Last Big Fling of the Season: Pack Trip!

Earlier this year, H&R did an informal reader poll that asked people to pick their favorite horseback "fantasy vacation." The top choice turned out to be going on a wilderness pack trip, and that's exactly the sort of vacation I'm taking the end of this week. Two gal-pal friends and I booked this trip a year ago, and now we're counting the days (and making lists, lists, and more lists) until we get to go.

Our outfitters will be Harlan and Barb Opdahl of Idaho's Triple O Outfitters. (www.tripleo-outfitters.com). Hop over to their site for a look at the Bitterroot country, and the types of trips they do. I've been on two other pack trips with Triple O, both unforgettably fun (even if they were undertaken with magazine work in mind). No mag projects this time, just the chance to expose two friends (one a commercial real-estate broker, one an organic farmer and author) to a kind of outdoor adventure they may never get to have again. Plus, I'll get to practice the new sport I'm trying to learn, fly fishing.

Photo at right: On my last pack trip with Triple O Outfitters, we rode about 65 miles of the Lewis & Clark trail where it crosses the mega-mountains spine of Idaho. That's Harlan Opdahl taking the lead on his Appaloosa. That time, I got to ride a Kiger mustang who was the handiest little trail horse I've ever been on. Which horse from the outfit will I be given to ride this time?

Here's just some of what I love about going on a backcountry pack trip:

* The chance to see rugged country that I might not venture into on my own.
* Riding "professional-outfit" horses that know the country and how to navigate it. (I love my own horses, but mountain-savvy guys, they are not.)
* Escape from the digital and cell-phone world that occupies most of my normal days.
* Best of all, the chance to boil things down to basic human needs: warmth, shelter, food, good companionship.

Not to say that we won't get to bring a few creature comforts and small treats with us--that's part of what makes a pack trip different from, say, a backpacking trip. Horses help do the work!

OK--back to riding my monthly magazine-deadline pony, the better to be caught up before I disappear into the wilds of Idaho.