A Mixed Bag

Not a lot happening here at Dogpound North. September has not been the nicest month around these parts, kind of cool, a little rain and some flurries, yes flurries. We ran up to Rocky a couple of weeks ago for "Bring your Grandparents to School Day" at Ella and Alle's school. It is nice to check out where the girls spend their days and they seem pretty excited to show Grandma and I around their schools. After spending the afternoon with them we met up with their Mom and Dad to break a little bread before skedaddling for home.

Ella's Art

I did manage to get out a couple of days and see a little country, it was raining much of the time on the Eastern Slopes but once I broke over the front ranges it seemed that there was a little more sunshine to be found. The shot below is on the Forestry Trunk Road south of Highwood House dropping down into Cataract Creek.

This shot is of a new gate out in the Yaha Tinda's horse pasture looking west towards Warden's Rock on of my favourite views at any time of the year.

It was pretty obvious out in the West Country that fall was in the air and winter not far behind. And even here at Dogpound North the leaves are turning and the horses are wearing their winter coats.

This past weekend Justin came down to Carstairs for a couple of days riding bulls so I managed to sneak over and take a photo or two. The bulls weren't cooperating with me and most of the daylight shots they decided to show me their heels so this one was taken late at night. Justins first bull came out of the chute backwards so he got a re-ride option but that meant he was riding at 10:20 at night so the light wasn't great for the camera but the ride was pretty nice.

You can see the legs just under the bull and the shadow to the right of the picture, those are the bull fighters, these guys are the heroes in these events making sure these kids get down off these bulls safely. I know Justin has a lot of faith in them and depends on them to get him out of tight spots and make sure the bull doesn't grind him into the ground after his ride. Thanks guys.

Remember back a couple of paragraphs ago when I said September wasn't the greatest weather, but as it turns out October isn't looking much better, at least with what we have seen these first few days. Monday night it started snowing and pretty much kept it up all night and most of the next day. I took this shot of a gang of robins hanging around under our apple tree enjoying a little frozen fruit salad and discussing when would be a good time to head out of the country.

The snow came down thick and steady and when it finally quit we had a little over ten inches out in  middle of the yard away from the buildings. You have all seen the moose we have hanging around here in the winter, well we frequently have other visitors as well, this photo is one half of the onsite security that hangs out here all winter. He was doing his morning rounds when I captured him checking the perimeter. 

The last couple of days we haven't had any snow which is probably a good thing as many of our neighbours still have crops in the field to harvest, but it will take a while and a different forecast for harvest to resume around these parts. Till next time.

May Long (with an added map of our rides)

Wow, looks like another month has gone by without me getting busy updating the one follower I have left on the blog here. We have been doing all our regular stuff but I have written about that so many times that I think I should just refer you back to previous entries.

Brenda's knee is coming along well, she thinks a little slowly, but the doc says all in good time. Her last appointment she was given the go-ahead to drive and in another week or so she will be good to get on Wink for a short ride.

The girls made it out here for Mother's Day

and as usual Brenda was busy in the kitchen preparing for that. She just needs to feed people, as anyone who knows me can see, so I was in charge of most the playing with the grandkids. They sure love it here at the farm where they can run till their hearts content and there are a whole pack of dogs to play with.

 After riding the Jeep Car and running around we got them all to stand still for a family photo, from the left Lacey, Clayton, Brenda, Bec, Alle, and me. Down in front Ella and Kash and on the camera, Clayton's Mom Becky. Oh yah and can't forget Everly, hiding under Bec's shirt.

It has a been a little different spring here, we get nice days spaced out between replays of winter but the May Long weekend is usually when we get out on the trails for the first time here in Canada. Our horses have had a pretty lazy spring. We pulled the shoes off back around the first of March and I headed off last week to get Blue shod so we could head out to the West Country this weekend. But first I needed to run out and see how the roads had fared over the winter. Along the way I ran into a couple of bands of wild horses. It seems that depending on where they range they have had different winters.

This stud and his band of mares appeared to come through winter with flying colors but the mare with the foal in the picture below obviously was in a little poorer range.

But the green grass is coming and she will pick up quickly I hope, it is not an easy life being a wildie on these northern ranges

The road scouting trip went well so we pried the rig out of the shed here at home and headed west on Thursday. We were headed to the Eagle Creek camp just on the boundary of the Yaha Tinda Ranch. There is a spot there that will take a number of rigs without any crowding and the Pohls, Lewis's, Vic Almond, and Daniella, Trevor, Mel and Serena were going to join us so that looked like a good spot to set up camp.

Not to shabby a view over those trailers

The ice was a little thick for swimming but we were thinking of our Arizona friends who were riding the beaches of San Diego this weekend.

"Hello" Meadows

Just a little scenery viewing stop.

Arriving at our lunch spot

I never get tired of that view, unlike my readers

Mike Lewis, riding Harley and ponying Missy

Glad to share that view with Razz down in the centre there.

 Friday we saddled up and headed out onto the Poplar Ridge trail, that Brenda and I just call the high trail, and as you can see from the photos above it has some pretty spectacular vista's along the way. We took a small detour up towards Eagle Lake to see how it was coming along. Might be awhile before there is much swimming there but there were reports a large grizzly was seen up there in the last few days and one of our group did spot a large black bear track along the trail. We weren't so lucky but the fact that the bears are out and about is a pretty good indicator that warmer weather is on the way. After the ride we enjoyed a great time visiting around the campfire and watching the sunset over the Rockies.

 Day two we headed out a different way and crossed through the Bighorn campsite on the way. Lo and behold, in that site we ran into our old friend, Dave Schmidt and his daughter Heidi and her husband Darcy. Dave's wife Sherri has apparently had a mishap back at home and had to miss out on this trip. Damn the luck. After leaving the Schmidt crew behind we headed up towards the cut blocks on the west side of Bighorn Creek. Once we got across the meadows we took a trail to the right that lead us down to a great little lunch spot overlooking the Bighorn creek valley.

Julie

The "Red Serge Gang"

Ken and Verna enjoying the scenery

We saw a bunch of elk this weekend

These Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep were laying along the trail up to the Hat. This shot is from about a mile or two away though.

Verna does like her comforts and brings along her pillow to enjoy her lunch time nap.

Vic pondering the crossing of the Bighorn Creek

Ladies Choir practice

We had a great time and although Day two we had a little rain and we got to try out our slickers on the ride back to camp it was not a real soaker. That was to come later. Once we were settled back in camp the rain settled in and came down pretty steady throughout the night.

A little monsoon is not enough to stop this group from setting around a Yukon Candle.

Sunday morning we got up and the rain was still coming so we figured we would run for the flatlands. It took us a while to get everyone ready to roll and as the road was pretty muddy by this time it was better to travel in a group just in case someone had some trouble. Once we got out of the camp it was clear sailing though and other than a big rock slide along the Coal Camp road there was really no problems getting out.

There are a few folks who like to see where we have been in a more traditional form so here is a map of some of our rides in this area.

The Red trails with the white spots are trails we rode this weekend and the others are trails we rode last year in this area.

Back to the Beginning

Way back in August 2001, yep, just before the world changed, Brenda and I got married out in one of our favourite places on the planet. The Yaha Tinda ranch is a little piece of heaven about an hour and half west of our place here at Dogpound North.

Here we are back at the spot and I think the horses are checking for footprints from our wedding.

And the actual day

Long time readers will have seen this landscape many times as we have made a pilgrimage back to this spot on at least one occasion every year since.

I stumbled on this video, now these guys are probably not heading for Nashville but the pictures are beautiful and we too are forever Yaha Tinda Bound.

This year because of the floods we decided rather than camp right on the ranch we would stay at the Eagle Creek campground right on the east ranch boundary and ride in. We found a beautiful spot there right along the Red Deer River and enjoyed 5 beautiful days roaming the ranch and surrounding countryside.

The view downstream

And a look upstream

And here is a panorama of the view from our campfire

The first day we just took a ride over to the Bighorn camp to see how the repairs from the flood were coming along, a lot of changes there this year.

For those who have been here before this is the centre site down by the river, Bighorn creek has made it a creek bottom property now.

Once we checked out the camp we headed up to the spot we got married at then on up to Eagle Lookout for a look around the countryside.

Upriver from Eagle Lookout

For those who have been here, Dave and Sherry, you will notice the big swing to the north the river has made in the meadows east of the Bighorn Camp. The circle that was carved into the grass by folks "round penning" their horses is gone, probably somewhere out where you can see the gravel bar now.

Day two we just took a short ride up to Eagle Lake and although I didn't get a good photo, the water level is so high that the trail around the south side of the lake is under water, a couple of feet at least. We went in on the trail on the north side of the meadows from Eagle Creek and when we came out the same way we discovered a new trail heading off a little more northerly than the other. We have dubbed this the "Knee Knocker" cause the fellow who pioneered it must have been riding a pretty skinny horse as ours were just able to fit between a lot of the trees. We needed to exercise extreme caution to make sure Brenda's bad knees were intact when we got through those spots. It eventually came out on the old seismic line that headed NE from Walker's old camp and although we headed up there the next day we couldn't find a way across to the Poplar Bluff trail without some major bushwhacking. And with those aforementioned bad knees that is not in the cards.

Day Three we headed over the Hump out of Eagle Camp and did a little exploration east of Eagle Creek before heading around the Poplar Bluff, High Trail in our camp, trail. This is one of our favourite rides and the vista's are stunning.

And this from our lunch stop for the day

The view above is one of my favourites on the planet. It is always hard to leave this spot, no matter what the weather or season.

Day Four we just headed up river through the meadows checking out the changes along the riverbed up to the top crossing to Hidden Falls. I think a fellow could find his way across there but you would have to make your way through a lot of driftwood to do it. From there we headed north bushwhacking our way through what Brenda calls the soft trees, Pine and Spruce, and hit the meadows right about where the old telegraph line went through. We followed the meadow back down and stumbled on a new elk trap just as we got to the big meadow southwest of the ranch. For a lot of our readers some of this will mean nothing but for some others I am hoping I am painting a picture that brings you back to the ranch.

And this brings us to today, another beautiful day, but one we knew had to come. We had to pack up and head home today. Our rig needs some attention from our friends at Allandale Industries, and we have to drop it off tomorrow morning early to get those things looked after. God willing and the creeks don't rise we will be back on the trails soon, after a little resupply stop and some repairs.

For the Google Earth fans amongst our readers here is a view of our tracks on this trip.

Light Blue or Cyan is Day 1, Dark Blue for Day 2, Red is Day 3, and Magenta is Day 4.

This was our sunset view last night from our campfire

Yaha Yahoo!

We haven’t been here enough this year, what with all the things that have been going on around Dogpound North this year it has been difficult to get in gear and get gone west. Monday morning we hooked up and just left.

Can’t imagine why we haven’t been here more this summer than we have but we had a great two nights and three days enjoying the peace and quiet. No cell or internet service and it is 50 miles back to the nearest traffic light. The Yaha Tinda is a ranch that is actually owned by the federal government and Parks Canada. They use it as a place to winter and train all the horses that work in our Mountain National Parks by the back country rangers. They have a campground on the ranch along Bighorn Creek that is used extensively by horse folk from all over Western Canada. It is also the place that Brenda and I got married just a few days less than 11 years ago so it has an especially special spot in our hearts.

Brenda took her first whirl at wheeling the LQ out west on Monday and did a pretty good job too, although she gets a little nervous when I close my eyes on the hills. Here are some of our fellow visitors on the road to the Yaha.

And a shot of our site, once we were set up.

Spring is a little late here on the Northern Ranges and it has been a wet year so the flowers were in full bloom which is a little surprising this late in the year.

Tuesday our good friend Wayne Ross joined us for a ride out west and although it was cut a little short by a loose shoe on my boy Blue

we still had time to set a spell by the river and enjoy some of Brenda’s great food.

This morning our neighbour in camp had a look at Blue’s shoe and a few minutes later he had it pulled off and reset as good as new.

Bob Woelk and his daughter Stacey were spending a few days out at the Yaha before they headed off to an endurance event north of here in Hinton on Friday, so they rode with us today after Bob got that shoe all fixed up.  I am thinking that their Arab endurance racers never had such a relaxing ride through the hills before but after we got back to camp they were heading out on another ride and I am sure the pace will be a lot quicker on that one. Thanks again Bob and good luck in that endurance race.

That’s Bob and Stacey up in front of Blue and I, notice all the flowers here on the ridge. The picture below is from one of my favourite lunch spots along this particular trail. Good place to set a spell and watch the world go by.

And below is Brenda with Eagle Pass in the background,

and then a shot in the trees so folks know it is not all mountain vista’s here in the West Country.