Cold, but Fun

Jackson Butte far in the distance, snow capped peaks of the LaSals, sky over Chicken Corner and after eventually getting Linny to uncross her eyes and pull her tongue in, the Linster with Chicken Corner behind her. Linster says "Tom it's really cold, but really fun." Ahhh, Tom's best friend.

The Skinny People

The gang hikes to visit the Land of the Skinny People. Linny heads up to the entrance as Erich follows. Leaving the Land of the Skinny People they find A Thousand Eyes staring at them. Linny's not sure there's a thousand so her and Tom are going to go back someday and count them.

The Picture

Patrick and Jessica returned last week and Patrick took his magic camera and spent most of three days out on the trail with Tom looking for "the picture". Patrick appears to have done ok. To make larger, click on the individual picture.

Shots

The Rain

A few people have had trouble getting the black videos to work, don't know why. Best luck has been to click on the individual post, where is says "The Rain" and then when it goes to a new page, click the arrow.

Pinto, Louise, Something Small, Small Something &......

Tom returns from a day on the trail to find Pinto, Louise, Thelma's lamb (no longer a baby) and Louise's lamb checking out the pen, but Durango and the female are inside. On Monday or Tuesday Last Hurrah will divide the pen, moving the two new sheep to the far side and opening the near side for the old sheep so Tom can enclose them and cut off the two lamb's tails, in theory.

The Day Clears

The Echo of Chicken Corner

A Chicken, a Horse, and Thelma and Louise Point

Erich, Pat and Tom spend the day looking for THE picture. A rock snowman watches from Chicken Corner, the overhang at Dead Horse Point is shrouded in the clouds, and the day clears across the river above Thelma and Louise Point.

Somebody's Watching Me

Looking south from a Colorado River overlook Tom and Patrick notice movement in the flat area below. Focusing in find Pinto, Louise, and the two lambs. Looking back, notice something watching them.

Thirty Seconds Later the Sun Hit It

More Saddle

The Saddle

Patrick and Jessica have returned to Base Camp and Patrick has brought his amazing photographic skills with him. His first request is a clear shot of the Saddle. Tom and Patrick take off in search of such a place. What follows are all taken with Tom's not so amazing photographic skills. Mother Nature arrives to give them more options in a 30 minute period than they could have ever hoped for.

So It Begins

In town the middle of March is referred to as the beginning of the tourist season. At Base Camp we think of it as the time old friends return and we make new friends. That time has come much earlier this year. Erich showed up yesterday for his third visit to Base Camp and renewed friendship with our neighbors. From left to right John, Erich, Doug, and Bear as Doug gives Erich some of the German good stuff.

Fog of Wednesday Morning From Hurrah

Always Entertaining

Tom last saw folks from Last Hurrah (neighbor) a week ago and told them the sheep had been missing for a week. Today Tom looks down at the pen and sees two new sheep. Last Hurrah folk say they're going to try again. Tom tells them he and Linny found the current sheep on the fire road. Last Hurrah folk say the two lambs need to be drawn into the pen so their tails can be cut off and these new sheep will draw them in. Tom reminds them the gate is closed to keep the new sheep from escaping until they are acclimated. How will the current ones get in? Last Hurrah folk say "no problem" they will hike up the fire road, catch the new lamb, and drag it by the tail to the pen (about a mile) and the others will follow. Tom returns to the lodge, gets the binoculars and a beer, and sits on the back porch watching Larry, Curly, and Moe chase Pinto and the other no problems around, eventually wearing out, heads hanging down, return to their truck. In the meantime...

If You Want Something Done Right (or at all) Do It Yourself

For two years Tom has been telling BLM the sign is wrong at the intersection of Lockhart Basin (left) and Chicken Corner (straight). Each year Tom and Linny find lost souls who have taken a wrong turn (following the sign) and get them right. Today, Tom and Linny decide to fix it themselves. Now if only they can get the map people to list Chicken Corner where it really is and get the sign people to spell it right (no S). Baby steps, baby steps.

Saturday Night is Alright

As the bright red streaks of a late winter sky depart, Linny and Tom know that with the combination of Mother Earth, Mother Nature, and Father Time, each day at Base Camp is a roll of the dice. Today, with Thelma's sister Louise giving birth and a potential mother for the lamb she left behind Linny and Tom believe they got the roll and while all days won't turn out like this one, they'll take them when they get them.

Mother Nature Makes Things Right

Tom returns from six days on the road to hear Shane say the sheep never showed up the whole time he was gone. Linny and Tom set out in search of the two week absence of the sheep. Not long into the search, Linny thinks she sees something high in the rocks and Tom and Linny head up the trail. While the fear at the lodge was the lamb would not get milk with the loss of Thelma, to Tom and Linny's surprise, Thelma's sister Louise, has given birth and now there is a mother for not one, but two lambs.

Kane Creek Canyon

Hogan (Hulk)

The Road/Creek Out

Saturday

It's been a week since the sheep have shown themselves. Twice food and goat milk have been consumed so Tom now rakes the pen entrance to see if there are any fresh footprints. The snow was just about all gone when the day came and brought a fresh layer, but by the end of the day, it too had retreated.

The River

Somehow Kobae's footprints from last October still exist at the beach.

No sign of the sheep in four days. Twice Tom has walked down to the pen and the goat's milk and food was gone. Today that was the case. The concern is the lamb is sick and not getting enough nutrition and has gone to be with mother. Pinto and Louise will stay through to the end as he suspects was the case with Thelma. A very helpless feeling. If they don't want to be found, as Tom has learned through endless days tracking them, they won't be.

Wednesday Good Night