During this trip, you’ll trail the mother cows and their calves high to their summer range at the top of the Big Horn Mountains, up Little Horn Canyon and through the National Forest. The ride begins with a horsemanship clinic which allows your guides to make sure they have you mounted on a horse that fits your skill level.

There are generally three different camps throughout the week ranging in elevation from 4,200 feet to over 9,000 feet. The camp will have to be taken down and set back up at the next campsite. You’ll ride your horse close to 160 kilometres throughout the week. It’s a saddle-up, rain, hail or shine scenario and the day ends when you get to the destination for the day with the cattle.

Breakfast for the first couple of days is generally around 4:00am and you’re in the saddle by 5:00am. Since there is no electricity in the camps to cook with, the cooks generally start preparing breakfast at around 2:30am. You won’t have a day of less than 6 hours in the saddle and could spend as many as 12 hours in the saddle. Once you’re on the mountain with the herd, breakfast can be delayed to around 7:00am to allow you and the cooks to catch up on some badly needed sleep, and to allow the horses to get a full belly of mountain grass. It will be much cooler on the mountain, so layers are highly encouraged.

Come Friday, you’ll be exhausted, dirty, exhilarated beyond comprehension and desiring a hot shower and a real bed. You’ll head to Bear Lodge for the last night’s celebration. The following morning you’ll be transferred back to Sheridan for onward travel.

These Open Range cattle drives take place entirely on the mountain and are one day shorter than all the other trips. The main emphasis is on moving the cattle to the next pasture in the rotation. This sounds pretty simple, but with just seven pastures covering over 60,000 acres of canyons, timber, high alpine meadows and countless rivers, finding the cattle is a huge challenge in and of itself. On one of the Open Range trips, a GPS reading was taken at the point where they started gathering cattle and then again at the destination where they arrived four days later. As the crow flies, it was 6 kilometres / 4 miles from point to point to point, but because of the impassable canyons they had to swoop around, they had ridden over 40 kilometres / 25 miles to get to the next pasture.

These trips start out at Lake Creek cow camp, where there is a morning horsemanship clinic to get you paired with a horse suitable for your ability. Your luggage will be picked up at that point and transported to the camp where the cattle are grazing. After the horsemanship clinic you’ll ride your horse to the camp, which is about a 4 to 6 hour ride. The following morning you’ll enjoy breakfast at around 7:00am and then start gathering the herd. Your riding posse will head in different directions with the idea of gathering the cattle in a common place for the following day’s push.

On all of the trips, you’ll have a saddlebag-packed lunch and if you’re lucky you’ll get a chance to get off your horse and sit among the wildflowers to eat it. However, on some days there is no time to stop, so you’ll eat as you ride. Again, this is a real cattle drive and work needs to be done and completed. You’ll generally ride back into camp sometime in the late afternoon with a wholesome dinner waiting for you. All of your meals are cooked in a 16-inch cast iron dutch oven, using the hot coals for heat. The food is excellent and there will be plenty of it, as hard working cowboys (and globetrotters) work up a real appetite. You’ll generally move camp once during the week, but again, everything is dictated by the livestock and Mother Nature.

In the evenings after dinner it’s great to sit around the campfire and listen to fellow riders yarn about the day. There is a tonne of laughter shared as the challenge sets in. These two rides in August are the most popular for riders who re-book. The reason? The weather is the most stable and the riding is very real. On the mountains you’ll generally have highs of 30 degrees C and no humidity, so there really is no summer heat to talk about. The trip finishes with a hot shower, a real bed and lots of laughter at Bear Lodge before you’re transferred to Sheridan the following day.

This trip is wide open as to the plan of attack. By September the weather has generally cooled off to highs of around 15 degrees C, with nights sitting around 1 degree C. The trip starts at Lake Creek, which is above 9,000 feet, so you must come prepared for cold weather. It’s highly recommended that you bring a sleeping bag that is rated below zero! It’s not at all uncommon to have a day of snow. Past trips have generally been very lucky with the weather, but there have also been three different days over a period of 20-odd years when, due to white-out blizzard conditions, the group had to sit in camp all day as the visibility just wasn’t high enough to safely go out in.

Like all the rest, this cattle drive starts with a horsemanship clinic. You’ll be in two different camps throughout the week, and the ride will probably involve gathering a herd of cattle on the mountains before trailing them down to the valley. Grazing conditions on the mountain and in the valley determine the number of cattle that you’ll take.

Although the riding on this trip can be the most hazardous, it is one of the most popular cattle drives and sells out first. The leaves are all changing and the wildlife is rutting, which makes for great viewing opportunities. By this time of year the days are noticeably shorter, so it’s not uncommon to ride into camp just ahead of dark. At 9,000 feet, you’ll notice a shortness of breath as the air is much thinner. If you are a heavy smoker or have any breathing issues, this elevation might be more than you can handle, depending on the elevation you normally live at. The promise remains: you’ll not be disappointed with the riding hours or challenges on this trip.

On the last trip of the season, you’ll be riding the entire mountain allotment, bringing any remaining cattle back down to the valley. You’ll start the ride above 9,000 feet and end up in the valley at around 4,200 feet. You’ll generally ride the entire 60,000 acres during this week
– that means lots of saddle time. Just like the September trip, you need to be prepared for snow, with highs of around 10 degrees C and lows below freezing each night.

There can be as many as three different mountain camps on this trip, often centred around the Kerns family’s historical log cabins. The history and stories entwined in these places will transport you to a bygone era. As with all of the cattle drives, you will be sleeping in tents every night, but the smaller group size allows for a faster pace during the week. Each day you’ll head in different directions in order to cover all the areas that might hold stray cattle.

On the last day you’ll head back to Sheridan in the early evening, where the trip officially ends. We recommend booking a night’s accommodation in Sheridan on this last day, so that you’re not rushed to catch an evening flight.

We recommend international guests fly into either Cody, Wyoming or Billings, Montana a day or two before the ride begins so you’re not suffering from jet lag when it comes time to throw a leg over the saddle. If you’re happy and comfortable to hire a car (driving on the right side of the road), it’s a straightforward two hour drive from Billings to Sheridan, or a three hour drive from Cody to Sheridan.

Guests can also fly to Sheridan via Denver (Denver Air Connection) and if you have a spare few days you can hire a car and visit Yellowstone National Park or drive east to visit Mt Rushmore and the Black Hills.

Please note, all guests MUST arrive and stay in Sheridan (at their own expense) the night before the ride begins, so that you’re ready to be picked up around 8am on day 1 and be transferred to the cow camp.