Cattle drive

When Justin and I moved to Laramie we met some people that have come to be good friends of ours; Montie and Cheryl Munroe. They have a paint horse breeding and cattle ranch in Encampment, Wyoming. Every year about the 15th of July they drive 160 head of cattle from the ranch to the Colorado border on the national Forest. This was the first year that I was able to go (since I wasn't pregnant or nursing a baby).
So we met Grandma and Pop Pop on the highway and they took Natalie for a few days, then headed off to Encampment. The first day we start about 5 pm and drive the cows through some sage brush on mostly flat ground to the base of the mountain. Then the second day we start at about 4am and drive the cows straight up one side of the mountain, then straight down, and then strait up the other side, then along a dirt road for another few miles. Hunter was very excited to go, so we decided that he could ride along the road the last few miles. So he stayed with Cheryl for the day and rode around in the truck with the trailer and the other kids who were going to ride later in the day.
It was a long few days, but a lot of fun. We had a good group of riders who could keep most of the cows going in the right direction and out of the thick brush and trees. I hadn't uploaded all the pictures off of our camera before we left, so we only had 2 pictures left, so even after deleting some, we didn't get very many pictures. And I didn't get ANY pictures of the HUGE ups and downs of the drive, because I was too busy moving cows!

Hunter on King, Me on Rebel on the road the last few miles

(Justin and I traded off on Rebel for that last little bit with Hunter

because Luke lost a shoe)

Justin on Rebel, Hunter on King


Hunter holding King from the truck (he was

passing out drinks) on the first day

The view on the first day (with King's ears)



another view of the first day

P.S. At first I thought it was silly to wear the western shirts and cowboy hats, but they really do make a big difference! It was dusty and sunny and there were a lot of branches that could have scratched my arms, but I was cool and sunburn and scratch free.