Cowgirl Carol’s Dream Comes True

June14-15, 2013

Friday

We left South Fork and drove up to Kremmling, CO, which is where the Rusty Spurr Ranch is located. This is a working cattle ranch that also has a trail riding operation, including a half-day cattle drive ride, where the dudes get to be a cowboy/cowgirl for part of a day and move cows and calves around their 8,000 acre spread. The drive up to Kremmling is another spectacular one—we pass some famous ski towns, like Breckenridge, along the way.

The upper Arkansas River

Snowcapped mountains on the way to Kremmling

We stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant and I got to practice my Spanish on a couple of the waiters. They were cooperative and at least seemed to understand most of what I said. I had to ask them to repeat most of what they said, but I caught on the second time around.

 

Our GPS was less than stellar at finding our RV campground in Kremmling, but we finally found it. Good thing I made advance reservations, because Kremmling is in the midst of a weeklong celebration of Kremmling Days, with festivities going on all over and the campground is pretty full. I made Pad Thai noodles for dinner (kind of late) and we watched a movie streamed on the campground’s wifi. Worked pretty well! I have to get up at 7 am in order to make it to the Rusty Spurr by the 8:30 am check-in time.

Saturday

We wake up on time, have some oatmeal and head out to the Rusty Spurr, a few  miles south of town. After the turnoff from the main road, the ranch is about 4 miles down a steep gravel road, which Jack takes kind of slow in the RoadTrek. Nevertheless, we get there on time. There are two other women signed up for the cattle drive, Nancy and Sally Ann. We chat a little bit and get acquainted with each other and with the staff: Jenny, an attractive young ranch hand; Han (as in Solo for you Star Wars fans), the owner, who will be leading our cattle drive; and Kevin, a young cowboy who will also accompany us.

Jenny, Nancy, Sally Ann, and Carol

 

The whole gang of horses, cowboys, and cowgirls.

Going on an authentic cattle drive has been a dream of mine for a long time. I’ve toyed with going on one of those 4 or 5 day drives, but I’ve always had my doubts whether I could make it that long, in the saddle every day. Ouch! But I searched the internet for one-day cattle drives that “dudes” like me could participate in, and Rusty Spurr seems like the very best option. I’m not sure exactly what to expect: are we going to actually be acting like real cowboys and moving those cows around, or are we mostly going to be watching the real cowboys do it and just hanging on the fringes?

Mounting up...

 

...and heading out.

It doesn’t take very long to discover that we are actually going to be moving those cows around. Han and Kevin definitely keep an eye on us, but they have us pushing the cows and calves, running them out of draws and muddy watering holes, and going after strays. My horse, Annie, is a real trouper—a cow pony from way back. She keeps me out of trouble! Our ride ends up being longer than some, because Han discovers that one of their gravity fed springs isn’t working and we need to gather up all the cows/calves and move them to better water.

 

Han trying to fix the faulty watering hole.

 

Here's some of the cows resting in the shade.

 At one point, he sends Nancy and Sally Ann off with Kevin to handle one group of cows and takes me with him to round up some others that are down in a ravine. Man, this is some hard riding! Fortunately, Annie knows her job very well—what a horse!

Here's Annie and me moving the cows to a new watering hole. Get along, little dogies.

This day more than fulfills my cattle drive dream!! I can’t believe I’m a real cowgirl! A couple of times Han lets me keep our small herd moving all by myself while he goes off to bring in other strays who are going the wrong way. “Get along, little dogies…” I’m singing “Home on the Range” and loving every minute.

The only down side was getting off the horse and discovering aches and pains in muscles that I didn’t know I had. The muscles down the side of both lower legs were cramping like crazy. Fortunately, there’s another nearby hot springs.  A delicious lunch was provided by the Rusty Spurr after the ride. ( I felt a little weird asking for a veggie burger on a cattle ranch but they happily provided it!)

Jack and I headed for the hot springs after lunch. He had gone fishing in the Colorado River while I rode in the cattle drive, and he came back to pick me up about 1:30 pm. (Jenny graciously fed him a veggie burger too…) At the hot springs,  I ended up getting a massage, to try to get those leg cramps to stop (worked) and we soaked in their pools for several  hours, which helped a lot! However, I fear that I’m going to be feeling this day for a while…

Now for more of Jack’s fishing tales.

I've fished the Colorado River before back in April 2003 at a place called Lee's Ferry in Arizona. It was a very pretty place and I caught lots of trout. The spots I fished are a tailwater of the infamous Glen Canyon Dam which lies above the Grand Canyon.

So I was happy to get a chance to fish the upper reaches of the Colorado River where the water still runs free and cold and supports a nice trout population that is protected by catch and release only laws. Being Saturday, there are many fisherman on the water by the time I drive back to Kremmling after letting Carol off at the Rusty Spurr. As it turned out, I only got to fish for an hour, but what a lucky hour it was. 

The water at first showed no signs of trout rising to surface so I tied on my usual nymph imitation patterns and fished for 30 minutes with no strike. Then a hatch started and trout were rising to the surface all around to take... take what? That's the hard and fun part of trout fishing. Exactly what are the trout eating and how? Are they taking nymphs as they rise to the surface, or are they taking the nymphs on the surface as they hatch into mayflies, or are they caddis flies? I try first a dry caddis imitation. No luck. Then I note the tiny shells of nymphs floating on the surface. They're mayfly nymphs, but which mayfly? I see them flying in the air around me and I guess them to be "Pale Morning Duns" (PMDs for short) at a size of about 16. I change flies as quickly as I can and cast my PMD onto the water. Trout rise all around my PMD but no takers. As I'm thinking I made the wrong choice, a brown trout rises to surface, takes my PMD and dives for the bottom. But I got him. By the time I net him and release him, all is quiet on the surface. The hatch is over and the last 20 minutes are fishless. 

Where we are:

 

The Rusty Spurr is just south of Kremmling. Jack fished the Colorado River between Kremmling and Parshall. We soaked in the pools at Hot Sulphur Springs.

Bird species count: Vermilion flycatcher, turkey vulture, Bell’s vireo, *golden-fronted woodpecker, Say’s phoebe, northern cardinal, greater roadrunner, house finch, common raven, *northern rough-winged swallow, *summer tanager, *prothonotary warbler,  *yellow-breasted chat, *yellow-rumped warbler, northern mockingbird, mourning dove, cliff swallow, Mexican jay, black-headed grosbeak, black-chinned  hummingbird, Wilson’s warbler, *Scott’s oriole, chipping sparrow, house sparrow, lesser goldfinch, black-crested titmouse, acorn woodpecker, scrub jay, *western kingbird, white-winged dove, *canyon towhee, *Grace’s warbler, *zone-tailed hawk, *curve-billed thrasher, Bullock’s oriole, Gambel’s quail, great horned owl, black-throated sparrow, *cactus wren, ladder-backed woodpecker, white-crowned sparrow, brownheaded cowbird, Brewer’s blackbird, *pyrrhuloxia, hooded oriole, verdin, crow, Anna’s hummingbird, dark-eyed junco, white-throated swift, Steller’s jay, mallard, common egret, brown pelican, western bluebird, loggerhead shrike, Audubon’s warbler, robin, Canada goose, black-billed magpie, red-winged blackbird, redtailed hawk, American dipper, *yellow warbler, tree swallow

State count: 14 [Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado]  

     

Odometer count:

Surber, VA: 107,435

Kremmling, CO: 114,819 

 

Accommodations avg cost: 71 nts, avg $13.53/night