It Was A Very Fine August

Howdy! It has been a while. In fact, it has been a month. It was a great month full of more adventure than painting but I got a lot of good photos for this winter's work. The first pack trip was with a couple of old outfitting buddies I have known for years. We saddled up the ponies and blasted through a few snowdrifts to be the first pack string on the Lake Plateau this year. These mountains ( the Beartooths) are made up of ten plateaus created when a polar ice cap covered all but the tops of the mountains and another came along and shaved them off. Now we have plateau country at ten to eleven thousand feet. Not far from the top of the Lake Plateau I buried my horse in a drift but he is a powerful son of a gun and he blasted out of there like a rocket. Then we broke trail to the top where the snow was melted off and the summer pasture just coming on. The wild flowers were thick and we made camp at an old favorite spot of mine where a snowbank just a few feet from camp makes a nice cooler and keeps the temperatures tolerable. There were no flies.

After the first trip to the Lake plateau it was off to the Middle Fork of the Salmon where Lynn had given me a fly fishing/ whitewater raft trip for my birthday. Very fine country with an excellent outfitter.( Far and Away Adventures). After a week relaxing on the river and a fun bush plane ride out we headed back to the Lake Plateau with old friends Ed and Dan Shay for the 21st playing of the Beartooth Open Gin Rummy tournament. These guys are two lawyers from Philly who have been coming with me all these years. Ed makes a great Osso Bucco around the fire and we washed it down as usual with fine wines and a 40 year old Port. These guys like a good meal and as aways, when we come out of the hills, Ed has reservations for us at Chico Hot Springs Resort. What a meal we had there as well! As usual we played the last couple of hands of the tournament in the lounge and this year Lynn won the big bucks. Well, there's always next year.

After Chico it was back to the cabin where Lynn's son joined us as well as one of Lynn's dearest and best friends from Phoenix along with her son. With me leading a string for the camp and the rest of them hiking and fishing we headed up the East Rosebud for a wonderful journey through paradise. The Rosebud is a very rugged drainage that goes right through the middle of the Beartooths on a trail they are trying to discourage horse people from using by not maintaining it very well. There are a lot cliffs and dicey spots where you don't want to run into anyone but all went well. I found and put out a couple of fires started by backpackers who left their campfires smoldering and were later fanned by the breeze into open flame in the dry August heat. It urks me to think people could be so careless with their campfires as to jeopardize such a beautiful valley. It isn't mine but I feel a special connection to this trail. My grandfather and father took my brother and me on our first pack trip here when I was six years old. It made such an impression I even remember name of the horse I rode way back then.  I also outfitted here for many years and needless to say that big, rugged country holds a lot of significance for me. Anyway, it was a very fine journey. Mine are mountain horses and mules of the first degree. I am very proud of them and they made it both up and back without a problem. I did, however, lose my new little point and shoot camera along the trail someplace. There were hundreds of pictures on it I planned to use for reference photos this winter and am afraid you won't be able to see anything from the trip. However, I did upload the Lake Plateau in Photos of My Neighborhood if you want to click on them and see some of the country we visited in August. I am home now and hope to keep the old nose to the grindstone for a while.

     Well, that was August. As for art details I should mention that I was selected by the Carbon County Arts Guild to be the signature artist for next year's Artful Event in the Beartooths over in Red Lodge. It is a fun time and is a great honor for me. Now I have to paint something to warrant that honor. Maybe something from this summer wanderings... stay tuned. Bye for now and thanks for dropping by.

　

Comments

[Steve Barnes]

Tom:
You old dog! What are you doin' these days.. I have had a great summer! It began with open heart surgery on June 9th. Still recuperating as we write. Just finished four "OM" style guitars and entered 4 paintings in a juried show locally. Find our what the verdict is on Thursday. Sure miss the high country and the fish. Sounds like you have had a good break or two.
Regards,
Steve Barnes