Ghost Ranch

A few miles north of Yellowstone is one of the first dude ranches. It operated from 1912-1939 and was eventually acquired by the US Forest Service. They don't advertise it and not that many people know about it or visit it. This past summer Terry and made the 1.5 mile hike in to check it out. 

There were several original buildings still in good shape

Several had restoration work completed.

In the main lodge there were some old photos of how it looked back in the 20s and 30s.

There was no one around and the lodge doors were locked except for one side door. I had called the Forest Service office before going and they said it was ok for us to go inside and look around.

One wing of the lodge had a billiard room with the old pool table still there.

Elk Hunting

I got out and hunted quite a few days with no luck. Elk were very scarce this year.

Terry and I went out Friday after Thanksgiving, riding the horses in the dark for about an hour to get to a good glassing area by daylight. We glassed a while then rode down the valley for about a mile, tied up and hiked up a ridge. It was a nice trip but we didn't see any elk so headed in about mid day.

We went back home for lunch then I took the horses up to another area in the afternoon. My plan was to go in about 5 miles there, set up a small camp and hunt for the last two days of the season. I had a lucky break on my way in and came upon two bulls on the trail about 75 yards away. It was kind of brushy so they didn't run off right away. I had to get off, tie up one horse (there was nothing handy to tie the other to), get out my rifle and shoot. I managed to do all that before they ran off. He was not a big one but it was nice to get another year's worth of meat. I only had about 45 minutes of daylight left so I tagged the elk, set up camp about a half mile away by a spring, left the horses there and returned to butcher the elk in the dark. The next morning I packed everything up and headed down the mountain. Halfway down I came upon a big mountain lion near the trail. He ran off. That was the first one I had ever seen while hunting.

Hopefully next year Terry will get her chance at an elk.

T's 1st hunting trip of the season

Last Wednesday Fred and I went up to Refrigerator Canyon to begin our journey to the hunting spot.

The weather was a little chilly that first morning but ended up being a nice day for a hike and horseback ride.

Hiking up to our first look out Wednesday evening.

Hiking to our other spot on Thursday morning. 

It was very cold and windy. Luckily, my guide suggested we bring a sleeping bag to keep warm. While he scouted for elk I took several naps in the warmth of the sleeping bag 😊

Here I am putting Parker in the corral for the night. 

My hunting guide

Friday morning we were all ready to go out - had our packs and guns on - then it started to rain. It rained most of the morning and some of the afternoon. We decided to head out around 1:00pm when it stopped raining. It was very cold and windy. Not an elk to be seen. So we headed back to camp around 5:30pm. Decided to have a fire to get warmed up. 

We had decided to leave Saturday but before heading out, we did ride the horses up to our look out point - after it had stopped raining again. Still no elk but it turned out to be a beautiful day. 

 

We didn't get an elk this trip but we did have a nice time together in the wilderness and enjoying God's beautiful creations.

To be continued...…

Getting ready for our hunting trip

Today Fred took the two horses up to our hunting spot to get our camp set up and ready for me (us) to use in a couple of weeks. At the beginning of the trail are a couple of rocky areas so he asked me to help him take the horses past them. I hiked with him a little farther up the trail then left them to go on their merry way. It was another 7 miles for Fred and the horses. He rode Friendly and let Parker up the trail. When we go I will ride Parker. Fred took his bow since it is still bow season "just in case".

 

Some fall pics