Monday, July 2, 2012

Clarks Fork Horse Camping ... Last Day :(

After such a long ride yesterday, we decided to give the horses (and Ollie) a break.  Sandy's husband Evan arrived in time for some fishing and he's VERY good at it!!  I used to fish a lot with my Dad and loved catching a nice trout!!  Evan, on the other hand, caught a total of 70 fish ... catch and release of course.  He only kept a few, most of which looked like this!!
Ollie was pretty tuckered out at breakfast ... she elected to stay in camp.
We finally saddled up and rode out about 10:00 on a rarely used trail not found on the local maps.  The trail clearing crew mentioned it to Sandy, who decided it would be a nice short ride.  We found the trailhead and followed it down the river.  All the little rivers and gullies were running with water from the snow melt.  We crossed several with Petey and Patches jumping a couple of them.
The views up here are gorgeous and show how rugged the area is.  As you can see, all trails lead UP!!
Another local landmark is the "Iceberg" ... I guess it kind of looks like one??  We rode for about 4 hours and returned.
Back in camp having BLT sandwiches with Mac and Cheese for dinner, I began to reminisce about my Dad's camping and pack trips to gather cattle in the mountains.  He loved to cook and had a dutch oven that he used every night and every morning.  Evan perked up when I remembered he would cook biscuits every morning over pine cone coals.  He had never heard of such a thing.  So I volunteered to gather a gunny sack full for him to try the next day.  Well it didn't take long until he had the pinecones going and the biscuits made (bisquick that is).  Once the cones burn down, you scrape most aside and set the oven in the center ... lay in the biscuits (Evan dropped them in by spoonful) ... put the lid on and cover it with coals.  Then push the coals all up around the outside edge ... and wait ... patiently!!!
After about 20 minutes we checked them ... looking good!!!!  Maybe 10 minutes later they were done and were the BEST Bisquick biscuits I've ever tasted!!!  Smothered in butter and jam or honey ... YUMMY!!!!!
Crispy on the top and bottom ... I was pleased it had worked for them.  After all, it has been 20 years since I tried this.  By the way, my dad also made pies and cobblers!!  Didn't take Evan long ... the next day they dumped in all the fruit they had left over and covered it with a mixture of 1 cup bisquick, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk (Evans recipe).  Baked like the biscuits, they LOVED the cobbler!!!  Sooo happy I could pass on the recipes and directions for dutch oven biscuits!!!!

Time for me to go ... and as I opened the door and got in my truck, Petey actually raised his head and whinnied at me ... goodbye my friend ... see you next time!!!

PS  You guessed it ... I'm getting new tires on my horse trailer!!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment