night and will stay fresh for up to 9 days max... after this, every second night I often mix up half a packet of dehydrated mince, a cup of beef stock made from small stock pot cubes, and add dehydrated veges along with carrots, mushrooms, peppers , simmer this for twenty mins then add a little corn flour to thicken...(Sometimes a little Curry Powder finds its way into the pot as well )
Along with this either whole spuds, boiled and mashed, or dehydrated spud...
Instant potato is made right at the end of the stew cooking, by preheating one cup of water per person in a billy along with a teaspoon of salt, then in a mixing bowl firstly add (depending on how much each wishes to eat ) up to one cup of potato flakes pp and then slowly adding boiling water to this stirring to the consistency desired..
I also like to boil up half a cup of Dehydrated Peas or Beans as well to make a delicious meal
On alternative nights I generally make up a continental type pre packaged meal, adding some carrots and peas to the pasta..
Most nights after the main meal I like to take or make some type of desert...... It may be some custard powder made up and a tin of peaches, or other fruit.. sometimes I may buy small packets of deserts at the supermarket and take these along , other nights may make pre packaged apple crumble etc etc.. yum..!
As a further treat I take along a range of instant Latte type coffees to have in the evenings...
Breakfast Menu...
Daily breakfast on the move is usually four WeetBix and a cup and half of milk powder mix, with a cup of tea...
Lunch Menus....
Lunch at the start of treks and up to four to five days consists of any one brand of high fibre bread... The higher the fibre, the longer it will keep...and on top of this cheese, salami, tomato etc.. what ever takes ones fancy..
Tip
Take all pre bought bread loaves out of their plastic bags and into paper wrap, or bags.. Plastic bags encourage mould very quickly out on treks..
High Fibre Bread after a few days will dry out a little but will still be quite palatable with good toppings.... any other style such as white or part grain breads will go mouldy within a few days and I feel these are not suitable for longer treks...
Most treks with the pack horse I take my thermette along and boil some water out of the mountain stream for a cup of tea to go with the lunch menu and in my Leather day bag, hanging off the saddle, I have tubed Condensed Milk and a little tight lid plastic container with sugar to make a delicious mountain cup of tea....
Plastic wrapped snacks are also taken for treats during the day along with a couple of apples...
Base Camp style Menus..
If I am planning a trek in which I am riding out into the mountains and setting up a tent or hut camp over a few days and doing day ride out from there, or a trek that I am intending spending a couple of days at each hut along a trail route, I tend to take and make more lavish meal creations using the camp oven etc..
Dinner Menu
Depending on how many days I am in camp for I pre plan each meal of each day at home prior to trek commencement..
I love a chicken roast with roast veges, so perhaps the first night, plan to purchase a boneless chicken roast, freeze this meat and well wrap in newspaper..
Along with this plan what veges I would like to accompany the roast and bag these all together for this meal.. the roasts and vege bags are marked for each day
Next evening meal may like Curried Sausages or perhaps a Pasta type meal so plan and purchase items for this and bag this meal all together and mark it ..
I sort of plan meat meals every other night, and work on the longest keeping meats for later on into the trek,
Vacuum packed meat meal portions keep the longest and my local butcher does this for me for a small extra charge
For an example a nine day trek.... first night as said may have a chicken roast with roast veges, followed by a desert, second night may have a pasta type meal and desert, next night perhaps a beef roast and veges, next a rice and meat patties etc meal and desert, next curried Sausage and spud followed by desert, next perhaps a Sheppard's pie and desert, next another beef roast, next perhaps Sausages eggs and chips plus desert, and another pasta style dish the last night..
Chicken is the least able to be kept at camp so consumed first.. roast beef will keep for up to 9 days if frozen and well wrapped in newspaper and put in the bottom of one of the panniers.... Precooked Sausages will keep for 10 to 12 days if treated the same as other meats..Vacuum pack smoked or Honey cured Bacon strips will last two weeks if kept in the bottom of the pannier unopened... from then on I use dehydrated mince as my meat source...
All these meals are delicious and easy to make ..
Lunch Menu ....
For the first couple of days I buy and make sandwiches out of high fibre bread taking toppings such as cheese, salami cold meats from the night before roast. etc etc along with cup of tea making gear on day treks..
In camp lunch menu I may plan in some culinary delights to make and purchase these ingredients as a part of my pre trek grocery list... such as pizza items, or corn or fish fritters, bacon and egg pie, making the pastry in camp with ingredients taken, scones, or muffins all of which are easily made in the camp oven, not to mention camp cooked daily fresh bread..
I love this camp life away in the mountains...
Breakfast Menu...
Mostly I like WeetBix and milk for breakfast , but also enjoy Bacon and Eggs, Baked Bean on toast... etc, so in my pre trek shopping just buy what ingredients are needed for duration...
Extra Food meals...
Depending on where and how many other riders are in the trek party I plan in extra days meals to cater for hold ups with weather and other unexpected delays in travel...
Base Culinary ingredients....
As a part of my hard pannier gear I have a number of plastic containers which are taken on every trek containing basic meal ingredients, such as Salt, Flour, Baking Powder, Butter, Yeast , Olive and cooking oil, Soup mix, Sugar, Milk powder, Tea and Coffee, Potato flakes, Rice , Relish, Tomato sauce, Corn flour, Stock pot cubes,dried Peas and Beans, dish wash liquid, etc so can create all sorts of alternative meal flavours..
Ha Ha.. and no....... I don't use the Dish wash liquid in many meal preparations..(wink)...
In summer, I find Butter stores better than Margarine with the latter often changing conformation into a yellow runny unpleasant consistency , and yet butter will soften and largely still retain it consistency..
I always contain butter in one of my plastic tight fitting lid containers just in case, at camp just place this container in the stream during the heat of the day to keep it cool..
A little funny...... several years ago Fiona bought along this large plastic bowl with tight fitting lid, and the first day arriving at camp placed all our meat taken for this trek inside said bowl closed the lid and placed it in the little creek with a rock on top...
Not sure what happened but said bowl had managed to free itself and set sail for Africa down stream... never to be seen again.. we looked for quite away down stream but nothing... a bit of a lesson there I reckon.....
All this goes to making camp life interesting and fun to be on.....