Wyoming Cattle Drive

BIGHORN MOUNTAINS

LOVELL - WYOMING

I am looking back thru old pictures and chronicling campgrounds for National Forest Camper. I stumbled on some pictures and a video and realized that I had to do something with it. For that website I am putting together blog entries for all of my previous visits to recreation sites in our national forests focusing on the campgrounds. This cattle drive is not a campground and its not even technically in the Bighorn National Forest so I didnt think it really fit into that website although maybe it should. So what we learned from a cowboy on
a horse is that these cattle are headed up US 14A near Lovell WY and going to spend the next couple of months grazing on leased federal land in the Bighorn National Forest. These ranchers drive their cattle up that mountain every single summer and drive them back on down before they get snowed in. What an amazing sight!

Here is the video that my daughter (then 8) captured early on. Its less than 3 minutes and I wish it were of the whole time from beginning to end. Oh well. Keep learning that more is better. 

This cattle drive originates near a town called Lovell Wyoming. Love this town. A town I visit when camping in the northern section of the Bighorn Mountains. It sits in the Bighorn Basin just south of the Bighorn Canyon Recreation Area, at the base of the Bighorn Mountains and an hour to the west is Cody and the east entrance to Yellowstone NP. On this trip this town provided free showers in a truck stop just west of town and a place to do some laundry. We'd been on the road for many days at this point and needed both. The truck stop has since began charging for showers. What a shame. Employees thought so too. It turns out that the owner has since sold out to someone else who doesnt feel as strongly as he does that showers for the truck drivers (and anyone else) who frequent his business should be given showers free of charge with towels included. They were clean too. Fantastic. I digress. Cattle Drive. I need to talk about the cows. I'll do another post again sometime about Lovell. I probably have pictures of the truck stop too. 

So after leaving the town of Lovell we were headed back up US 14A to Shell Creek Campground where we were staying. The pictures might now show this but it was late in the day and the sun would be going down soon. Add to that the hour and a half drive still had ahead of us it was important we get hustlin down the road.

A few miles out of town and just shy of the Big Horn river we started to see something on the road ahead. As we got closer we realized there were cattle on the road. Not just one or two but many more than we could ever count. We had no idea what was going on but it sure looked exciting. People on horses and lots of cows. Lots and lots of cows and all of them being very vocal about their unhappiness with the situation. Turns out they were being driven up the mountain to greener pastures and better eatin. Driving thru the Bighorn Mountains you are guaranteed to see lots of cattle as the land is great for cattle grazing. Turns out that many ranchers down in the basin lease land from the forest service up there as its a great place to do that. Not all ranchers do as we saw farms with cattle who looked like they were setup for the summer and would not be hiking up the mountain. 

Along the way we opened our windows and took in the event. It was loud and there were lots of obstacles to steer clear of. Mainly the cows. What we quickly realized was that there were so many cattle on the road that if we didnt get to the bridge across the Bighorn River before the lead mass we might be stuck for awhile. In fact it might be a long while or at least thats what someone on a horse told me. So I made hay for the bridge and veered in and out of the cows dodging their massive bodies that were barrelling down the road towards the river. I didnt hit a one. But I needed to keep up the pace as the race was on and I didnt want to have a long wait for the cattle mass to cross ahead of me. After it was all over I realized that not getting across ahead of the cows might have been a night to remember. Sure I would have had a long drive in the dark back to the campground but who knows what might have happened had I been forced to slow down. 

Sure enough my lead foot and swift maneuvers got me there first. Well not exactly first but the crowd was in my rear and that meant I would have room to get across ahead of the crowd. There were so many cattle though and I noticed a large mass of them ahead of me. What I remember most was the noise. I never would have imagined they would be so noisy. 

I wish I would have had more pictures than I do. I'm glad I have what I have. On this trip we only had one camera and that meant we were shooting video or taking pictures. One or the other. We took one video and after we turned the video off we took these pictures. The video is not that hot. Its pre-1080p for sure and looks a lot older than it actually is. 

It didnt take me long to realize that the whole experience of being part of this was coming to an end way too quickly. As we came to our last group of stock I wanted to go back and do it all over again. I tend to do that. I move very fast and sometimes realize before I'm even finished with something that I wish I could go back for a redo and this time really take it slow and make it last. I've always thought about going back with the intention of doing this again but who does one talk to see when they will be moving their cattle up the mountain. If you know who to talk to please let me know.