The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: June twelfth, riding with Wyoming's wild horses.

The Red Desert Basin, a 2.2-million acre bowl in south central Wyoming, cuts the Continental Divide ridge like a giant sinkhole. The floor of an ancient sea, it was called "God Ran Out of Mountains" by native tribes. In the 19th- century, westbound settlers skirted the basin's southern edge, and ranchers ran herds in the treeless expanse.

Even today, the landscape of the open scrubby desert is so constant clouds drifting overhead qualify as a big event. It's a range where cattle and pronghorn antelope roam free. More elusive are the wild horses, small herds of eight to ten direct descendants of those animals who escaped the yoke and saddle over the years. Federal law protects the Red Desert's wild horses from interference. This doesn't prevent adventurous visitors from searching out these free-spirited vestiges of the Wild West, but catching up with them for a close look is easier said than done and will certainly require some rough riding.

If galloping on a dusty steed over a desert range for hours on end looking for feral equines is appealing, Skip Ashley's your man. A Wyoming outfitter and life long wrangler who knows the high plains well, he runs Western Encounters. Half a dozen times each summer, he introduces small groups to the Red Desert. Camping in a ring of tepees, riders spend a week getting an authentic introduction to life in the open emptiness. Witnessing wild horses isn't guaranteed. In addition to their spurs, riders earn their experience with endurance, true grit hard-fought and hard-won. Those who succeed get a life lesson that's is both worth learning and difficult to forget.

The latest issue of National Geographic Traveler, a supporter of our program, gets into the land of wild horses. You can register for a free sample copy on our homepage.

Western Encounters offers a variety of riding experiences in addition to the Wild Horse and Mountain Ride, for information 800-572-1230 or www.horseriders.com

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