BUNKHOUSE

KICKING OFF SEASON 2

stories from cattle country visits eastern sierras

by Ryan Donahue for the California Cattlemen's Foundation

I woke before sunrise at the Portuguese Joe campground in Lone Pine, hopped in the rental car and drove about a mile into the Alabama Hills. I unloaded some camera equipment and after a short hike was positioned to photograph the famed Alabama Hills sunrise. Turns out I was over-eager. Those familiar with photographing sunrises or sunsets know 1 P.M. FOLLOWING FALL FEMALE SALEthat the window of opportunity is quite short with the soft pastel palette erased quickly with the extremes of brightness or darkness of day or night. Not so much in Alabama Hills. The hills are basically the foyer to the Sierra mountains when facing west and feature geologic formations that are almost alien. The rock formations are smooth and undulating, looking like a pile of gumdrops. The hills are contrasted further west by the stark peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountains, including Mt. Whitney which are menacing; angular and jagged. The majesty of the sunrise is delayed by the Inyo Mountains to the east. Though most people in this time zone have already experienced their sunrise, residents in Owen’s Valley have to wait for the sunlight to clear the mountains. The result is a wash of pink and orange that paints the hills from top to bottom for over 15 or 20 minutes.

Producing the podcast Stories from California Cattle Country has afforded dozens of experiences like this. Dozens of stories. Over the last year we have produced 24 episodes from every corner of the state. There was, and still is, a learning curve. We initially ran with a see what sticks approach where we documented everything. That first season of exploration and ideation is now behind us. We’ve settled on a rough formula for the episodes in our second season, of which there are currently five. We’ve found that to tell the complete story we would need to also highlight the setting... the communities, topography and even meteorology to paint a more complete picture. These communities often rely on the ranches as much as the ranchers rely on them. This realization made us think we might be leaving a lot on the table regarding communicating how ranches affect the communities they call home. Other citizens can be fickle, leaving in times of hardship or chasing other opportunities, but ranchers tend to persevere while participating in and often documenting the rich history of remote California communities. That said, you are not our audience. The purpose of this podcast is to reach and engage listeners who have not had the benefit of ever living in California agricultural communities. If you have any feedback on how we could best represent California ranchers or if you have tips on communities to visit you can email me directly at ryan@calcattle.org. I’d love to hear from you. Moving forward our approach will be systematic and intentional. By the time you read this we will have completed our eastern California trek starting in Bakersfield and ending in Modoc County. Next we'll be moving up the western side of the state. Perhaps we’ll see you.

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BRANDON BABA .......209 480-1267 JAKE BETTENCOURT..209 262-4019 TIM SISIL.....................209 631-6054 TRAVIS JOHNSON.....209 996-8645 JOHN BOURDET.........831 801-2343 MATT MILLER..............209 914-5116

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