Cart Wheel

Not long before we were scheduled to leave for our mission in August of 1993, me and two of my friends took a pack trip up on Pine mountain. We left early one morning with 3 head of saddle horses and Rosy, the mule, in David DeCow's four-horse trailer. Lynn Aplanalp had his horse, Red River. Dipwad was David's mount and he'd brought his black mare for me to ride. We unloaded the horses and packed Rosy at the beginning of the rocky road as it climbs toward the Old Deer Camp on Wet Sandy. We moved right along and by 10 o'clock were climbing the trail eastward toward the big hump, then we dropped down the steep descent into the west fork of Browse Creek.

Along the canyon bottom next to the stream was some nice grassy patches where I suggested we stop for noon to let our horses rest and fill up on that good feed, but Lynn wanted to move on farther. So we climbed the switchbacks and along the old dugway where Kelly had made his wild ride on Checker; passed the old ranger cabin and climbed the long trail to Syler Spring where we unsaddled and rested for awhile.

Wasn't much horse feed there but they picked around for what there was. We then rode across that beautiful mountain bench where the long leaf pine grows tall. After about a mile the trail climbs up across the water drainage of Leap Creek, a very steep slope covered with scrub oak, a few clumps of maple and some scattered pine. David's out in lead on Dipwad, a long legged 4 year old gelding. Lynn's next on the black mare. (We'd temporarily traded horses cause Lynn said Red was acting lazy so I'd suggested we switch to see if I could figure out what's ailing him. Lynn weighs about 180 lbs. and his saddle is heavy. Red's soft from not much riding so after that long upgrade ride he's tired as are the other horses and Rosy, too.

As the trail angles across that steep area at a steady upward climb, David comes to a big rock that's slid down to block the way. It's about 3 feet high and rectangular in shape, but flat on top. Dipwad jumps up on it and over with no trouble. David tells Lynn he had better dismount and lead Ol' Mare across, which he does. Lynn's straining to get over the rock and Ol' Mare is crowding him, so he bats her in the face to slow her down. She backs up and her hind end goes off the trail and she cartwheels backward down that mountain side, spinning end over end, just like a wheel.

David says: "Well, that's the end of that old mare. Glad you brought that six-gun along, Lynn, in case she's not all the way dead when she stops rolling." Pretty soon the sound of breaking brush stops and then we hear her whinny. "I'll be darned, she's still alive." So all three of us head down the way she went on foot.

I follow along her path of roll and pass by a pine tree that's got limbs broke and some bark patches gone, then over big rocks and other bad places. I'm thinking that she must be all busted and cut up and what a mess that old saddle of Dave's must be. David gets to her first and she's standing up on her legs, none of them's busted. David picks up the bridle reins, didn't even break them. A thick growth of hefty maple trees had stopped her roll down that long steep mountainside. There were patches of hide missing in a lot of places, but no deep gouges. The worst is a 3 inch "L" shaped cut on her upper left foreleg. The saddle is scrubbed and scuffed quite badly, but it saved her back from getting hurt. She's one lucky ol' mare.

I go get a little saw we've got tied on the pack and clear a route through the brush on about an even grade back to the main trail we'd come up over. David leads her and is soon heading down across that bench land of long leaf pine trees. Lynn and I follow along with me riding Dipwad. David walks all the way back to the ranger cabin which is about four or five miles. It's getting late so we decide to camp there. I'm glad cause it's been a long day and a rest feels mighty good, that ol' mare will heal up all right without the aid of a vet. There's medicine in the pack that we doctor her abrasions with. This is a good place to camp, except it doesn't have much grass for the horses to eat, but they can get by for one night. We shut the gate and turn them loose inside that enclosure.

Lynn and me have been over by the camp fire fixing supper while Dave's fiddling around with of black mare and doing other things. Presently he hollers from the cabin doorway. "There's 3 good beds in here we can sleep on tonight." I look over there and he's standing inside. Somehow he'd got that door unlocked. Sure enough, there's 3 bedsteads with mattresses.

After supper I notice that of mare ain't moving much and when she does it's real slow and easy. It's really amazing that she can move at all. I'll bet she rolled at least a hundred and fifty yards down that rough mountainside, probably got up to 50 miles an hour when she crashed into those maple trees. Good thing they had give to them or she'd have been mashed flat. Next morning she's moving around much better.

Those long leaf pine trees with that creek chuckling by makes a most delightsome place to camp, so we stayed put that day. Dave tried to make some fish hooks but those smart fish just eat his worms and don't swallow the hook. I hobble the horses out on better feed, but they keep trying to head down the road toward home. (Don't seem to appreciate that good mountain country). Lynn says he enjoys that beautiful place of serene solitude so much he's not hankering to move on at all. We all wish we had some good fishing equipment so we could have caught a mess of those mountain trout.

Next day David rides Dipwad back over the Hump and down Wet Sandy to where he had left his trailer and pickup. Then he drove around to the Browse Road where we met him with Rosy and the pack, Red River and that of black mare. She'd carried me right along down that mountain road despite the hard knocks and abrasions of that long roll. Because of her ability to roll we changed her name from Ol' Mare to Cartwheel, a most dignified name and one she is deserving of.

We didn't make it to the top of the mountain as we intended, but we did witness an unusual event that don't happen very often. Thank the Lord.