Looking back at my husband, the string of horses, and the forks of the Utes as the sun gets lower and the shadows get longer
The digging and dragging and ditch work are complete for the season, but work itself of course continues. That’s what keeps us all going, in one way or another, a point and a purpose to each day. Whatever our purpose may be.
Yesterday, the purpose was bringing a family into the Weminuche Wilderness for their week long vacation. Ten horses, riding the folks and their gear into the high country. They will later backpack themselves out.
I appreciate and respect the few families that still choose to spend time together, to spend time in the mountains, to give up some of the daily comforts for the tremendous views and soothing serenity, to get away from it all… but not from each other. Here at the ranch, there in the high country… away from the traffic, the cell phones, the video games… just for a few days to remember…
This is one of the best parts of living on the mountain; not just visiting, passing by, or spending the fair seasons here, but hunkering down and calling it home and committing to the ups and downs, droughts and blizzards, crowds and immeasurable silence. The opportunity to share, to meet such good people, to learn a little bit about their world as I open up mine to them, to help allow the wilds feel a little more comfortable for those who step outside…
Riding home, hunkered down on my horse as the rain soaked his mane flat against his neck, his alert ears forward, finding each step so smoothly and remarkably rapidly along the muddy and slick trail. Horses with a job to do, a purpose, focused on the task and hand. Don’t we all need that? The sky darkens around us, a string of ten ponies, just my husband and me, too tired to speak, but no words ought to be tossed out there. We look at each other, each managing our string of horses, and smile, and little more needs to be said.