Rolling Dog Farm Blog

On the way back from taking Trooper and Popeye to the vet in Helena today (see post above), I decided to take some photos of the road home — during the last 10 or so miles, from just north of Helmville on Montana Highway 141 all the way to the ranch.  So here’s a quick travelogue.  And yes, I did take them while driving, but don’t worry, I wasn’t looking through the viewfinder as I drove … just using the autofocus and clicking away!

In the first photo at top, I’ve driven past Helmville and am heading toward the junction with Montana Highway 200 at the Blackfoot River.  In this next photo I’m on Hwy 200, now headed west.  That’s Ovando Mountain in the distance … the ranch is at the base of the mountain:

Still heading west, and after this curve I’ll start up an incline:

Now I’m at the top of the hill and about to drop down into the broad valley called Kleinschmidt Flat, where the ranch is.  That’s the Swan Range in the distance:

In this next shot below I’ve turned right, or north, off Hwy 200 and onto our county road that runs north-south.  You can see why it’s called Kleinschmidt Flat, right?  (The Kleinschmidts were the original settlers out here in the 1800s.)  You can’t see the road sign from the highway, so it doesn’t do any good to look for it:

Here I’m now headed due north on Kleinschmidt Flat Road, towards Ovando Mountain in the distance:

About two miles farther on, I’ve crossed Dry Gulch Road, which runs east-west across the Flat, and now you can begin to see the ranch buildings behind the sign (click on the photo for a larger version and you can read the sign):

A little bit further and here’s a better view of the ranch:

Our drive, a private lane, is coming up on the right-hand side farther down the road:

Here’s where Rolling Dog Ranch Lane starts, and it continues across the ranch, eventually turning south in the middle of the property and connecting with Dry Gulch Road at the other end.  (The wind has turned our signpost a little!)  On the right is our new hay barn, and Widget’s House is behind it to the left:

I’ve turned down our lane … there’s the hay barn again, and Beauty’s Barn is the first large structure on the right past the small "mini-barn":

And next is our snowed-over sanctuary sign, with a closer view of Beauty’s Barn.  That’s blind Bridger and his girlfriend blind Madison in the corral outside their mini-barn.  Note how much snow we have, and then compare this photo to the very first photo, taken just 10 miles away, and see how little snow there was outside Helmville.  Typically we have way more snow than surrounding areas:

That concludes today’s travelogue!

(Note:  Click on any photo for a larger version.)