Hut 3 to Hut 4

I think everyone was a little more motivated to get through this ride because the hut was going to be situated on a ranch. We were also told that at this hut, or on the ranch, we would be able to take a shower! I know this was a welcomed change from the limited sponge bath we could take with our ration of water.

Riding and living together for several days can take it's toll and I think we each needed a little space to ourselves. One one of our rests we were so spread out and far from each other that it was apparent we each needed a little time to reflect. Mark chose this time to write in his journal, others continued to chat and eat powerbars.

After the rest we headed down the road. About the time we were going to take another break we came across a couple heavy equipment operators taking a break so we figured we would stop here and take in some of the local color. Turns out these guys work for the county and do nothing but flatten the roads. They loved their work and were more than happy to talk to a couple goof balls on bikes. They told us about the ranch, and the dreaded John Brown Trail we would have to climb through the La Sals. One of them rode dirt bikes and told us about a singe track that would take us off the main hut to hut trail and put us in some beautiful back country. After 3 days of riding fire roads we were elated to hear about an alternative route.

Upon completion of our break we saddled back up and headed down the trail. Several times were were dusted by a-hole cowboys flying down this dirt road with horse trailers. Ironic how when we encounter horses on the trail we practice trail courtesy, but you put these hillbillies behind the wheel of an F150 with a horse trailer and they can't seem to reciprocate. The good news was that we were getting closer to the ranch. After a few hills and turns we came to a fun down hill that basically ended at the ranch. 

As we rolled in to the ranch we noticed our hut was a log cabin. Big on character, but not on space. It was at this point we noticed several trends in our journey. The first was that the directions were somewhat accurate. The next was that the hill profiles for each day were COMPLETELY F-ING WRONG! and the third was that the huts seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. When we opened the door to this one we counted 7 places to sleep. Although 1 of them was actually big enough for 2 people it was a tight squeeze to put 2 in that spot.

We performed the same ritual we had become accustom to with the other huts. Pictures for the memories, video of the inside, picking our place to sleep, and raiding the food cabinet for canned tuna, candy bars, power bars and Gatorade. We then scoped out the area and found the showers with a working toilet (with real water that would flush), and perused the cattle pens. Several of us went back to the hut to unpack, relax, perform maintenance on the bikes and do what ever we needed to do. 

Must have been about an hour after we arrived at the hut and made the rounds that a couple of us decided to join the others up at the ranch. All afternoon we heard the rustling of cattle so we knew something was happening. As Mike, Mark and I walked up in our spandex pants Skip Rod and Dave approached us from the area where the cattle were. I think it was Skip that said something to the effect of, you guys are not going to believe what is going on up there, and you may want to change out of your riding shorts before you get there, them are real cowboys. We repeatedly asked Skip what he was talking about, but he just said, you gotta see it to believe it.....It was that phrase that had us scurrying back to the hut to change out of our riding clothes and in to shorts and t-shirts.

Once again we were off to see what the commotion was up at the ranch. We soon found out what was going on. They were "processing" cattle. What is processing cattle? In it's simplest form it's the act of seeing if a cow is pregnant. How do they do this? Well they put the cow in a cage so it's movement is limited and a vet inserts his hand, no wait whole arm, up the cows rectum to check for pregnancy. As fast as they could put the cows in this cage the vet was shoving his arm (up to the shoulder) in the cows backside. We all gawked in amazement as we watched him "process" one cow after another. The reason for processing the cattle was that if the cow had not been pregnant in 2 years the rancher, Tam, considered them to be overhead and not producing for the ranch. Therefore he wanted to reduce his overhead and get ride of the cows that were costing him money and not adding to the value of the ranch. It's a simple act of controlling your P&L, as city folk we are used to seeing this done through layoffs or "right sizing" rather than a fist and arm in your rectum, although some who have been subjected to "right sizing" may feel like they were "processed".

After dinner we were sitting in front of the hut and Tam came down to enlighten us on the workings of the ranch, the climb ahead of us on the John Brown trail, a heads up on Gateway, and the history of the ranch. After some small talk he asked us how we were gettin' along and if we had any significant challenges. We shared with him some of the highs and lows of the trip and told him how we were getting by. At one point Larry mentioned that Mark, Aunt Jamima, was cooking breakfast for us. Tam proceeded to tell us that "in these here parts we call that a Little Mary". It was from that point forward that Mark became known as Little Mary. One thing Tam made clear was that John Brown trail was a tough climb, and that his Dad had a service shuttling people up the trail. He also told us about the single track the 2 heavy equipment operators told us about. He told us it would shorten the distance we had to ride and gave us directions, but they were like hang a right at this stump, left at the rock cluster, cross the meadow, go to the left of the crick (creek), you will have 2 hike-a-bike sections blah blah blah. For the remainder of the night we had discussions about taking this unmarked single track, or staying on the main road and climbing. The group was just about split. We didn't want to get lost on the single track, nor did we want to spend another day climbing fire road. The decision was made to wait until we got to it the next day before we decided what to do.

After the sun set we retired to the hut for a nights sleep. At one point someone said let's tell jokes. A few were said, but no one seemed to laugh. I don't know how we could laugh for days at farts, but no one could come up with a funny joke. Must have been the elevation.

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