When our two oldest kids were around the age of 9 or 10 their Uncle Leo decided they should go on a pack trip to the Big Horn mountains. ... Mom didnt like riding horses or heights so chose to stay home with the younger kids while Dad and the two older ones went to the mountains. Uncle Leo said all they needed was the very basic stuff ....theyd hunt for most of their food...l think they had some potatoes and canned bacon. The food supplies they packed in were on one horse. For some reason Leo thought that a horse that is too goofy to ride might make a good pack horse..ha. This one had a come apart in the mountains...ended upside down with the saddle horn stuck in his abdomen.. This was the horse carrying all the supplies. Someone had to take him back down the mountain to the vet.. Uncle Leos hired man was elected. He left with the pack horse and Uncle Leo, Jack, our kids and a couple of kids belonging to Leos boss at the time, continued on their trip up the mountain.... ...minus most of the supplies. After a couple of days everyone was getting pretty hungry.. John remembers slicing potatoes and the canned bacon to make potato soup. The altitude was so high that it took forever for the water to boil.. One day Leo said Its time to find food. Everyone scatter and see what you can bring back... They were hungry and in less than one day they brought in one deer, seven fool hens, and 22 trout. Of course, this was not legal at all. It probably was not hunting season and our outfit was from out of state.....when you rode with Leo that was a minor thing. At that altitude the trout were very small except for their heads!! . Everyone was so hungry that they really gorged on the fresh meat. Unfortunately they all forgot that you cant eat deer meat that fresh without consequences... Everyone was very sick for a day or two.. One day a thunderstorm moved in after they were camped for the night.. The lightening was fierce, as only mountain lightening can be. There were actually balls of fire that rolled down the mountain side. past the tents.. John and Jean remember much of this time vividly as a huge adventure. The tent the kids stayed in had a big patch on it. Leo had bought it at a sale. He said the people who owned it before had a bear rip the tent open and killed one of the occupants. This may or may not have been true, one never knew with Leo but it gave the kids a few sleepless nights I’m sure.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 04:17:40 +0000
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