Did you know... part 3 (1998)
Greg and Mont did not want to go on cattle drives any more. We still had the urge to play as Cowboys/Indians, which were our adventure dreams.
We finally found what we were looking for after many months of investigation. It was The Hole In The Wall adventure in Willow Creek Ranch in Lander, WY. It was the actual location of the outlaw hideout made famous by Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.
Next we would like to invite our Gally classmates and couple of close friends to join our The Hole in the Wall – Re-enactment adventure. Thus we asked Mike Cardinale ‘71, Ernie Epps ’75 (Mont’s brother-in-law), Harry Whiting ’71, John Yeh ’71, Rick Raponi and Greg Kimberlin to join and to our pleasure all of them accepted. We had 2 requirements: dress just a cowboy and have some riding experiences before the trip.
Photo: 5 wooden signs nailed on a post, top sign saying Outlaw Trail; the next sign showing 5 riders with the mountains in the background; the next one saying Hole-In-The-Wall Decker Gang pointing to the right; the next one showing 4 riders going down the pasture and the last one saying Kaycee, Wyoming August 16-22, 1893 and old looking cowboy with bullet belt down his body leaning on the post;
Turn right and follow the sign
Two photos:
1) T-bar sign saying WELCOME! You are entering the Willow Creek Ranch at the Hole –In-The-Wall
2) red mesa with 5 faces of the outlaws on the top; The Hole-In-The Wall is where the Butch Cassidy and The Wild Bunch escaped and hid in the wall.
Three photos:
1) we cowboys riding on our horses up toward the mountain
2) close up of the trail up the mountain showing many rugged rocks along the trail up
3) some of us standing and 2 of us sitting on the top of the mountain;We rode up to the Wall. Our Trail Boss asked us if we would like to ride up on our horses to the top. We all said no. We walked up to the top. We were on the top of the Wall!
Two photos:
1) 1 wrangler sitting, 1 wrangler standing, 1 Trail Boss on his horse, 1 wrangler standing on the top of the mountain
2) we cowboys acting out in a “quarrel” by either pointing a gun at one of the cowboys and trying to stab one of the cowboys;
Then he (Trail Boss) showed us how Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid rode their horses pushing their stolen cattle up to the top. The sheriff and his deputies could not find the stolen cattle and that’s why it is called The Hole in the Wall. The Decker Gang had a little argument at the top of the hill, then we returned back to the pasture.
Two photos:
1) all wranglers and cowboys on their horses back to the bottom standing around the post saying HOLE IN THE WALL with an arrow pointing up
2) all of them shot their guns in the air – smoke coming from the guns could be seen;
Ready? 1 2 3 Go! Bang!
Three photos:
1) Greg fanned the burnt sage on Mont
2) one of the wranglers fanned the burnt sage on Mike
3) Ernie fanned the burnt sage on John;
Greg smoked Mont with burnt sage to give them protection while fighting Indians and Outlaws, then the next cowboy smoked the cowboy next to him and so on. Each cowboy said, “Now it is my turn.”
We cowboys called ourselves the Decker Gang.
Three photos:
1) Greg
2) Mont
3) Ernie;
Greg Decker known as Tab; Mont Richardson known as Guts; Ernie as Moonshine
Three photos:
1) Mike
2) Greg
3) Harry;
Mike Cardinale known as Butch Greg Kimberlin known as Doc; Harry Whiting known as Wild
Photo: JohnYeh;
John Yeh known as Bison
Three photos:
1) Bison pointing his rifle on one of the outlaws
2) Bison shooting another outlaw
3) Mont shot one of the outlaws from the cliff ;
All of a sudden we chased and fought with the outlaws.
Photo: we cowboys and 2 wranglers standing on the cliff;
Next we visited a cliff with 1,000 year old petroglyphs. Also we saw 100 year- old cavalry and stage riders’ names and dates.
Three photos:
Indian hanging down from his knees on a branch
2) another Indian fell into the river
3) 3 Indians ran away with our horses and one Indian running on the ground;
All of the sudden the Indians ambushed us and the war was started!
Two photos:
1) Indian standing behind Wild with his hands up
2) Indian sneaking out with one of our horses;
Wild was nabbed by one of the Indians. One of the Indians stole one of our horses.
Photo: Butch sitting on a stump with a large rip on the knee of his jeans;While he was fighting against the Indians, Butch fell onto the cactus. He had to rip the hole bigger so he could pull the spines off.
Two photos:
1) through a window of the cabin Tab pointing his gun at Guts
2) we riding toward the old log cabin;Friendly fire? The old cabin is where Butch and the Wild Bunch hid. We stopped there to rest.
Two photos:
1) We cowboys showed our guns looking at the camera
2) a sketch of us cowboys and some wranglers drawn by Butch;
All of us cowboys wore red sashes representing the bravery/courage/safety of the cowboys. Butch’s sweet wife, Lynette Waldner Cardinale, made the sashes. Next picture is the cartoon drawn by Butch.
Two photos:
1) Guts holding a knife with some toilet paper in his left hand and shining from a flashlight in his right hand on the knife while Butch helping lift the knife with a piece of wood
2) Butch looking at his knife wrapped with some toilet paper with a frown face; Butch realized that he lost his Boy Scout knife and found it in the bottom of the outhouse. Guts helped retrieve the knife while Butch held a piece of wood. Butch wondered how to get the smell out!
Two photos:
1) 2 tents; tent on the right had a hat on the top of the tent
2) Butch standing by his horse with a beach chair on his horse;
When you see a hat on the top of a tent, it means it is occupied. Butch found a perfect saddle for his horse to relieve the pains in his butt.
Two photos:
1) cooks at the chuck wagon
2) Guts, Moonshine and Tab laying on the ground with 2 horses in the background;
Cooks at the chuck wagon Time for our lunch break.
Three photos:
1) 5 Indians talking
2) Guts giving something to one of the 5 Indians
3) us cowboys in the front of the campfire;We cowboys traded with the Indians. We cowboys gifted the Indians with shelled necklaces, candies, sticks of gum and some other stuff.
Photo: Butch, Wild, Doc, Bison, Moonshine and Ace (Butch’s brother) sitting around the table playing poker;
Our last night before we went home, we played poker.
Photo: sign with a cowboy riding on his horse forward singing;
Happy Trails
Happy trails to you
Until we meet again
Happy trials to you
Keep smiling until then
Who cares about the clouds
If we’re together
Just sing a song and bring
The sunny weather
Happy trails to you
Till we meet again
Two photos:
1) a picture of The Wall (deep red) against the dark sky
2) Butch painting a picture of the red mountain with the faces of us cowboys on the top;
Back at home...Butch fell in love with The Hole in the Wall with dark sky at a beautiful sunset. It rained lightly for 15 to 20 minutes after Tab took the picture.
Butch went back home with a great impression and the beauty of the Wall so he made a painting of the Wall and the cowboys’ faces on the top.
Photo: the picture of The Wall hanging on the wall between Tab and Doc;Doc liked the picture taken by Tab so much that he had it framed and put in his office.
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