The Joy of Friendship and Learning About Sheepherding

Months before I hit the road I searched “festivals in the U.S.” Lots of interesting festivals showed up, but one of them really caught my fancy – Ketchum, Idaho’s Trailing of the Sheep festival. The timing was close enough to my vague route plan that I decided to go, even though it meant backtracking a bit. The subject intrigued me.

My great friend and twin sister born to different mothers and separated at birth, Lynne, decided Ketchum would be the first of her trips to join me on the road…it was irresistible, her being the Woman Who Can’t Stop Knitting:)

I picked Lynne up at the airport Thursday morning and after a tasty hot breakfast (corn cakes…yum) we set off on the drive to Craters of the Moon National Monument (https://www.nps.gov/crmo/index.htm). We knew the visitor center was closed due to the government shutdown, but apparently the two guys who drove up shortly after us didn’t…one of them walked up to the door, tried to open it, found it locked and yelled “MOTHER F’ERS!!) His friend just laughed at him and I have to admit, so did I.

Lynne and I wandered off in search of the trail head, located it and started exploring. We weren’t prepared to spend as much time as the site warrants, but we got a taste of the different types of lava flow and it was interesting to think about the similarities and differences with other volcanic sites I’ve visited. It was also interesting to learn that astronauts trained there in 1969 in preparation for their trip to the moon.

We got to our Airbnb and decided to head over to the nearby pickle ball courts for some leisurely play. I had brought my rackets and balls, hoping we’d get a chance to play, but I didn’t mention it…it seemed unnecessary. Lynne is almost as avid about pickle ball as she is about knitting and it was hilarious when she said she’d brought her paddles and appropriate attire! We had a good time playing well into dusk.

The Trailing of the Sheep festival is a big to-do and I highly recommend it. On Friday we hopped on bikes and rode the 10 miles to the sheepdog trials, planning to eat when we got there. Well, we were at a sheep-centered festival and we might have thought more about food choices, given that we’re both vegetarian. Our choices were shredded lamb, a lamb chop or a chorizo sausage. When in Rome…we ate the shredded lamb sandwiches purely for sustenance but really enjoyed the wine cake, then headed over to watch the dogs. What a trip!

The dogs had a specific course they had to shepherd the sheep through, starting with a hard run about 100 years downfield to where the five sheep awaited the contest of wills. The dog was suppose to drive the sheep back upfield, navigating several gates and eventually arriving in a circle, 45 yards in diameter. Once there the handler was allowed to join them and the task was for the dog to separate the sheep into a pair and a trio. Once accomplished the destination became a pen. I don’t think we saw any sheep end up in the pen. The whole thing was both hilarious and fascinating.

Several times one of the five would take off, the dog would give chase and the other four would wait around patiently to see who would win – runaway sheep or border collie. Sometimes all of them would bolt and the whistling dog handler would, from 70, 80, 100 yards away, exuberantly direct the dog to take control; most of the time the dog would get the sheep heading in the right direction, but rarely, perhaps never, did they follow the dog’s lead without some diversion. Zero points was not an unusual occurrence.

The announcer offered infrequent commentary, but when he did it was intriguing. He pointedly drew a comparison between show dogs and working dogs…it seemed a bit like a comparison between management and the people who do the work! He emphasized the psychology of the dog and the sheep…they’re assessing each other from first contact.

Eventually we’d seen enough of runaway sheep, frantic dogs and whistling handlers…we hopped back on our bikes and headed back to town. We had tickets to a talk about arbor glyphs etched into aspen trees by Basque immigrant sheepherders decades ago. But first there was the Mariners’ game.

I really wanted to hear the talk. But miss the game that would decide if we would go another year without a chance at the world series? We decided to watch the game for at least the first hour, then head to the talk when it felt right. Yeah right! For five hours the only reasons we left our seats at the bar was to use the bathroom or get another glass of wine to share. We were done drinking after the 9th, but no way would we make it through six more innings without one more glass, then one more glass, then just one more. Good thing they finally won it in the 15th!

As a consolation to missing the talk I was able to see the arbor glyphs via virtual reality the next day at the Folk Life Fair…very cool. We also watched a man shear a sheep, then explain the process in more detail. Remarkably, he has sheared as many as 250 sheep in a day!

Sunday was the last day of the festival and unfortunately, the only flight to Seattle each week left at 10:15. I dropped Lynne at the airport and headed back to town for the actual trailing of the sheep. This was the perfect sized parade with the best topper ever. Migrants from the Basque Country, Scotland and Peru were central to the sheepherding industry in Idaho and each group shared their dance and music in the parade. Old-timey carts were drawn by big horses through the street, Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts marched proudly, a drum corp marched to the music and flag twirlers on horseback all paraded down the street.

Then we waited for the sheep. They’re herded each spring from southern Idaho to the center of the state in the Sawtooth area, then back south to the Snake River area in fall. I wasn’t sure how long we might have to wait, but it turned out to be just 20 minutes are so and here they came. 1200 sheep being herded down Main Street…it was quite a scene. The sheep seemed fairly docile initially, but occasionally one would break free from the crowd, then be quickly brought back into the fold by the dogs or shepherds. Some on the outside of the herd tried to squeeze their way toward the center, much like trying to squeeze through the crowd to get close to the stage at a concert.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I highly recommend this festival if you need a little something special in the fall – it was fun and interesting, and I always like becoming aware of what goes on behind the scene of the things I take for granted, like the sheep’s wool insulation in my camper van!