My Time on The Drift

With over 100 years of history behind me, and hopefully many more before, this is our journey on the Green River Drift in 2020.

Sunday, June 28 - Day 11

We started the day expecting heavy rain and had an hour of cool weather before it started. The cattle always move better when it is cool so we were able to get them gathered and moving quickly. Our goal today was to make the Counting Gate regardless of the weather and the rain eased up a bit as the drag (tail end) of the cattle went through. Jamie and Rita Burgess counted cattle this year as they were trailed to their assigned allotments. This helps us as we have to give a headcount on the cattle to the Forest Service. Just like the BLM, we are charged on a per head basis to use the resource from about the beginning of July to mid-October. This count also gives us an idea if we need to back ride and look for missing cattle along the way. Our count coincided with the Forest Service numbers we gave earlier this year, so no back riding needs to be done between when we sorted on our BLM allotment and here. I should note that at this time we are still missing cattle on our BLM allotment which is normal. Our neighbors have been riding to gather their yearlings and have found about six pairs for us which we are thankful for.

I wish I would have taken a picture of the new counting gate just to give you an idea of what it looks like. Much like a long rectangular corral with gates on both ends, the cattle trail through as the gate counter calls out brands on each animal to their helper. This year Jamie called and Rita tallied each brand. If you have ever watched the PBS documentary, "The Drift" you will get to experience the counting gate before new fencing was put in recently.

The rest of the day was wet and cold, but really beautiful too. I think rain makes everything look fresh and new, plus the smells are even better. If I could capture the smell of rain-soaked sagebrush and mountain air of that day, I would. It would be a nice reminder in the middle of winter of what's ahead.

We left the cattle at Jim Creek today and hopefully will have one more day till we reach our Upper Moose/Gyp allotment.