Day three! The explorations begin...

After a morning filled with snow shoveling and visiting with contractors, Garrett & I set off to walk around our 42 acre property. We know that 42 acres isn't huge, but when trudging through knee deep snow and leaping streams, it feels pretty good sized. :-)

I wanted to share a candid moment for Garrett leaping over one of the streams that winds through our property. At the top of the Lost Bear Ranch a stream splits and flows around the 2 homes. This is the same one that we show Lightning drinking out of in the picture to the right. Charming!

We made it to the Lost Bear Ranch around 3pm Sunday after a nerve wracking 9 mile drive in from Hwy. 287. North Meadow Creek, our road, is a dirt road that dead ends in the Beaverhead National Forest. We have traveled over 6,000 miles with our horses and trailer in the past 7 months and the closest call we've had was Sunday pulling into the driveway.

The road in was clear but still pretty soupy since everything is melting around here. We started to hit a little snow about 300 yards from the driveway and it was during the turn in that we got stuck. Up to this point, Garrett performed like a Rock Star by not jack-knifing the trailer when it started to slide off the road around a sharp corner to the left. He almost had the turn into the driveway but Blue just couldn't get his 15,000lb. appendage, Millie, around the corner quick enough.

We finally did get the trailer into the driveway and then we waited for Pokey, our neighbor, to come down. He had to finish clearing the drive and the bridge that we needed to cross to get to our parking spot. FYI, we did unload the horses and put them away as soon as the trailer got stuck, just so you know. :-)

In other news, we love our location. The 42 acres that we are on is about a 5 minute walk to 1 million acres of public land, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. There are several fishing lakes in hiking distance from our place that we can't wait to explore. We are at 6,000 feet elevation and have a lot of cool neighbors. We have met some of the folks around us and some other people during our visit to Ennis on Monday. We picked hay up yesterday from some neighbors down the road and tomorrow we are headed south to Cameron to meet with the Head Wrangler at the Sun Ranch Lodge.

Thursday we are planning to drive into Bozeman to scope it out, grocery shop and drop our recycling off. A few days later we are supposed to spend the day with Patti and Robert, picking out our computer and getting familiar with the other rental properties. They have been staying in Big Sky with Patti's daughters. We are having dinner with the four of them this weekend. I think that they are here for another week and will be staying with is one or two nights. We are staying in the upstairs of their place until our house is finished up.

We have started some of our caretaker duties like clearing snow around the property and checking the reservation inquiries for the rentals. We are preparing to stain decks and furniture as soon as things melt off a bit more. I did send out a mass email with the website of the rentals today, check out www.BigSkyFishingandSkiing.com or email me at bigsky@bigskyfishandski.com for more information or a reservation.

I know that Garrett and I have only been here for 3 days but we are happy that we get to spend the summer here. By the end of the summer we will decide along with our employers if we will extend the contract. It is a little cold in the mornings, but I am so happy to be back in the mountains and living an active lifestyle. It feels good to work using my body and mind. I missed the high elevation fresh air and the crispness of the high desert.

Enjoy the new pics and we will keep you guys posted on our trip to the rentals and beyond. Oh, we are also planning to head into town (Ennis) on Easter for the community parade and Easter egg hunt. We thought about letting Roy do the Easter egg hunt. He could fetch eggs and we could carry his basket. :-) Hey, the rules are children under the age of 12 and he is!

Best of life to all of you~~~ HB && GG