we woke before the sun came up… it was a big day. i made some coffee and we set off to meet Mike and Ellen at kendall bridge.
from there we would follow the horse trailers towards union pass, then off-road in the direction of a cow camp near a bend in the green river.
we finally stopped. all in all, there were 4 or 5 trailers and about 8-10 cowboys/ cowgirls.
Mike helped saddle pistol pete for Elle, and they were off! riding the drift…
my Elle was kind of easy to spot with her sombrero and bright green patagonia jacket…
the two Ellens riding together…
now that’s some real cowboyin’!
can’t have a true cattle drive without the iconic western dust haze backlit by a slowly rising sun!
so they rode off deep into the sunrise… and Mike and i decided to go look for bears, like we’ve done so often the last 6 years.
good ol’ squaretop… such a handsome mountain. i really don’t think i’ll ever get sick of looking at and photographing it.
we ended up seeing more dogs that morning than bears. and i saw my first ever river rafting dachshund!
the Ellens finished their cattle drive early… round about noon, and my Elle was exhausted.
so after eating a little peanut butter and honey tortilla lunch, she caught a nice afternoon nap. much needed.
Mike and Ellen came back again that evening to have dinner with us. we took a few more campfire photos… like we did the year before.
Elle got a really cool shot of me…
then i got a shot of her, and made a ghostly appearance in it…
and then i got to shoot another squaretop star photo.
it was another great day in our favorite place in the world, doing all sorts of fun things.
man, if you ever hear me complaining about anything at all, just punch me right in the jaw. seriously.
andrew slaton | blog 
These photos are great!