Let's go West – on the Tracks of the great Treks

The calming cries of the coachman reverberate over the Rodeo grounds
at the edge of the western town Winthrop. The neighing of the horses and the bleating of the mules start to join in. The cart horses champ at the bit because the brakes of the wagons and the harnesses are still tightened. An impressive trek of 30 carriages and wagons plus more than 100 horse riders – half a kilometre long – has queued up at the crack of dawn and is now ready to set off. Trail-Boss Claude Miller gives the signal “Let’s move!” And he points in the direction of the snow-covered Cascade Mountains in the west. The wheels of the team crunch over the gravel
path and the convoy slowly sets into motion.
Travelling through the wilderness and spectacular mountain scenery of
the Okanogan National Forest in Washington State for nearly a week, the team will head off far away from civilization and retrace the tracks of the white pioneers, who began to settle in the western parts of the North-American Continent in the middle of the 19th. Century. And indeed those huge pioneering treks, venturing out on this arduous journey over
several months from remote Missouri 150 years ago in order to fulfil the dream of land and freedom, must have looked very similar to this
convoy. Even these treks also started in May so that they would reach their destination near the Pacific Coast before the onset of winter.

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