Rocky’s Web

Archive for the ‘Continental Divide Trail’ Category

Blackie

One thing I noticed from the start,
This black horse sure had a big heart.
He was built more stocky than lean,
Carried with him a small streak of mean.

Many a time he tried to get his own way,
But on a trail he would stay, and go all day.
Climbing over rocky, steep, and slippery ridges,
Crossing shallow creeks, wide rivers and wooden bridges.

He did like to dance around,
At any excuse that could be found.
When you found yourself in a tight spot,
He bailed you out without a thought.

I am proud that you were part of my ride,
Helping me conquer the Continental Divide.
It isn’t for me to ask why,
But for me a good horse will never die.

You were more than a horse, my true friend,
You will be in my heart until the end.
Good horses are few and far between,
Glad that you are where the grass is always green.

You may be gone,
But your spirit lives on.
There are so many people who care,
Glad there are so many memories to share.

Thank You Blackie!   We Miss You!

Oh Canada!!

October  2—–Yes everyone I am still around and not in jail for causing an “International Incident”.  I know you are thinking what did she do?  Will tell you in a moment guess you can chalk not writing in the last couple of weeks up to playing “catch up” and trying to get my thoughts in order. I know excuses, and that doesn’t really cut it.  So I will fill you in a little here, and add a couple more historical facts in a couple more days, as I want to do some research on them.

Bet you are all sitting there on pins and needles and wondering what I did wrong.  As you all know we crossed the Canadian border on September 15 at 2:36pm, but it was sad because of Blackie. At first thought it was going to be a repeat of the “Yellowstone “, I rode up in the truck with Rocky and was sitting there and took a picture of the sign that said the Canadian border was ahead, then was going to take a picture of Rocky talking to the border agent, when he yelled no pictures ma’am. I put my camera down. Rocky managed to get the ok to ride the horse over the border, which we really didn’t expect to be able to do with health requirements etc.  All the pictures and socializing was done within a 100 yards of the American border, just on the Canadian side. I walked across, taking pictures of Rocky and Soldier riding up and crossing the border. Documentation was what we wanted to be able to prove that we actually completed the mission that we set out on almost three months before. Keith, the Canadian border agent was very personable and reminded me a lot of Tim, the customs agent that we met down on the border in Mexico. He was kind enough to take our pictures, with about 3 different cameras, and allowed himself to be in some of the pictures. Rocky has yet to post them, but will. That old expression “where does the time go?” sure is true in this case. It has been two weeks since we all arrived back in OK, and seems like there has always been something going on.  Rocky asked me if I wanted to ride Soldier back to the trailer, and of course I said yes. That allowed me to have ridden in NM, CO, WY, MT, and Canada. A future employer might not think it is a big deal, but it is something that I never pictured a year ago, as ever happening in my life. I got on the horse and headed back over the border and being a “greenhorn” as far as travel goes, didn’t stop at the border crossing booth in MT. So they called over to the Canadian side, and Rocky had my passport, so they said ok, and he got it stamped when he and Paul went back across to talk to our agents there.  Can you picture the headlines in your mind? Something like , Crazy  Lady from New York Tries to Out Run Border Patrol on an American Mustang, or some other thing that there wasn’t  an ounce of truth in it. My passport is officially stamped, so  it will always remind me of the accomplishment, and I now have a passport, so can go to Toronto Winter Fair again, because last time I went in 1978, just had to say you were a US citizen. It being a bus trip, there wasn’t too much proof required.  I will say that any of you that are headed to Canada, and are looking for donuts, be sure to stop at a Tim Horton franchise, YUMM!  They were given to us by Keith, and even though I am not a jelly donut fan, think I could have eaten about 3 more. Watch out Dunkin if they decide to come to the US. I haven’t done any research  myself on it, but from what Rocky told me, Tim was a famous Canadian hockey player who had passed away, maybe you hockey buffs can enlighten us, and his family wanted to keep his memory alive, so started the chain. I guess if one of these comes into town, and there is another competitor it puts them out of business in no time.  That is one thing I didn’t see much of where we traveled, no donut shops. There is even a Daylight Donuts about 10 miles from   Rocky’s .  I admit it, like my junk food.  Once that we were done at the border, even though we accomplished our goal it was bittersweet, so we just loaded Soldier and headed south . We weren’t really in a mood to celebrate because of Blackie. There will be a poem at the end of this that I think shows a little about his character. I hadn’t met the horse until he joined us in Grants, New Mexico, but feel honored to have ridden him on the Oregon Trail, and in the Teton National Forest.

Cut Bank, MT is one place that I will never forget, and never want to visit again. We didn’t have that town on our route originally. It was about 40 miles from the border. We had planned on going to Browning, but more and more people told us not to, because the town was not safe place. We heard stories about your car being striped when you go to eat, and being an Indian Reservation that there was nothing the police could do if an incident did arise. Being at the end of the trail, so to speak we wanted to avoid any problems. Like Rocky mentioned we had checked out the town on Saturday, the 13^th and had to wait almost 40 minutes, by the time we got our burgers. I was almost ready to jump behind the counter and cook them myself. Yes, I was a past Mickey D employee, and let me tell you, that kind of service wouldn’t have flown in the franchise that I worked for. A lot of free food would have been given out. We also found our camping spot, a place to do our laundry, and grocery store. Rocky rode Pepe that day, our lunch stop was at a historic site that Lewis had a confrontation with the Indians, when they wanted to steal horses and guns from them.  I am pretty sure I read that the Indians were responsible for only 3 deaths during the whole time that Lewis and Clark were exploring. They lost more men, but under other circumstances.  They arrived in Cut bank about 3:30. We set up camp, ate, and did laundry. We all went to bed around 9, but it was a real eerie night. I can honestly say that it was the first time I was actually afraid on the whole trip and that was in the camper with Rocky, and the dogs. Heard a real strange sound, Paul heard it too. The dogs and Rocky were restless all night. I thought it was just the anxiety of the final day of the ride. Think if I got more than an hour sleep than I would be surprised.  When I went out the door Rocky asked me where the medicine was for Blackie to stop the bleeding, and we assessed the situation, and he went for the vet. I will say that both the vet techs that showed up were very nice, helpful, compassionate women. I held Blackie, while the vet worked on him. I didn’t get his name, but will say that man had one of the best horse side manners that I have ever seen in my 50plus years with horses and around livestock. I told him that too, because he made an emotionally painful time a little easier to bear because of his manner and attitude.  After the x-rays, he put a splint on Blackie’s leg so that it would be easier to transport him. We gave him the whole trailer, and he loaded right on even though he had to hop to get in. He was completely calm during the whole ordeal, eating his hay and drinking water. You could only see his pain when you looked in his eyes, but he was letting us know in his way that he appreciated what we were doing for him. It is still hard to write about it, guess because I am one of those people who get along better with animals, and see them more as friends than just an animal. That is the main reason that I wrote the poem, because it was a real painful experience for all of us, even though a lot wasn’t spoken about it, you could feel the pain all around, and think that we all were afraid to say much, otherwise we would of needed a case of Kleenex apiece.  I think we all knew that we had to be strong for Blackie and to finish the ride for him, even without any celebration.  I know he will go down in my book of horses I have known that left a mark on me.   That will make the ride in Yellowstone even more memorable, because it was the last long day that was spent with him doing what he loved to do, being worked, and just being a horse who enjoyed life. I will always remember him showing off at the creek crossing for the Boy Scouts and getting around the maze of trees.

Well guess that I will stop here for now, but will get back to you in a couple of days and fill in the days between September 11, and the 15. Plus give you a little history lesson and write about our trip home.  Just want to thank you all for reading the blog, and will let you know the lessons learned and more updates in future writings.

Egg Mountain

Dinosaurs are one of the last things that I ever thought I would be doing any research on. I had no interest in the movie Jurassic Park, so have never seen it. I will admit that I have seen some of the plastic toys at stores and have told a kid or two that they were cool. Usually they would start telling me all about them with their mile long names, and I just stood there in amazement.  The only thing of the prehistoric era that I ever did any research on was the eohippus, because it was part of the evolution of the horse.  Part of my single mindedness as a horse lover and most of my school projects revolved around them.

Why now? On our way through Montana, we went past a historic roadside marker that mentioned Egg Mountain, and we stopped and read most of the ones we passed. It probably would have just been considered another marker, except that we had the opportunity to visit with the husband of the woman, who found the fossil.  I know that Rocky has mentioned it in his blog, but thought that you might like to know more.  I have to admit the more reading I did, the more interested I became.  Not that I will be able to pronounce the name or see myself out on any digs. Have some information for those of you who may be interested.

Egg Mountain itself is located about 12 miles west of Choteau, MT on Highway 287, and the sign with information on the site is located between mile markers 57-58.  It is one of the 16 sites in Montana that has been recognized for its geological wonders. There is even The Montana Dinosaur trail that runs though the state.  This site is preserved by the Montana Nature Conservancy.

Here is a little history of the area. In 1978, rock shop owner Marion Brandvold , discovered some small bones in what was later named Egg Mountain.  Two Montana paleontologists by the names of Jack Horner, and Bob Makela came out to see where the bones were found.  Exploring this area, researchers gathered more information not found on any other world digs about the Cretaceous era.  The area was filled with fossilized eggs, babies and adults.  Horner discovered a nest containing fossils of these duckbilled dinosaurs. This new dinosaur was named Maiasura, meaning good mother lizard. Studies on the area showed that these huge prehistoric creatures took care of their young much like our present day birds do. The nests were round, evenly spaced, about 6-7 feet wide and could hold around 25 eggs. Once the babies were hatched were said to weigh as much as a phone book, ( you will have to figure out which city or state, because I have seen both thin or fat ones, so I say average them) and a foot long. Those that managed to reach adulthood were 6,000 lbs and about 30 feet long.  The way the nests were placed, it was thought to be a colony, so they returned to the same spot every year.  It is believed that the mothers went to hunt and brought it back to the nesting area. The spacing of the nests, allowed enough room for the mothers to lie down and watch over their young. This shows evidence that parental care existed back 76 million years ago. The extinction of the Maiasura  is thought to have come about because of  an extreme event that took place in nature, possibly a volcanic eruption or hurricane. That one puzzled me, because hurricanes are storms coming off the water.  The Rocky Mountains having just started their formation were located about 300 miles from a shallow ocean on the eastern side.   There was also the Troodan, a little meat eating dinosaur that lived in the Rocky Mountains, nesting in the areas of lakes, streams, and the fern covered coastal plains.

Bet you can guess that the Montana’s state fossil is the Maiasura . I can’t tell you what New York’s is, but might look that up in case I end up being a game show contestant.

There are 2 places that are close to the sight, all within a 40 mile radius: The Old Trail Museum, which is located in Choteau on Highway 89—823 North Main Street. 

The second one is the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center on Highway 89 in Bynum. It is located right next to the Rock Shop, where we met John, who is Marion’s husband.

Both places offer you a chance to learn more about dinosaurs, and a chance to do a little digging in the area. There was a school group that had gone off for a dig from the Center the day we were there.  I did spend some time in the rock shop, where they had beautiful Indian jewelry and rocks. I didn’t leave empty handed, bought 3 pieces of jewelry, 4 small rock animals, and 2 rock power bracelets, that are suppose to help your health because of the stones used. At $3/each, and even if it is a myth, and more related to the power of positive thinking, it is cheap enough medicine. The rock animals were a cow, and buffalo, which relate to my thing about cows and chasing the painted buffalo around West Yellowstone, a grey horse, Soldier, and a cat. My daughter tells me she is going to be the crazy cat lady. It will remind her of the summer that her mother ran away to chase dreams. The jewelry was a couple pair of earrings, one of a buffalo, and the other wolves, true reminders of the west. The necklace was the End of the Trail I gave away to a friend, who had made a comment earlier in the summer about liking a print with that on it.  I was good and kept my shopping to a minimum.

There were also a couple of good eating places in the Choteau, which is a town that gives you a real homey feeling. I liked everyone I met there. It has almost everything that you would need, except cell phone reception. The first place was the Log Cabin, and it was log. It is a real popular eating place, reasonable prices and good food. John’s daughter in law from the Rock Shop makes the soup there. It is right in the center of town. The second place was the Elkhorn Grill on Route 89 it was decorated with a lot of elk horns on the inside with almost everything made out of them from candle holders to lamps. The waitress that we had was very personable, and enjoyed talking and joking with her. I just feel bad, I wasn’t a kid, because then I could have had Harley, the stuffed moose come eat at the table with me. He was cute. I teased Paul about it the older couples were getting a kick out of it. Paul didn’t see the humor in it.  Well, hey if you don’t have fun and act like a kid once in awhile, you age quickly. That is my philosophy, so maybe that explains my flakey way of thinking at times.  My lifestyle is far from that of the Rich and Famous, but I am happy and that is all that counts.

You can find out more about Egg Mountain and the Dinosaur Trail using Google or whatever search engine you choose.

Well hope you enjoyed your trip back 76 Million years in history. Me, you know that I would rather be riding horses, our playing pioneer woman than digging up bones of prehistoric creatures,  learning new things never hurts. So the next time a kid talks about dinosaurs I can tell them about Egg Mountain in Montana.  Take care!

Canada!! At Last!! But a Sad Ending!!

Monday, September 15^th, 2008

I got up this morning, not knowing what bad issues were to follow.  It was a nice, brisk morning, but warmer than the previous 3-4 days.  I went outside and untied Soldier from the trailer and retied him to the camper, to get him ready for the days ride to the border.  I was going to ride Soldier, because he is the only horse that has gone with us all the way since the start.  I went around on the other side of the horse trailer where I had Blackie tied to check on him and get him ready to give him some hay.  That is where the heart sickening event started.  I noticed he was standing still on 3 legs and had his left rear leg “hiked” as if resting it.  Then I noticed some blood on the ground and went over to check the foot.  He reacted in pain when I tried moving the hoof.  I knew there was a serious issue and told Paul and Kathy about it.  I then got into the pickup and drove to the local vet, who was just a quarter of a mile on down the road (I had spotted it yesterday on our exploring trip).  It was almost 8:00 and no one was there when I got there, but instantly, the vet tech drove up.  I told her of our issue and would like for her vet to see the horse.  She said her vet wasn’t there and was closing down his business, but she would try to get someone else.  That is what she did.  She contacted another vet that was 30 miles away and indicated that he would be there as soon as he could.  He must have disregarded the speed limit because he was there in less than 30 minutes.  He took one look and said it was “broken”.  Wow!!  You could have hit me with a sledge hammer and done less damage that what my heart felt like at that moment.  I wouldn’t take his word, and asked if he could take an x-ray.  The local tech said she had a portable unit and would go and get it. He took the pictures and they had them developed in less than 10 minutes with the results.  Yep….you could clearly see a compound fracture (it had broken through the skin in one place) and the vet said there were a lot of fractured pieces in with it.  I really felt sick when I saw that x-ray.  Blackie had been such a great trail horse and you can tell by my previous blogs just how well he traveled the trails.  I called Robyn (my daughter) and she called Mark (my son-in-law) to see what he wanted to do.  Mark asked first if I was O.K., then said that if needed, go ahead and put him down (which the vet recommended).  I said O.K. and then told the vet.  He said to try to get Blackie back in the trailer and take him to his office, 30 miles away and he would take care of him for us.  Blackie was still very strong.  He learned instantly not to put any weight on that leg and with a little effort, stepped and jumped with his back single leg into the trailer.  We then trailered him to the vet’s office and once there, Blackie hopped out of the trailer with just a little coaxing, still trying to please his rider.  I couldn’t stay to see the vet put him down, so Paul and I left with a lead rope, halter, and a few pieces of his mane which the vet cut off for us (I later gave to Laekyn, my granddaughter who had requested it).  It was definitely a “black Monday” for us. 

There wasn’t much we could do but to mourn our loss, but I decided that we have to go ahead and complete what we had started so about 2:36 p.m., I crossed the Canadian border riding Soldier.  I first drove to the US customs side and visited with our customs agents and told them what I was doing and requested their help in trying to complete it.  I didn’t want to break any rules or regulations.  They called the Canadian side and explained the task to them.  He said the Canadian agents said to “come on across with your horse”.  I then drove back to the trailer, unloaded Soldier and rode the last few miles to the border.  Kathy and Paul had already driven back and were waiting for me.  I rode up on the US side and showed him my passport.  He waived us all across.  The Canadian agents were waiting on the other side and when I got there, I handed him my passport.  He took the passports inside and then came back out.  I asked him if we could take some pictures and then we would head on back to the US side.  He said “no problem” and even went with us to take our pictures underneath the “Welcome to Alberta” sign.  After that, I left Kathy ride Soldier back and on to the trailer while Paul and I cleared with the customs agents, again.  The Canadian agents gave us some Canadian flag pins, a box of doughnuts, and one of their Canadian Custom soldier patches.  The US agents gave me one of their US Agents soldier patches and logged us into their computer. 

Blackie was still on our minds, and that took away a lot of any celebration that we had planned (champaign, etc.), so we just loaded up and started our drive back home.  We reached Antlers, Oklahoma 2050 miles and 3 days later.  Even though the ride is over, it seems like it hadn’t even happened, except for the absence of Blackie.  I made it back with Pepe and Soldier, both in real good shape.  Mark helped me sell Zena while a stopover at their place in Clayton, New Mexico to a local who needed an easy going horse for his job of riding the pens at a local feed lot.  Daisy was healing well and stayed on at Mark and Robyn’s place.  Kathy and Paul are staying with me for awhile in Antlers, just being able to relax and recouperate from the  long ride. Some logistical statistics.  We drove over 6,000 miles per vehicle; the total cost was almost $14,000 of which almost $8,000 was in gas, alone.  The rest of our costs are broken into other categories (food for horse and selves, other misc expenses).  I rode over 1,500 miles and the trip was 3 months long.   I’m planning  my next adventure.  See you on the trails.

Final Camp

Saturday/Sunday September 13,14^th 2008

We traveled through Valarie and into Cut Bank, Montana.  Another front came through and it rained most of Saturday night.  It was 40 degrees this morning (Sunday) with a chill factor of in the 30’s.  We used the delay to scout ahead and find a place to stay at Cut Bank.  We had lunch at McDonalds (in Cut Bank).  Don’t stop there for lunch!!  It took us over 20 minutes, after we ordered, to get a couple of hamburgers.  Everyone was complaining.  We prepared for out last leg into Canada Monday, September 15^th.  We were able to park in a vacant lot going north out of town to the border crossing.  Saturday night we stayed in Valarie and rode the 27 miles into Cut Bank. 

Onward……

Friday, September 12th, 2008
I left Choteau at about 8:45 this morning and plan on doing 22 miles. It was 48 degrees this morning, so it is starting to warm up a bit. I’m riding Blackie (I didn’t realize it would be the last time) and he is doing good on the shoulders of the road. He still wants to reach down and try to eat grass every 20 yards, but I keep trying to keep his head up and keep him going until I want him to eat. He still gets the best of me (ha). I’m riding on Hwy 89, headed towards Bynum, where I’ll meet the crew for lunch. About 11:00 I passed another Colony (the katural Colony). If nothing else on this ride, I got educated on the Colonies of Montana. They have a web site and it is quite an education reading about them. When I got to Bynum, Paul and Kathy had already visited with John (who runs the local museum) and got permission to stop on his parking area to wait for me. It seems John’s wife was the Palentologist that discovered the dinosaur egg that Egg Mountain was named after. There is a lot of historic digs going on in this part of Montana and a lot of prehistoric animal bones and fossils being found here. I ended the day at a roadside rest area outside of Dupree. John Henley (who works for the state and maintains the rest area) stopped by and we had a good chat. He said to just not tie the horses to the trees (we ended up tying them to the fence posts for the night). He also said that there is no problem with the horses and camping there, that we would be fine. It was a nice evening and we watched the sun set over the mountains of Montana after having a great BBQ dinner which Paul did on his grill. It looks like 3 more days and we should be at the border. We also learned that Glacier National Park was closing this Sunday for the season because of the early snow and closed roads. I guess we’ll miss sightseeing, there.