Camping of Another Sort

Every August, Girl Camping Girl pulls her boots on and heads to Deary, Idaho, where she puts on a weekend campout trail ride for horse people. The event is a fundraiser for the Appaloosa Museum & Heritage Center in nearby Moscow, Idaho. Appaloosas are popular (natch), but all breeds of horses are welcomed. Mules, too.

GCG brings a vintage trailer to set up as her command headquarters. The horseback riders always want to get a look inside.

The vintage trailer is quite the contrast with the huge, living-quarters horse trailers that many of the participants stay in.

Girl Camping Girl brings her horse trailer to the event, too. But for this occasion, it carries flowers and other decorations--not horses.

Activities include a Dutch oven dinner and cook-off. It's the best meal this side of Thanksgiving!

Food, food, and more glorious food! Trail riders work up a mighty appetite.

It's fun to see all the beautiful horses and the riders with their best riding gear.

Western art is popular at the silent auction. And some attendees arrive wearing their Western art--not quite on their sleeves, but close.

GCG doesn't sport any tattoos, Western or otherwise. But she does break out some of her fancy hats.

Part of her job is to make sure everyone knows and follows the rules for using the private horse camp where the event takes place.

She also makes it her job to make sure everyone keeps smiling and having fun. Because without the fun, nobody will come back again the next year. And the year after that. They've been coming back for 15 years now, so something must be working.

Coordinating a campout for 60 riders and 60 horses is like any other big job--someone's got to do it!

At the end of every trail ride day, Girl Camping Girl slips away into her trailer, puts her feet up, and looks forward to the next day.

Because truth to tell, she has as much fun as anybody else who's there!