007 A spectacular day in the park.

September 29, 2008 – Monday

Yellowstone Park, WY

Today was quite a wonderful day.  I was able to sleep in a little bit, not that time matters too much to me right now.  Coffee was the first thing that helped to get me up, but I did sit in my hammock and just swing for a while as I watched stuff happen around camp.  

Eventually, I climbed out and helped with some morning camp projects.  We decided that we wanted to see Old Faithful and try for some internet and phone access to call some people and do some things.  Even though we were already behind schedule, I do like tossing the schedule out the window, so we decided to stay in Yellowstone for two nights.

  

I packed up my computer and a few other things in my backpack and we headed to Old Faithful where we had lunch at a little snack bar and I had full phone signal for the first time in days which also meant that I had some chance of connecting to the internet as well.  Yay!  I wasn’t really able to email anything or even put up one of my blogs, but I was able to do some other important things; also, make a few phone calls to people who had been leaving me messages (even though all I did was leave messages back to them!).  Sorry to all of you who needed or wanted something from me while I was disconnected for a while.  I would say that it won’t happen again, but to the contrary, it probably and hopefully will. 

Anyway, we hung out at Old Faithful until it blew its stack, erupted, brought the house down, um, whatever you want to call it…  Then we took off for some more biking.  It was a gorgeous day though it started out quite sunny and cold, with my chaps it was quite a bit warmer.  We saw the Firehole Falls and some geysers and the Fountain Paint Pot and other stuff like buffalo, 

moose, coyotes, etc.  (Click here for more photos!) Before it got too late, however, we did want to get back to camp to make some dinner and build a fire.  I stopped alongside the Continental Divide at 8000-or-so feet and collected some firewood that I strapped to my bike to bring back to burn.  Nowhere in the campground is there wood to collect and burn; everyone else has combed the area.  

Speaking of burning wood, the exciting challenge for tonight was to burn this huge log, from our campsite, in half.  It probably took a good two hours or so and constant picking and reworking of the fire to get it there, but I made it!  And now that my parents have gone to bed, I have the fire and three huge logs to burn, all to myself…  It’s warm, at least!

And now, just as an add-on to the last blog story, I want to mention our last adventure in Greybull where we really finally rode horses.  Again, to help Art & Kathy, my dad and I each hopped on a horse (mine was Catch ‘em, my dad’s was Super Sweet, Art had Gator) and rode them 6 miles to the new ranch from the old ranch.  It was a pleasure ride, a first real experience riding a non-tame ranch horse ride, and a ride to help them out so that they only had 4 more horses to bring over by trailer later on.  It was about a two hour ride and it was great.  My butt still hurts from that trotting!

I have to close up for the night so that I can tend the fire and burn one down…  as in a log of course…  Chilly again, there will probably be frost on the cars tomorrow as there was this morning.  At least we got our bikes on their trailers and we can head out first thing…  After we have some coffee, of course.

005 I could be a cowgirl!

September 27, 2008 – Saturday

Greybull, WY

While visiting Kathy & Art, I realized that life can work many different ways; of course I’ve known this, but it’s always an awakening seeing it up close and personal.  Their life is one of really hard work.  I can’t believe what kind of work those two do all on their own, it felt good to be able to help out a bit while I was there; I only wish I could have done more.  

I can’t jump straight into that, however, I need to tell you a few other things first.  First of all, I have a new name; Lil’ One.  It was natural to come up with something other than just Sherrise because that’s just not personal enough, so Art quickly and endearingly started calling me Lil’ One.  I like it; and it’s caught on, my parents have taken to it as well.  I quickly started answering to it because otherwise I would have missed out on a lot of stuff like helping round up some horses and ride one of them bareback for a bit.  

After we rounded up the horses into the corral, we headed to the other ranch where we had a lot of work to do.  Yes, I said “we”.  My parents went out for some scootering around the area and I could have gone with, but who could pass up the opportunity to work on a real ranch?!  Not me, anyway!  So, I stayed back with Kathy & Art and helped them with some projects around the place.  

Mainly, we worked on laying pipe for the waterline at the new ranch so that when the horses & cows were brought down there they would have something to drink.  We got it almost completely complete.  We dragged the palette and some pipe behind the four wheeler, put the pump on the back with some other stuff and the three of us hung on for dear life as we brought it all down by the river and the corral.  We did have to make a few trips back and forth, to solve any problems that came up.  

Anyway, since we brought the chainsaw down one of the times, we used that to clear out some of the brush and trees that we otherwise had to climb and crawl over and under to get the pipe laid right; it was much easier after that.  Of course, we waited to do that until we had most of the work done already…  I’m just glad I brought my cowboy hat with me; I don’t know what I would have done without it while I was going head first into the shrubbery (especially those damn Russian Olive trees)!  I ended up with scratches all over, but luckily no trees growing out of me.  Well, we finally ended up getting as much done as we could for the day which wasn’t nearly enough since we had wanted to bring the horses over that night and we wanted to pick up some of the 2000 or so bails of hay.  

However, we found out earlier I the day that we had a flat tire on the horse trailer, so we brought the flat tire to the shop and most the horses and we just ran out of daylight for the bails.  All things considered, I’m pretty sure Kathy & Art appreciated my help.  I can’t believe that they do all everything they do alone.  There’s a possibility that I might come out again to help out some more and go up to Art’s hunting lodge which is something like 5500 elevation, above the clouds where you can see about 40 miles away.  Hunting season opens in a couple/few weeks.  That would be fun.

My mom was a little concerned about me while I was out in the woods tramping around since we had run into a rattle snake earlier in the day on our way to the ranch.  When I say ran into, I mean that literally.  Luckily, Art ran over just a bit of it in the road with the car on the way there so it was slightly injured when he got out of the car to kill it.  Gosh, those things are frightening, and this was just a little baby!  This little guy took quite a beating and still was striking out a good foot or more trying to snag Art, until he managed to kill him with rocks and a hammer.  I have learned a lot in the past few days, but one thing that I learned was about how right now is a really scary time for rattlers since they don’t actually make a sound right after they shed.  Their skin is too new and the rattles at the end haven’t dried up yet, so nobody will hear them coming.  Glad we got that one.  Art got bitten by a rattler once and was able to hobble home but ended up in the hospital for a while.  I found it quite interesting that while he was in the hospital with the snake poison in his system, his hearing was extremely acute.  He could hear a pin drop four rooms down; it sounded like metal crashing..  Did you know that Rattle snake poison is counter acted by Copperhead snake poison?  Copperhead poison gets injected and the two poisons fight in the system.  Also, if a Rattle Snake got a taste of his own poison, he would die.  Crazy.

I suppose, I should close up for the night.  I’m sitting around a campfire right now, getting some of these thoughts down while they’re still fresh.  For all of you doubters, I set up my hammock tonight between a couple of trees and it went better than any time before.  I’m pretty sure that I work well under pressure.  I didn’t feel like sleeping with my parents in their tent…

Thanks, though, to all of you who helped me get everything together for this trip.  I feel horribly prepared and it’s wonderful.  Abby & Erik, especially, I don’t know how I would have done it all without you.  

Sorry to all/any who have been trying to get ahold of me.  If reading the above hasn’t explained much, then I don’t know what will.  It’s funny and wonderful, though, the more I’m without my phone the more I want to be without my phone.  Just to get away, that’s what I’ve been waiting for.

004 Another kind of life…

September 26, 2008 – Friday
Greybull, WY

There has been a lot of excitement in my adventures lately! After our time in Rapid City, we spent the next two nights with some relatives on a ranch in Greybull, Wyoming. I haven’t written about it yet since I really didn’t have time or internet or phone access… Ok, so I turned my phone off completely; it’s been off for a few days now. I did, however, take a lot of notes about my time there so that I wouldn’t forget the exciting and juicy details!

Wyoming had some strange (to me) and beautiful land. I admit, I was quite enthralled by it, especially when the mountains started showing up in the distance. Hardly noticeable at first, the looming blue shapes looked a bit like clouds and a lot like mountains far away… Which of course, they were. Unfortunately, again, we got to Bighorn National Park as it was getting dark. This was especially unfortunate this time because the roads were ridiculously gorgeous, steep and windy on our way up, and even more so on the way down into Greybull. Goodness, was it beautiful, though. I did almost hit one big white jackrabbit as it was hopping/running/flying in front of me, and one cow… Yes, a cow. It was a good thing that I didn’t hit the cow since it was free range area and I would have then bought the cow. But in the end, the cow decided to wait for me to go past him before crossing. Those cows were everywhere along the roadsides!

After passing through a town called Shell which had a population of 50 (I didn’t get the elevation but it must have been somewhere around 4500), we entered Greybull which was just beyond the foot of the mountain. I then met our relatives (my dad’s cousin Kathleen and her husband Art) who ended up being absolutely wonderfully interesting and welcoming people. I got to sleep in a bunk bed while I was there (like the princess and the pea, I slept on a shotgun… but didn’t notice it… guess I’m not a princess…) and we woke up bright and early both mornings, around 7:30am so that we could get started on some work on the ranch. As some of you know, I’m not the best “rise & shiner” but what can a person do when a real cowboy comes knocking on your door saying “rise & shine!” with a huge bacon, egg & pancake breakfast cooking in the kitchen. When a person doesn’t know when they’re going to eat next, you better start the day off right. My first step to waking up after changing clothes? Grabbing a cup of coffee. What else is new?

The first morning, we went out to the “old” ranch which was where they had been ranching for the past 6 years or so. They’re currently in the process of moving everything from their old ranch to their new one which is going to be simply amazing eventually! We met some of the horses and saw the little shack that they had lived in for about 3 years at one point. I think I could live there for a while… Be a ranch hand… They had no regular electricity there, so they rigged up a generator that stored wind energy in a battery. No running water, they trucked water in monthly or whenever they needed it. For lights, they used car lights to save on power; very simple, very basic, very much life. The cabin/shack was built so that it could all be taken apart wall by wall and moved anywhere they needed it to go (like the new ranch). They may be leaving it behind, however, while they build an A-Frame cabin on the new property.

I have heard so many stories now, from Art & Kathy, about living the ranch life, being a cowboy, hunting and rounding up horses & cows… I wish I could share a few, but maybe you should just visit there sometime with me, instead. Highlights, you ask? Well, one time, Art ended up with a Russian Olive tree growing out of his head… Really. The roots ended up being about a quarter inch long. Another time, he took Sammy Davis & Paul Newman elk hunting when he had his company, DiamondA Outfitters. For a while, he would take people out hunting in the mountains, providing a guide, horses & a cook for their overnights (amongst other stuff of course). I heard tons of stories and I couldn’t possibly repeat even a small portion of them.

With the eagles flying around the mountains, the mountain lion dens and all of the other mountain & ranch life, there was non-stop gorgeousness. Now, the sort of entertainment my mom provided us was a little different, it was called stepping backwards into a cowpie. Yup, cow pie. Yummy… Gotta watch where you step on a ranch!

Anyway, it was quite entertaining, enlightening & educational. How’s that for triple e’s? We went to bed early so that we had plenty of time for ranching the next day. What have I learned? I’ve learned that I could learn a lot here.

Speaking of ranching...