Wild Horses Pryor Mountains Montana

Sorry I haven't posted for a long time. I've been swamped! We were out working on "The Dirt Ranch" in August. This is a day trip into the Pryor Mountains which are just a few miles away from our place. I have a ton of pictures to post so will add them every so often.

These horses are incredible. This was just before the round up. They were to capture about 60 wild horse to be auctioned off for adoption. Our neighbor has 2 from several years ago and was thinking of getting 2 more. Haven't heard what she did yet. They actually have all the wild horses accounted for, named and which ones they will capture specifically.

It's a rough road to get here but well worth the trip. I will post pictures of the wild road back down the mountain (we took a different way down). It was the wildest road my husband or I have ever been on. 3 hours to travel 10 miles! No kidding! Slight damage to the truck but nothing that can't be fixed!

If you click on the photo you will see a much nicer image but be sure to click the back button to get back to the main blog.

Fawn

No....this does not belong here. But I couldn't resist. I took this out our living room window in Minnesota. The mother just went over the hill before I took this shot. We are surrounded by deer and wild turkeys here, I will miss this when we move to WY. A few days after this I was sitting in the front yard and I suddenly noticed the fawn again. I sat very still. Out of curiosity he slowly approached me. He dared get as close as 15 feet, then sniffed the air a little and slowly walked away.

Heart Mountain

A View of Heart Mountain. This shot was taken on a bridge south of Powell and east of Cody looking west.

Wyoming Rest Stop

We came across this 'rest stop' in the Big Horns Mountains one day. We thought it was rather amusing.

Lizard

I caught this little guy catching some sun on a rock. They are everywhere...harmless, I like the little guys.

Trailer of goodies

I laugh when I see this picture. This is fall of 2005 when we came out for a short time. May as well bring a load! Our canoe, old plow, old cast iron radiator (might use it in the house) and my Grandma's old Maytag. They still are the best washing machines as far as I'm concerned! Yes, I intend to use it again!

Wyoming Friends

Our good Wyoming friends Doug and Joan at their home on the lake.


I accidently bumped into Doug while on our ATV out on the BLM land when I was looking for old cow skulls. We hit it off immediatly, he led me to a ranchers big pile of old bones (I got 19 cow skulls...quit a find for this old bone collector). Doug met my husband and then I met Joan and we all became good friends. You can't ask for better friends!

Good Neighbors

I don't how we got so lucky but we have the best neighbors in Wyoming that anyone could possibly have. Here are 2 of my favorites on their Gator, Neil and Ruth.

Before we bought this little piece of Wyoming, we were coming down the mountain heading west towards town. I pointed to a small clump of Cottonwood trees and said to my husband "That's where I want to live, that clump of trees". Well we ended up directly behind that clump of trees and Neil and Ruth are the owners of that clump of trees! How could we get so lucky!!!!

Forest Fire...Summer 2007

The reason for all of the smoke in many of the photos of the barn. After the crew was finished we took a trip up the mountain and found the source of the smoke! We sat and watched it burn for awhile, it sure does move fast with no wind. Hard to believe this can cause so much smoke for so far.

Pole Barn...Summer 2007

Getting the doors on. All it needs is the floor!

It took about 5 days to put the entire building up from start to finish. They were running behind by the end of the week so they brought out a second crew. We had 6 guys busy at work. It was just like watching busy ants, never a dull moment.

This is built by Cleary of Sheridan Wyoming

I thought this was an interesting view!

Putting up the poles.

Getting the barn started. Bringing in the supplies and the crew.

This is summer of 2007.

Mountain Road

On our way down the mountain at sunset. This is a 10% grade for 10 miles.

This photo and the following photos were taken in July 2005 after the well was drilled....we took a break and headed up the mountain.

In The Big Horn Mountains

Had to escape the heat of the basin for a day so we took a little trip up the mountain to cool off along a little trout creek.

It takes 3o minutes and we're up nearly 10,000 feet, nice and cool after the high desert heat.

Fleabane.....not a very nice name for a pretty little flower. One of my favorites.

Elephant's Head.

I saw these in a wildflower book and always hoped to find them someday... and I did! They really do look like an elephant's head.

White Phlox

Drilling the well

Summer of 2005. We had Dave Newton of Worland WY drill our well. His daughter 'witched' for the water. I never really believed it was for real until I watched her, then she had me try it and and yes, I can find water too! The rods really do move on their own, what a strange sensation that is! She said it was 75 ft. and flowing east to west and knew how wide the underground source was. Yup, they found water at 72 ft. and plenty of it!

Cattle Drive

We heard some noise and looked out to this view. Just a small herd. But the cowboys were having a good time. Just when they got near, a couple guys held back and then took off in a race to see who's horse was the fastest. The sun had already set.

Fall Round Up

Every spring the sheep are herded up into the Big Horns for the summer via a different route. In the fall, they are herded right past our place. Was I surprised! I just got there the night before, ran to the grocery store in the morning and when I came back this is what I found. There were hundreds. I could hear them the night before not far away and the coyotes following them.

I found out from the herders how they keep count of the herd. They only need to count the black sheep. If any are missing then they know they need to go back and look for them. About 100 got into our place and of course were ripping out every plant by the roots. There was no black sheep with them, I decided to go find the herders to get their sheep. I tried to get them out...what a joke! Sheep are not the brightest critters in the world.

Cottonwood Canyon Sunset

This is for real, no adjusting. It's just they way it looked when the sun set.

Globe Mallow. A photo from a few years ago. These cover the ground after a wet spring. They are weeds but I still enjoy them. Tough little plants though.

Pryor Mountains

The Pryor Mountains. Home of the Wild Mustangs. The black stallion was photographed in the mountains you see in the distance.

Wild Horses

This was taken in the Pryor Mtns. We came across 4 black Mustangs so we shut off the ATV and just watched as they walked past us one by one. This was the 'leader'. he stopped to pose.

Spring Time in Wyoming

We bought the place during a dry spell so we saw it at it's worst. One spring we came out and the place was solid white primroses! And did it ever smell good! We could hardly believe our eyes! This is the way it's suppose to be in spring.

More White Primroses

This is really an odd flower. No leaves at all. It just popped up out of the dirt and is real low to the ground. I still haven't found this in a flower book.

A light rain one morning and a pretty little aster.

I've never seen these before. My wild flower book calls them Scarlet Gaura...not a very pretty name. There were just a few clumps of these on our land but they sure are pretty!

Getting started in Wyoming

Wyoming sunset. And they are beautiful! Every evening we keep turning our heads from west to east as we watch the sun set on the Big Horns. It changes so fast. Who needs TV with this to watch!

Spring time when it's all green. It's a small shabby barn but the roof doesn't leak and it's a place to store stuff for now. This is 2005. Not sure why the tall pole is there. I suppose someone was going to put a light there. The owls use it at night.

What ranch is not complete without a cow skull? When we bought the place I told them the skull had to go with the place.

An old hay feeder. I'll use it some day as a flower planter near the house.

There are some old corrals that came with the place. They used old horse shoes for gate latches.