Adventures in Greenough, MT: Chapter 4 - Elk Creek

Streaming out of the mountains to the southeast of Greenough, we used to call it Champion land, after the lumber company, comes Elk Creek, which, if you follow it up, leads to the ghost town of Garnet. I recall, on more than one occasion, my drinking buddies and I driving up the creek in the middle of the night, past a couple hillbilly placer mines, up to the mountaintop village to spook ourselves. While we never tested the camp host with a full intrusion, which would have been scary as heck with those old buildings, it was still mystical to think that other drunkards, back in the day, might have made their way off the mountain, down Elk Creek, to whatever fun might be had in Greenough. Surely we had kindred spirits up there in the woods.

Ahh, those woods; how amazing they are. With grazing leases up there we used to push our cattle into the timber where they could enjoy shade all summer long. Occasionally we would have to drive to Potomac and pick up a cow who, not deterred by a tattered drift fence, had crossed over the mountain to our neighbor's place. Most of these cows had spring calves with them in the woods and come fall it was always interesting to see how these mothers and their young had fared. Gathering the herd one time, my dad's all-time favorite cow, Z27, wasn't to be found and it wasn't until days later that she emerged from the woods on her own...with an amazing bull calf.

Moving cows along Elk Creek is always a challenge and always reminds me of a work dog named, Gurty, and Gurty Gurt was a good dog. The beloved blue heeler would dive into the thicket and come out with cows. Gurty's owner, a cowboy drifter named Tom, kept Gurty's mom in a horse trailer as she was old and blind and would wander off. I always looked up to Tom, who, with his funky pink shades, would bob and sway upon horseback like he was drunk or listening to music, however he was just connected to the horse through his own version of farfegnugen. Despite an affinity for cocaine, Tom was the the best horseman I've ever seen and I'll admit that I was a bit jealous when my friend Neil, who was driving around the woods one day, found Gurty's mom hunkered down under a tree waiting to die. Upon saving the dog, Tom told Neil that he owed him his life. Turns out cowdogs mean a whole lot to cowboys.

Fixing drift fence was my favorite job; I could jump on a 4-wheeler and go into the mountains and eat huckleberries. One day, "working" up in the woods with my friend John, we were traveling along an old fenceline when we looked up to see, no more that ten feet away, a six-by-six bull elk standing broadside just looking at us. We all stood in frozen amazement for what seemed like an eternity. I turned to John and said, "this is a kill shot if there ever was one." And with that acknowledgement, between the three of us, the elk gave a nod and slowly turned and vanished into the trees. To this day it was the most impressive wildlife contact I've ever had.

Elk Creek meanders through pastures. I took a canoe down it one time and couldn't see much scenery from behind the wall of grass on either side of the steam. Sometime earlier, under the control of previous owners, Elk Creek had been diverted to provide water to pastures and unfortunately the resulting sediment buildup eliminated native bull trout runs in the creek. As a great steward to the land, my father returned Elk Creek to it's original channel and the bull trout returned! Just one of the great things my dad did for the ranch.

Across the highway and down towards the Blackfoot River is a one of the best parts of Elk Creek and because the zone is so special my pals and I did a sweat lodge down there. With some tarps and few bowed trees we made a pretty hot sweat lodge and with some Enya playing in the background, my friend Paul, who was our shaman for the day, proceeded to bless the ceremony with a speech that ended a little something like, "and with that I have one last request, Mullendore, please put Mr. Smiley away." I looked down and to my embarrassment was exposed through my boxer briefs. Ooops. Sorry about that. Please proceed :)