Youth Program

We started this morning by getting our small crew of 6 into the Castle Mountains for a trip to Castle Town, as all of our plans had to be moved to the afternoon. We decided to take the long way from the start of Fourmile Road through the rocky 19 miles to Castle Town.

Once there, we checked out some of the old buildings, and learned a bit about the town's very short-lived existence. People mainly lived there from 1884 to 1893, then the Silver Panic happened, and the last remaining residents left by 1930. Once we left, we realized that Castle Town was much more accessible through Lennep, being only a few miles away on much smoother roads.

We went back to White Sulphur's Ranger Station for our lunch break. There we met up with the Range Manager who took us back up Fourmile Road to help him build some new electric fence for the pack animals. We took two wraps of electric fencing, some t-posts, and a lot of ring and pigtail posts. When we set the first t-post to make a corner, someone had to make sure that the fencing had tension, so I volunteered to keep an eye on it. After everyone went ahead to either help set up new rings or t-posts, there I stood. Sometimes I half-expected for some wild animal to pop up out of nowhere, but I didn't figure that it'd happen due to our proximity to the road.

After about half an hour of pretty much standing there making sure the cable didn't move, the rest of the crew came down. We went back to where the rig was parked to get water and got to meet the two horses and three mules we were moving to the new pasture. While one of my leaders, Andy, went to check the perimeter of the newly created pasture and the Range Manager went to set up more posts just for extra security, my other leader, Kayli stayed behind with myself and the other crew members and the pack animals.

Shortly afterwards, Andy and the Range Manager returned and we were ready to move the horses and mules to the new pasture. We helped with putting halters on, and getting them across the road and into the new pasture. One of the mules was a little bit rowdy, but I think he was just eager to get into his new spot.

After that, we called it a day and headed back to the Ranger Station. I think after today I appreciate the animals that we ask the help from more. They're honestly some of the kindest, and most gentle animals I've ever had the pleasure of meeting.