what did every body here do on the 4th of july weekend

I had to get the dog away from the fireworks, so her and I headed to the Minam River Valley in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in Eastern Oregon. We did about 30 miles on an in and out. At the 8 mile point we got to Reds Historic Horse Ranch which is now operated by the Forest Service. There are no roads in. Access is by foot, horseback or small plane. They have a grass air field and private planes come in and out. After the 8 miles in, I stopped at the ranch and the caretakers were nice enough to ask me if I would like one of their beers. The only thing I could think to say was, Duh! One of the caretakers looked to be in his mid 60's and had worked at the ranch continually since the 1960's when he was in high school. He spoke about working there when it was an operating horse ranch, guiding elk hunters in the fall and then later, stories of all the Hollywood actors and types that used to fly in and spend time there after it was converted to a "dude ranch".

The scoop, was that there is a rotating schedule of volunteer caretakers every week of the season. It looked like a nice way to spend a one week vacation.

One beer from the caretakers, some good conversation and great hospitality after an 8 mile hike in was very enjoyable and I got a nice tour of the historic ranch and guest cabins, all on the bank of the Minam River. After the break I headed down river another 5 miles and spent a total of 3 nights in the wilderness at 3 different locations.

I felt very independent on independence day.

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