What a week of cowgirl and cowboy endorphin-activity. This ranch experience was no dude ranch experience. It was the
real deal of Western cowboy endorphin-filled days.  The setting was Rexburg, Idaho on the McGarry Ranches http://www.mcgarryranches.com/ which are located on the Upper Snake River. The ranch had a main house and several log cabins for the guests.  Meals took place in the at the ranch dining area/kitchen.  In addition to EndorphinGirl™ and Jack Steel there were a total of 10 guests, some travelled from as far away as Belgium and as near as Michigan [Go Blue!] for this experience! 

While no day was typical, a day at the Ranch included:

ü07.00 – meet at the ranch house living room over coffee, while Theron and Jean finish preparing breakfast

ü07.10 – gather at the dining room table for a hearty homemade breakfast

ü07.30 – head to the kitchen to prepare/pack own lunch for the day which will be eaten while out on the plains

ü07.45 – go back to log cabin; change into cowboy gear (boots, wranglers, hat, etc.)

ü08.15 – head down to the stables

ü08.25 – go into the corral to pick up horse [EndorphinGirl™ rode Roxie and Jack Steel rode Annie] and walk to the stables

ü08.35 – saddle up, and everything that goes with it from brushing Roxie or Annie or respective horse, to truly saddling up the horses

ü09.15 – take Roxie and Annie out to the trailer

ü09.40 – depart for the plains with the wranglers and other guests

ü10.30 – and the cow chasing, fence fixing, trail riding, sometimes lopping activities begin

ü13.00 – break for lunch

ü14.30 – and the cow chasing, fence fixing, trail riding, sometimes lopping activities continue

ü17.00 – head back to the ranch

ü18.00 – drink a Rolling Rock, Modelo or Heineken with Jack Steel and sometimes other guests and/or wranglers

ü19.00 – head to a hearty dinner (each night was a delicious home cooked meal, including over-sized steaks on the barbie one night and slaw and hotdogs on the campfire another)

ü20.30 – head to the shower room (yes the WC’s were independent of the log cabins}. It was quite an experience in the middle of the night when the toilet was needed!

ü21.30 – exhausted endorphin-cowboys and cowgirls pass out in their respective log cabins

ü22.00 & onwards – too tired to dream

The daily endorphin activities truly included a significant amount of cow chasing.  The McGarry’s have somewhere between 600 to 1000 cattle.  The cattle are spread through the Targhee National Forest; part of the land in fact is leased by the McGarry’s.  The park is however open to any visitors as well.

Each day the guests were divided into three groups. Three or four people per group along with a wrangler or two.  They would go out to the Forest and follow different trails (such as cow tracks and recent poop droppings J [no kidding] )which would ultimately lead to finding ‘units’ of cows.  The aim was to move the cattle to a designated corral.  These designated corrals are closer to the opening of the Forest. By around October 1^st all 600+ cows need to be moved off the Forest land onto the next phase of their cow life.  It means different things for different cows!  Along the way to finding the cows, a fence that needed fixin' or trees that needed movin’ were respectively fixed or moved.  The barbed wire fences kept the cows inside certain ranges and the clear paths allowed the cows to stick to a trail/path when they were clever enough to do so.  The temporary cowboys and cowgirls followed the schedule and daily routines of the wranglers.  It truly was a working vacation.

That being said, the group of people EndorphinGirl™ and Jack Steel met, the local ranchers and wranglers as well as the other guests, were authentic and fun to be around.  Most were repeat visitors, some in fact having been to the Ranch for a second time already this year.  [Each season brings different ranching activities to get to experience!]

EndorphinGirl™ chuckles now when she thinks about how after Day 1 of ranching she wasn’t really sure  how thrilled she would be with the rest of the week.  She was simply endorphinausted!!!  Particularly after being told by cowgirl Shelley (a repeat visitor) that Monday is always the easy day.  This particular Monday was a very busy day because there were a number of uncooperative cows and other things that needed takin’ care of.  So the temporary cowboys and cowgirls returned to the ranch later than typical.  That evening EndorphinGirl™ lay in bed re-thinking the rest of the week!  But before the thoughts settled, she was in no-dream land and then it was time to rise and shine.  And she and Jack Steel and the other temporary cowboys and cowgirls were off and running (rather riding!) and there was no looking back thereafter.  It was, work, fun, fun, work and so much endorphin energy flowing in Idaho last week. It could not have been any better!  She will save the stories about bee stings and branch scratches and butt aches from the saddle and all that stuff for another time.

Meanwhile, she is back to the local endorphin activity and has re-started a new 30 day shred and has not yet gotten to ripped in 30.  She is on day 2 of the 30 day shred - the second time around!  She believes a repeat of the 30 day shred it a good idea right now! J

Moving completely away from today’s post,  EndorphinGirl™’s son shows he is still in summer thoughts and has EndorphinGirl™ surfing’ in today's image!

Until next time, guest comments always welcome in guestbook and keep on endorphin’.

EndorphinGirl™

Day 2 complete