The sun was shining, yet the cold night still clung to the sagebrush with an icy grip...

It was an unusual Saturday morning in the foothills of the Absaroka-Beartooths. The sun was shining, yet the cold night still clung to the sagebrush with an icy grip. My wife and I drove up the hill at the edge of town and as we reached the top, a view which normally reveals miles of rolling prairie, was a lake of clouds, hiding it all.

We wanted to visit the local horse rescue today so we descended further until we disappeared into the fog. I pressed down on the gas, trying to escape it's icy grip. Driving so fast in a cloud so still, we began to wonder if we would see the sun again, or be trapped in place like sagebrush encased by the icy fog. Right at our next turn the fog lifted and we slowed down to enjoy the countryside.

We turned down a gravel road leading us past hundreds of black steers hungrily eating their share of the morning feed. Over the cattle guard the road turned to dirt. The dirt road was rough and winding like a barbed wire fence, forcing the big tires on the jeep to slow up as we are greeted once again by the frozen sagebrush. Standing still like a statue it ignores us as we creep closer to the ranch. Finally we see snow-covered mountains, reflecting the sun into our eyes, but we welcome the bright warm glow. Hoping it will be a warm day on horseback I speed up in anticipation, almost crashing into the new ranch gate.

The sun is shining now and as we get closer to the ranch we can see the wild mustangs are out to pasture. With no clear driveway I crush some sagebrush as we find where to park. The baying of the ranch's hound dogs greet us and two more puppies lick our palms on the front porch. This isn't the part where we'd sit down and have a cool glass of lemonade in the afternoon sun. We came to ride horses, but I will save that for the next post.