WRO, Behind the Scenes

Hello from Hayden Creek Ranch, home base for Wilderness River Outfitters. Folks often ask us so “What do you do in the winter when you’re not on the river.” My job is managing the office in the winter. Besides filling out use reports, renewing permits for the various river trips, and booking folks on trips for this season, we operate a cattle ranch. It is a beautiful spot bordering BLM and Salmon National Forest. We have 300 mother cows that need feeding all winter and we tend to their every need while calving during the months of February and March. This involves looking after them night and day to make sure they calve without any problems. When a cow has her calf, we bring the pair into the barn out of the cold for a day, vaccinate the calf and make sure calf has nursed and is dry. Then they are moved out to pasture, where they are feed until summer pasture is available. While we love this area and lifestyle, we do find time for a little snow skiing when not on the ranch and always look forward to getting back on the river each spring. Hope to see some of you in Idaho this summer. Fran Tonsmeire