Pat & Sharon O'Toole: Desert Musings

wagon Red Desert.jpg
Pepe's Wagon in the Red Desert
Sweetwater County, Wyoming
photo by Jim Roberts

Today, we took supplies to Pepe's camp on the Red Desert. It was a fairly warm day, and the snow is going fast. The wind was howling. We are almost through feeding corn to the sheep. The bucks are still in with the ewes, but they are virtually all bred, and with the snow cover gone, they can graze. We came home through Wamsutter, then followed the Wamsutter/Dad road through the heart of the gas fields. We made a stop at the George Dew wetlands--a project sponsored by our local Natural Resources Conservation District--which created a haven in the middle of the drought-ravaged desert.

Wamsutter from north.jpg
Wamsutter from the North
photo by Pat O'Toole

Snowmelt by Eureka Headquarters Road
South of Wamsutter, Sweetwater County
photo by Pat O'Toole

wetlands in winter.jpg
George Dew Wetlands in winter
Dad, Wyoming
photo by Jim Roberts

wetlands with Anadarko, Dad Stage & road dept.jpg
George Dew Wetlands with Anadarko installation, old Dad Stage Station and Wyoming Highway Department quonset hut in background
Dad, Wyoming
photo by Jim Roberts

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About Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Pat and Sharon O’Toole are ranchers in the Little Snake River Valley near Savery, Wyoming, right on the Colorado-Wyoming border. They raise cattle, sheep, horses, dogs and children. Pat “immigrated” from Florida in 1970. He attended Colorado State University, where he met Sharon when both worked for the campus newspaper. Sharon grew up on their ranch, where they live and work with her father, their daughter, son and granddaughter (soon to be grandchildren!). Pat is a “water buffalo” and has served in the Wyoming House of Representatives (1986-1992), on the President’s Western Water Policy Review Advisory Commission, and is the current President of the Family Farm Alliance, which advocates for farmers, ranchers and irrigators. Sharon is an author, poet and journalist. She writes extensively on Western issues and is a columnist for “The Shepherd” magazine. Pat and Sharon are the parents of three children: Meghan, 27; Bridget, 26; and Eamon, 20.

Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Desert Musings

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