SPECIAL TO THE PVT Riders in the mule train will head down Homestead Road after leaving Terrible's Lakeside Casino on Monday morning. Pictured above is part of the procession as the group enters Furnace Creek at Death Valley. The encampment is scheduled for Nov. 4-7. Advertisement

A handful of wagons pulled by mules will head out of a lot across from Terrible's Lakeside Casino Monday morning on the annual ride that will end up at the '49ers encampment in Furnace Creek almost two weeks later.

The mule train travels at a leisurely pace of about 4 mph. Participants will camp out under the stars at night and participate in two parades -- one in Shoshone, Calif., for Old West Days and upon their arrival at Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park.

Wagon Master Norm Noftsier said four wagons are scheduled to depart Pahrump. Another seven or eight wagons will join up in Ashford Junction for the final leg through Death Valley.

The riders will camp out this weekend near Terrible's Lakeside to get ready for the excursion.

"We'll be out of there around 9. We don't get in a big rush. It's a pleasure ride, not an endurance," Noftsier said.

It takes an hour to an hour and a half to travel down Homestead Road. Noftsier joked about heading past the Chicken Ranch Brothel.

"If we lose any of the teamsters and they disappear, we know where they went."

They then cross the California state line, through the dry lake bed and over a low pass in the Nopah Range. En route to Tecopa they will bed down for a night at the Resting Springs Ranch.

"We're usually in camp by 2 to 3. We try to schedule it that way so people have time to feed their stock and water them and get dinner ready, have a cocktail if they want one, sit around and visit. We don't try to push too hard, we take it easy," Noftsier said.

A support trailer will meet the riders at the campouts carrying water and feed for the horses, as well as port-a-potties for the riders.

"It makes it nice for everybody because the animals, if it's pretty warm, they go through a lot of water. I remember last year on the other side of the dry lake we had a 550-gallon tank full and we were almost bone dry the next day when we left," Noftsier said.

By 3 p.m. Wednesday, the mule train is expected to arrive in Tecopa, Calif. They will rest in Tecopa on Thursday, then leave Friday morning for the short trip to Shoshone, where they ride in the parade for Western Days about noon.

By noon Saturday, Oct. 31, riders will shuttle everything along Highway 178 from Shoshone over Salsberry Pass through the Black Mountains to Ashford Junction at the southern end of Death Valley to resume the mule train journey for the final ride into Furnace Creek.

Noftsier said they interrupt the mule train to ship the stock that segment due to the terrain.

"It's too rough a hill to go over with a team, over to the other side, and it's a long downhill on the other side," Noftsier said. "So we shuttle down there and get camp set up."

While Noftsier said there's often a sparse turnout for the parade at Shoshone Old West Days, it's a different scene pulling into Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park.

"Furnace Creek we have thousands waiting for us. That's their big draw is the wagon train coming in. It's amazing the people there. I've been doing it about 13 years now and I can't believe all the people that are there, cheering us in," Noftsier said.

The '49ers encampment includes a fiddler's contest and an art show among other events. This year, the annual keepsake bulletin book published for the '49ers encampment will feature the mule train, Noftsier said.

Noftsier, who lives in the mountains west of Lancaster, Calif., said people come from all over to ride in the annual event.

Two years ago a woman from Great Britain hopped on a flight to Las Vegas to take part in the annual mule train ride, Noftsier said. This year the English woman rode with the mule train on another ride that left Lone Pine, Calif., in the Eastern Sierra Nevada to Bishop for the annual Mule Days celebration.

The animals will be all mules pulling wagons out of Pahrump, though Noftsier said sometimes it's a mix of mules and horses.

"They hold up good because that's about 160 miles all the way across," Noftsier said.