“Who rides across Nevada in the modern era solo?” Samantha Szesciorka asked as she hitched a saddlebag to her horse, Fremont.
She’s done it several times, with her dog, Juniper. Saddling up in the parking lot at Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe, she talked about the new adventure she was preparing for—riding the 165-mile Tahoe Rim Trail.
This ride around the Tahoe Basin will be one of Szesciorka’s shorter adventures. She’s ridden through all 17 of Nevada’s counties, across central Nevada (about 500 miles), from Las Vegas to Reno, and to 15 different state parks. She’s even circumnavigated the state (about 1,100 miles).
“You know, my goal is to ride as much as possible,” she said.
Szesciorka grew up riding horses. She did her first long ride in 2013, wanting to see more of the state while being with her animals.
“It’s a very intimate way to learn about the land and understand it, and because you’re going three miles an hour, you see everything,” she said. “You really begin to understand the nuances of the landscape much more than you do driving across Nevada. And when you live with your horse 24 hours a day, never more than a few feet away from each other, that is a bond that you just can’t get doing anything else. That’s such an amazing part of it. … As I got done riding across Nevada, I came home and started thinking about the next ride … something longer and even harder.”
Szesciorka hadn’t always been so eager to experience Nevada close up. When she moved here 20 years ago to accept a job offer, she was skeptical.
“I really fell in love with it,” she said. “The open space, the public land, the wildness of it is really special.”
She’s become an advocate for the land, even serving as the state coordinator for the American Discovery Trail, a coast-to-coast trail for hikers, bikers and equestrians.
Szesciorka added various items to Fremont’s saddlebags. This was a training hike—a way to get the horse acclimated to the new terrain, environment and long miles required of their upcoming hike.
She pointed to two red, soft-sided bags on each side of Fremont’s back and listed items that would go in them: her camp kitchen, first-aid supplies, a bear bin, toiletries and Juniper’s food. (It’s incredible that all of the supplies will fit into bags that look much smaller than my own overnight pack.) Her goal is to keep the weight on Fremont less than 200 pounds, including her, the saddle and all supplies. She’ll be able to achieve this by relying on two resupply stations along the trail, for hay and food.
“I spend over a year planning each long ride,” Szesciorka said, although the trek itself will only take 15 days. “I have this crazy spreadsheet that I build with my detailed route itinerary so that I know where I’m going to need volunteers to meet me, where I’m going to cache supplies, and where I’m going to have resupply bins, if there’s water there.”
She pulled out her phone to show a detailed, day-by-day plan.
“The planning is almost like a full-time job, (but) I feel like it’s just as fun as the ride,” she said.
“I can choose to go do the Tahoe Rim Trail, but they can’t,. They’re just along, so I want to make sure they’re happy and healthy, and we end the ride happy and healthy.”
Samantha Szesciorka, regarding her horse, Fremont, and her dog, Juniper
These meticulous preparations are mainly for the animals’ sake, she said.
“I can choose to go do the Tahoe Rim Trail, but they can’t,” Szesciorka said. “They’re just along, so I want to make sure they’re happy and healthy, and we end the ride happy and healthy.”
Her planning has paid off in the past. She said there have never been any major injuries or other issues during previous long rides.
Fremont bobbed his head and stomped his feet every so often. He looked impatient to ride, clearly not scarred by past adventures. He is a beautiful, brown mustang—a tamed wild horse. Szesciorka adopted him at a public auction held by the Northern Nevada Correctional Center Wild Horse Training Facility in Carson City. Horses I’ve seen on the Virginia Range can be erratic and scary. But Fremont makes little objection to wearing a saddle, having his shoes brushed, or even Juniper as she bounds around him with effervescent, puppy-like energy.
“I really like their bravery,” Szesciorka said of wild horses. “They’re more hardy, because they’ve had to adapt to surviving on the range, and I think that makes them really good horses for what I do, for the challenges of long riding and crossing the desert.”
These challenges include heat, food and water availability, long miles and wild horses.
“People ask me a lot about wild animals, and they’re surprised when I tell them it’s actually wild horses that are the biggest threat, because they can be really aggressive and territorial,” she said. “… We get charged (by horses) on the trail, in camp, in the middle of the night.”
Along the Tahoe Rim Trail, though, the main challenge will be the technical terrain. Slick, clunky granite slopes in Desolation Wilderness worry Szesciorka the most.
“There are some really gnarly spots, and the hoof placement for the horse has to be so precise to navigate the rocks or the obstacles safely. But training,” she said, pointing up to the mountain in front of us, “that’s all we can do to prepare for it.”
Another major difference between this ride and previous ones is the popularity of the trail.
“I rarely see anyone on my other rides, but for this one, I am really excited to hopefully meet other people on the trail. I like hearing what other people’s adventures are,” she said.
As of press time, Szesciorka, Fremont and Juniper were scheduled to start their journey from Spooner Summit on Aug. 27, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 8. You can cheer her on via Instagram @nevadadiscoveryride, where she plans to post updates from the trail, or follow along in real time on her website, www.nevadadiscoveryride.com/trt2025.html.