Riders stop in Havasu during border to border trek

Three Alaskans began a 2,000-mile trek across the United States in June and stopped in Lake Havasu City Tuesday on their way to their final destination of Yuma.

The journey began after Richard Baumfalk’s retirement last spring in Nenana, Alaska, after a 21-year teaching career.

“I always thought it would be kind of fun (to ride border to border). No one ever does it anymore,” Baumfalk said. “I want to get my passport stamped (in Mexico),” he said.

Baumfalk, along with his 8-year-old stepdaughter Cheyenne Fields and his father-in-law Mike Fields, has traveled historical trails including some documented during the Lewis and Clark expedition in the Northwest region of the U.S. as well as historic Spanish trails located in Utah.

For Cheyenne Fields, the trip has included arithmetic and other homework as well as the first-hand rendition of history lessons offered by the very land beneath her horse’s hooves.

“It is very fun. Sometimes I get a little tired and fall asleep,” said Cheyenne Fields of her cross-country experience. The girl was riding Big Red Tuesday — a horse that is nicknamed ‘Red’ she said. Her other two horses are named Brownie and Lucy.

The 8-year-old girl was atop her first mount when she was just 3 days old, according to her grandfather Mike Fields.

The trio rides about 15 miles per day on average. They have been known to ride as few as seven miles and as many as 40 miles per day, according to Mike Fields. Each rides their own mount and a packhorse carries their supplies.

“We travel about a hundred miles per week, give or take,” Mike Fields said.

The highest daytime temperature endured was 107 degrees while riding in Washington state and the lowest overnight low the riders experienced was 40 degrees while camping in Utah, according to Baumfalk.

Cheyenne Fields has accompanied the two men about 1,000 miles, Baumfalk said. The girl’s mother, who is also Baumfalk’s wife, Sedona Baumfalk, drives a vehicle ahead of the clan with fresh horses in tow and makes sleeping arrangements for each night.

Camping underneath the stars has encompassed a good amount of sleeping arrangements but on occasion along the way, there have been those few who have opened their homes to the travelers. Mike Fields said they never turn down the opportunity since it just would not be polite to do so.

Mike Fields traveled by horse and wagon from Texas to Arizona in the 1980s, and Baumfalk used to work as a guide. The skills they have overlap to most efficiently navigate the countryside from border to border.

“Anyone willing to ride with us is certainly welcome, whether they ride part of the way or all of the way,” Mike Fields said.

Aside from fulfilling a lifelong dream, Baumfalk said the ride has also helped raise awareness for the Shriners Hospital for Children. As a teacher, he witnessed the miracle of the organization’s good works firsthand.

You may contact the reporter at jhanson@havasunews.com.