matter of fact you will probably find it quite
sufficient, both in length of time and in variety of scenery. To cover
it you will travel steadily for from six to eight hours; and in the
diversity of country will be interested every step of the way. Indeed so
varied will be the details that it will probably be difficult to believe
you have made so small a mileage, until you stop to reflect that,
climbing and resting, no horse can go faster than two or two and
one-half miles an hour.

[Sidenote: Desert Travel]

On the desert or the plains the length of your journey must depend
entirely on the sort of feed you can get. Thirty miles a day for a long
period is all a fed-horse can do, while twenty is plenty enough for an
animal depending on his own foraging. Longer rides are not to be
considered in the course of regular travel. I once did one hundred and
eighty miles in two days--and then took a rest.

[Sidenote: Time to Travel]

In the mountains you must keep in mind that a horse must both eat and
rest; and that he will not graze when frost is on the meadows. Many
otherwise skillful mountaineers ride until nearly dark, and are up and
off soon after daylight. They wonder why their horses lose flesh and
strength. The truth is the poor beasts must compress their twenty-four
hours of sustenance into the short noon stop, and the shorter evening
before the frost falls. It is often much wiser to get a very early
start, to travel until the middle of the afternoon, and then to go into
camp. Whatever inconvenience and discomfort you may suffer is more than
made up for by the opportunities to hunt, fish, or cook afforded by the
early stop; and the time you imagine you lose is regained in the long
run by the regularity of your days' journeys.

[Sidenote: Desert Journeying]

On the desert or the plains where it is hot, to the contrary, you will
have better luck by traveling early and late. Desert journeying is
uncomfortable anyway, but has its compensations. We ordinarily get under
way by three in the morning; keep going until nine; start about six
again--after supper--and travel until nine of the evening. Thus we take
advantage of whatever coolness is possible, and see the rising and the
falling of the day, which is the most wonderful and beautiful of the
desert's gifts.

[Sidenote: Climbing]

Going up steep hills in high altitudes you must breathe your horse every
fifty feet or so. It need not be a long rest. Merely rein him