Driving Cows from the Mountains

Well, Dang. My garden is pretty much done for...it's 22 degrees this morning...it's been a good summer though!

Yesterday I helped the 3J move pairs down from the mountains northwest of Buchanan. Their cows that summered on the desert behind our place were trailed home in early September.

Riding up in the mountains is a real treat for me. We just don't have much time to get away from our place and ride up there...and I love the tall pine trees!

We trailered the horses up to Pine Creek where the cows were held in a small field. The two days prior, they had been gathered and sorted. Two other outfits ranged their cows with the 3J. I couldn't spend three days helping them (wish I could have!), so I helped on the day Ty needed me most.

Most of the pairs stayed in the meadow by the creek.

The willows get really thick off to the left and

a bunch were hiding in them. Ty's grandpa

pushed them out of the corner on foot while I

rode Colt through the tangled mess of willows.

Ty had to ride to the rim to push a few pairs down

that had gone up there to graze.

This is the typical "fall foliage" around here.

Freeze dried!

Ty, on the right, counting head as they

pass through the gate.

The other rider is Jake...it was just the three of

us moving the cows.

It was a pretty cold morning...35 at my place...30 at Ty's...and a lot colder at Pine Creek. We were probably at about the 6000 ft level. The sun was shining, but there were clouds above too that were trying to spit some snow at us.

We rode through an area where they had done some

logging...that gave me this really cool shot.

These cows had been on this trail many times and knew the way home. Since I'd never ridden up there, I just kept the stragglers and wayward cows going whichever way the majority of the herd was going. Ty had to open numerous gates as we passed through other allotment fields and some private land too.

The wind and snow pellets were the worst when

we hit the gravel flats. Colt usually has his

ears all perked up, but he was trying to

keep the snow from going into his ears!

Then we dropped off the flat and the sun was shining,

snow pellets were falling, and the dust was flying!

We arrived at the "ol' homestead" around 2 PM.

This is about half way to where these cows will winter. There's enough feed and water in this field for a couple of days at which time they'll take them the rest of the way off the mountain. It would be dark before we got them home if we tried to do it all in one day.

This is Jake riding one of Ty's colts.

Jake is a darn good hand. He's a farrier, does day

work, and braids rawhide and mohair.

This is the ol' homestead. Ty's grandpa's mother

had lived here (probably in the early 1900's).

I love this place...it's totally awesome!

But, I might not think that when the snow is 3 feet deep!

But, is sure paints a picture in my mind of

days gone by.

Grandpa said that they usually just summered up here. They had a place in Lawen too where they spent the winters. But she'd grow a garden, they hunted their meat, and rarely went to town (Burns) which was probably at least two day's ride one way.

It took us an hour to trailer the horses down the mountain from the ol' homestead. Grandpa pointed to numerous places along the way down that were homesteads. Unfortunately the buildings are no longer standing. But none of those homestead locations compared to theirs.