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to meet at an agreed time and place. Let’s rendezvous
click on each image to see it larger
When the mountain men were working the Rockies during the early 1800’s they would trap all winter and when Spring came they would meet or rendezvous with all of their fellow trappers at a prearranged place and celebrate getting through another year, having mostly kept their hair. This meant carousing, and drinking, and having competitions, raising hell and finally selling their bales of hides and resupplying for the next year.
If you were a trapper and mountain man you didn’t miss rendezvous and the biggest and the best was the one at Ft. Bridger. Well it’s about 185 years later and the rendezvous is still going strong and held at the original site where Ft. Bridger stood. The image above shows some of the buildings from the old fort. The rainbow was to let everyone know that this was going to be the granddaddy of all rendezvous. So hang on it’s going to be a wild ride.
Even if you had the patience to sit through all the pictures taken at this years rendezvous (there were thousands) there wouldn’t be room to display them all so I’m going to show some of the highlights and the faces that made up this years rendezvous. There’ll be a minimum of text about each one to let you see the fun and excitement in all it’s glory.
As you enter there is always a friendly face to greet you
There were kids playing
Old Time skills being passed along
People standing in line to get food
and catching up on the latest gossip.
The soldiers from the fort were there as were mountain men in all their splendor
And those who had seen it all before
There were grumpy ones who were really friendly ones in disguise
Happy ones enjoying everything to its fullest
Serious ones that looked you right in the eye
Drovers and bull whackers
Those who showed off their own handiwork
Leaders and guides
Mountain men who lived with the Indians
There were many types of head-gear. And then there were the ladies
Sitting in their wide skirts talking about whatever ladies in wide skirts talk about
Some ladies sold bonnets
There were pretty ones with gorgeous smiles
and some who wore big hats and lacy bodices
And those who wore bloomers just because it was fun
Some wore bustles
There were Indian women in their very finest, wearing ermine and beads
Some wearing the Pony Soldier’s uniforms brought home to them as spoils of war
There were law ponies just in case someone needed rounding up
The camp was laid out in a neat and orderly fashion under some threatening clouds
There’s always a flag flying, usually many of them
Waiting for dinner
It’s chicken. Dutch oven chicken. You could smell it a mile away. That’s how I found it, following my nose. Each piece worth a five dollar gold piece.
How to keep ashes out of your nose. Use this long tube to blow on the embers and get them going again.
As the day wore down the kids kept cool catching crawfish in the creek
Towards evening they broke out the fiddles and guitars and the dance started
Later there were sing-along’s around the campfire
Then as the sun set and the moon rose there was quiet throughout the camp. Tomorrow’s another day
But very importantly there is Mike Larson who quietly and tirelessly worked behind the scenes to make all this happen. Good job, Mike.