Photos From a Weekend Retreat at Kingfisher Bend Ranch, Wyoming
A while back, (a long while back…I told you, I’ve been busy!), I, along with about 10 other Bennion Center Student Board members, traveled to a little ranch in Wyoming for a weekend-long training/retreat.
Nestled in the brushy hills 20 miles south of Evanston, I wasn’t expecting my weekend to be spent in complete seclusion; on top of driving into what seemed like uninhabited territory, we had to take a dirt road just to reach our destination.
It wasn’t anything I expected, I mean, I had never been to a ranch before.
For starters, I definitely did not expect the dirt road. I imagined a normal paved road, leading to a large complex that sat on a large property of well-maintained, green grass, with a rainbow of flowers blooming all around…(sorry, getting a little too imaginative here!)
Little did I know that it was just…a house – a house with cute porch decor, a crappy front lawn, and horse stables to the side.
Around the back was a corral, a small enclosed pen with multiple bird feeders hanging from it, and the beginning of a wild habitat; it was brushy (as I mentioned before), dry, and gray.
I stepped inside. The hardwood floors creaked beneath my socked feet. I was welcomed by my fellow retreaters and the aroma of cooking food.
Regardless of almost two full days of orientation (which I will not talk about in this post), I knew that it would be a great weekend.
In terms of free time, I would say I used it well.
Even though the area was brushy, dry, and gray, that did not mean that beauty did not exist there. I found plenty of subjects amidst my surroundings, both easy and challenging to capture “on film” (as they would say in the old days).
The first photo I would like to display is this one:
I spy with my little eye...an eye. What do you spy?
If you haven’t noticed yet, the photo above is not just an abstract of dead branches. Look closely. Look very, very closely. There’s a doe (a deer, a female deer)!
Next we have a hummingbird captured in midair.
Even shooting at 300mm, I still had to get relatively close to get this good of a shot. Luckily, my super “coy ability” was able to aid me in doing so (for those of you who don’t know me, I’m pretty quiet).
I just love how its wings blend together from the fast rate at which they flutter, yet you can still see some detail in them. This was the exact photo I was aiming to capture!
The following set of photos were taken during our free time activity of horseback riding. It was my first time on a horse, and I’m happy to say that I enjoyed every second of the hour-long ride.
Trying to title the next photo reminded me of this song:
“Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day”
Our guide and ranch owner Ned, accidentally manifesting that iconic cowboy demeanor against the backdrop of the range.
Scenery of the Wyoming range, seen from atop a horse.
An overview of Bear River, seen from the "summit" (if you will) of a hill located near Kingfisher.
The view as we descended the "summit" towards the west.
Besides my camera, I was largely removed from technology that weekend.
My phone didn’t receive reception and my laptop was too slow to function (as was the satellite internet).
Overall, a great weekend was made even better with great company, great scenery, and time to “recharge my batteries” (technology pun, how ironic!).
Being without technology was liberating, to be honest. I think I actually became too fond of that feeling, and have since avoided my computer, TV, and cell phone whenever possible.
I also became very fond of the seclusion and have since been camping a handful of times, eager to regain the serenity.
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