Rest day in Warden
Charles H. Featherstone/Columbia Basin Herald Retired teacher Tom Short of the John Wayne Pioneer Wagons and Riders Association takes a break with his team of horses in Warden on the eighth day of the group’s annual ride along to 211-mile long Cascades to the Palouse Trail.
WARDEN — The little park stretching along Railroad Avenue between the street and railroad tracks was full of people, campers, trailers and horses.
A lot of horses.
It’s eight days into a long ride — or walk — along the Cascades to Palouse Trail, and this group of intrepid travelers are resting themselves and their animals. Some are riding their horses, some have hitched their teams to carts, and a few are riding bicycles or even hiking.
All the way to Idaho.
“We’re horse people, and the horses brought everyone together,” said Bryon Scott, who just finished combing the tail of one his horses. “We just have a great time crossing the state.”
Scott is a member, and one of the leaders, of the John Wayne Pioneer Wagons and Riders Association, and they are very nearly in the middle of their annual trek along the Cascades to Palouse Trail, a stretch of the former Milwaukee Railroad line winding from Easton to Tekoa that became a state trail in the early 1990s.
Along with his wife Lynette, Scott has been riding this trail since it was created — first on horseback, and now in a buggy. That’s 37 rides across the state of Washington.
“I built a Conestoga wagon, and rode that a few years,” he added. “Every year, you always see new things on the trail.”
If you have visions of 19th-century hardship, nearly everyone camped in Warden has a horse trailer and a recreational vehicle. They move as a caravan in the morning to the next site, come back in an old school bus, and then ride or walk to their destination.
Which, when they leave Warden on Friday, is Lind — 25 miles away.
“We do 211 miles of trail each year,” said Tom Short, a retired shop teacher who has been riding the trail for 15 years. “It’s a great sense of family. People help each other out, because you have to.”
Both Scott and Short said they were grateful for tiny towns like Warden, where they can stop and rest. The town planted trees, and has opened its fire department up so riders can take showers. Wednesday evening, the Warden Lions Club threw them a taco dinner, Short said.
“Communities like Warden open up to us, and you can’t find a nicer bunch of people,” Scott said.
Short said he believes the people need more non-motorized forms of recreation, and said the trail will eventually extend from the Pacific Ocean all the way to Montana.
Promoting the trail is also something he does to give to the future.
“Each generation needs to do something positive,” Short said. “I’m old. But I’ll do this as long as I can.”