Horse Camping Trips Take Careful Planning

Every August for the past 22 years, after the hay has been cut, Angie and Joyce Bissel take a vacation.

The Bissels’ idea of relaxation is a two-week horseback trip into a designated wilderness. The rest of the year the couple lives on and tends to 160 acres of timber and farmland on Lake Coeur d’Alene’s east shore, near Shingle Bay.

They have five head of cattle, nine horses, a flock of chickens, a dog, a bushy, yellow cat and a brand-new colt. A trek into the wilderness takes more than a bedroll, coffee and a can of beans. It takes planning.

“You can’t be in the high country, miles from anybody, and discover you have left behind some necessity,” Joyce said.

To assure that this won’t happen, Angie and Joyce take separate, pre-printed lists and check off each necessity, right down to toothbrushes.

Angie, who retired from the military in 1974 before he moved to North Idaho, credits those years with his organizational abilities.

When you talk to the Bissels about their trail riding experiences, two things stand out: Care and love of the wilderness, and the care of their horses.

The couple takes four horses - two to ride and two to carry supplies.

“Each pack horse carries about 150 pounds,” Angie said. “That’s enough dead weight. We load one horse with the food, packed in two canvas-covered ice chests hanging on each side and the second horse carries other gear.”

Joyce plans meals, making and freezing casseroles to go in the ice chests along with other perishables.

“We take dry mixes rather than canned or bottled food because of weight,” Joyce said. “And we don’t take food in plastic containers. Plastic should not be burned because of the toxics it produces. We take our eggs - just the exact number we intend to eat - in paper cartons that we can burn in our campfires.”

The Bissels plan that the horses will graze on the land during the trip. “If we took food along for them, it would require three more horses just to carry their food.”

The Bissels always call the district ranger’s office ahead of the trip to make sure there is grazing for the horses.

They also give the office a choice of bringing more horses to carry their food or fewer horses that will graze on the land. “They almost always prefer fewer horses,” Angie said.

The couple sets up their horse camp near a meadow - not beside a lake or stream. Except for taking the animals to water to drink, the Bissels follow the rules and pasture them 200 feet from the nearest stream or lake.

They also avoid tying the horses to trees and attach them to an overhead line at night. This avoids injury to both horses and trees.

For grazing, during the day, they encircle the animals with a battery operated electric fence that uses six, D-size batteries.

Among the supplies, they include compact aluminum blankets that reflect body heat inward. These are available at outdoors stores.

Joyce recalled one wilderness night when the temperature dropped to the low 20s. Because of the wind chill, the horses were shivering. “We taped two of the blankets together for each horse and covered them. They were fine. I couldn’t sleep comfortably, in my warm bed, knowing the horses were miserable,” she said.

The Bissels and their animals walk lightly upon the land, practicing “leave no trace” camping. This means cleaning up, carrying out and obliterating any new fire rings.

“If there is one, well-used fire ring, we leave it because the next camper will use that and not create a new one,” Angie said.

The Bissels carry shovels and axes to repair trails and signs and clean up after other, less-careful visitors.

While in the wilderness both take extensive notes - both positive and negative - about the condition of the country. District rangers expect many pages of written comments from the couple after they return home.

A supervisor once told professionals attending a meeting with the Bissels in attendance: “Once these people have been through a wilderness, they know more about it than you do.”

Angie, a carpenter and cabinetmaker, is building an 11-foot, self-contained camper for the front half of a 22-foot flat-bed truck. Joyce is doing the upholstery. The remaining 11 feet will have traveling stalls to accommodate the horses.

Do the Bissels have a favorite wilderness? “Oh yes,” Joyce said, without hesitation. “The Bridger in Wyoming. It’s the Cadillac of the wilderness.”