The annual Great Cariboo Ride brought more than 50 people to the Gang Ranch on horseback to camp and ride together in July 2011.
Doris Embree organizes the event along with trail boss Gerry Barrett and about a dozen other ride club members.
She says 40 guests, all of whom brought their own horses, enjoyed the weeklong ride.
“The weather was just beautiful; we were so lucky. It rained just enough to keep it from being uncomfortably hot. It is a dry belt out there, with lots of cactus.”
Many guests came out for the ride from various parts of British Columbia, including Vancouver Island, the Coast, the Okanagan, the South Kootenays and the North.
There were about half a dozen people from Alberta, as well as one person from Germany.
Most participants had been on the ride before, or were spouses of past guests, but Embree notes that for two riders, it had been 20 years since they last participated.
“It was neat to see them again,” says Embree, a longtime member of the society.
The guests were joined by 14 club members who guided, cooked and provided activities and other support, she adds.
Embree explains the riders travelled to Bear Springs located on the large, historic Gang Ranch.
“There were long and short rides every day, travelling to old homesteads and other points of interest, including the store at Home Ranch, past Freshwater Lake, and the ‘bone yard’ full of [antique farm] machinery that has seen better days.”
Rides also visited some old, tumbledown homesteads at Wyatt Flats and Williams Meadow, the Table Mountain flats overlooking Churn Creek and the Fraser River, and the George’s Rock gravesite.
“It’s a rock that’s a real short, steep climb to the top and you can see for miles in every direction. It’s pretty phenomenal.”
There was also plenty of time for folks to relax and enjoy campfires and camaraderie, Embree says, as well as singing songs, playing horseshoes and competing in other games, such as horseback scavenger hunts.
Two young female guests brought in a pink bull (see above right-hand photo) from Alberta who provided some fun instruction, demonstrations and group practice in team roping, she adds.
Local square dance caller Dave Abbs and his wife, Bev, once again made the long drive out to the camp on poor, muddy roads with a generator and music to host a night of fun-filled dance.
It was harder to ride the horses along the trails last summer, as they were knee-deep in alfalfa, which is unusual for the area, she notes.
“It was right under the horses’ noses, so they were eating as they walked.”
The food prepared by regular camp cook Ulli Vogler didn’t leave any hungry guests, either.
“People can’t believe how wonderful her meals are because you’re way out in the bush.”
Vogler was up at four in the morning to begin preparing food and Embree explains the club also sends out a generator and a semi-trailer with a refrigerator (reefer) to help ensure great meals.
“We would like to thank Larry and Bev Ramstad, managers of the Gang Ranch, for granting us permission to ride on the Gang Ranch property.”
Former 108 Mile Ranch resident Hans Dankel founded the Great Cariboo Ride in 1982, she notes, so 2012 marks the 30th annual ride.
One of Dankel’s earliest rides, also dubbed Ride of a Lifetime, saw more than four dozen people travel the 400 mile long Cariboo Gold Rush Trail on horseback from 100 Mile House to Expo ’86, arriving to an official reception inside the world exposition’s Kodak Bowl on May 30, 1986.
For more information on joining the ride in 2012 or future years, call 250-791-6447.
