Five Years on Horseback: 1,000 Miles Done
Olivia and Ben, a Canadian and an Aussie, are traveling on horseback across the Americas from south to north, following the famous Pan-American Highway that begins in Ushuaia, Argentina, and ends in Alaska. Once a month, they’ll share notes from their life on the road.
May 11th – Perito Moreno
At last, we finally reached the last town that we’ll cross before leaving the steppes of Santa Cruz. Although we’re not yet done with the subarctic desert that is typical of most Patagonian territory, it’s a relief to finally step out of its biggest province with huge distances between towns. The last one we went through with the horses was on the 1st of April, in Tres Lagos. Which was 325 miles and almost a month and a half ago.
The distance between Perito Moreno and the closest town to the South is 220 miles. Since we don’t have a support vehicle, that means we would have had to cart all our food for the last month and a half, which is impossible in our case. Luckily, we’ve been supplied by locals on the road. Tortas fritas (local small fried bread), salami and pastas were the go-to menu for this isolated stretch of the Highway 40.
Someone even brought us a bale of alfalfa for the horses!
May 18th – Riding in the snow; cold but magical
We stayed a few days in Perito Moreno, because the weather prognostics were looking bad for the weekend. Lucky we did, because in the mountains around town, almost a foot of snow fell! We had torrential rain but were under a roof with good alfalfa for the horses. We got back on the road today and even a few days after the storm, there’s still enough snow on the ground to bother us while setting up camp. It does feel magical, nonetheless. I’m from Quebec, we ride six months a year in the snow, these few days are going to make me feel like home!
At the highest point of the trek, we were riding on a big plateau. There was no space without at least a couple inches of wet snow. Water and feed for the horses are always our main concern when we choose a camp spot, and the conditions made it hard to find any of both. Thirty minutes before sundown, we found water thankfully near the road. It was inaccessible for the horses because of the fence, but the gate was open. I took the horses through the gate for a drink, while Ben rode ahead to find a camp. A couple minutes later I heard him call but couldn’t see anything. He was far and it was getting dark fast. The reason why he sung out was because a truck was coming in from the road, straight to where I was with the horses. I secured the horses and approached the truck.
“Hopefully they won’t be mad we crossed on the other side of the gate to give the horses a drink,” I told myself.
Ben was far away, leaving me alone with the five horses and two men visible through the truck window before they stepped out.
“Hi, how are you!” I said in Spanish. “We are just giving a drink to the horses and will be back on the road soon. We’re riding from Ushuaia to Alaska with our horses.”
I pointed at the horses and Ben who was slowly coming back toward us.
After a pointed look at our team, the driver finally smiled and answered: “Yeah, no worries, I’m the owner of the place here, if you keep going inside the paddock, you’ll reach one of my camps, it’s 3000 meters from here more or less. I got a worker there, beds and feed for the horses. You’re welcome to go and spend the night!”
How lucky we are?!
We were indeed well received by the worker and slept inside near a warm fire with our bellies full of sheep meat. The next day he then guided us out of the bush and back to the road.
Every day I’m amazed by the kindness of the people here!
May 23th – Welcome in Chubut, Argentina
Almost 600 miles, 85 days and a couple shoes later, we’ve reached at last the border of the immense Province of Santa Cruz!
It’s not a drastic change in terms of landscape, but the meaning of the feat is big enough for me to shed a tear. We did it!
For almost three months we’ve been walking and riding in the desert with little feed and even less water, braved cold rain, snow and wind that sometimes reached up to 110km/h speed! Being proud of my horses is putting it lightly. It’s crazy to think we rode 1000 miles in 4 months!
1000 miles done… and 18,000 to go!
To learn more about Olivia and Ben’s journey be sure to follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and GoFundMe.
Go riding.
Amanda Uechi Ronan is an author, equestrian, and wannabe race car driver. Follow her on Instagram @au_ronan.
