Roots

Spent the weekend going back to family roots. On our mother's side, my sister and I are fourth generation descendents of the North Park, CO Latham family. Stopped by the Walden cemetery to pay respects.

Most of the relatives are in the southeast corner.

Onward to Maybell, CO. Again, fourth, maybe fifth generation as some of the forebearers might have been legally challenged. Maybell was the scene this past Sunday of the Sombrero Horse Drive. Good excuse for us to get together.

http://www.sombrero.com/adventures/horse-drive/

My lodging (the small one)

My sister stayed at the Old Victory Hotel.

https://www.facebook.com/maybellhotel

When they are full, they don't allow pets. My sister's
schnauzer slept with me. OK guest, doesn't bark or snore  but wants his half in the middle.

Thirteen miles West of Maybell off Highway 40 is the old family homestead. Cousins have kept it in the family and a section is now a private cemetery. This year a cousin's cremains were interred. He had a disabling stroke some fifteen years ago. His family cared for him all that time.

His sister.

My father's grave. He hunted all his life and often said when he died, he wanted us to put him in a gully and cave enough bank over him the coyotes would have to dig hard. Close, there is a badger den in his grave.

He would be pleased to know there is deer scat all over the area. In the tree behind some branches have been rubbed by deer shedding the velvet from their horns. They were probably standing on the grave. That would really please him. My  sister had some venison sausage. She left a piece beside his headstone.

Some miscellaneous shots from the graves area.

There is one in every family. Man on the right is a 90+ year old heavily decorated WWII Pacific Fleet Sailor. For many, a favorite uncle.

He is also a rapist and a pedophile with many victims. He is alive only because his three sons are fine people. My sister had him arrested and convicted.

The problem with grubbing sagebrush is it grows back. On the road down to where the cabins once stood.

What was left of the cabins has been carefully dismantled and preserved. Loose plans to build some type of shelter using the old beams are discussed. We shall see. On the hill in the distance are two year around springs and corrals with a snubbing post for breaking wild horses, a one time family business.

One intact structure is the 100 year old privy. This was commandeered by the ladies. Men and photographs were prohibited. Takes a braver man than me to argue with that bunch.

Back on the Front Range and parking the trailer at a friend's farm took this picture of Longs Peak simply because it pleased me to do so. 

This is my adventure rig. Hoping to make a least one expedition a month this summer.

My desktop is in the shop having a year's worth of malware and viruses cleaned. I use utilities but the crud creeps in. Being a Latter Day Luddite I prefer to have the experts do it. Gives me a taste of how customers may have felt when buying a car from me.

Walden, CO Museum

A small museum honoring the early residents of the North Park region (Jackson County) Colorado. These donated firearms were used to put food on the table and shoot varmints. Probably have little monetary value, being well used, but I appreciated them for being well used tools.

My maternal grandmother was a Latham, one of the early settlers. Many relatives are buried in the Southeast corner of the Walden Cemetery.  

Nearly every small city has a museum. If you have the time, you can see real tools used by real people.

A few pictures from the far South end of the park.

Sombrero III

To get to Maybell, you can go several different ways. I chose to go via Colorado 14 that runs from Sterling, CO to the foot of Rabbit Ears Pass and US 40. From Fort Collins you go up the Cache la Poudre river, a favorite drive if I’m not in a hurry. The area was heavily burned last year but a fresh covering of snow covered the scars. Seems Mother Nature was wearing her make up. The terrain is rugged.

Stopped to take pictures of some of the locals.

The Rabbit Ears of Rabbit Ears Pass.

Community pot luck the night before. There are probably fewer than five people in these pictures I’m not related to by blood or marriage. I attended cowboy style. A cowboy is an appetite riding a horse down the grub line.

The horses.

Some of the dudes who paid $2,500 to take part.

Many of the riders were passing out candy. Zoro was tossing dollar coins. Big horse he is riding (and riding very well). At least 16 hands.

Tough duty. Later he was talking to a couple. Seems their daughter and his daughter were at a track meet in Rangley the day before.

What is an event without vendors?

Several of my relatives are members of Sisters on the Fly. The outside of that spam can make look plain but the inside is WOW.

http://www.sistersonthefly.com/

One of my cousins taking care of the important things while his lady is taking pictures.

Another cousin, a New Mexico LEO, proving twenty+ years of eating donuts hasn’t hurt him.

My relative, being who they are, took the strategic corner early and held their ground.

This is a local rancher who is the real deal. Fourth generation on the land. When one of my aunts moved herself and her five children from Illinois to Maybell, he became close to all of them. They consider him family. That bottle is some Blackberry brandy. Just to take the chill off, you understand.

Excellent timing. You have a big load to move. You choose US 40 on a Sunday afternoon. Nobody told you about a damn circus.

Highway 14 takes your through Walden and the North Park. North Park is the headwaters of the North Platte River. After the Civil War, a lot of settlers moved in from the upper Midwest. My maternal ancestors came from Wisconsin.  North Park once was the summer home of vast numbers of Bison and the natives who hunted them. It also attracted assholes.

http://billingsgazette.com/news/features/outdoors/expedition-of-excess/article_fe245dc0-67e6-5689-ae80-d451696472ce.html

The modern day ones are the rich who buy up ranches and consolidate them. Hobby/trophy ranches.  Every time the park loses two to three families. Logging has always been a staple economic engine and now there is a minor oil boomlet.

But I digress. Many building were erected along the same style of construction and many survive.

The natives used controlled burning to kill off sagebrush and weeds. The next spring native grasses, which the bison preferred, would grow. Get rid of the water suckers (sagebrush, etc) and the native grasses will get belly deep to a horse.

The private land owners have an economic interest in keeping the land productive.

Who were the better caretakers, natives and private land owners or the fucking BLM?

Wow, WSF, you managed to write a long blog without any profanity until you reached the end. Do you have a low opinion of the government caretakers of our public lands?

ADDENDUM. No cell service or WiFi hot spots in Maybell. Two days of withdrawal symptoms.