Reminded me of an excellent read from about ten years ago by one of my favorite authors, John McPhee, titled “Irons In The Fire.” The first of several stories in that book is about cattle rustling in Nevada in the '90’s. McPhee rode with a Nevada brand inspector from Ely NV long enough to document and write the title piece.
If you aren’t familiar with John McPhee and enjoy reading, you might want to check out some of his literature. Excellent writing with a great sense of humor. Several books with geology of the western states as the main theme, and many other works on subjects like birch bark canoes, oranges, the Pine Barrens of N.J. to name just a few. McPhee, who probably has well over thirty titles in print, is widely regarded as one of the best American writers of the second half of the twentieth century.
That article was also in our paper. I have visited that area both to fish and hunt. It is indeed remote. Once spent 3 days fishing the Trout Creek mountains near there and never saw another person.
Just a couple years ago they caught a guy over near Burns, Oregon that had some stolen cattle. Of course he said they just wandered on to his property. I worked on that Roaring Springs Ranch around 30 years ago. Back then the ranch covered 750,000 acres and we ran about 5,000 head of cattle. There is a spring that pours from the base of the rimrock near the ranch that gave the place it’s name. The spring had a few small trout in it and there were a couple little ponds near one of the horse corrals that we caught a couple trout from that must have been in the 5lb range. It is one of the most remote places in Oregon.
I wasn’t sure exactly where Roaring Springs Ranch is, so I googled it. Came up with another very interesting article on the ranch and Davies, from about ten years ago.
All of a sudden this is a not so not fly fishing thread !!
That Steen’s Mountain country is beautiful, if you like high desert, and I happen to love it. I’ve been wanting to fish the Donner and Blitzen for years, but the closest I got was Mann Lake a few years ago on the other side of the mountain.
First time I drove from Burns Junction to Winnemucca NV I was awed by how raw and open that part of the state is. Some of the most remote, desolate, and beautiful country a western guy can travel.
John, thanks to the link on that article. I have a subscription to Range Magazine but did not get it until after that article was published. I will have to see if I can order that back issue. I love that magazine. Probably the only one that I actually read from front to back.
You are right about the desolate and beautiful country. I love it over there. If I could find a job over there I would move there in a heart beat. It’s amazing how you can walk up to some of those little creeks or springs over there that has no more water in it than what would flow from a garden hose and see fish swimming. If you are ever back in that part of the country when the snow is gone from the mountains you need to drive up to the top of the Steens.
One thing I would really like to do, but I honestly don’t know if I will be up to it much longer, is to HIKE up Steen’s Mountain to see the mustang herd. Then go fishing.
John
P.S. By the time I fished Mann Lake, the goldfish had pretty much overrun it. Caught one, the only fish I caught there. Only goldfish I ever caught, and on a fly.
John I hope you get to see them someday before they are gone. I use to hike up behind the ranch when I got a day off and a few times I got to see some of the Mustangs. Beautiful animals. The Kiger Mustangs are thought to be one of the most pure herds of Spanish Mustangs left in the wild. It is a shame the BLM has to go in and trap them to sell off at auction. They have a management area for the Kigers of around 37,000 acres and they think anything over 82 animals is over population. Just my opinion but I don’t know why they can’t leave them and the wild burros alone.
One thing I would really like to do, but I honestly don’t know if I will be up to it much longer, is to HIKE up Steen’s Mountain to see the mustang herd. Then go fishing.
John
Are you averse to sitting a saddle on a tame one John?
John, Lews idea may be just the ticket. Might even get you a bit closer to them. I would love to take a month or so and have a horse and just ride all over that country. Year before last we bought some surplus Forest Service property at Van. It was a work station that they no longer used. Small house and a warehouse with a little property. Has a creek running past the back of the property. I sit out on the porch in the evenings when I am there looking up at the hills and watching the deer feeding out in the meadows. I wish some of those wild horses would wonder into that area.
John - If you take a look at the picture at the top of your BLM link you will see what I believe is Kiger Gorge. The hike down to Kiger Creek is not too bad. I did it about 20 years ago in hopes of fishing where few have bothered. The results were one hour of flipping flies & two small rainbows even though the water was beautiful. The only thing I brought out of there was a couple of old rusty beer cans and some sore muscles from the hike out. All in all it was a great trip and well worth the trek.