I was driving the van this day, and driving up Crevice Mountain to Cheryl's place was seriously like an episode of the show Ice Road Truckers. It was rocky, steep, and tight with some sharp switchback turns. It was crazy! But I made it. I was very happy with my driving skills :-)
When we got to the top of the mountain, I totally fell in love with Cheryl's lodge. We got settled in and then went to her cabin for dinner. We were so excited to have a home cooked meal after hiking and camping for days. She cooked slow roasted pork with mashed potatoes... one of my favorites. She also had a big salad and homemade dessert. It was so nice to sit down with everyone for such a nice dinner. I felt like we were all one big family. All of the sudden I looked outside through the big windows and it was snowing!! It almost brought a tear to my eye; it was just so beautiful. It seriously felt like Christmas dinner or something. I felt so happy and peaceful. It was one of the most memorable experiences of the trip. I will never forget it.
After dessert and coffee, Cheryl told us some stories, including the one about the grizzly bear that broke into her house. I was amazed that the bear was able to get through her window! She showed us pictures of what he did to the house and I was astonished; I couldn't imagine that happening to me. I was also amazed that she had to put 5 slugs through the bear before he finally went down. I was surprised to learn that the Fish and Game officers didn't do much to help her; she seemed like she was really on her own.
Cheryl told us that she has 5 claims for gold on the mountain, and on the other side there is a palladium mine owned by the Russians. She lives in the valley from December to May, and up on the mountain for the rest of the year. It was interesting to hear Cheryl's side of the story about the wolves since she grew up living there and is accustomed to this kind of lifestyle. She thinks that the wolves hurt the ecosystem and they are killing all of the elk and devastating cattle.
We watched the documentary "Wolves in Paradise" with Cheryl after having a discussion with her, which was interesting to say the least. First crack out of the box they were talking about how more livestock have died from lightening than from wolves. However, as the film went on, it did a good job explaining both sides of the story for the most part. I thought it was interesting that the Fish and Wildlife crew put some trouble making wolves into a pen and tried to train them with electric collars not to go after cattle. The poor cow was traumatized and it didn't really seem to work very well. I didn't agree with this idea and I don't think that wolves can be trained. I learned that due to the presence of wolves, cattle are now even scared of dogs, and they are losing weight due to stress. That might not seem like a big deal, but the ranchers make their money from how much the cattle weigh at the end. The ranchers are losing a lot of money, and it could put family farms out of business. This also affects food for people across the country. The tough question is how can we have cattle ranches and wolves at the same time? Hopefully everyone can come together to work it out. I really liked the range rider idea of having a couple of cowboys ride around and protect the cattle every so often. I think increasing the range rider program would be a great place to start.
I have to add that Cheryl had a couple of funny quotes... "Wah wah... call the wahmbulance!" and about the psychedelic van... "Don't laugh, your daughter might be in here!" She was really funny. I liked her a lot.
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