{"id":16772,"date":"2018-07-02T10:06:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T16:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=16772"},"modified":"2023-09-28T16:03:08","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T22:03:08","slug":"riding-roping-and-ranching-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/riding-roping-and-ranching-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Riding, roping and ranching again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Archie
Archie Chant holds his son, Hudson, after roping with Dr. Jason Stoneback. Photo by Jennifer Stewart for UCHealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ranch is a sacred place for the Chant family.<\/p>\n

The Sweetwater River snakes through their land, nestled near South Pass, 8,000 feet above sea level, at the base of Wyoming\u2019s jagged Wind River Mountains.<\/p>\n

To the north, Wyoming\u2019s tallest peaks jut up in showy spires.<\/p>\n

To the south, red rock canyons lead to yawning deserts that burst with life when the rains come.<\/p>\n

Spring is Archie and Lesa Chant\u2019s favorite time of year. Heavy snow and seemingly relentless wind give way to green pastures and calving season. The young couple \u2014 both raised on ranches \u2014 work the land together, riding and roping to tend their cattle, mending fences and doing the hard chores to make a living on their beautiful, but unforgiving place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the freedom, the fact that there aren\u2019t a lot of people,\u201d said Archie, 39. \u201cIt\u2019s peaceful and it\u2019s a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not far away, near his mom\u2019s summer cabin, wagon ruts still mark the routes where pioneers traveled in search of hope and opportunity on the Oregon and Mormon Trails.<\/p>\n

Lander, the nearest town, is 40 miles away. Isolation is the norm. When the Chants face a big job, like branding, they enlist the help of friends and family who come from dozens of miles away. Everyone teams up to get the work done, then enjoys a big meal, plenty of beer and tales that get taller as the skies darken.<\/p>\n

\"Ranch
The Chants’ ranch in Wyoming. Photo courtesy of the Chant family.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rest of the time, it\u2019s just Archie and Lesa, working the land that his grandfather once owned. The ranch sits right on the Continental Divide.<\/p>\n

When they are irrigating the meadows, Archie gets a kick out of thinking that if he diverts water from the ditch to the west, it eventually will flow all the way to the Pacific. If he sends the water the other way, it will wind up in the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re right on top of the world,\u201d said Archie, who\u2019s tall and lean and looks most comfortable in a saddle, wearing his cowboy hat and spinning his rope.<\/p>\n

\u2018If anybody was going to get hit, I was going to take it\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Chants were heading home to their ranch, driving on a \u201cmiddle-of-nowhere,\u201d 2-lane highway about 50 miles south of Gillette, Wyo., back in 2015, when the course of their future forever changed.<\/p>\n

Their lives could go one way or the other, like the water on their ranch.<\/p>\n