First up - the setting for the adventure: Quarter Circle Circle Ranch located high in mountains about 50 miles south of Gunnison, CO and not even on pavement. You have to know it’s there to find it. It’s a working horse ranch with parents, two children. They have Palomino horses - 7 roam and are friendly, 2-3 stabled, goats, chickens and geese. They have a booming business in the Fall/Winter for hunting season and have consistent fishing visitors through the Summer as well.
The following are thoughts from both John and Stephen that I gathered while we were driving from Almont, CO to Amarillo, TX yesterday. Hopefully, my Dad and Scott will have a chance to give me their thoughts at some point as well.
Going out together just as boys was a good opportunity for the different male generations of the family to be together, to share the experience of staying in a rustic cabin enjoying the beautiful country and to share a common hobby like fishing. It is an experience that hopefully the boys will look back upon with fondness. We hope to make this a yearly trip.
All the boys - Walter, John, Stephen and Scott - took off from Crested Butte South Tuesday morning in the Jeep packed with our camping and fishing gear. Unfortunately, we arrived too late on the first day to really do much fishing. Instead, the younger boys played with some other boys staying in another cabin while the big boys setup everything and relaxed a bit. John cooked a great hamburger and bratz dinner for everyone and we all just lounged around that evening listening to Poppy tell us great stories.
There is no electricity at these cabins so any light to be had was given off by kerosene lamps. It did rain a bit the first night.
The next day, everyone got up and John made coffee on the wood burning stove early in the morning. Breakfast was simple stuff like honey buns for the boys. Went fishing to Pauline Creek which was about 15 miles away. Drove the Jeep off road a bit and then climbed down the hill to reach the creek. John found himself walking through flowers that bees were visiting and an unfriendly bee decided to sting John to shoo him away! Being John the Great means even when stung, you don’t stop.
Stephen was leading the group down the mountain until Poppy took over the lead. Fishing in this creek was fun. Scott caught two fish today in this creek - small trout. No one else was successful, but we had a good time fishing. Finished our fishing late afternoon and returned up the mountain and back to the cabin for dinner. It rained today too several times. John cooked Bratwurst, hamburgers and beans for dinner today (again). Went to bed early and got up early the next morning.
Everyone took a shower in the outdoor shower (hot/cold water). Went fishing again today at a creek about 5 miles away. It was a windy day fishing there. Poppy caught one fish. Fished there for quite awhile - about 3.5 hours. Headed back to the cabin and loaded everything up for the drive back to CB South.
A few things about the Ranch and Cabins -
Outhouse - there was no indoor plumbing in the cabins - which meant the restroom facilities were in the form of an Outhouse. It was about 50 feet from the cabin. The boys tell us it was clean.
Spring Fed Pond with/Well House - This is where you go with a pail for water for cooking/drinking/storing food items that need to be kept cool. This was a job for the boys who would go with buckets and retrieve the water.
Interesting historical tidbit about this place/water spring - This is where the Ute Indians used to camp during the summertime. After the Ute Indians, it was a stop on the Stage route from Gunnison to somewhere for stagecoaches heading to Gunnison. Wonder if the Wells Fargo Stages went through here?
Milking Goats - they each got to try their hand at milking goats! I think everyone but Scott tried it. Stephen thought it was cool.
Wood Burning Stove - John LOVED cooking with the wood burning stove. But, of course he would if you know him. The MORE Rustic the Better. He says it took a little talent to get it going but apparently, he figured it out as he did set off the smoke/CO2 alarm at one point!!
Kerosene Lamp - Your light comes via kerosene lamp. No electricity. Means... no heat either. John said you would use the wood burning stove to keep the place warm all night long.
Favorites from the Adventure!
Stephen’s favorite thing was fishing.
John loved the isolation part of being out there. He wouldn’t mind it if it had been further away from the main cabin and he’d like to have stayed more days.
He’d like to go and then go on a pack trip. He also found it interesting that the 4 wheeler has replaced the horse as the mode of transportation on a ranch - or at least this ranch. In the time it took for someone to saddle up the horse, the guy just got on his 4 wheeler and rounded up the horses to get in the corral. Interesting, indeed.
PS - Not many fish were caught - 3 little ole fish. The Gals were expecting a whole bushel of fish to come home. Thus, our trout dinner was supplemented with chili dogs!! :-)
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Couple of Other Notes:
- We made it to Amarillo last night and had a great Mexican dinner at El Tejavan on I40. Highly recommend it.
- It’s a lot warmer here than in Colorado (boo hiss)
- A Bear visited the CB South house where my sister, Perry, rented and my parents as well as my other sister, Stacey and her kids are all staying. Apparently, that trout dinner we had the other night was a little too smelly in the trash as the Bear ripped open the “Bear Proof” trashcan to get to it. Apparently, said Trash can sits right outside Perry’s window which was OPEN that night so it was a bit scary I hear. I probably would have been a bit petrified myself. Wow!!
- We’re off to Dallas tonight to see Laila & Justin, talk scrapbooking, and run by the new Dallas Cowboy Pro Shop.
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