Rocky’s Web

Archive for August, 2008

Rules!!

Well today is Sunday, August 24, so since Cotton and I are here chilling for tonight and Paul turned on the generator, so he could cook his supper and probably watch part of a DVD.  Jazz went with Rocky, they left the Green Valley this morning a little after 8, and weren’t sure rather they would be in tonight. A man who had been 4-wheeling and fishing here in the Teton National Forest said that he was probably 26-28 miles out, so we will see them tomorrow. He did say they were through the worst of the bear country. Paul had taken a ride down by Crystal Creek Campground which is farther down the very rough road with the truck only and said he saw some bear tracks, and they have the metal storage tins for the camper’s food. He wasn’t sure rather there was one on the hill or not, he tries to scare me by saying “snake”, just to see if he can get me to freak out. Hate to disappoint him, but am not a girl who scares easy. It will probably be like the boy crying wolf, and one day there will actually be one and I won’t be looking. I wear boots most of the time, or sneakers, am not much of a flip flop or sandals kind of girl, being around livestock like to keep my toes from being broken.

Saw my first buffalo today there were 3 of them on the hill as we entered the Teton National Forest. Of course, traffic was lined up the road, but was able to get some pictures of them. It was an awesome sight. This whole area is beautiful, the scenery is something that you would see on a picture postcard, with the snow still in the mountains, all the streams running through the area, and we are camped above Slide Lake, it would  be a great place to have a house, but would be a little rough to get out in the winter. The color of the water was beautiful, and it looks clear. The color changed as the afternoon went on there were some people out there with their boats and kayaks.

Coming into the park we had to pass through Jackson Hole, it is a pretty city, but has money written all over it. There were tourists galore and cars parked on both sides of the street, was I glad to get though there, because there was hardly any room to maneuver the rigs. Paul has to go back in and see if he can find a water pump for his horse trailer, but think he will just take the truck. There was a wildlife refuge, and one for elk, and a Wildlife Art Museum, bet that is interesting. We went back into town after we found our camping spot, but went to K-Mart, there is a lot of stores in town. Also, think no matter what your hobby, you could find a place to do it, there was rafting trips, and ATV’s and motorcycles to rent, a tour bus service, and even a stagecoach ride, that one would interest me. Hey, maybe I could pay for my ride by being the one cleaning up the manure. There was a guy with a broom and wastebasket. Can’t say I am not qualified for job, after all the years of shoveling I have done.

I didn’t realize that telling you about the Red Desert was part of my narrative until I read Rocky’s blog. I think I covered everything else he had me down for. If you have any questions like I said before ask.  We write from different perspectives, but sometimes “great minds think alike”.  Ok, that was a joke!  Back to the Red Desert, to tell you the truth we hadn’t heard of it until one of the hikers or bicyclist had commented to Rocky about it. I looked it up on the Google site, and it was listed in the top 3. It is suppose to be one of the last areas of the country that has remained untouched. I can see why, if you scraped all the sage off, it was nothing but sand underneath, and there were no water holes or creeks for miles. That area really looked like New Mexico all over again. I did see that the National Wildlife Federation is trying to keep that area the same as it has been for centuries.  There are other Red Deserts in other states. I didn’t find much interesting reading on the site, but at least it will give you an idea about the area we are traveling through.

Here are a few facts that may interest you. Jackson Hole is named after Davey Jackson a partner in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which was booming in the early 19^th Century. Three sides of Jackson Hole is surrounded by the Bridger-Teton National Forest. The Bridger part of the forest is named after Jim Bridger the famous mountain man, explorer and partner in the Rocky Mountain Fur Company.  The National Forest was established in 1911, and contained 1.7 million acres, which included the Wind River Mountains. In 1973, it merged with the Teton National Forest and now has 3.5 million acres. 

Will stop here, Cotton wants to go out, and I have to feed and water Pepe, who is left with us. Want to get it done dark, because don’t need to deal with any critters that go thump or growl in the night.

Can’t believe that this is Labor Day weekend, where did the summer go?  Today is Friday and we are sitting in Henry’s  Lake in Idaho for the night.  We left West Yellowstone this morning, and drove thru part of Idaho and found a place to camp, then headed off on a scouting mission in MT, so Rocky could plan a lot of his route for the next couple of days.

It has been a pretty busy week. Monday, Paul and I went back into Jackson, so he could get his water pump for the trailer, and then we went to Kmart.  While we were in town, Paul found the rodeo grounds incase Rocky wanted to move into town.  When we got back to our camp in the Rocky was close enough to give us a call on the radio and ask us to come out and get Jazz. . It was a dirt road, so we drove about 10 miles out and found them, also brought lunch for Rocky. Took the pack off Blackie and rode him in. Rocky was on Soldier. It was 10 miles, but we were able to cut cross country some and crossed a river, a lot of it was on a gravel road, but the colors on the mountains were pretty between the green from some of the vegetation, red in the soil, and the sand. There was a ranch called Red Rock Ranch and you could see why, because the mountain across from it was pure red. We also rode by it and they must raise paints because there were 3 pastures, which had to be 20 or more acres each were irrigated, and had about 20-25 horses in them, mostly paints. They came running over to check us out as we rode by. That was also where a couple of men/boys were out in the field shooting, and every time a shot went off it made Blackie dance around some. It took us about 4 hours to get to our campsite at Upper Slide Lake it was a pretty ride with the Tetons off to the west, the lakes, both Upper and Lower Slide, the river and the green trees. Yes, I am a fan of creeks and pine trees. It is so much nicer to look at than desert and plains. We left for Jackson once we got into camp and settled at the rodeo grounds. They charge $15/ stall, but are the canvas kind you see at many horse shows, not pens. Electric was $10 a night. Jackson has a rodeo on Wednesday and Saturday nights there on the grounds at least until after Labor Day. Horseback riding in the area is expensive, about $45-50/hour.  I saw a flyer while doing laundry on Wednesday that offered and overnight ride with 2 days of fly fishing for $550, It just amazes me these prices, but then most of my vacations were horse camping with my own horses, and horse activities, that were pretty low budget, so I could afford to keep them year round.  The USA TODAY, did an article in the Aug. 29 edition on multi activity family vacations and featured the Tetons and Yellowstone. We have been to both of them.

Tuesday we headed up to check out Yellowstone National Park. Well, let me tell you, you best follow the rules. The park rangers were tougher on us the border patrol.  We got up to one gate, about 50 miles from Jackson, and got told we were only allowed to bring certified weed free hay in the park, and had to have proof with us it was, either that had to take it back to Jackson and dump it at the waste  facility. We drove back to Jackson and asked for a copy, where we bought the hay to certify it was weed free. On the way back to Jackson, we stopped at the Teton Park visitor center, and toured the exhibits, they had some nice ones, took quite a few pictures.  They had a lot of books, but have to say that I contained myself and didn’t buy any. We also asked the ranger there about the hay, and she made a few calls, and we actually had to have written proof that it was weed free. Today, here in Idaho there are signs going into the parks stating the same thing. Our bases are covered, we have the documentation. I plan on keeping that piece of paper and framing it. They are sticklers on those weeds. One of them is thistle, there is a whole flyer published on the subject. To take hay into Yellowstone it has to be covered and covered completely. We had the certification, but while we were in the visitors center trying to get information on trails head ranger John McElvoy came over and said it had to be covered, so we put a tarp over it, with his help. He and Rocky went to make a call to the backcountry office to check on trails and see what Milo could come up with for us. We had to ride another 20 miles down to the Grant office to talk to Milo. It appeared that there aren’t many horse trails in Yellowstone, will tell you about riding the ones we did later. There are a lot of rules for horse owners wishing to ride the park. You are only allowed to camp in certain stock areas, ride on the trails only, not on the roads, or off trail because Yellowstone is on a volcanic crater, and there is only about an inch of crust and then you sink down into hot water, so you have to be careful where you go. You have to graze your animals, no feed can be brought in, the horse camp area we saw there was hardly any grass. If you have a horse that paws, you have to hobble, and no tying to trees or high lines are allowed.  They are environmentally conscious and if your horse is a problem by digging etc, they will ask you to leave, I will let Rocky to tell you about the trail selection, all I can say is when you think of a National Park as big as Yellowstone, you think  miles and miles and that is not the case.  After stopping at the Back Country office we stopped at the Grant General Store, they had a lot of nice things, Paul bought a leather jacket, that has beading, fringe and Indian design on it. I was good and settled for a soda and candy bar,  We did go up and see Old Faithful, and visited the visitors center  there and a couple of other stores. There were quite a few people, and a lot of them were foreign visitors. Seeing Old Faithful erupt was interesting, but   maybe I was expecting more, or had better study geology to get a bigger WOW out of it. We left and drove out the gate at West Yellowstone, and on our way out of the park did see some elk grazing in a marsh.  We ate at McDonalds, and when we went to drive back into the park, since there is only one way through it to head back to Jackson the ranger stopped us, and made us put plastic bags around the hay that was sticking out with duct tape, because she couldn’t get John on the phone.  She said it has to be completely  covered, and gave us a lecture on having a dirty truck, because the weeds can be carried in your tire tread, behind your license plate, or truck bed. We finally were able to head back to camp and arrived at 11 pm.

Well am going to check email, but if I don’t get back to you later tonight, will finish as Paul Harvey says, the Rest of the Story in the next post.

Preparing for Yellowstone!!

Well, I got to do a once in a lifetime adventure and that was to get to ride part of the CDT trail in Yellowstone National Park.  I’ll explain the issues, later, but I can tell  you that no horse can do the CDT completely through Yellowston NP and that is also according to the Rangers and Backcountry Rangers within the Park.  If you could see the old and downed trees that we went through, you could understand.  There are parts of the trail that haven’t been maintained within the last 15 or so years (according to the Rangers) and that being said, the downed trees and the fire of ’88, left the park with trees like “pickup sticks”, where no horse could go over or around.  If it weren’t for the trail being maintained where we went through, you couldn’t even go 50 feet.   On with this week……

August 24, 2008

I left Pinedale and took Hwy 352 to the Green River  and Bridger-Teton National Forest and started on the forest road 600 or Upper Pass Road, then forest road 620 towards the Darwin Ranch.  I wasn’t in but an hour, when a pickup stopped to talk (2 couples out of Dubois on a Sunday drive) indicated they saw bear tracks on the road not more than 100 yards back.  I thanked them and started on.  I’m riding Soldier, and ponying Blackie.  I have Jazz with me, to help “scare” any animals I might come across.  About then, I heard a grunt in the  small canyon to my left and Soldier heard it at the same time, jumped, and tried running away.  I figured it was the bear, because the horses can smell and sense them, also.  I didn’t see anything, but, again, I really didn’t want to see anything.  I did begin to see the bear tracks in the road and they were “huge”!!  I couldn’t tell by the claws on the paw print, but I believe it was either a large black bear or a grizzly.  The length was as big as 2 hands put together. When I got up this morning it was 38 degrees.  The days are getting shorter and the temperature is getting colder.  Paul had talked to someone that had just come down from Glacier National Park and they said they were getting snow in the park, already.  I’m not going through the park, but will be a little east of it (I’ll touch the park in the southern portion).  At about 3:45, I hit the Darwin ranch, operated by Lorring and Melody.  Lorring showed me how to get through the pasture, over the creek and to the trails on the other side.  He said it was O.K. to ride the horses through, but he didn’t want any motorcycles!!  He said to just follow the orange diamonds on the trail (snowmobile trail).  Jazz is tired, but she is staying up with us.  There has been plenty of water for horses and Jazz all through the day.  Weather has been good, a little cloudy and overcast.  For lunch it was a snickers bar, beef jerky, Vienna sausages and water.  At 5:00, I heard an ATV coming up and he stopped to chat.  His name was Dale Peterson.  He worked in Jackson and even offered me a Dr Pepper!!  I decided to stop at 6:00.  The trail came onto the Gros Ventre Road and there just happened to be an old wooden corral there, where I could put the horses in and not have to tie them for the night.  This time, I made certain they couldn’t get out.  I set up the tent and got set for the night, not knowing if there were any “critters” in the area…..or not.  I rode 27 miles and 10 hours.

August 25, 2008

I got up and got off by 7:45.  It was 38 degrees this morning but by the time the sun came over the mountains, it started warming.  I’m in a beautiful valley with high mountains on each side.  I follow the valley on out the road leading to Jackson Hole, and Slide Lake.  I’m riding Soldier and leading Blackie.  It seems to be a good horse combination, at this time.  There is plenty of creeks for the horses to drink and Jazz seems to stop at every one of them.  She has plenty of energy in the morning, but soon drains by afternoon.  Although the temperature is in the 60’s during the day, the sun is pretty hot on a black dog!!  By 11:00, I got my first glimpse of the Tetons as I rounded a bend in the valley.  It was quite a site and I knew that was where I was going to end up.  Further on, I met Ron.  He works for the Goose Wing Ranch (a large dude ranch in the area).  He is a Viet  Nam Vet and is enjoying his job here in the mountains.  At 12:30, Paul and Kathy found me on the road.  They had set up camp at Slide Lake and found the road I would be riding in on.  I was glad to see them, ate lunch (which they brought), put Jazz in the pickup and Kathy said she would ride Blackie the rest of the way.  It was a total of 24 miles and 9 hours. 

August 26, 27 2008

We went into Jackson Hole for a rest and restock of supplies for the horses and ourselves.  We stayed at their rodeo grounds, but it cost us $10 per night for electricity and $15 per night to stall our horses.  We had electricity, so I even was able to use my heater in my camper for one of the first times.  It was getting pretty cold in the mornings.  On Monday, 26^th, we took a trip to Yellowstone, to talk to the rangers on entering and riding the trails.  It was quite an adventure.  We had to pass through the Teton National Park first and this is the only road in western Wyoming that goes on out of state.  It is a major highway (287/191) and even though it is a major highway, you have to pay to pass through both national parks.  Check your Wyoming map.  It is quite ridiculous!!  Anyway, as we came to the entry into the Teton NP, I was driving my pickup, which has  our feed for the horses in back (hay, grain, water, etc.).  The gate guard asked if the hay we had was “certified weed free”.  I said I didn’t think so.  Wrong answer!!  They would not let us pass through.  This was after driving 30 miles from Jackson Hole.  We went back to Jackson Hole and found the local feed store.  It had a sign that said they were closed and had gone out of business.  Luckily, next door, the auto supply store had 2 stacks of hay stacked outside.  I asked inside and they were for sale at $16 a bale.  WOW!! What prices.  Anyway, I bought 2 more bales and got a certificate that they were certified weed free and we headed back to the Teton entry station.  When we got there, they asked if the hay we were carrying were certified weed free and I said yes.  They then passed us on.  I have a lifetime card that gets me into any National Park and 2 other guests that might be with me.  That alone saved us $25 just passing through the Teton national Park.  We then got to Yellowstone National Park guard gate.  I showed him my pass and he asked if the hay was “certified weed free” and I said yes and I wanted to talk to the backtrail rangers about riding in Yellowstone.  He said to just pull aside and go into their station (which we did).  The lady inside didn’t know anyting, but to go to the Grants Ranger Station and they might know.  We left the building, but ran into another ranger (John McElvey) who asked if the hay was “certified weed free”.  I said yes and showed him the document.  That was O.K., but we couldn’t go any further, because the National Park regulations said the hay had to be bagged or covered.  We had a tarp and John helped us cover the hay.  When we asked him about riding in the park, he said no one has ever ridden it completely that he knew of and they couldn’t because of the unkept trails in which the logs covered the trails and you couldn’t ride on them.  He said to talk to  one of their main backwoods rangers in the Grants station.  I was to talk to Milo Williams.  We went on.  At Grants, I got with Milo.  He hadn’t ridden in a few years, but knew we couldn’t ride but certain trails with the horses and none of them connected.  He advised we ride the CDT trail/Shoshone Lake trail/lonestar trail that started just above Lewis Lake and came out on the Lonestar trailhead, just below ‘Ole Faithful.  I asked him about the Nez Perce trail that is indicated on all my maps that goes out the west exit of the park.  He said he knew of no trail and when I showed him on my map, he said the trail does not exist, but was the path taken by the Indians, at that time.  I asked him about the CDT trail through Yellowstone and he only knew of 2 segments.  They didn’t really connect, either.  I decided to take his advice and we would ride it.  We then went on to ‘ole Faithful and watched it “go” with a few hundred other people.  At least we experienced it.  I decided to go ahead and leave the park on the west entrance and to try to find a place to stay in West Yellowstone, when we finished our ride.  We found a lot to park in and headed back into Yellowstone NP.  At the guard gate, the guard stopped us and asked if the hay was “certified weed free” and I said yes and showed her the document.  She then said we couldn’t go into the park because our hay was not completely covered.  I told her that one of the main ranger “supervisors” (John McElvey) had even helped us cover the hay.  It didn’t matter, some hay was sticking out on the edges and we couldn’t go through.  She finally said she had some bags and tape and she would help us tape it up, so we could pass (which we did).  We drove straight back to Jackson Hole and got in about 11:00 that night.  The next day, we took a different route from Jackson Hole, into Idaho and north via Hwy 20 to West Yellowstone, Mt (by-passing all the National Parks and their irregulated rules!!).  We weren’t through yet!!

History

How many of you have read books about the OLD WEST? We are now in a very a historical area, some places that have been mentioned are places that I am actually able to see up close and personal. Wednesday was able to ride about 4 miles on the Oregon Trail. It really makes you wonder how many of those pioneers were able to survive the trip west, because there wasn’t a lot of water along the route that we traveled. Plus, the dust, especially when the wind picked up in the afternoon, made you thirsty, and we were fortunate enough to be able to have enough to drink. I can imagine in those times that they were lucky enough to have a swallow every so often, because they had to ration it.  The soil is mostly sandy, but there was sage all over the place. I nearly tripped over a piece, when I went to check out the creek that we were camped by at Buckskin Crossing. It is a very historical place that had a marker, relating the story of the west in that area. There are lots of references in this area about John Freemont, the map maker that went with Kit Carson on some of his expeditions. There are many different trails that intersect in this area besides the CDT, the Mormon trail, the Overland Trail, and the Pony Express Route.  I was just checking these routes and came across the fact the 13,000 pioneers went through Lander cutoff, where we were on Wednesday, the 20^th, it is part of the Oregon Trail, in 1859, and it was not a pretty site, because the trail was used by so many wagon trails it was covered with manure and human waste. More people died from cholera, disease, and being run over by wagons and other unfortunate mishaps than by Indians.  In Farson, a town Paul and I passed through, there was the Pony Express Museum, would have liked to see that. I was a fan of many westerns and especially enjoyed the tv show, the Young Riders that was on in the 80’s, about the Pony Express Riders at Sweet water Station and starred Steven Baldwin. Me, I always pictured myself as Lew, the girl who passed herself off as a boy, and later got found out. She was able to keep her job and later married “Kid” one of the other riders. Then the show came to an end. I think it is still on some of the cable networks.  That is the kind of crazy things I would have tried to do, if I was alive back then.  Don’t think you would find me clerking in any store, or being a schoolmarm.  More than likely would have been trying how to go on a cattle drive, or at least staying back protecting the ranch.  

The previous night we camped at South Pass City, a State Historic Site, and the trail head for the CDT, though through the brush you couldn’t see the trail. This town was restored in 1968, to how it looked a century before. This was a huge gold mining town, with the main mine was the Cariso, it survived many years of boom and busts, the last boom was following WWII, and most of the gold rushers left there following 1949.  It also had a Pony Express station in 1860-61.  It is Wyoming’s second oldest incorporated town founded in 1868.  It was also the site of WY first Masonic Lodge. I kind of wish that we could have taken a step back in time and visited the town, while the site was open. Reminds me of what Plymouth Plantation and Sturbridge Village are like in MA, where I grew up.  Or like Erie Canal Village is like up in Rome, NY, that I have never toured, but did a St. Jude’s ride out of there one year. They have quite a few interesting events, that seasonal.  The Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY, does the same thing.  Probably when you think Cooperstown, you think of the Baseball Hall of Fame, that area is one of the touristy one in NY.

I have to say besides riding the Oregon Trail, seeing the wild horses has been a highlight on the trip. Last Saturday, we saw a band of about 15 of them. They all looked to be in good health, and   looked to be around between 14.2-15 hands, kind of hard to tell from the distance. There was one foal with them.  The next Monday, I was driving along the dirt road with water for the horse, and had a chance to see a couple of different bands.  In the first one, there were 2, looked like an older horse and one around 2-3. Boy, when Soldier saw them he started screaming and carrying on. They kind of ran toward him, but then stopped and went farther out on the plains.  There was also another band farther up on the mountain in a different spot, with about 6 horses. The reason that I noticed them is because I heard what sounded like a squeal, and looked in that direction.  It looked like a couple of them were fighting, because they kept up the noise for a few more minutes.

You have all heard the phase, “where the deer and the antelope play”.  I really can’t say much about the deer playing, because didn’t there weren’t any. The antelope on the other hand, there were different groups of them everywhere, and you really had to be careful, because they would just dart out across the road.  Saturday, the 16^th, there were about 10 times as many out as on the 18^th.  Cotton tried to catch one, but no way, and ended up way out on the plains. Jazz, knew there was no hope, so came back to run along with Rocky.  He had to ride out and call Cotton back.  The dogs do love to get out and run, and ride in the truck.  Jazz did another stretch after lunch and tried out her new booties on the front. 

Also, we have been on the Chief Washakie Trail, it comes out of Rawlins on Route 287. He was one of the Indian Chiefs that played a major role in bringing peace between the settlers and Indians in the West.  Speaking of Rawlins here is a piece of trivia that I found interesting, while reading the Carbon County Visitors Guide, as Rawlins is the county seat .  The paint on the Brooklyn Bridge, at one time was Rawlins Red, a color created from the rock mined from the red bluffs north of the city. That one really surprised me, but I have only been down to NYC, once in my life.

Here in WY.  have seen more llamas, so it must be that people are raising them for their coats, and to use in llama trekking. I just hope we don’t run into any of them on the trail. I remember a story I read, in a horse magazine that they threw a fright into some horses that were riding by one fenced in a yard. Don’t need any rodeos. Have seen some sheep wagon along the road, the sheep must be in the mountains. At the Holy Cross Ranger Station, in CO, just before the WY border, there was a sign on the counter reminding people to be careful of the sheep dogs, because the ranchers are moving sheep and the dogs have been going after the bicyclists that are riding the CDT trail. If the rider doesn’t speak, the dog has no clue if it is a friend or foe.  The horses are afraid of them too, that is why it is always wise for the rider to speak. The same goes for hikers, so that the horses are reassured that it is nothing they should be afraid of. The bikes that were sitting at the top of the hill spooked Blackie a bit when we were riding up. There was a shine coming off one of them.  He saw that out of the corner of his eye and figured MONSTER!

We are in Pinedale, WY at the rodeo grounds. It is a nice town, population about 1500. Looks like a nice place to live. There are lots of stores, but not a big department store, hear the biggest city is a 3 hour drive. There is a store called Ridleys, that has it all from hardware, horse items ,  groceries, a gift shop, ATM, and deli.  Last night there was a roping at the rodeo grounds, and there were over 500 teams entered. Though it started about an hour later than scheduled, it was still going strong through the night. Think the PA system finally shut down about 6:30 am. It was impressive looking at all the competitors, from kids around 10, women, and men. They had food available for a donation to start a scholarship fund for a high school senior, in memory of a roper named Lance.  I didn’t catch any details on him, so can’t tell you more.  While sitting in the stands had a nice conversation with a gentleman named Tom Davenport, who lives in Cora. Rocky saw that his hat said Cora, and since he was heading in that direction, inquired about the wildlife in the area.  We really enjoyed talking to him, and exchanging stories.  Hope that you start feeling better and are back in the saddle soon. I know that you made me jealous about not being able to ride across the country you were talking about.  Sounds beautiful! Also, Tom introduced me to a roper named Shawn, who is a fellow New Yorker from the Niagara Falls area and fellow dairyman, who has moved out to Pinedale with his family and has a cabinet business.  We both joked around how we don’t miss milking cows at all. His son was also roping. I told him we are even roping in NY. Good luck to both of you in your roping competitions.

Another thing that we did yesterday was visit the Mountain Man Museum. It was a fantastic place to visit. So much history about the fur and buffalo trade, the displays were excellent.  I just wished that we are able take some pictures in the museum, but the lady there said that some of the people who donated some of the pieces didn’t want them photographed.  6 of the Rendezvous were held in the “Valley of the Green”, about 8 miles west of here. There were a total of 16 Rendezvous that were held, and 12 were in this state.  Pinedale did have their reenactment of the Rendezvous in July, the area they have it in backs up to the rodeo grounds. Fort Bridger is going to be holding theirs from Aug 29-Sept 1. There is a website to check things out www.fortbridgerrendezvous.net for those of you who may be interested.  One thing that I was interested in was the beaver it was interesting to check out their teeth, as there was one at the ranger station here in town and 2 in the museum.  There was a display on Tom Horn too whom I just read an article on in the August 2008 issue of the True West magazine, so some of you history buffs may want to check that out.  If you don’t want to buy it the website is twmag.com.  I did buy 4 books, 3 that were written for children, to enjoy the story and check out the style and one about a female rancher. Want to figure out which way I should go to start this writing thing. Have some ideas, but have to get them on paper or the computer.

We also visited the Cowboy Store here in town that had quite an inventory of tack, clothes, boots and gift items. There were some nice things, but there is only so much room in the camper. How many more clothes, pieces of tack, or knick knacks do I need?  None from what I have at home just ask my daughter. One thing that we did find is feed prices are quite high in this area, hay was $10 a bale in Rawlins for an 85 lb of mixed grass, and Omelene 200 was $18.25. We were told it was because a lot of these things have to be trucked in. Here in Pinedale paid $12 for a bale of mixed grass, but was over 100 lbs.   Have a feeling that everything is going to be high this year. Know I have heard back in NY, that good old Mother Nature is giving them rain every day, so haying hasn’t been going smooth. Well, my friend Inga found a good home for my older gelding Joe, so will only have one mouth to feed this winter. Without a horsey friend in my life, think that I would be lost because I have had one for the last 50 years. Besides without chores to do, it would be easy to become a couch potato and that isn’t something I really want to do, I like staying active, because sitting too long, makes the old muscles stiffen up.  

Well guess this is about it for now. If you have any questions or comments, would love to hear them.  I will say that this trip has had quite a few first time experiences .I have even eaten some Chinese food, once. That was more of a direct order that I had to try it. I have learned that in a Mexican restaurant    red and green aren’t Christmas colors, but chili.  Guess you could say this trip has been a growing experience in learning more about who I really am, and trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Don’t hold your breath, age may be a number, but it will still be seeing things through a kid’s  eyes  and playing on the swings, and not caring that people thing I am a little “nuts”. Hey, life is for living and I plan on doing it to its fullest and enjoying every day.  You do the same, and will update again when I can. We haven’t had service for the last week, and don’t know what we will be running into this coming week.  Take care and try to stay warm, we had sunshine all week and the days were nice, but once that sun goes down it cools off quite a bit. Early mornings, about 4 am it gets cold in the camper. I know today I dug out my sleeping bag that is good to below zero, and a couple of more long sleeve shirts and turtlenecks.  Hard to believe that Labor Day is 2 weeks away, where did the time do?  Like I said earlier, enjoy the last few days of summer, even though Labor  Day isn’t the official start of fall on the calendar, it is for most people in their minds.  Goodbye for now, and keep reading about our adventures. We like hearing from you, and enjoy your comments.

Pinedale, Wyoming

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Because of my layover from the “cold” front that came through, I’m finally on the road, again.  I left Rawlins for Grandma’s Café (further up on Hwy 287).  I’m riding Blackie along the hwy.  The CDT book for Wyoming says to go off of the Mineral X road from Hwy 287 or as an alternate, to take Hwy 28 off of 287 which is further north.  What the book didn’t tell you is that the cattle guard on the Mineral X road has no “pass through” gate for horses and it is a BLM fence and cattle guard!!  It was 40 degrees when we got up this morning .  The day is clear and nice.  I stopped for lunch a little after 12:00 with the crew along 287 and a local Hwy Patrol stopped by.  Lt Tom indicated that there was no stopping or pulling over to the side on this hwy unless it was an emergency.  He was very courteous and we didn’t see any signs, but we would be off in about 15 minutes.  He left us his card and we gave him ours and said it wouldn’t happen again.  I then got to Grandma’s Café, where big trucks where hauling in and out various parts of oil/gas rigs.  We then spent the night there.  I did 22 miles and 7 hours.

Monday, August 18, 2008

We got up and had breakfast at Grandma’s Café.  She opens at about 5:30 for the locals.  The only café within about 30 miles, any direction.  It was one older lady running the café by herself.  She did it all, the cooking, waitress, cleaning, etc.  I then left at about 7:45 for Baroil Road, or county road 73, which was west of Lamont (just ½ mile down the road).  I then turned off onto CR 22.  Paul went the long way around and went to Johnson City to take a dirt road south to meet us at the junction of CR 22 and CR 23 while Kathy followed me with the dogs and the camper.  I’m riding Soldier and we let the dogs out for awhile.  Jazz saw some antelope and took out after them and Cotton followed.  I called Jazz back, but Cotton continued.  Luckily the land was flat and slightly rolling and I could eventually see Cotton cross the road, behind me.  She just kept on going, so I had to ride cross country to intercept her and get her back.  Boy!!  Was she tired!!  Then, the next couple of miles, she found every sage bush she could to lay under to get out of the sun (which wasn’t very many big ones!).  I then loaded them back in the pickup and continued on.  A little later, I saw 2 wild horses (mare and colt) along the road….upahead.  Kathy had driven ahead and had stopped just right across from them.  Finally, Soldier saw them and called out.  They saw him and came running towards him.  They got within about 20 yards from us and when I turned Soldier towards them, they trotted away.  I had forgotten that Soldier was  rounded up out of Wyoming and this could have been his old “stomping” grounds!!.  We saw about a dozen more wild horses along the road that day (not to mention antelope every where!).  We were by a creek, so I took him over to get a drink.  Soldier doesn’t really drink much, I think he is use to getting his liquid from the grass.  As we turned to leave the creek, about 6 grouse flew out from directly in front of us.  It didn’t spook Soldier, but it was quite a sight.  After lunch (whith the camper) I got so tired, I almost fell off the horse.  It is quite boring and hot and you can see for miles in all directions.  I caught up with Kathy and she rode for awhile, while I took a break and caught up with her in the camper.  I then got to talk to Paul on the radios (which was almost 8 miles away) and he said he had an accident while coming down the road.  He took a wrong turn, headed up towards the mountains and knew he had to turn around.  When he did, he took out the plumbing beneath the trailer that connects the “black water” and “grey water” to the outlet.  I guess if he didn’t have any bad luck, he wouldn’t have any luck at all.  I said I’d look at it when we got there.  While he was waiting there for us (Hwy 22 and 23), he saw another bicycle rider and as he got there he saw it was Tim.  Tim was the one we visited with after we left Chama, New Mexico.  He was taking his time, but this last cold spell did him in.  He was just going to go to South Pass and then call it “quits”.  You never know!!!  The day has been hot and “windy”!  I traveled 28 miles and 9 hours.  When I met with Paul, sure enough, he had knocked out some plumbing, but he rescued it and figured he could put it all back together, in the meantime, he saw some wire hanging from beneath his trailer and when I looked at it, it was his brake wires for his wheels.  One side was broken, so I fixed it, tied up the wire to his axle and he has at least 3 tires breaking.  The 4^th pulled a wire from inside the wheel.  We then camped there for the night.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

I left early and traveled down Hwy 28 riding Pepe.  It was, again, long and boring and nothing but miles for miles around.  Pepe does pretty good with his little shuffle trot.  When I open the If it wasn’t for the 8 inch sages all over, you would think it was desert, which we found out later that the area we covered was called the “Red Desert”.  Kathy is writing about it in her post.  I then turned on on CR 2317 which is part of the CDT and continued.  The only issue is “water”.  There hasn’t been any streams, or pot holes to drink out of and we’ve run out of water for the horses from the pickup and horsetrailer.   I rode for over 34 miles before I met the “crew” again.  It had ben 11 hours for the day.  Another long day.  We brought the horse trailer and camper on the road.  The roughest part was going over about 10 miles of “wash board” on the road.  It didn’t do much good for our trailers.  We then headed for South Pass City. 

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAT!!  I left out of South Pass City (after spending the night there) and intercepted the CDT on Hwy 28.  South Pass City is an interesting historical location and Kathy has a lot about it on her post.  The route now not only follows the CDT (for a ways), but eventually becomes part of the “Oregon Trail”, the “Morman Trail”, the “Pioneer Trail”, the “California Trail”, and  the “Pony Express” trail.  I’ll have pictures of the Oregon Trail markers, later.  I’m riding Blackie, but he seems a little slower today than before and is still favoring his left rear foot.  We were able to fill up both the trailer and pickup barrels with water for our next segment.  I will follow this trail/road to Buckskin crossing, where I’ll meet up with the crew.  They took the long way around on 191 to Boulder and then south to meet me on the Big Sandy-Elkhorn Road (Hwy 118).  I’ll be following CR 132 or better known as the “Lander Cutoff Road”.  I took a lot of the Oregon Trail paths along the road.  I met up with them at Buckskin crossing after about 38 miles and 12 hours later.  Buckskin crossing has a lot of history and I think Kathy is writing about it, also.  It deals with John Freemont, Jim Bridger, and other mountain man explorers.  I met two bikers from Belgium.  We had a good chat.  They left from Canada and were trying to follow the trail.  The said they were going to avoid the “Red Desert”, because of the lack of water and were going to by-pass it on the highway.  We gave them some water and candy bars.  They thanked us and peddled on.  It was a good place to camp, along the creek and in the middle of “history”!!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

I rode Soldier on into Boulder and then to Pinedale.  The crew had gone forward and found a place to stay at the local rodeo grounds.  There was no electricity, but we had water and stalls for the horses.  I had a close call when I was about into Pinedale.  I was riding along Hwy 191 and the sides were fairly wide, but all of a sudden, Soldier bolted sideways and jumped into the middle of the highway.  The highway is well traveled and there had been a lot of trucks on it.  There was no controlling him because something had really scarred him.  It was unusual for Soldier because nothing has bothered him since we started.  He was even the one that would cross bridges without question.  Anyway, luckily there was a pickup hauling a horse trailer coming and the driver was quick enough to see what was happening and slowed down while the other lane was empty.  It could have been a disaster, had traffic been different.  That one scarred me more than anything on the trip and I’ve decided to try to stay away from main highways from now on.  Hwy 191 and Hwy 287 are the main roads in this part of Wyoming and well traveled because they both end up in Yellowstone.  I put in 22 miles for the day and 7 hours.  Later, that evening, there was a sign stating a “Pitchfork Fondue”  cookout would be at the rodeo grounds.  It seems they set up only on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for their Pitchfork Fondue Cookout.  I decided to go, but Kathy and Paul said they would eat at the trailer.  We were parked only about 100 yards from it.  I met Darrel (the owner) and Nancy (one of their helpers).  Darrel told me all about the process, which is taking your order on your steak, then sticking it on the end of a pitchfork and putting it into boiling oil to cook it.  In the meantime, you get your plate and fill it with salad, roles and homemade potato chips to sit at one of the tables.  Later, Darrel brings you the steak, pulls it off the pitchfork and puts it on your plate.  You also have your choice of drinks and later brownie or lemon bar with coffee.  Nancy brought me over to a table and introduced me to her mother and her 2 aunts, who were dining there.  I asked to join them and we had a good conversation the rest of the evening.  The Pitchfork Fondue has been feathered on the Travel Channel’s “Taste of America” for 3 years.  You can read about it by going to www.pitchforkfondue.com   We then learned about the upcoming rodeos this weekend.

Friday, August 22, 2008

I got to sleep in, but we got to do our shopping and sightseeing.  We went to the “Mountainman Museum”.  It was very educational in regards to the mountainmen of the region and era.  It told about the history of the fur traders and roundezvous in the area.  It seems there were only a total of 16 rondezvous from 1825 to 1841 and over 10 of them were in the Pinedale area.  I’m sure Kathy as more to say about the museum visit.  We also learned of a memorial rodeo tonight to earn money for a scholarship for a local high school graduate.  It was a jackpot roping event and was suppose to start at 6:30, but finally got started at 8:30.  There were over 500 contestants and it lasted till 6:30 the next morning.  Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep that night.  It was a heading/heeling event only. 

Saturday, August 23, 2008

After the rodeo crowd left (6:30) I was able to get a few more hours of sleep.  Afterward, we went to town to get some more hay and feed for the horses.  Both were pretty expensive.  The hay was $12 a bale and the feed was $15 a bag.  We’ve been feeding the horses 3 times a day.  Hay in the morning and evening, with some feed during the day.  It seems to be able to keep them up, O.K.  We’ll be packing soon and heading for my next trip which will be from Hwy 352 up road 620 to forrest road 30040.  It is actually just a trail, but it is in the lower part of the mountains and ends up north of Jackson, towards Yellowstone.  I’ve had too many locals and forrest service people tell me about the current problem with grizzlies and lions in the upper elevation that I had planned to take.  They all remind me to carry a weapon when I ride, just in case.  One rancher (who lives in  Cora, just off of road 352) by the name of Tom Davenport, even wanted me to have hollow points for the ammunition.  It will only be one night out before I meet the crew, again, and hopefully no animal will spook or make my horses get away.  I’d hate to have to walk out without my animals!  I’d even hate it worse to have to even have the opportunity to shoot any animal!!  My horses aren’t gun proof!  Well, that’s a catchup and my next report will maybe be Yellowstone, or beyond.  Beyond is Montana!!

Lay Over (Weather!)

Yep……the weather did hit.  It was a cold/dreary/wet/snowy weaather and I didn’t need to ride in it, considering it is suppose to go back to the 80’s and 90’s next week.  The horses are doing fine in the pens of the Rawlins rodeo grounds.  We feed them 3 times a day.  Hay in the morning and evenings and grain at noon.  Yesterday the drizzle was so cold that Pepe was shivering in his pen.  The other two were all right.  It is giving me a chance to catch up on my computer with emails, picture downloads, web site, etc.  Today is Saturday and after breakfast, we did a recon of the upcoming route.  It is primarily through BLM lands and we saw antelope ever 1/4 mile and ran into a small (15) herd of wild horses.  We found out where we would be the next 2 nights and are still working on the rest we basically cut through off of Hwy 287 to CR 22 and 73.  I followed the last few miles of the CDT into Rawlins and it is suppose to go north, following Hwy 287 to where we are going on CR 73.  I’ll be off and on the actualy trail for some time.  It is interesting what the official book of the Continental Divide Trail in Wyoming says about the trail out of Rawlins “Leaving Rawlins, you once again enter the checkerboard lands.  In general, this segment is used primarily by through-hikers and equestrians and not by day-users or extended-use hikers.  Therefore, designation of the CDT is deferred along the segment of US 287 from Rawlins north to outside the checkerboard lands.  Currently, the highway right-of-way provides the only legal public access north of Rawlins for trail-users. …..There is no access to water anywhere along this segment”.  As you can see, anything to do with the CDT in the “official book” is still obscure and as I try some of the routes, they either arn’t there or are too rough for horses.  I guess I’ll have to publish myown route, since congress designated it to be 25 miles either side of the Continental Divide in 1978 and I’ve stayed within that corridor ever since I left.  Anyway……we’ll see how the weather fares and I can continue on.

Be kind Mother Nature….

Today is Friday August 15, and we are sitting at the rodeo grounds at Rawlins, WY.  We will be spending a couple of days here, because Mother Nature is doing her thing, and they are predicting bad weather for the next couple of days, with a major storm warning issued yesterday. They are predicting about 6” of snow in the mountains, temperatures in the 30’s and 40’s with high winds. Luckily, Rocky made it in yesterday, because he thought it would have been a 2 -2 ½ day trip from when he left Slater, WY.  Paul and I met him on Highway 71, with lunch after he called us around 11 am. I got to ride 14 miles in on Pepe.  I did notice that the terrain here in WY is a lot like what we saw in N.M., there is nothing in the pastures but sage and weeds and very little grass. Didn’t see any cattle or sheep along the route, even though some of the fencing indicated there was livestock out there. The only thing we did see in the 14 miles was one lone antelope.  Rocky was riding Soldier, and he let Jazz come with us for about 5 miles. It was really entertaining watching her chase after the few chipmunks that she saw. The expressions on her face and her determination to get one of those little critters were priceless. Yes folks, it is those simple things that amuse me. The look on her face when she was on one side of the fence and it ran back under was one of total outrage, like how dare you do that.  The fence there was designed for sheep, so she had to find a low spot.  Did see a road kill badger, and was surprised that they were as large as they are. There was a live one that was under the shed at the rodeo grounds in Steamboat Springs, and he looked so big and cuddly. Paul got a couple of good pictures of him. They are about 2 times as large as the ground hogs that I have seen around home.  I will just admire them from afar, rather than try to be “Nature Girl” and get up close and personal with animals whose instinct is to either run or attack. Paul was a “HERO” and rescued a little chipmunk that was trapped in a construction tube.  He heard him in there and tipped over the tube and it escaped. Don’t know how it got in there, rather he jumped from the top of the post or what.  The good part about getting in yesterday besides the weather, was they were going to be spraying a chemical on about 9 miles of highway 71, where they were doing the road construction and there were going to be major traffic tie ups. There were some yesterday, but they expected the ones today to be longer, and as the girl on the road crew said, it was a “nasty chemical.” The weather last night turned real quick, to eerie lightening and rain. The wind picked up and was rocking the trailer once it started raining.  There was very little traffic on Highway 71 and lots of places to ride along side of the road.  Pepe has a real laid back personality and a sweet disposition.  He is easy to handle, because he respects you and gives you your space and doesn’t get all excited when he sees other horses or food.  However, he walks even slower than Soldier and doesn’t have as much stamina as either Blackie or Soldier. 

We drove up to Rawlins was on Wednesday and passed through some small towns with populations of    200-400 people. At a convenience store, I asked a clerk about employment opportunities in the area. She told me that the oil fields were hiring, they had a sign posted in the store.  They offer housing, and insurance, and sounded like a good deal. The major job requirement was you had to be able to lift 100 pounds.  Many years ago, that was a possibility, now I really like the idea that horse feed comes in 50 lb bags.  The majority of the jobs throughout our area of travel seem to be in the food service area or customer service at stores. The areas that are geared more to tourists pay more, than just your local areas. I don’t know what the min. wage is in these states. One thing that I did notice is prices of fuel is dropping. That is a good thing for us.  Once we hit the highway up to Rawlins, it was traveled more by big rigs, and there was lots of wide open spaces, and the speed limit was 75mph. It must be tough to drive these roads during the winter when it is snowing, because the wind just whips across there, and there were wooden breaks in spots. I know what it is like in NY, driving through farmland with no places to stop the blowing snow. Here it goes on for miles and miles. We noticed it yesterday during our ride in, when the wind picked up and there were dust devils. Out across the horizon were dirt piles forming a ridge, with very little vegetation growing on them, so showed a perfect example of erosion.  Well now will have to do more reading on that and geology. Funny the older we get the world around us seems more important, and we focus in on “issue” that we would like to see changed. Rawlins is a fair sized town, but to Paul’s dismay there is no Wal-mart.  There are other stores that are similar you can find pretty much what you need. The mission this afternoon is to find a feed store, there isn’t one here.  When we were in town on Wednesday, Paul and I came across 2 mother antelope, one had twins, and the other a single baby, eating along a grassy strip by Pizza Hut. We got some pictures, it is surprising how more wildlife is moving into cities, because they can’t find enough food out in their natural habitat, or are getting use to getting fed by the humans who feel sorry for them or don’t know any better.

Well guess I will stop here for now, and see what other thoughts pop into my mind that may interest you. The good part is we have power hook up, so can use the computer at anytime. Another plus, if it gets really cold, can turn the furnace on.  It has been on a couple times to ward off the dampness. I am sitting in here with a hooded sweatshirt on and am comfortable. I will grab a jacket when I go out, I went to the truck to grab my camera, so Rocky could download pictures and the wind was cutting. That is a definite plus about traveling with someone who doesn’t like the cold either, you can be warm.