Sheep Day

Today, a local rancher brought a herd of sheep up to near the summit at Engineer.  They brought over 2300 sheep and were there with their herd dogs and their guard dog.  The guard dog was quite entertaining!  When a Jeep or ATV came down the road, the guard dog would run along side barking all the way.

This first picture is of Toni petting one of the five border collie herd dogs at the site.  The dogs loved the attention.

The next are self-explanatory.  Hundreds of sheep!!

 

 



 The next two are pictures of the herders sheep wagon.  The rancher said they normally bring supplies to the herder about once a week and the wagon is moved to a new location about every two weeks. 



This is a picture of the rancher's personal herd dog that doesn't stay on this location.  She is a border collie as well.  All the rest of the border collies were black and white.

 



 

 

The rancher set up this tent and put a table and hot plate inside.  They brought cooked mutton and served everyone small sandwiches.  They also brought bottles of water for the folks in attendance.  I wish I had taken pictures of the group that came but I got distracted while watching the guard dog run after the vehicles on the road. 

The Forest Service Ranger and BLM Range Management were also there to answer questions.

It was a very educational event.   And a good time was had by all.

Trip to Matterhorn

This post will mostly be pictures.  The first one is of the lake just over the Hurricane Pass on California Gulch.  The trail on the other side of the lake is the beginning of Poughkeepsie Gulch.

All the rest were taken on the Matterhorn Trail, which intersects with Engineer Pass, near Capital City.

I got up early in order to finish loading the pictures from the Matterhorn Trail.

Look closely at the next picture for the marmot.  They are numerous in the mountains.  They eat all they can during the spring and summer months so they can hibernate in the winter.  We are sort of following their lead, which is why we like them.  But...............we haven't figured out how to hibernate.

Today is August 2nd, which is "Sheep Day" in the mountains.  There are numerous herds of sheep that are brought in for summer grazing.  The sheep herders bring in a large herd to a specific area and demonstrate their herd dogs, their guard dogs, and generally educate the public.  This year, they will be near the summit of Engineer Pass.

We have happened onto different herds on the trails from time to time.  We main thing to know is to not tarry, don't chase the sheep, and don't try to pet the dogs.  The dogs really don't want you around.  If we aren't too lazy and the weather looks good, we plan to go observe.  (We are getting pickier every day concerning hitting the trails.)