Inspection of brands and papers was handled by a team of livestock inspectors and law enforcement officers, with riders checking in throughout the weekend and some late arrivals handled Monday morning. The camp crew were busy packing up for the move to the next camp by the time the riders left camp, strung out across the hills on a trail through the sagebrush headed toward Cow Creek.

Despite a half-dozen rodeos, a couple of which included speeding loose horses torpedoing back through riders and horses, the first day was a breeze. And it was that Montana breeze that saved the riders from a plague of heat stroke, with temperatures near 100º and single-digit relative humidity nearly every day.

Good water holes for the horses were few and far between, shade was rare, and crossing dust-dry creekbeds was common. The near lack of mosquitoes on the trip was a surprise, but there were enough grasshoppers to make up for it.

The second day's trip included a long winding path down into Cow Creek Canyon, striped cliffs in desert colors, steep slopes and higher temperatures.

The ride through the canyon crossed dry gullies and shoulder-high sagebrush, and riders often spotted caves in the cliffs lining the edge of the canyon. The ride back up out of the canyon was a long haul for some of the less-in-shape horses, but the ride scouts ensured that frequent rest stops kept overheating at bay. The view back over the canyon from the ridges beyond was a wonder, and made riders appreciate both their trip and that of the Nez Perce in 1877 -- they, after all, were traveling with their children, wounded warriors, and grandparents, many of whom were walking.

The first few nights' camps were sited on gently rolling hills, with sturdy sagebrush and back-poking rocks, ground rocky and dry enough to bend even good tent stakes, till the riders made the "airport camp," a grassy airstrip on private ranch land, where flat ground with few rocks was a welcome change for those camping in tents.

Each evening featured a bit of entertainment, ranging from Tim McNeil's performance of the journals of Lewis & Clark to presentations from tribal members about the history and culture of the Nez Perce to the music of Ken Overcast. During Wednesday's awards program, riders were treated to a talk by George Hatley, affectionately known as "Mr. Appaloosa," who developed and launched the Appaloosa Horse Club. Plaques were presented to riders for the number of years of their participation on the ride, including some who have completed all 39 years of the Chief Joseph Trail Ride!

Two veterinarians and a physician were along for the ride, and ably attended to a number of injuries during the week, though none were deemed serious. One of the "rodeos" at an early lunch spot appeared certain to cause some serious injury to horses or riders or both, but no one was hurt.

As the riders neared Three Buttes, the steep sage country gave way to open rolling prairie, dry grassland pocked with badger holes (and the occasional resting rattlesnake). The hills seemed to roll on for endless miles, with hazy buttes far off in the distance, as the riders crossed the southwest corner of the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and continued across privately held ranches. Occasional deer and antelope were spotted, and it was easy to picture the herds of buffalo and antelope that once grazed the land.

The final day's lunch break was stopped within sight of the Bears Paw Battlefield, and several dozen of the Nez Perce riders dressed in traditional regalia for the memorial procession into the battlefield. This area, now maintained by the National Park Service, was the site of the final battle between the Nez Perce and the U.S. Cavalry in 1877, and though a number of the Nez Perce slipped away and continued their journey into Canada, many (including Chief Joseph's people) decided to stop fighting and end the "war" with the Cavalry.

Many of the Nez Perce have held an annual memorial at this site, usually in October, but this was the first time that such a memorial was held as a public event. It was an afternoon laden with sadness and mixed emotions for the Nez Perce riders, and not an easy thing to ride up to the battlefield where their ancestors died and share it in a public way.

The ceremonies included a welcome and prayers from the Nez Perce elders, a memorial by a number of riders dressed as Cavalry officers, introduction of the guests from Fort Walsh in Canada, and the riderless horse ceremony. Thomas Joseph and Mary Beth Spencer rode three times around the butte, dressed in traditional finery and leading saddled horses with no riders in a tribute to ancestors lost. The Honor Song was sung and pipe ceremony held to honor all veterans -- of all races -- and all veterans or currently enlisted personnel present were invited to join in the pipe circle. A friendship circle was formed, with all present, as a "reconciliation" ceremony, and the Nez Perce drummers featured songs and drumming by Mike and Phillip Penney and Gordon and Tyler Higheagle.

It was a sober and moving tribute to the ancestors lost, to warriors and veterans everywhere, and to the descendants and guests and riders, in the hot air and glaring sun over the battlefield -- the end of the trail for the appaloosa riders this week, and the end of a freedom-seeking journey for many Nez Perce 126 years before.