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Show A6 Wednesday, September 20, 2006 .Vernal Express. He df 4 "'j r - MniiiigiBi hin Pack horses and riders, led by Terry Barker head above timber line. Good example of overcoming hardship by Clair Batty Having a leg amputated above the knee seems down right inconvenient especially to a person for whom spending time in remote, inaccessible wilderness areas had been an integral part of life. Few people know the intimidating trails threading through the perilous passes of the High Uintas as well as life-long Ashley Ashley Valley resident Terry Barker who, for many years, has frequented fre-quented this rugged scenic paradise at every opportunity. Confidently mounted on one of his sure-footed riding mules and leading one or more similar simi-lar animals expertly packed with camp gear, Terry is a man at home in the high country. About a year ago he lost his right leg to cancer and many wondered if he would ever ride his rocky ranges again. It takes no small amount of skill, strength and stamina, not to mention good luck, for an able two-legged rider to negotiate the long miles of trail through impossibly steep, rough, scary" terrain while dragging an often reluctant weary, top-heavy pack animal. No ordinary person per-son would consider trying such a thing with only one leg, L "I-' ' t '.....ii .' 1 l .Vn'm..' Riding one of his sure-footed mules, Terry Barker travels along a High Uinta Trail. but then, like Don Quixote, Terry Barker is not your ordinary ordi-nary man. Only three days after being fitted with a new prosthetic limb, Terry and his mules were on the trail, once more .headed for. adventure in 'the high country. Here is how it all unfolded. Long time friends, Terry and Vernal resident Bill Batty, maintain a good-natured rivalry rival-ry about the relative merits of Terry's mules versus Bill's walking horses in rough mountain moun-tain terrain. Terry and Bill, along with horsemen Paul and Larry Dockery of Roosevelt, had tested.their animals togeth- er on previous High Uinta expeditions expe-ditions and developed-a mutual respect for their respective modes of tough-trail transportation. transporta-tion. Terry, Bill, Paul and Larry had been talking for some time about venturing forth together after Terry's stump had healed and the target date was set for August this year. Adding another dimension to the story, Craig Colton, a j inetired university profeswr - living in Bountiful and with deep' family i roots in Ashley Valley, had a "lifetime dream of riding the High Line Trail." Word somehow got around and Craig contacted Bill to see what the chances were for fulfilling rjri A our customers love it! 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His crutches are close by. his dream. With all of his sons and an uncle who also wanted to go, Bill had no extra horses qualified to make the trip and so referred Craig to Terry. With characteristic generosity, generos-ity, Terry offered to provide the necessary riding and pack mules, and invited Craig to come along. And so it was on August 12 that the party of ten men, five mules and 11 horses started from Massey Meadows in Dry Fork Canyon northwest of Vernal. The first eight miles to Horseshoe Park were covered quickly despite stretches that caused even the well-shod animals ani-mals to step gingerly through the hoof cutting, sharply fractured rock. After leaving Horseshoe, the group rapidly ascended through more miles of heavy slide rock past 11,000 feet elevation to skirt the southwest south-west side of Marsh Peak. The angle of descent back down to Fish Lake made the other riders rid-ers wonder how Terry, with one good leg, could sufficiently brace himself in the stirrups to stay on his mount. But he seemed to handle it all without visible concern. The next leg of the trail again climbed steeply toward the 12,000 foot level of ominous sounding Dead Man Pass. All had been eyeing the gathering gath-ering storm clouds with considerable consid-erable trepidation. Everyone agreed on a sincere preference for not being caught out on the high barren peaks in the middle mid-dle of one of the area's famous lightning displays. However, with the uncertainty of the storm path, the long miles yet to go before reaching the targeted tar-geted campsite, and hoping to get over the pass ahead of the storm, together with the natural optimistic nature of the group, the decision was to head for Dead Man. Just in case, each man donned their saddle slickers. The group was well above timberline when the storm front came rolling in, attended by full regalia of wind, hail, dazzling branching lightning light-ning and ear-shattering thunder. thun-der. Even so, everyone heard Terry's piercing yell to "Head for cover boys!" Normally traveling along the trail in single file, the men in one, almost synchronized motion, turned their mounts and pack animals around and fled, herd fashion, at top speed back down the mountainside to lower elevation and the more hospitable shelter of the trees. Both men and animals were grateful to be under the trees and out of the pelting, stringing hail and hopefully less vulnerable vulnera-ble to the frightening fireworks going on around them. Packs and saddles were hurriedly pulled off as men, horses and mules crowded close under protecting pro-tecting branches to wait out the storm. Not one to waste time, and a veteran of many such encounters with nature, Terry calmly and cheerfully took a nap as the weather raged about him. This was a scene to be repeated each of the next two days. Safely across Dead Man Pass before dark, the group was delighted to set up camp, and graze the tired, hungry animals in the vicinity of Dead Man Lake at the head of aptly named Lightning Park. On the third day, Paul and Larry Dockery headed for the trail head at the U-Bar ranch on the Uinta River some 20 miles away, where they had transportation transpor-tation waiting. The rest of the group took the trail over Fox-Queant Fox-Queant Pass and on to the trail head on the West Fork of the Whiterocks where Terry's wife, daughter and granddaughter met them with truck and tailer. In three exhilarating days, Terry and Craig had covered nearly 50 mule-powered miles. The ride was jam-packed with exciting, adrenalin-rush episodes, epi-sodes, glimpses of mountain goats, moose, deer and other wildlife, all in a setting of summertime sum-mertime snow drifts and spectacular spec-tacular mountain scenery. For Craig Colton, it was the realization realiza-tion of a life-long dream. For Terry Barker, it was healing therapy for the soul to be back on the trail. For the rest of the group, Terry provides a terrific example of refusing to be a victim vic-tim of circumstances. He obviously obvi-ously had chased to get on with living, and living life in spite of a minor inconvenience like losing los-ing a leg. Not a bad example to set in the current culture. Clair Batty lives in Logan, Utah. L |