The Bob Marshall Wilderness Ranch has surrounded many wonderful people with indelible memories.
Besides the glorious feeling of 'putting this wilderness on and wearing it for awhile,' we have FUN!!
REMEMBER WHEN -
And from one of our most memorable guests ; )
LITTLE THINGS PEOPLE
This is the best of times; to be in this vast untainted wilderness alone, and at one, with the river, the trout, the mountains, the wildlife and my thoughts; to walk beneath ancient trees on needle-cushioned ground where possibly no man has ever trod before; to drink water from glaciers that are hundreds, maybe thousands, of years old; to gently hold silvered, wild trout in my hand, just long enough to imprint the beauty and offer thanks, before returning them again to their river. Solitude like this, without loneliness, is a gift of the Gods and these moments command silence. There is a place, in time and in mind, where grace and atavism merge without contradiction, and I've been there.
How about a fresh-picked huckleberry pie for desert, with roast turkey and dressing and fresh baked dinner rolls? Although that doesn't seem possible when you are in the middle of the wilderness, we go to the extra trouble to bring in our unique stoves which allow us to prepare these meals.
Forget dutch ovens, Coleman stoves or cooking over an open fire. Even though we have to cut a lot of wood, and our stoves are cumbersome, very heavy, and a real pain to carry around the wilderness, we, and our guests, think they are worth the special effort. Incidentally, a sheepherder stove is a woodburner that consists of nothing more than two rectangular sheet-metal boxes and a stove pipe. You wouldn't believe what Barbara can create on that contraption - turkey, roast, pies, cakes, and plenty of them.
"Besides being unscrupulous, unsavory, and unprincipled,
Virgil and Barbara Burns will probably make you ride a horse that's wider
than it is long, dig a 200-yard ditch six feet deep before they'll let you
on the critter, and make you sleep in the dirt next to some noisy stream
full of smelly fish. But you'll have a great time at the BM Wilderness Raunch,
er, Ranch." Bill
"The daily kindnesses and the mountains have sloughed off some layers from us all, and as it turns out, we've discovered we're a pretty decent bunch. I recall a noisy, late evening horseshoe game. Those not actually playing are involved in cheering, kibitzing, officiating or offering dubious technical guidance. What are the odds of such an assortment of mature personalities all thoroughly enjoying after-dinner horseshoes in the semi-darkness of a northwestern Montana wilderness in the 1990's." Ed
HORSES
We learn pretty quickly that we can entrust our lives to our horse. Dizzying slopes, boulder strewn riverbeds, rocky dropoffs in deep forests - all are as city sidewalks to the amazing animals. As the miles melt by, the contact of horse and human rump becomes a familiar, friendly feeling, like the fit of well-broken-in moccasins, a feeling garnished by the knowledge that this enigmatic animal is taking me along thread-thin trails to an experience of a lifetime.
I've saved the best for last. A trail ride is a very personal experience. Each of us savored different things, assessed the sweep of the days against a different set of values and ground rules. But it was the sharing of those individual experiences that enriched them, gave them far more meaning than they could possibly have had if enjoyed alone and kept to oneself. And the Burns did more than just do for us. These are tough, durable people who are able to meet this up and down country on its' own terms. They are also good people who care about each other, their horses and their guests. It was partly because of those qualities that at trip's end, as we lay around the ranch yard, there were no "guests" or "crew" just people enjoying each other's company.
