Saturday May 31, 2008

Cody met up with me in Lewiston and off we went. The plan was to make it to Riggins, Idaho and camp and of course...run. We took a six mile run up a canyon road. After about 10 minutes of running we started hearing gun shots. The sound resonated down the canyon. We continued on trying to spot the shooter. As we neared a ranch the sound became louder and louder. We continued to look for a shooter but saw none. We thought maybe it was a cattle or sheep slaughter taking place in the barn . We ran by the gate of the ranch and another went off. This time sound was right next to use. Cody finally identified what the sound was. The rancher was firing off propane to either keep game away or as an avalanche canon. We continued up the canyon, coming to a dirt road that appeared to lead off into a meadow. We followed this up about half a mile and who do we run into? None other than the rancher and his son on a pair of dirt bikes. Cody asked if it was private land, the rancher responded..."Yes." He stood there looking at us then said, " Go on" and pointed up the hill. We continued up the road to a second of cattle grates and turned back. Since it was al up hill we were no cruising down hill, and I wouldn't fear saying that both of us were testing the other out to see just how fast we could get going. It felt great to stretch out my stride after months of running on flat frozen tundra. We headed back to camp that night, sweaty, hungry, and completely satisfied.