Pony Express rides again!

Imagine you live in the year 1860 with vast wilderness and wide-open plains between Missouri and California. You're one of the chosen riders on top of a horse with a mochila strapped on your saddle, navigating along the trail where unknown dangers lay ahead.

You're not on leisure trip, you're one of a team of young men traveling 1,966 miles in ten days on horseback, delivering mail to and from the West.

Even though the Pony Express lasted just 18 months (having been replaced by the transcontinental telegraph line which start just ten weeks after the Pony Express started), the lore and legend lives on. In its short history, the Pony Express has become synonymous with the Old West. In the era before easy mass communication, the Pony Express was the thread that tied East to West.

The National Pony Express Association recreates the infamous ride every year, sending hundreds of riders along the same trail, 24-hours-a-day each June. The riders also carry a mochila (mail bag), delivering one thousand letters along their way. More than 600 riders participate in the Pony Express every year, and 2018 marks 40 year years since the Association was formed.

Since this is an even-numbered year, the re-ride begins in Sacramento and ends in St. Joseph, Missouri (odd-number years they travel the opposite direction). During the even-numbered years the riders don't go through South Lake Tahoe, but come down Echo Summit, along South Upper Truckee on to Woodfords.

On Wednesday, June 20, 2018, a rider will depart Old Sacramento during a celebration to kick-off the re-ride. The party starts at 2:00 p.m. with comments from dignitaries and the rider will leave at 3:00 p.m. They head to Folsom where they depart by 7:29 p.m. and head east. By midnight the rider will pass through Placerville, then hit the Celio Ranch in Christmas Valley at 11:42 a.m. By 2:00 p.m. the rider is scheduled to be in Woodfords, then head to Nevada.

June 21: From Woodfords, the rider heads to Genoa (4:00 p.m.) and then Carson City, departing there at 7:00 p.m. Then its on to Fort Churchill, arriving by 11:45 p.m.

For a complete schedule, visit https://nationalponyexpress.org/the-states/nevada/#2018-nevada-reride-schedule

People can follow the re-ride on their website as well (click here).

Riders plan to be in St.Joseph, Missouri on June 30.