This is the house. The lady of the ranch, Gail, has come down to greet us and to call off her dog pack (all the dogs were nice and fiiendly after Gail introduced us). The Babbitt ranch is on private land and no longer in Babbitt family hands. The borders of the ranch enclose 1,000 squire miles (no, that is not a mistake). There are 18 camps on the ranch (you pass another one, the Cedar ranch on your drive in on forest road 417 from highway 180). It is a working ranch where they tend, on horseback, more than 5,000 head of cattle. Fall roundup lasts 9 weeks. The day before we got there, her husband and two sons had driven (not "trucked," but you know, the old fashioned way of herding cattle) part of the herd over 20 miles to the east to their winter pasture. In addition to their cattle, there are also lots of elk and antelope, not to mention snakes, eagles, condors and other animals. Some of the stories she tells make it clear that this is still the old, frontier ranching country with many of the problems of yesteryear: rustling, shootings, raidings and the like. She told us we ought to be carrying weapons (which we weren't) pointing out that we were really out of our element. She is a great and friendly lady and loves to talk to hikers, bikers, and horse riders on the AZ Trail. She loathes ATV'ers.
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