Sheep Mountain

Sheep Mountain stands behind our home.  It is the thumb of the mitten of mountains called the Snowy Range. There are moose, elk, deer, cougars, bears, eagles, grouse and a number of other types of animals that live there.  Humans have come to the mountain too; there are tipi rings, mines, native burials, and pieces of broken equipment on it. It supplies us with elk, deer, wild raspberries and herbs like pipsissiwa and yarrow.  We even gather small fossils, belemites, with our grand nephews on the mountainsides. 

Now the mountain is a preserve with no roads on the top and surrounded by private land.  It has always been a quiet place due in part to its inaccessibility.  It’s not just the private property, it is the mountain itself which juts up 1500 ft. from the land around it and the footing of grus or ‘rotten rock’; granite that was poorly complied during the geologic period it was constructed.  Even the trees have trouble finding good purchase for their roots.  Now they are struggling with the bark beetle infestation.  The ribbons of limber and ponderosa pines that embellish the sides are now mostly gray and red, not the rich green they were when we built our house here 30 years ago.  It is here that Gary runs.  He would assure you there are trails, but I am not sure you would see them.  Even Bob, his coach, was unsure when he began to run with Gary on the mountain.  He followed Gary through the course and over the wind-felled trees. His trails involve deer trails, ravines, a couple of rock outcrops and the remnant of the two track that traverses the top.

His runs bring him back refreshed and full of life and stories; he saw three elk, he saw fresh cougar tracks, the limber pines didn’t set cones, there is a new elk camp with pinto packhorses… He becomes young and his worries about the world erode.