Bell Cross Ranch is a 10,000 acre ranch near Cascade Montana and is so named for a particular geological formation that looks like a bell. As I understand it, it is owned by a group of investors with whom my Dad is associated. A month or two ago he came up here for an event, and not long after that he sent out an email seeking interest in a family trip. Winters up here, wherever you are when it hits, you you better hope you have all your provisions in, because you're going to be there a while, so we'd need to go soon in order to beat the brutal winter season.
So the last Thursday of September I got up in pre-dawn darkness and Steve drove me to the airport to meet twelve other family members to leave on a 6:29AM flight. One more family member joined the party in Denver and we all caught the last leg of travel together, getting into Great Falls about 1:30 or so (local time). About a half-hour drive west, just past Cascade, we left the I-15 highway and drove up a gravel road to a ranch gate, and another good, long, winding way after that, arrived at The Lodge.
This is a five-star resort class facility, built like a large, comfortable, upscale home, built for comfort and for entertaining. There are ten suites here at the lodge, all named after wildlife. My cousin Kristen and I are staying in The Whitetail room.
In the cowboy days they used to build "Outposts" which were sort of like temporary settlements or camps. If you found an outpost you could stop there and find shelter without having to start completely from scratch building your own. There's a cabin, for instance. It's in a slightly sheltered area near a stream, a good place for a camp. Bell Cross has constructed some log fence with gates to define the area.
The cabin is old, not practical for current use, but it is interesting and historic. It has been used within the last one hundred years, which I can tell by a few slightly modern fixtures, such as a circa 50s metal cabinet, installed up high (to keep raccoons and maybe small bear out), and a wood stove constructed from a 55 gallon metal barrel. The cabin has a dirt floor, though, where plants try their best to sprout and grow, but it's too dark for them to thrive. The threshold is worn down and broken. I don’t remember seeing a door. The glass has been broken out of the window so long that you can't even find any bits of broken glass on the ground. You can see sky through the roof beams.
Up the hill, across the stream there's an outhouse, which has been "modernized" and "civilized" with bug screen, glassed windows up high on the gable ends for light, real toilet paper, fresh paneling on the walls, nice contemporary wooden toilet seats, electric Coleman lanterns, in case it's too dark for the window-lights to work, and art on the walls. And it's a two-seater, so all that on both sides.
The first day we got here we rode ATVs over to the old outpost area where Bell Cross has set up a picnic area with a rock pit for bonfires, surrounded by Montana-version-Adirondack-style chairs and rough-hewn log benches. There are several picnic tables about.
This morning some of our party mounted up and rode horses out to "The Outpost Cabin" for a picnic. Takes a horse and rider a little over an hour to make that ride. The rest of us ATV'd out there (more like a 25 - 30 minute ride on a motorized vehicle). On the way out there we came across one each rattle snake (now gone to the great snake warming road in the sky) and one bullsnake (who was sensible enough to slither into the brush before being invited to join the rattlesnake) in the road. The staff put on a very nice picnic for us and then some of us switched rides coming back.
Coming back I rode a pretty auburn horse with black feet, mane and tail, called Hollywood Stearns. Hollywood because that's his name, and Stearns, because that's the name of the guy that bought him and brought him to Bell Cross. Aunt Charlene had ridden Hollywood out to the picnic and she didn't seem to have had too rough a ride, so I thought Hollywood was the horse for me.
When we got ready to mount up to come back I told Carlene I was going to ride Hollywood and she said, "Oh, no!"
"Why? I thought he was a good horse."
"Hollywood kinda likes to be by himself and he wants to eat all the time, and then he gets behind and has to run to catch up with everybody else."
I said, "He sounds just like me!"
That got a chuckle from everyone and Uncle Lanny said, "You ought to get along just fine, then!"
But just to be safe, they had a wrangler go with me to "pony" Hollywood, leading him to keep him on task and also to keep him from running off since I am not a seasoned rider at all, and out of shape besides that. It was fun, and I can say I did it, I rode a horse. By golly.
About three quarters of the way back, I got a monster cramp in my upper leg, the sharp charley-horse kind. You know how when you get one of those you can’t work it out without dramatically shifting your position, and we were clopp-clopp-clopping along and I started hollering, “Ow! Ow! I’ve got a cramp! I have to get off! Aah! Cramp! Cramp! I have to get off!”
My wrangler, Roberto, a good, patient, kind man, helped me off the horse. I knew we had gone more than half way and I knew I could walk the rest of the way if I had to, but I also knew that when he got back to the barn he might send an ATV back for me. It also happened that the staff that had carried the picnic out to the outpost were yet to come back and I might be able to hitch a ride with them, so I told Roberto it was okay to take Hollywood on in to the barn. I started walking on some pretty wobbly legs, looking for a big rock to sit on, but all the sit-worthy rocks were somewhere else. Before you know it, though, the kitchen crew came along and gave me a ride back to the lodge.
Beat like a bad dog, I got me a nice hot shower, washed the dust out of my hair and eyes and started to download some of the pictures I’ve taken.
Tonight they have a band in for our entertainment and it sounds like supper will be ready before long. I’m going to go join the party now and will share more later.
