MAIL DAY . .

Every Wednesday is mail day on the Main Salmon River.  Since there is no road transportation in or out of the ranches mail is brought in by mail plane.  Our service comes through Arnold Aviation out of Cascade Idaho, about 80 miles due south of here by road or I don't know how far in aviation miles.  There are about 20 stops on the mail route.  The plane can also bring any special fresh produce or other groceries if ordered and it will fit in the plane.  The plane is usually a Cessna 185 - with four seats with the back seats taken out or a Cessna 206 which is larger.  The plane first circles our ranch to check for any livestock or other critters on the air strip - elk, deer, big horn sheep or whatever and then comes back for a landing.

Mail plane taxis to a stop on the air strip . ..

 

We go out to meet the plane with the jeep to unload mail and groceries and whatever else we have ordered in.  Thirty some years ago when I was here mail day was so very exciting because it was the only way to receive mail and there was usually a two week turn around.  It was waiting with baited breath to receive a letter from a child or spouse or lover or whomever.  Now we have satellite e-mail, facebook or Skype so there is no wait and not the excitement there once was. 

 

Mail bag used for outgoing and incoming correspondence

 

We put any outgoing mail in our mail bag and receive another one back with our incoming mail.  In the winter if the plane cannot land on skiis, the pilot will drop this mailbag for us on the airstrip.  We go out to meet the plane and greet our pilot, Ray.  Sometimes he will come back to the lodge for a cup of coffee, but not today.  It is too hot and he has to keep going before the air temperature is too hot and he can no longer make landings or takeoffs. Today he is here at 10:00 a.m. and we are not the first stop. 

 

 

The landing . . .

 

Mike unloads mail plane with our mail and other stuff . ..

 

Our mail man Ray with controls in mail plane . . .

 

Mike and pup Cane (sounds like Connie) with truck loaded up from mail plane and headed back to the lodge. ..

 

Mail plane takes off from Shepp Ranch airstrip headed for next ranch, Mackay Bar . . .

 

We go back to the lodge with the mail and sit down at the picnic table to read and enjoy.

 

Mike and Lynn (Managers of Ranch) opening mail and other stuff at picnic table at the lodge . ..

 

And so, I received one letter this first mail day from Jen Lesser who is now living in my Vermont cabin.  Please write if you can.  A hand written letter means so much and promise I will write back.  my address is:

Shepp Ranch

HC 83 Box 8000

Cascade ID 83611

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



EARLY MORNING HIKES . .

Every morning I get up an hour before I am expected in the kitchen to take a 3 mile walk on the River Trail.  I start out at the ranch.  This is my view looking down river - west of the ranch.


View from lodge looking down river . . . .'

Next I cross the Crooked Creek Bridge which flows into the Salmon River just west of the ranch.

 

 







View of Crooked Creek from the bridge . . .

Crooked creek is a fast flowing creek coming out of the mountains.  It powers our generator during the months when it is not frozen.  During the winter the ranch uses a gas powered generator for a few hours each day to keep the freezers cold and to laundry etc etc . ..

 

Still walking west on the trail I now cross the air strip.  We have an airstrip about a 1/4 mile long just for private small fixed wing aircraft and the mail plane which comes in once a week on Wednesdays our USPS mail and any groceries we order in.  I will fly up river on the mail plane next week to White Water Ranch (where I lived 35 years ago) to visit friends.  The only transportation in and out of the ranch is fixed wing small aircraft and/or jet boat or the river trail via horse or mule.

 

                                                        Looking up the air  strip/runway . . .

 

Now I walk about a mile on the river bluffs a few hundred feet above the river.  The view is always breathtaking and I say a word of thanks to the spirits of the River that I am here in this most beautiful place . . . .

 

 

                 Early morning sun on the mountains looking down River from the River trail  . . .

 

The Indian translation from which the name of Idaho came is "Sun coming over the mountains." 

 

The trail is narrow and pitches and rolls and is close to the edge of the bluffs . . . . One has to pay attention.  It is actually safer to ride a mule on these trails, as opposed to a horse, as the mules are more sure footed.

 

Looking up the River trail . . .





 

I walk about a mile and a half, or thirty minutes and then back to the ranch.  Going back, on the right side of the River is the Polly Bemis Place.  Polly was a young Chinese woman brought to the United States at the age of 19 in 1872.  Her feet were originally bound and thus she always had to wear boys shoes.  She came an indentured slave via San Francisco with Hong King and was taken to Warren Idaho to work in the mining saloons.   She was won by Charlie Bemis in a poker game in Warren and he brought her down to his place on the Salmon River and eventually married her.   Their original cabin burned and after Charlie died in 1919 a second cabin was built for Polly.  This cabin is still there with many of Polly's belongings.  The creek there has since been named Polly Creek. Charlie died first and Polly lived to age 80.  You can Google her at Polly Bemis to find out more of her fascinating story.

 

Looking up river to Shepp Ranch on left and Polly Bemis Place on the right . . . .



 

And then it is back to Shepp Ranch for 7:00 a.m. to start breakfast for whomever might wish to partake of eggs, bacon/sausage/ham and fresh muffins or biscuits.

 

Looking up River towards Shepp Ranch on the left . . .

 

And thus ends my early morning River hike.  I hope you have enjoyed this hike with me. It is my time of meditation and reflection.

 

 



 

 



 






ARRIVAL AT SHEPP RANCH

My river transportation to Shepp Ranch - Jet Boat

Cat Yentl and I left Boise at 5:30 a.m. Thursday June 26th to catch my jet boat at Vinegar Creek  at 11:00 a.m. on the Salmon River 26 miles up river from Riggins Idaho.  We stopped in McCall for a cup of coffee and then on to Riggins and the River Road.  Stopped again at the Wind River Bridge to visit my fiddle playing friend Linda who is visiting her sister and brother-in-law who live there.  We arrive at Vinegar Creek boat landing at 10:59 a.m.  Our jet boat is waiting with Mike, Shepp Ranch manager/outfitter, some guests coming into the ranch and a painter who will paint some buildings there for a few days.  Above is a picture of my jet boat.  It takes us about 30 minutes to get to Shepp.  We go through numerous rapids with Mike expertly maneuvering us with skill and aplomb.  It's incredibly bumpy, noisy and there are three of the ranch dogs on board as well and Yentl goes berserk in his carrier. The river is incredibly beautiful as always and it is a lovely, warm and sunny day.

I am so happy to finally be here and have a lovely little cabin to make mine and Yentl's home for the next five months, through the end of hunting season in November.  It is very cozy.  I have hung up my woven wall hanging  of snowflakes from my friend Amy that hung in my cabin in Vermont.  With it, Yentl and I feel as though we are home again.  Yentl escapes for 3 hours from the cabin but miraculously reappears.  I thought after driving 2,700 miles how could he be lost and perhaps be eaten by some wild critter this night.  But he shows up on the porch very pleased with himself.

My cabin at Shepp

 

 

                                                   Woodstove inside of my cabin at Shepp

 

I have a nice loft up top for storage.  I didn't bring too many things and some things I left in storage for saving space in the Yaris I wish I now had.  I settle in and go down to the kitchen at 6:00 p.m. to help prepare for dinner . . . . part of my work as cook's helper.  I do whatever the cook, the other ranch manager Lynn gives me for tasks. She is wonderful and fun.  Dinner with guests here is always at 7:30 p.m. and by the time we finish and clean up it is close to 9:00 p.m.  I must be at the kitchen again at 7:00 a.m. to start the day.  The air has cooled from it's high today of 98 degrees.  I can hear the River running loud from my cabin and it lulls me to sleep.  It is the sweetest, most beautiful music of all.

 

 

THE CROSSING

Thirty -five years ago, at age twenty-eight, I made this trek across these United States, following a young man to the Salmon River of Idaho.  This time, at age sixty-two, I am not following a young man but following the dictates of a much more mature mind.  I think this time to complete some inner work unfinished those many years ago.  I come by myself and of my own accord.  It is taking some major courage and fortitude to close my life in Vermont.  I have left my little cabin overlooking the White Mountains, my dear friends, my law practice and in essence life as it has been for the past fifteen years.  I have come for five months to Shepp Ranch on the main Salmon River, about thirty-eight miles up river from Riggins Idaho.

I left Vermont at 5:30 a.m. on Monday June 2rd with a dear friend and past husband, Willard Abbott.  Willard months ago graciously accepted my invitation of months ago to make this journey.  I didn't feel I could traverse the country 2,700 miles from Norwich Vermont to Boise Idaho alone and stay awake on the road.  We traveled for three days, about fourteen hours each day, Willard driving about fourteen hours a day and me about two hours each day.  Our other traveling companion is my one and a half year old tuxedo cat, Yentl.   Yentl has his bed and litter box atop everything else in the car including, clothing, stuff for the river, a fiddle, mandolin and button box accordion.

Yentl traveling in his bed in the Yaris . . ..

 

Willard, Yentl and I travel listening to John Prine, Nancy Griffith, Perpetual E Motion.  We listen to one novel by Idaho mystery novelist from Sun Valley, Ridley Pearson.  We spend two nights on the road.  One night we stay with Willard's brother just outside Chicago and the second night we hole up in Cheyenne Wyoming. The miles float by and the topography changes from lush green Vermont, evergreens and deciduous trees, to the prairie, sagebrush country, Bureau of Land Management  land full of antelope and finally  arriving in Boise Idaho on Wednesday, June 25th at 6:45 p.m.  The little sky blue 2010 Yaris has safely delivered us.  We celebrate the end of our journey with a dinner at Willard's favorite Thai restaurant and Yentl celebrates by sleeping in a real room with at Willard's house with room to romp and sit on screened window ledges.