20 people showed up for the Big Horn Basin/Big Sky Nat’l Trail Ride. Ed Witskins came from Ohio and has attended several of our rides. Les and Judy Mattfield joined us from the land of 10,000 lakes; Minnesota. Our friends Gary and Tanya Becker came from the great state of Wyoming. The rest of the group came from western Montana and I thank everyone for coming and supporting the ride.

Ed Witskins arrived Tuesday. You know what they say about the early bird getting the worm, in this case it was first pick at where to camp. The Beckers and Mattfields followed me into camp on Thursday. The rest of us showed up over the course of Friday afternoon and evening. Friday evening found us around the camp fire getting meals on our own or sharing what we had brought with others. One thing that I have noticed on these rides is that there is never a shortage of food. After our meal my husband Ed played guitar and sang while we sat around enjoying the fire and music. It was a clear evening with stars everywhere as everyone headed of to slumber land.

Saturday dawned crisp and clean as we all readied ourselves for breakfast and the ride ahead. Ed Witskins, Les, Judy, Gary and Tanya had already had a couple of rides in on the rest of us by this point. It was a relaxed group with plans on leaving camp each day around 9ish. Ed Auger would lead the short ride for that day. He took with him Les and Judy Mattfield on their 4 year old horses. Annette Padgett who I have heard makes the best pizza in the world, (we unfortunately live five hours away and have yet to experience this). Sweet Donna (Goss), as her husband Mark refers to her, and rightly so. I'm just not sure how to refer to her husband Mark yet. I think "the all knowing" has been mentioned. This group headed out on a four hour ride. Which crossed mountain meadows and culminated in wonderful view I hear from a high point. Not to much bush whacking to get to this spot I'm told but the words "with any luck" as in with any luck this is where the trail will come out, were heard to come out of Ed's mouth. All in all it sounded like a wonderful ride and I thank my husband for taking the time out of his weekend to help me with this ride. I couldn't have done it without him.

I took out the long ride. I am Mary Auger by the way. We headed out of camp just before 9:30 and were headed down an old vehicle road that makes a loop around the campground we were staying at. In this group we had Ole Netterburg, Kristina Tracer, Cherry Moon, Gary and Tanya Becker, Ed Witskins,

Frank and Micki, Kari Swenson, who had arrived that morning, and myself. After stopping to open a couple of gates we headed across a mountain meadow that is approximately two and a half miles across, (Frank is a good "gate" man by the way,) with the mountain "Target Rock" as a back drop. It was a little warm going and everyone held up in the shade of the trees for a few minutes to enjoy the cooler temperature. After that it was periods of shade and sun. A few of us had the opportunity to see the print that a black bear had left in the mud after a resent rain. We stopped at 11 and had a lunch break and watered the horses, after which we mounted back up and moved on. We crossed a few streams that were headed down to meet up with the Shields River next to where we were camped. In one of those streams Ole Netterburg (I think he's Norwegian) spotted a small trout headed for cover. We started to climb some in elevation and everyone was able to see the beautiful views that the Crazy Mountains have to offer, including a few patches of snow on the north slopes of peaks. We returned to camp just after lunch which gave everyone an opportunity to have an afternoon nap. Many went out later on short rides around camp.

That evening we had our potluck dinner. Ed and I had brought elks steaks with enough so that those who wished could have some. There was a lot of wonderful food. It was hard to leave the table but several of us were headed out to discover a trail we had seen while riding that day. Kristina, Ole, Frank, Micki, Cherry, Gary and Tanya Becker( who were riding on bareback pads) and myself. Who knew that that trail after a steep start would come out at a creek where we had stopped and watered horses earlier. The ride took us about an hour and when we returned we did some more visiting around the campfire until the weather decided to change and bring in some rain and thunder and lightening. Everyone headed for cover and I thought were finished for the evening (I was), but no they gathered around Ole and Shirley's trailer which has an awning. Die hards.

The next morning saw 11 of us headed to Forest Lake. Annette Padgett rode around the camp area for awhile. Annette and her husband Rick still had to drive back home that day.

We checked to see if horses wanted a drink at the river which ran along the campground. We then started down the trail that we had come in on yesterday. After about a half mile of this road we cut off across a meadow and another creek and a gate. We then rode across a huge meadow, with girth deep grass. This was all Private and I had checked with the land owner to make sure it was OK to cross. She has a home just below Target Rock and everyone wandered what it would be like to live in such a beautiful sitting. A couple more gates and then we started to climb. We took advantage of the shade cast by BIG fir trees to give the horses a breather. When we topped out on the meadow we rode over to the ridge and had a wonderful view of the Crazy's and the Bridger mountain ranges. Numerous photo's were taken in this area. We then headed down through some trees and clear cut areas which lead us to a road that comes in from the north end of the Crazies. After following this road for approximately a mile and a half we reached Forest Lake, which unfortunately had dropped a lot in water level. It was fun to watch the small trout jumping right out of the water. A friend suggested that maybe the reason they were jumping out of the water was because they were hot and trying to cool down.

We had a snack here and decided not to linger as the clouds had been building the whole time we were riding in. So off we went. Back tracking the way we had come and Mark tells me that he was able to demonstrate his horse’s ability to hold a cow on the way back. After reaching the top of the meadow several riders decided to walk down because of bad knees etc. After returning to camp several of us packed up to get home and prepare for the upcoming work week. I was one of them. After making sure everyone was OK and didn't need anything else I headed home. Again I would like to thank everyone who came and hope that those that stayed over had another good ride.

 Submitted by Mary Auger