Point Reyes Light - November 18, 1999
Horse trekkers bound for Peru
West Marin maybe has the most upscale roadside trash in California.
So noted Dane and Gretchen Hartwell, two equestrians who set out from Montana in 1993 for Peru, and sojourned this week at Point Reyes Station's Bar-Or Ranch.
The couple so far has ridden their Peruvian Pasos through Wyoming and westward to Oregon, then down the Pacific Coast Trail into California, with lots and lots of stops along the way. Trailing them are two pack horses of mixed breeds and a mule that carry everything one needs for a life on the road.
Along with their five-inch television set, ham radio, Nintendo gameboy, and solar shower, they are carrying along four chickens, which provide fresh eggs and an opening topic of discussion with strangers.
"We want to be the slowest expedition ever," said Dane Hartwell, a curly-haired, good-natured cowboy survivalist who married his wife after a lengthy, long-distance correspondence.
A Southern California city girl, Gretchen read an article Dane had written for a horse magazine and started writing him. She had never camped a night in her life before moving into her husband's cabin on the Montana range. They've been happily married for five years.
Scrapping their shared plans for a cross-country trek, the Hartwells decided instead to ride to Peru, where the original horse of the Spanish conquistadores, the Peruvian Paso, has lived in genetic isolation for nearly five centuries.
Gretchen has been riding her Paso, Damisella d'Oro, for about 10 years. Dane bought his Paso, Tifon De Valerosa, from a ranch in Covelo last year, relegating his quarterhorse to a pack animal.
The couple insists their South American riding horses are the only breed suitable for a trek that's expected to last tens of thousands of miles. The Peruvian Paso has an exceptionally smooth gait; it does not trot.
"Once you ride one, you get spoiled," said Dane Hartwell, who for added comfort sits on a soft saddle of Spanish leather. Like his wife, he dresses almost exclusively in the padded gear of a motocross biker.
Somewhere near Chico last year, the couple recalls being told not to miss scenic Point Reyes. They rode into West Marin this week with trepidation about approaching San Francisco, only to be overwhelmed by the vistas of open space and agricultural land, plus the local hospitality (as well as the empty bottles of mineral water scattered along the road).
"It sort of makes up for the hardships of civilization - finding places for the horses to stay, finding places to camp," said Gretchen, whose caravan was invited to camp in Point Reyes Station by stable owners Gal Bar-Or and Cheryl Hoppe.
Following their ride-a-day, rest-a-day pattern, the couple now plans to plod down to the Mexican border and beyond. Anticipating hardships in Central America and Colombia, Dane said they will take their ride one day at a time. Explained Gretchen, "It's a life more than a journey."
"There is no destination," said her husband. "We're just going to keep riding."