Today’s fruit with granola was pineapple and coconut!
My fried egg.
After Steve and the rest of the anglers and guides took off in the helicopter I was going to try to go for a ride. Last time I rode was in New Mexico where the elevation was 9000 feet and I got very tired. Here the the elevation is 2250 so I hope to do better.
This field is where cattle wintered over. Turnips are planted and the cows feed on them all winter. First they eat the greens and then they eat the turnips.
These are our horses for the ride. I had Shelby, the dark horse.
This is where we stopped for lunch. Dismounting was quite inelegant as my hips got stuck on the back of the saddle. When my guide helped me lifted my leg up I fell right to the ground! I landed with a quick soft thud! I can be quite the klutz at times! Years ago when Sally took dance classes I took a summer class with her. We were supposed to dance across the room doing jetés across the room. I couldn’t stop and ended up crashing into the wall! We all had a good laugh at that!
We remounted after lunch and I was able to walk, trot and canter on the ride back.
Dismounting at the end of the ride was a lot easer as there was a mounting block!
After my ride I asked to check out the wine cellar, which was in the building I showed you yesterday.
It was gorgeous.
There was a bottle from 1967 that I wanted to google a price for but couldn’t find it on line. Not sure if it is vinegar now or superb. It’s not mine, so who cares?
Steve’s fishing locations are all pretty much inaccessible unless you chopper in. It would take days of hiking to get to where he goes via the helicopter. Yes, this is an extra fee, but if Steve doesn’t fly to the spots where the water is fishable, he can’t catch fish! Here are some pictures from his trip today.
I went to town with one of the other guests here who is a non fishing spouse. She needed to mail a package at the post office.
Lake Taupo. A former caldera like Lake Tahoe. It is the largest lake in the Southern Hemisphere. In Taupo I bought three pairs of pants as I thought that I had left a pack with seven pairs of pants on the bed at home! Three weeks vacation with one pair of jeans and two dress pants wasn’t going to cut it for me!
A beautiful fish that Steve caught! This fish was 8.25 pounds! The fish was 26 inches long with a girth of 16 inches. This was Steve’s personal record to date, so I would consider the trip a success so far!He fished the Rangatikei and caught five fish for the day. This stream was bigger, but easily crossable at the tails of pools and wider riffles.
The helicopter approach for Steve’s pickup at the end of his days fishing.
This is where it landed!
The view on the way back.
Appetizers after fishing was beef on a bun.
Chicken pate (not raw).
This I never really figured out what it was!
Nor this one!
Beautiful flowers in the lodge.
Romaine hearts with a chorizo creamy dressing.
Roast pork with twice baked mashed potatoes.
A vegetable medley.
Flan for dessert.
How many pairs of black pants do you own?
How much clothing do you bring on vacation?
Steve’s beard looks a lot less white today. Do you think he packed some Grecian Formula to darken it up? Just asking for a friend.
Here I am at breakfast, reading the literature about the history of Cow Creek.
Please don’t quiz me! This is the view of the dining area from the opposite direction.
Breakfast!
I love my whipped cream on coffee!
After breakfast I wandered down to the horse barn for my scheduled ride.
Can you see the fish in the stream?
Here I am with one of the staff and Lanier one of the owners. This ranch had the first riding waiver that I had to sign that mentioned the possibility of death, I looked at Lanier and asked her how often that happened. I did not relish the thought of being their first casualty!
The creek at Cow Creek was very pretty.
Unfortunately there had been forest fires a few years ago and the hill sides were severely damaged.
This is some damage from a bear that was clawing on the tree!
Look how big the scars are from the bear claws!
My posture looked good, I was happy to be almost done with the ride! At one point in the ride my horse stumbled and I semi fell off it. No worries! I lived to tell the story!
Thank you for the ride Horse!
After my ride I walked back to the room where I rested for the rest of the day. The elevation really got to me and I was exhausted.
This is one of the fish that Steve caught in the morning from one of the lower beats on Cow Creek.
The fish was a real beauty, but Steve prefers less constructed streams. This fish was 21 inches.
So Steve and his guide moved upstream. This was one of the spots where Steve fished later in the day.
Isn’t this a beauty? He preferred the wild trout as opposed to the larger fish in the stocked ponds. This was his first Rio Grande cut throat.
Here is another area where he caught many wild trout.
I tried sitting here to read for a little bit while Steve was fishing. It got a bit too sunny for me so I went back inside.
I could see the horses gather near the gate while I read. You can see all the fire damage here.
This view is of one of the ponds that were created on Cow Creek.
The rooms were in a motel shape arrangement. They had a very bad fire that destroyed much of the landscape here. You can see how close the fire was to the lodge.
We had a somewhat green salad.
Dinner was pot roast. Followed by the cake from the previous night.
There were many hummingbird feeders under the eaves.
Here is a close up of one of the Hummingbirds. Aren’t they cute?
Here is Steve’s guide checking out the water. You can tell that he is the guide as he has the net. Also if the guide were taking the picture he would either have the sport centered in the picture or on the left of the frame looking toward the river. I should stop complaining, and just be thankful that I have a picture of the beautiful stream!
While Steve fished I rode. I bought two shirts and one pair of jeans to wear while I rode. This shirt is a white buffalo plaid. Buffalo plaids are usually red and black. A new fun fact for you!
Below us you see the Artist Colony and some of the creek side cabins. We stayed in one of the Creekside cabins on one of our stays. Brush Creek invites artists (musicians, composers, photographers, painters) to stay for the season and create.
I pondered this all afternoon on my next ride. I did lots of pondering as you can imagine!
Here is a beautiful fish from Steve’s fishing.
On my afternoon ride I found this beautiful deer shed. I am happy that we were going to drive back home as I don’t think that I would have been able to fit it in my suitcase!
Steve and I met back for dinner. This was my entree. It looks like it was polenta with elk tenderloin. It could be something else entirely also!
Dessert was a berry crumble.
So we met my new friends from my ride at the saloon before dinner. I asked them to join us for dinner. I have scrambled their faces to preserve their privacy. We met a new couple also. The couple at the far end of the table run a travel agency that specializes in hunting trips. Brush Creek has much to offer for those that like to shoot and hunt. The ranch used to have bison that were available to hunt , but the bison kept escaping and got in the neighbor’s fields. The neighbors were not very happy at that as the fences were ruined and the cattle were bothered. Bothered cattle do not bring happy cattle prices. So that very pricey hunting option had to be scrapped. The couple on the right, S are the couple that we met last night and I went on the ride with today. S is the owner of the six carat diamond.
No breakfast pictures today. Instead it’s straight to archery. I think this is where I really realized how bad my shoulders are. I couldn’t draw the bow back at all to shoot. I had fun watching though!
Then it was back to the lodge for lunch. Salad, salmon and wagyu sliders.
Dessert was Apple Brown Betty and lemon bars.
Then it was off for a ride with a male wrangler. All comments are kept to myself! Although I might add that he had a nice seat. Ha Ha!
We forded some streams.
Then on the way back we saw the yurts where you can have a massage in the middle of the meadow.
Caesar salad for a starter.
Then chicken for our entree.
This is one of the reasons we keep coming back. A 20 inch brown on the Encampment.
This is Cheyenne the horse that I rode today. There is so much to remember! Shoulders back, chest open, seat firm, hold reins like an ice cream cone, let the horse know who is boss, don’t let him eat grass, lean forward going up hills, lean back going down hills, when you post go up and down faster. If you are hitting the saddle hard it is because you are too slow for the beat, look ahead, not down, sit up like a girl, not slumping like a guy-they are protecting their equipment! Too much too remember but having fun anyway.
This was where I hung out before lunch. Can you believe I got a little sun burn? It’s the high elevation and poorly applied sunscreen!
Dessert from lunch today. I forgot to take pictures of the buffet. Oh well.
Fresh berries and Aunt Linda’s Granola. Linda was the loquacious breakfast cook. She made all the homemade jams, cooked breakfast and also made Granola. Her husband was one of the drivers to meet the guides. Aunt Linda’s husband was quite the talker, but next to Linda he was very quiet!
Home made English Muffins.
Roasted potatoes.
Fresh cherry coffee cake.
This is one of the guests that we met, Sharon. She was so kind to me. She lent me her black Patagonia vest to wear at dinner several nights as I always got cold in my thin tops. At first I thought that she was snooty, but then found out that it was merely her Connecticut accent! Sharon and her husband Bill, were here fishing. Unfortunately it was to be his last fishing trip as he died six months after returning home. Steve and I hope to keep traveling, Steve will fish, while I befriend strangers for as long as we can!
One of the guests C, and Marion the manager of the riding program.
Before we hit the trail we worked on some equestrian skills. Here I am walking over logs.
We saw an air squadron flying in formation!
A view from my ride.
The view towards the road to our cabin.
This was my sack lunch that I brought back to the cabin to eat.
Outside the kitchen area herbs were grown in a hydroponic system.
The dinner menu. (In case you refuse to read the commentary!)
What the chef called a Caesar salad. I’ve never had one with cabbage before!
Here are the rolls. Covered in butter. Highly caloric, but yummy!
Prime Rib with onion rings.
Roasted potatoes, unfortunately they never got passed to me!
Fresh De Beque green beans and tomatoes.
There is a lemon tart below the lemon custard.
We had a new group of guests come today. Here is a picture of all my new friends. They were a large group of guys. Of course I asked Steve to take a picture of me and all the guys. Me and 15 good looking guys, not including my husband, who refused to join me in the picture! This would be a reverse harem story in my romance novels!
Fresh yogurt at breakfast.
Granola and fresh fruit.
More berries.
Quiche with a avocado.
I went on a ride with my wrangler.
She took a picture of me facing both directions!
I spied some deer outside our cabin after my ride.
I went back to the lodge to look around. If you wanted to you could hang out at night around a fire pit. We never did!
My sandwich. Brisket sandwich with match stick french fries.
Lunch included some great cookies! Many chocolate chips in these cookies.
Before Dinner Steve got to sign the book at High Lonseome for getting a grand slam. He became a member of The Grand Slam Club. There had been only 8 people so far this year to have reached this highly coveted accomplishment! He caught a brook, cutthroat, cut-bow and a brown trout. He got a special pin and bragging rights. All the fish have to be caught in one day. There was much festivities involved with the announcement, the chart signing and then the pin presentation. Well done Steve! Not for nothing, but Steve is generally one of the best anglers anywhere he goes!
Steve caught 23 fish this day including this four pound Rainbow!
Dinner started with a Frisée Salad and a fried egg on top.
Fresh rolls in butter.
Cassoulet with rabbit, elk and venison.
Apple Crisp ala mode for dessert.
One of the guests was Gennifer with a G. She loved Orange!
She had her orange hat!
And her orange boots! Gennifer with a G’s boots and hat were all custom made.
Steve was out fishing for the day (surprise, surprise!)and I decided to drive to Fruita to see where all the fruit is grown that this area is know for. Fruita has an average of 300 days of sunshine a year. The weather is mild and there is plenty of water from the nearby Colorado River to irrigate the fruit trees.
While I was out and about Steve caught this monster fish. He caught it on the K Bar T on the White River. It was four pounds and 22 inches. As Steve does catch and release fishing he released it unharmed for someone else to catch on another day. He had a slow day as he only caught 4 fish. However if you catch a fish like this monster, you don’t really care how many fish you caught!
Here are some bowls of the local fruit from breakfast.
I could see this mesa along I-70.
Here is a closeup.
Fruita was very small. Population of around 13,000.
The Colorado River runs through town.
There was grape growing.
When the chicken did not die, the owner decided to feed Mike with an eye dropper. Mike’s owner took the chicken on the side show circuit. Unfortunately Mike the Headless Chicken choked on a kernel of corn and died 18 months later.
My lunch.
In the afternoon I went for a ride.
Before dinner we had an assortment of cheeses.
The menu for dinner.
Green salad.
As always at dinner there were plenty of fresh rolls.
Pot Roast as advertised!
Mashed potatoes.
Here is my plate of pot roast and mashed potatoes.
Dessert was Creme brûlée.
What better way to start the day than a a lemon meringue tart at breakfast? Well maybe if I had a raspberry Pisco sour also! I am trying to get Julio to make me a raspberry Pisco sour at dinner tonight. I think it gets lost in translation as he nods his head, yes to me, but always gives me a regular.
Gaston and I are off on our adventure. Cathy and Juan will hike as she doesn’t care to ride. On the right you see poplar trees that are so popular here. That and fences. Those are the key factors that I use to determine where I am. The country side is similar to New Zealand or Montana. They may have fences, but not in front of all the properties in town! Nor so many poplar trees!
Here you can see the effects of the constant Pantagonian wind. Tree growth is stunted on one side of the tree.
Off to the hills above Coyhaique we will go.
Our destination was Fundo Panguilemu. 
This gentleman works on the farm and was packaging greens. He is from Denmark. That’s a long way from home. He also had a beautiful blonde man bun. I did not flirt with him. I might have wanted to though!
And we are off. Jose who owns the farm led us on the ride. We would be gone for three hours.
This was a wonderful horse riding experience. The scenery was tremendous and listening to Jose was incredible. He had been involved in consulting on sustainable agriculture and breeding of sheep. He finally got a chance to buy a ranch and put his ideas into action.
Here I am in Patagonian heaven. Shoulders back, heels down, toes up, chest open, head up and a big smile on my face!
Here is a photo showing the differences in farming methods using sustainable agriculture versus traditional methods. Field on the upper part of the screen is farmed using traditional Chilean methods. Grass appears brown and sparse. Field on the lower part of the photo shows thick green grass and flowers. Jose’s property used to look like the brown property. In just four years he has changed the land with his methods!
Jose’s theory is to have large numbers of sheep on smaller parcels with a shorter rotation. The poop fertilizes the ground, the weight of the animals compress the plants into the ground which enriches the soil. He feels you don’t necessarily need large amounts of property, just the proper number of animals and the right rotation from feeding area to area.
Such gorgeous scenery.
This is the sheep shearing shed. It was constructed to minimize animal stress when shearing.
Here I am avidly listening and thinking up my next set of questions.
Here is Gaston. I hope to find out if his wife’s name is Belle.
I would call Jose’s outfit half gaucho.
The dirt is so rich looking!
Jose and his wife Lizzie own approximately 2000 sheep. They have eight Pyrenees dogs to protect the flock from predators and rustlers. Unfortunately 20 sheep were recently stolen. The dogs lead the sheep from pasture to pasture.
There are 50 rams that are kept in a pasture until it is time for sheep sex. Pregnancy lasts about 5 months. There is only a short time that the male and female are allowed to get together. Lambing is controlled, you don’t want birthing to last for many weeks. It can’t be too early as it might be too cold, and the lambs will die. You don’t want it to late, as the fleece might not be ready for market. A ewe (mama lamb) often has twins.
Here are hundreds of sheep , it was magical.
All those white dots are sheep and a few dogs.
Running and cavorting all over!
Just spread my ashes here when I die.
Rio Simpson. The ranch goes all the way down to the river. I was too polite to ask how many acres the ranch is.
A closeup of a healthy field.
Come on down! We will go see the cattle and the chicken sheds. The chicken sheds are the little white buildings on the right. Jose has a very large ranch!
The chicken coops are on trailers that move. They are moved every week or so. The ground beneath becomes very fertile. The chickens are free to come and go into the coops. This is considered pasture range chickens. Free range only means that the chickens can go outside. These guys get a fenced in large yard, with plenty of bugs and grass to eat. Healthy chickens produce eggs high in omega 3. The doors are shut at night so puma and mink can’t eat chicken for dinner.
Many happy chickens. About 500 eggs are collected each day at three different times. There are too many eggs to be gathered at once!
These cattle will not be happy much longer. They have just arrived at the farm. They will be castrated and then join the rest of the herd.
These cows and a few oxen are in the happy field. What happened to them, happened a long time ago!
Gaston leads the way to the yurts where we are to warm up and have some coffee to warm up. The Patagonian wind is fierce!
We cross the little bridges and go down hill. It’s hard to walk after a morning riding a horse.
Gaston says “Lindita, come inside!”
The interior is set up for a small snack.
This is the communal living and dining area. Jose and his wife Lizzie have ecotourists who can also stay here.
Do you need to wash your hands before lunch? Come along with me.
Toilet, sink and shower, but no cell coverage.
Who wants to sit for awhile? Doesn’t this room look cozy?
I did perch here before snack, that was really lunch.
The ceiling of the yurt. A gentle fan kept the air nice.
This is zucchini jam with almonds, I have never had that before. Delicious.
Warm rolls!
Scrambled eggs, the eggs were collected only hours ago! We also had Ham and local butter and cheese.
Jose has hair! I have helmet head!
Strawberries with whipped cream.
Beautiful flowers! This was a top notch operation.
A warm brownie with more whipped cream. I am calling this my Volcan Hudson that I didn’t get the day before.
Jose and Lizzie. She is from New Zealand. She always wanted to live on a sheep farm. I told them each how lucky they were to be married to an attractive wonderful person whose careers matched what they wanted to do!
Some fine wool in the making.
We are off to see the inside of they yurts that they have for guests. Are you curious? I was.
Just your basic yurt with bathroom attached.
A romantic bed set up for two.
Julio says “Gaston, you must see the view!”
Insert “awesome” in Spanish!
A full shower and toilet.
Heat and electricity, but no cell service!
This is called the monkey puzzle tree. Araucaria. It is very prickly. It is considered sacred to the natives. It brings good luck to those that plant it.
Alas, it’s time to head back in the fancy jeep and return to Coyhaique River Lodge.
A final good bye to the farmhouse.
Good bye!
Our last gate. This has been one of my favorite rides. The scenery was breathtaking, and the lessons I learned on sustainable agriculture were very interesting.
Cattle on another ranch.
Another one lane bridge, and incoming on the bridge. We must wait our turn.
Rio Simpson, due to all the rain, the river has been too turbid to fish in. Perhaps we will come again so Steve can try his luck. Part of this river flows through Jose’s ranch.
I didn’t show you the kitchen in the lodge. Lots of garlic!
Do you want to see where they are roasting the lamb for dinner? Vegetarians avert your eyes! We will have dinner in the shed tonight.
Julio says “Si! You may take a picture!”
The split lamb is near the fire. All the fat drips away, leaving only the meat.
I can’t wait for dinner! Think that will be enough wine for dinner?
Raspberry Pisco Sour, Julio came through!
Here is one of his beauties that he caught.
A montage from his pictures.
These are some of the flies used by the anglers. This is the coffee table in the great room.
The carving of the beast.
A few pieces got a little more cooked.
The lamb and a potato. The lamb tasted like roast pork. It was very good, but I thought that it would taste like lamb chops. It did not.
I told C that she got the Patagonian oyster.
Here is Steve telling C another story about a fish that he caught. C was very attentive to Steve’s story; as a fishing spouse, she knew when to nod her head and appear interested while Steve nattered on!
Alejandro, one of the guides does not like lamb. He likes potatoes. I asked if he was part Irish. Yes, by then I had drunk many Pisco Sours, and much wine, and thought that my question was exceedingly clever!
More Saluds!
Yes, we finished many bottles of wine. This is halfway through the evening!
Here I am, making the moves on Julio. I asked if he had a wife? No. A girlfriend? Gaston said that he had several! And now, one more!
More Saluds . As it was our last night there was a lot of toasting!
After dinner snackling of the Carcass . (You read that right, in our family we call snacking on a roast snackling).
Me and Julio. Girlfriend numero seis!