Riding the White River Wilderness Area BY AUDREY STOGSDILL BEGGS

Cousins, Sisters And Best Friends: Riding in the White River Wilderness Area by Audrey Stogsdill Beggs, R – A Mule Ranch, Sims, Ark.

Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!” --Hunter S. Thompson

This is my motto, and I have had it printed and framed for my dear husband. My dear cousin, sister and best friend Claudia Stogsdill Sharp shares this motto with me. She and I are first cousins according to our DNA, but we are actually sisters and best friends. Claudia does not own a horse or mule, but she volunteers at a HOH (Heroes on Horseback) facility in Bluffton, S.C. They help children with special needs and veterans to master the art of horse back riding. We share a love of equine, and after being apart many years since we were small, we reconnected about five

years ago at a cousin’s get together at her house in St. Charles, Mo.

Travis, our farrier, told me Marie Haskett, JML Outfitters, in Meeker, Colo. She is a third-generation outfitter with this company and is the most awesome lady. She has 24 horses and six mules in her remuda, and they are beautiful. She is very passionate about her animals and it shows. It’s a delight to meet someone that loves equine as much as we do. She teaches a children’s riding camp during the summer months along with the trail rides, and then does the elk, moose and mule deer outfitting in the fall. Meeker is named for Nathan Meeker, the United States Indian Agent who was killed along with 11 other U.S. citizens by the White River Ute Indians in the 1879 Meeker Massacre. The site of the massacre, the former White River Indian Agency, is located along State Hwy 64 in the White River Valley west of town and is marked by a prominent sign. None

Mules and More Magazine of the buildings remain.

After the massacre and the ensuing conflict known as the Ute War, in 1880 the US Congress passed legislation requiring the Ute population to relocate to reservations in Utah. The United States Army established a garrison on the current site of the town, called the Camp at White River; the town was founded in 1883 following the removal of the troops.

Claudia and I spent about three hours touring the White River Museum with the curator Libby Wilson. What a delightful lady and such an awesome museum. This is one of the best in the state of Colorado, as far as I am concerned.

Even though we ride horses most of the time when we travel, I am a devoted mule lover and mules are my passion. I tell my husband all the time that we would be much richer if we didn’t have nine mules, three dogs and three cats. He always replies, “Then what would we be? Rich, but

Moose antler rubs on the Aspen trees

without the enjoyment that our animals give us.” We had quarter horses in the 1980s but in the 1990s we changed to mules and they have been with us ever since.

We planned to leave on June 11 and meet at the Denver airport. Claudia was flying from Savannah, Ga., and I was flying from Ft. Smith, Ark. I was up at 3 a.m., showered and dressing to go, when I get a text from the airline that my flight was delayed for five hours. Of course, as I live 1-1/2 hours from the airport, I was not overly excited that instead of a 6 a.m., my flight now left at 11:34 a.m. I contacted Claudia to tell her about my flight delays, and she informed me that she was stuck on the interstate due to a horrible wreck, and wouldn’t get to the airport in time for her flight. It turns out she missed the first two flights to Denver, and instead of us meeting at the airport at 11 a.m., we finally connected at 6 p.m.

I had rented a car and as soon as we landed and got to the rental agency, we took off west for Meeker. Some things happen for a reason. Our delays gave us the most beautiful sunset in the mountains as we headed west on I-70 from Denver. We would have never seen such an awesome sunset had we been on time and landed at 11. We felt we were very blessed to be in the mountains at exactly that time of day! Claudia made the remark that God was smiling on us for our horrible travel day, and this was an awesome way to end the day.

We had planned to be at the old Meeker Hotel before six. I called ahead and told them our flights were late, and it would be very late when we got to Meeker. The lady at the desk told me to not worry; my key and paperwork would be at the desk if no one was there. We got to Meeker about midnight and Claudia pointed out that we were the only car on Main Street. Meeker is such a beautiful old town. When I parked, I asked Claudia to go into the lobby of the Meeker Hotel and see if my paperwork and key was there. Of course, it was. We got our key, unloaded the car and headed to our room. We both had been up for over 22 hours at this time, so needless to say we were exhausted and basically brain dead.

The next morning, we asked about breakfast and were directed to the Meeker Café, adjoining the Meeker Hotel. It was the same as it looked in

1898 and we had a great breakfast. You could almost feel the old cowboys and their boots and spurs on the floor in the café. The people we met in Meeker were absolutely the friendliest and most welcoming of anywhere we had been in a long time. After picking up some essentials (sunscreen and ice), we headed to Marie’s place and JML Outfitters. Claudia was so hoping to see a moose or elk along the way but that did not happen. We drove into Marie’s with no problems and she was getting ready to take a family out on a short trail ride. She took the time to get her 4-wheeler and show Claudia and I the cabin where we would be staying. There had been a lot of snow in that area and the Papoose Creek was running crazy with snow melt. Claudia and I unloaded our gear, grabbed a beer, and sat on the front porch of the cabin listening to the creek and enjoying our quiet time after the travel nightmares we had been through.

Marie asked us to meet her about 10 a.m., the next morning to head out on our trail ride. As usual, we got up early and were there early. She had the horses in the saddling area and her friend, Jesse, was there to help, as was his grandson Sawyer. It was a beautiful day for a trail ride. Sawyer went with us and rode a beautiful horse named Tom. Marie rode Joe, Claudia rode Clyde and I rode Pepper.

The Flattops still had almost five feet of snow, so we did not get to do that trail ride. We loaded the horses and trailered to another area where a friend of Marie’s had told her we could ride. It was a sheep ranch and we had a great day, but we did a lot of busting brush and trying to find the trail that he had told her about. We rode for about three hours and I am not sure if we ever found his trail. It was quite the event, but Claudia and I are both OK with the unknown. One funny thing that happened, though. I was having trouble with my tack, and Marie got off to help me get my saddle in place. She ground tied her horse, thinking he would stand still while she helped me, but he knew where he was and where the trailer was, so he headed down the mountain. She was yelling, “Whoa, Joe!” and running behind him, but Joe knew where he was, and where the trailer was, and he was going home. We all had a good laugh after she finally grabbed his tail and got him to stop. I did tell her I wouldn’t put that picture in my story! Marie was a good sport about that.

We rode the sheep ranch for about three hours. We went back to the trailer, loaded the horses and headed to the Ute Trail. This is a very rugged, gorgeous trail. Claudia kept saying she wanted to see a moose. Not me! We didn’t see a moose, but we did see lots of moose droppings, and we saw where they had been rubbing their antlers on the aspen trees. That was enough for me. Marie took us to one of her drop camps for her hunters, and we took pictures and headed back to camp.

After we got unsaddled and back to the cabin, Marie called and told us if we wanted to see a moose, to go out on the porch and look toward the cattle guard. We had just beat a storm in when we got back from riding and by this time the rain was coming down in buckets. We jumped in the little rental car and headed that way. Claudia finally got her wish, and we saw a young male moose at the horse salt lick. Such an awesome sight! I told Claudia that I was so glad I was in the car and not on the back of my horse. I think I enjoyed it much more that way.

The second day, we met Marie at the barn and Celine, a beautiful young lady that helps at the barn, went with us. Marie changed Claudia’s ride to a nice young gelding, Telly. We rode out of camp that day and rode the Papoose Creek trail. What a beautiful ride. We rode thru snow and up to the Camel Peak Lookout where the elevation was over 9,000 feet. It was a wonderful trail ride and the scenery was stunning. The black clouds started rolling in and we got back to camp just as another thunderstorm hit as predicted. We were so lucky in that both days we got back to camp within minutes before the storms hit.

After the storms passed, Marie came by and picked us up in her SUV and took us to see the rest of her horses and mules. What a pleasure! They were all so friendly and came up to us immediately. Marie has raised most of them and they are like little kids. They want her attention when she is there. She most definitely has imprinted them. She has one beautiful sorrel Claudia with little Freddy getting ‘mule love!’