The River Has a Mind of its Own

Here's a shot from last summer of a bit of the south pasture with the Gallatin River running alongside and the Bridger Mountains in the distance. The lines  in the pasture are flood irrigation ditches fed by the river.

Last spring. the Gallatin River suggested the possibility of sending a new branch of the river through the pasture and cutting off 20-40 acres

200 yards upstream there was a problem
(to be continued)

Montana Birds of Spring

Hard to tell when spring arrives in Montana. Sunny and warm one day, blizzard the next.  So we look to the birds to tell us when spring arrives. Old Gnarly here was 20 yards away and looked like he was waiting for the dog to come out the front door.

These ring-neck turtle doves beneath the eagle's tree were another possible target. Like so many recent arrivals, they are native to LA and their prospects are not good.

Always a good sign when the Sandhill Cranes arrive with their goofy dignified walk. Sandhill Cranes have been around longer than the Gallatin River and have a pre-historic call. Foxes fear them. This was a sunny yesterday . . .

today it's cold and snowing and the Sandhill Cranes don't care at all. They live on the edge of winter and dance.

We Live A Parade

Last Saturday, our friend, Lisa Sabena, who runs the best motels in Three Forks and Bozeman, asked us if we'd lend our old ranch truck to the Lewis & Clark Motel float in the annual Three Forks Rodeo Parade.

 

 

 

     Three Forks is where the Gallatin, Jefferson and Madison Rivers come together to form the headwaters of the Missouri.  It's a ranch town.  Kathryn and the truck looked perfect.

 

 

 

 

Even with a Colt six shooter in my holster, I felt like a department store dummy. Three Forkers are real cowboys. They ride in rodeos.

 

 I did my best. I beaned the urchins with salt water taffy like a real cowboy

 

 and the float won first prize.

Swimming Down the Waterfall

Our friends Tana & Don in the bow, their son Josh behind me and Kathryn alongside. River guide, Patrick in the stern

We live on the Gallatin, the river that runs through the movie.  So when our visiting friends Don and Tana Fowler said "let's go whitewater rafting on the river", we said "sure."  It was raining, there was some hail, and the water was 45 degrees.  It was great.

The fastest, roughest part was a flume alongside House Rock.

Where we hit a boulder sideways and I flew out of the boat. That's me, 10 yards downstream.

Another boat ran into ours while I tried to swim to shore and kept banging into rocks. It was like swimming down a waterfall, it didn't matter much how hard I swam, I went where the current went.   I slammed into a big boulder, turned over and came up a twenty yards downstream.  Breathing was beginning to be a problem.  Someone threw a rope but I missed it.  Another boat turned sideways downstream.  As I swept by they held out a paddle and I missed that too.  They held out another paddle but I was drifting away.  I thought this is my last chance. It probably was. The sky and the water were the same grey and swimming two yards upstream grab that paddle took everything I had. They hauled me in and I collapsed on the bottom of the boat until I could sit up.

Back home, I was still shaken  It hurt to walk and sitting down was painful, but I was OK.  Everybody was watching Madmen but I could not stand the flickering TV.  I sat on the back porch and watched a couple of bucks in the back pasture. . .

and the light in the sky, glad to be alive.

A Short Walk in the Double Ditch Kush.

 

The dog said, "get off the couch, Bob."

 

 

"There's tons of deer in the pasture.

 

 

Look in the river,



 

 

 

the trout are as big as aligators. Everwhere you look,

 

 

 

the colors are amazing."





Poachers!!!!

(click to enlarge) 

The dog said let's walk out to the river.  I want to show you something.

 

 He led me through the hall of fallen heros and

 

 

 stopped for a drink at an underground creek where it comes up for air

 

 

Look straight ahead, he said. There's a deer stand leaning against the tree.  Like shooting fish in a barrel he said.

 

 

Why Do Beavers Bomb Our River's Shore?

West Gallatin River on the Double Ditch Ranch.

Why do beavers bomb our river's shore,

Beavers are second only to man in altering the landscape. The wetlands they create with their dams are as bio-diverse as rain forests.

leave this tree for the wind, 

 

Beaver population is 5% of what it was before Europeans came to America

cut this log to fireplace lengths,

Beaver Lodge. Beavers rarely overpopulate because they are strongly territorial and only have "kits" once a year

or mate for life?

all these pictures taken on yesterday's walk with the dog

 It must be the moon.

Christmas Day Walk Along River Road

Christmas was warm and sunny, a good day for a walk along River Road where we live in Bozeman, Montana

Barkley needed a little reigning in at first

 

 

River Road follows the Gallatin River 

And runs along the pastures of the Kelly Ranch

 

There was a unicorn in the pasture by the stone house, looking for his lost horn

We walked five miles.  So we were glad to get back to the Double Ditch Ranch and build a fire in the fireplace

The Promise

The Gallatin River runs through it.  (Click to enlarge)

Kathryn grew up on her family’s ranch in Montana. So naturally that’s where she wanted to get married. It’s a beautiful ranch in a valley ringed by mountains. The Gallatin River runs through it for two miles and there’s a buffalo jump behind the old stone ranch house.



When we arrived for our wedding on Thursday there was three inches of snow on the ground. The snow melted (it was the end of May) but on the day of the wedding, the sky turned black. The ground was bone dry from years of drought so the ranchers had their hopes.


 

The log barn

Two horse drawn wagons ferried our guests across the pasture to an open tent on the river bank.


The wind picked up and Kathryn’s neighbor, Joe Axtell, third generation rancher looked at the mountain of black clouds dwarfing the mountains beneath them and said, “Well, I’ve learned to be reeeal careful about pree dictin’ the weather round here. But it sure looks like rain to me.”


The minister said, “in a world where all the corners have been explored and all of the wildernesses covered with maps, the last great adventure is two people sharing a life together.”


When we first got together Kathryn and I drove to the coast to watch a Pacific storm pound a deserted beach. “I will always be good to you,” she said.


I thought for awhile. It was a stupendous offer. Could I match it? After a long pause while I considered, I said, “I will always be good to you.”

After the ceremony, the guests hurried to the wagons and then to their cars. And the skies opened up in a deluge, South Western Montana’s first good soaking in five years.