4 Burst results for "Wind River Range"
The Dirtbag Diaries
"wind river range" Discussed on The Dirtbag Diaries
"Mike and Jenny knew from the beginning that they wouldn't be able to paddle all the way to the ocean. Most years, the riverbeds that fan out in the delta are bone dry. In our minds we were expecting that, but I don't think emotionally we are expecting that. So we started in pack graphs up in the wind river range as soon as we had enough water we switched to our Dory, rode that the whole way until the river wasn't big enough for the Dory anymore. Switching back to their pack graphs brought every issue facing the river and the basin front and center. It also brought up issues of inequity, who gets water and how, will shape the fate of the river. You know, we could row the Dory until imperial dam. And not coincidentally at imperial above imperial dam. The all American canal takes out the bulk of the Colorado River water and pipes it over to California to feed the agricultural industry that we all we all benefit from. You know, if you eat leafy greens in the winter here, you're eating Colorado River water. And ironically, we probably only have that much water to there because that water had to go to California. You know, it's owned by those folks. So it was really interesting and I don't think I fully wrapped my mind around it. Their original plan was to backpack into Mexico, but because of high tensions at the border, they changed their plants. They rented a van and spent the final two weeks camping alongside the Colorado, and volunteering with nonprofits who were working on restoration projects in
60 Minutes
"wind river range" Discussed on 60 Minutes
"Come to them. Where's she here? We're here. What's wrong with that bull right there? Today, all Americans are being asked to prepare for the grievous wounds. Oh, my God. Of high velocity rounds. The cattle drive is an enduring symbol of the American West. The image of tough cowboys pushing huge herds of cows across the open range is stamped on our imaginations. But by the 21st century with western states growing and changing fast, most horseback cattle drives have been run off the range by suburban sprawl, government regulation, lower beef consumption, and the return of protected predators. But there is a group of stubborn men and women in Wyoming, who every spring push thousands of cows along the same 70 mile route, their ancestors pioneered 125 years ago. As we first reported last fall, this throwback to the old west is called the green river drift. And it's the longest running cattle drive left in America. Just after dawn, one Saturday in June of 2021. I'm trying to help Wyoming rancher Albert summers. And his team move hundreds of cows. Most of them mothers with new calves in a cloud of dust toward high green pastures where they'll graze all summer. And if you feel inclined Bill, you can whistle, you can yell. I do anything. This is like cowboys therapy. You get to voice everything out. Come on, Indy. I do the best I can. Come on, cows. Move cows. But it's not quite as good as little SHAD swain, the son of Albert's ranching partner, tye. Jazz 5 years old? Yes. Chad, if you can do this, I can do this, okay? SHAD got to do it with a sour apple lollipop in his mouth. All of us, with the help of some fearless herding dogs move cattle over hills across creeks. Through shimmering groves of Aspen along what cowboys called driveways. And across highways, north toward those distant mountains. How long does it take you to get them to the summer feeding area? So it takes about 13 days from when we start to when we get up there. What do we want to be? We travel up to about 60 to 70 months. Albert summers is one of 11 ranchers who work together to drive more than 7000 head of cattle on the green river drift. Those 11 ranches all lie in Wyoming's green river valley, south of Jackson hole. Here, the Wyoming range is to the west, the wind river range is to the east. The valley between is part bone dry high desert, and verdant river drainage, where Native Americans once hunted buffalo. Today, the green river runs through Albert summer's ranch. And your family's been doing this how long? My family's been doing this since mount 1903. Albert's neighbor Jeannie lockwood's family has been at it even longer. This was my granddad's branch. He homesteaded this in 1889. Her ranch is about 20 miles south of Albert summer's place. We joined her on horseback before dawn, the day she started moving her cattle north. There's that sun, it's going to peak up over the hill. Along the same path, her family has trekked for 125 years. So you're going to be doing this for the next two weeks. Yes. Getting up at 4 o'clock in the morning. Or three or two 30. Or two 30. Yeah. Those early starts barely compared to what old timers endured, when cowboys stayed out under the stars all night, and the sun all day, until they got the herd to high pastures. Well, I think we can go home. What do you think? Today, they go home after each day's drive. The next morning, they trailer their horses back to where they'd left the cattle. Round up those that have strayed and move them out again before dawn. The old chuck wagon, it's been replaced by a cooler and the tailgate of a pickup truck. But compared to what your grandfather did. This is easy. Yeah, we have it easy. Only ranchers would call this easy. Driving cattle is hot, dusty, demanding, and they'll be lucky to make a $50 profit per cow when they finally send them to market. Jeannie's daughter Haley and son in law, France, help wrangle the herd. Her husband milford shuttles the horse trailers. They all left regular jobs and moved back to the ranch several years ago after Jeannie's brother, who had been running the place, died in an accident. It takes all of us to do it, it seems like so. Jeannie was a librarian. So what is it about this place? It makes you give up regular normal American jobs. And come back here to do this really hard work. Well, first of all, it was home to me. And it was hard work for my parents. And I know it was hard work for my grandparents. And I just couldn't see letting it go. Labor of love, it's called. Yeah. Where's the emphasis? Labor or love? Love. Love might sustain the green river drift, but it was born in crisis. The winner of 1889 90 is really what started the drift. Clint gilchrist is in a story and who grew up in this valley and has written about that harsh winter. And it killed off the vast majority of the cattle herds that were here because they weren't prepared for a bad winter. Nobody had prepared for a bad winter. White settlers were not prepared. Native tribes which the U.S. government drove off the land to make room for homesteaders knew that winters in the green river valley could be merciless. The shoshone Indians and the croy Indians were one of the dominant tribes in these areas. And they didn't win her here. They went over on the other side of the mountains where it was less elevation. After that brutal winter, ranchers realized they had to move their cattle out of the valley long enough to grow a crop of hay. So while the cattle were up in the uplands, you're able to grow, hey. Right. And that feeds them all winter long. Right. And so that was the genesis of what we call the drift. The drift Albert summer says because when the first fall frost chills the mountains, the cows instinctively head for home. Just on their own, turn around and start coming back. Turn around and start we open Gates. Drift back. And they drift back in the spring. We drive them. In the fall, they drift. When the drift began 125 years ago there were no regulations, no.
60 Minutes
"wind river range" Discussed on 60 Minutes
"Walk out. Move cows, but it's not quite as good as little shed swing, the son of Albert's ranching partner, tie. Jazz 5 years old? Yes. SHAD, if you can do this, I can do this, okay? SHAD got to do it with a sour apple lollipop in his mouth. All of us, with the help of some fearless herding dogs move cattle over hills across creeks. Through shimmering groves of Aspen, along what cowboys call driveways. And across highways, north toward those distant mountains. How long does it take you to get them to the summer feeding area? So it takes about 13 days from when we start to when we get up there where we want to be. We travel up to about 60 to 70 miles. Albert summers is one of 11 ranchers who work together to drive more than 7000 head of cattle on the green river drift. Those 11 ranches all lie in Wyoming's green river valley, south of Jackson hole. Here the Wyoming ranges to the west, the wind river range is to the east. The valley between is part bone dry high desert and verdant river drainage, where Native Americans once hunted buffalo. Today, the green river runs through Albert summers ranch. And your family's been doing this how long? My family's been doing this. Since mount 1903 Albert's neighbor, Jeannie lockwood's family has been at it even longer. This was my granddad's branch. He homesteaded this in 1889. Her ranch is about 20 miles south of Albert summer's place. We joined her on horseback before dawn, the day she started moving her cattle north. There's that sun. It's gonna pick up over the hill. Along the same path her family has trek for 125 years. So you're gonna be doing this for the next two weeks. Yes. Getting up at four o'clock in the morning or three or two 30 or two 30. Yeah. Those early starts barely compare to what old timers endured when cowboys stayed out under the stars all night and the sun all day until they got the herd to high pastures. Well I think we can go home. What do you think? Today, they go home after each day's drive. The next morning they trailer their horses back to where they'd left the cattle. Round up those that have strayed and move them out again before dawn. The old chuck wagon, it's been replaced by a cooler and the tailgate of a pickup truck. But compared to what you're grandfathering, yeah. This is easy. Yeah, we have it easy. Only ranchers would call this easy. Driving cattle is hot, dusty, demanding, and they'll be lucky to make a $50 profit per cow when they finally send them to market. Jeannie's daughter Hayley and son in law France help wrangle the herd. Her husband milford shuttles the horse trailers. They all left regular jobs and moved back to the ranch several years ago after Genie's brother who had been running the police died in an accident. It takes all of us to do it, it seems like. Jeannie was a librarian. So what is it about this place that makes you give up regular normal American jobs and come back here to do this really hard work? Well, first of all, it was home to me. And it was hard work for my parents and I know it was hard work for my grandparents and I just couldn't see letting it go. Labor of love, it's called. Yeah. Where's the emphasis? Labor or love? Love. Love might sustain the green river drift, but it was born in crisis. The winner of 1889 90 is really what started the drift. Clint gilchrist is in astorian who grew up in this valley and has written about that harsh winter. The vast majority of the cattle herds that were here because they weren't prepared for a bad winter. Nobody had prepared for a bad winter. White settlers were not prepared. Native tribes which the U.S. government drove off the land to make room for homesteaders knew that winters in the green river valley could be merciless. The shoshone Indians and the crew Indians were one of the dominant tribes in these areas. And they didn't win her here. They wintered over on the other side of the mountains where it was less elevation. After that brutal winter, ranchers realized they had to move their cattle out of the valley long enough to grow a crop of hay. So while the cattle are up in the uplands, you're able to grow, hey. And that feeds them all winter long. Right. And so that was the genesis of what we call the drift. The drift Albert somers says. Because when the first fall frost chills the mountains, the cows instinctively head for home. Just on their own, turn around and start coming back. Turn around and start. We opened gates, drift back, and they drift back. In the spring, we drive them in the fall they drift. When the drift began 125 years ago, there were no regulations, no subdivisions, just wide open range. Today, the 11 ranches drive their cattle to lands controlled by the U.S. forest service, the largest grazing allotment in the country, 127,000 acres of the bridger teton national forest. They pay the federal government 1.35 a month for every cow and her calf. 7. Right. Right on. How much each rancher will owe is tallied at a place called the counting gate. It's Jamie Burgess's job to read brands or ear tags and call out which cows belong to which ranch. Price. While his wife Rita adds up the totals. When the cows finally reach mountain pastures, they're handed off to range riders. Ring up. Like Brittany hesel time, whose job is to watch over them all summer. And you're up here by yourself? Yes. Just theme, my horses. Three dogs and a cat..
RADCast Outdoors
"wind river range" Discussed on RADCast Outdoors
"Welcome to another episode of rag cast outdoors. I'm patrick edwards. Time david maryland. We're in the great indoors today. Talking about the great outdoors you. You caught me in a rare moment of home. David's been up in the mountains is some of you all know how they go. Brutal brutal is a tough year. Lots of grizzly bears The moon was full all night. And then we've got some snow and just cramp down but we were in elk every day so it was. It was everything i wanted just to it was. It was very taxing and daunting elk. But we're home now and we have meet the freezer so no complaints. Yeah you can't complain when you have meet meet is a good thing and so today. We've got a special guest in the studio friend of mine for thirty two years. Seth ewing welcome to the show. So it's exciting. To be here came all the way fourteen hour. Drive from idaho to come and talk to us In hang out with me and kept lots of fish which we did over the past few days. Let's be honest. Mostly that yeah. We were some fish and so it was a lot of fun. But yeah and i've been friends since we were five years old. And seth is much more of the hiker adventurer guy than me and so i thought it would be fun to have him. Come on and talk about one of the coolest trips. He's ever done probably the most brutal trip he's ever done. Yeah i tried to. I tried to pass it up this last summer as far as the brutal that goes but it was very special for sure absolutely and so just just to kind of get to know your seth Tell everybody you know where you're from and just a little bit about how you got into hiking. Yeah so Grew up in southern southeastern wyoming and north central montana and my my dad was a texas transplant so grew up in the city really really longed to be in the mountains and it was hard to keep him out of the mountains really as a young when he was young man so when he had kids i think he started taking me fishing with him while i was still in diapers. He's got stories of me. Like eating rob brook trout. Neither hand woman in diapers So it's kind of the blood so to speak at that point. But he also he loves getting into new new ground so started me and my brothers and other other young boys especially back into the mountains and backpacking. When i was really quite young. So something that. I've always done and yet never stopped doing really. So that's kind of how. I got my my intro into it and the other thing really was there whose dad will always go off with his friends at he'd leave us all behind and he brings back like a rock and tell us these stories about going up into the wind river range and with his buddies and catching trout and fallen off logs into the ice water and nearly freezing to death and stuff. So those part of like this. When you're a man this is what you do. Go off in the mountains and you you nearly die and i feel a little kindred spirit to your dad you know being raised as a city boy and once. I got my taste of the mountains. I haven't laughed right i. I grew up in oregon. We've talked about that. But moved moved to alaska and then moved to wyoming. And i pick up rocks to this day in from like my trips to the brooks range and bring them back my son and be like here. Here's a special rock from the brooks returned and we look at a map of where that was at. And it's an. I'm always when you're talking about expanding in territory. I liked to learn this drainage and then mike always wondering hey what and it doesn't matter if you're fishing or hiking hunting it's always well. What's over the next rain. What's over the next toners. Always that that draw or that poll to say. Hey this is look and see. What's over there. i sometimes. it's a hellacious horrible. We're never doing that again. Other times you find hidden little lakes or streams that are just loaded with with goodness right. Yeah absolutely it was funny. I got no i move to utah Some years back. And i finally made it to the wind. River range felt like Never been but. I made sure i got my dad iraq and send it to him in the mail so as a little one here you go dad a little. Have a rock. Yeah exactly well you know. It's been fun just watching you over the years. You've always been the guy who goes up into the wilderness and backpacks and you've got that adventurous. Spirit and i remember back in twenty ten when you plan this huge trip and i i told you you were crazy and you are. But that's the point but but usually patrick most of the trips that you know i think of the ones i've done. The ones that are memorable involve a lot of suffering right and some degree of extremity. Where you you might die. That's the ones you're like. Hey let's do that again. So we were talking about patrick mcmanus and some of those stories. Go ahead and relay that from earlier today. Yeah so i. I'm a big fan of patrick mcmanus and know the pat is to you and so i asked him. Do you remember near member at the the story the big trip and you no. I don't remember that one so got a hold of it online and made sure that got a chance to read it. But it's the whole concept. Is that when pat was well. Patrick management different pat. When he was a kid he would like escape with this fantasy of doing the big trip and part of the big trip was that it would need to be really hard and so a big part of the story. Is that you you want to make sure that your hardships happen. Because if it's an easy trip than the that's not the big trip you half. If everything went correctly that you have to suffer greatly for it to be so. It's this whole story about this. I'm sure and crabtree. With red. Sweeney story for those of you heard familiar for those of you for those of you. Who aren't you need to pick up a fine and pleasant misery and read some. There's there's like twelve. Other patrick mcmanus. Who he is all three of us. Here he'd fans so if you didn't grow up reading him in outdoor life missed out as a child a finding pleasant miseries a good place to start though because that's a little bit and related to what we're talking about for sure just even that book title. It's like this guy. Gets it fine in pleasant misery. Talk about misery it. It definitely makes things more memorable. But you were telling me about this trip and you were. You know very ambitious in my opinion saying you were to go. Couple hundred miles in swiss alps you've ended up doing about two hundred and forty in the course of sixteen nineteen days three of those days. You didn't heightened but just for the listener. Put that in perspective do the math. That's that's quite a bit every day and So seth i want you to tell just you know. Why did you even think of doing something like that. What what was your motivation. Yeah well it was really a combination of a couple of different things. One that was not insignificant. As i had a couple of friends who had gone and they showed me pictures and i thought i have to see that. I have to go and see that those are you know. I grew up in the mountains and loving the mountain so museum mountains like that is i have to actually get there and see that because if that's what the picture looks like i've got to see that in person so that was the genesis of it but i was graduating from college. My parents said well you can either have some money or will buy. Who plane tickets this switzerland. So you can do this hike okay. Well what do i wanna see. Do i wanna see like the matterhorn. Or or these. This part of the bernese alps. Or what did i just decided. I wanna see as much of it as i possibly can in a in a three week period. If i'm gone for three weeks how much of it can. I see and i settled on that route because i was going to see the place that i had most been interested in seeing and i would kind of do a diagonal if you rethink about switzerland. It's coming to the shape of a kidney bean. And i just cut across the long access to being from the. What is that kind of the central eastern border all the way all the way to lake geneva and so i thought that's the best way to see it probably going to get to go once. So.