Mary Lankford

Interview – Jan, 2007

(Mary Lankford is Sublette County Clerk. Her husband is Dave. Their son is Gary.)

MARY: Dave and Gary and I took our first pack trip with Monte in 1988 and we went on pack trips with him for 8 years in a row. On that first trip, Gary was 4 and was on his own horse, which Dave led. We went over the divide to the Golden Lakes. It was the summer of the fires. Lightning had struck, creating a fire at Fayette Lake. The day we got up to pack out, the sky was orange. They made double lunches for everyone and we were coming back over Hay Pass. Ole flew over in a plane and radioed to us to go down Boulder Canyon. Monte hates Boulder Canyon because it is so rough. But the Horseshoe Lake area was on fire. We had started from Golden Lake about 8am and got to Boulder Lake at midnight.

Our pack trips with Monte were always pretty cushy. They were Participatory Pack Trips. You could do as much or as little as you wanted. They’d even pitch your tent. They did all the cooking and took care of the horses. Gary always called it, ‘Going on a Monte Skinner Adventure’. We always went with Monte. That was part of the attraction! He knew so much. Our 1988 trip was a week of hot, dry and dusty. In 1989 we went to the same place and it snowed and rained all week. I had all the clothes on that I had brought and I still nearly froze. In 1989, after the fires of ’88, it was like riding through a cemetery. The trees were all black. The ground was black. It was eerie, like riding through an Indian burial ground.

One year we went out of Big Sandy, past Cirque of the Towers. It was raining. We stopped and put on rain gear and we had to cross a creek. You know how a horse gives a little jump when it goes up the embankment to get out of the stream bed? Gary was messing around and the horse gave that little jump. Gary fell off, but he got hung up in his gear and he was so little he didn’t even touch the ground. He was just dangling there. The horse just stopped and Gary calmly said, “Dad? Dad. I need some help.”

Monte never stuck to the trail. He’d just take off. He knew the country so well. He broke his neck to make you comfortable. The food was always so good – fresh fruit, juice – healthy food and plenty of it. His pack trips were fun and relaxing. Monte would tell stories. Even though you are always at the mercy of the weather up in the mountains, I always felt safe with Monte.

Monte has a hard time saying what he wants to say. Starting and stopping. Going off in another direction. But if he’s mad, it comes straight out. There is no misunderstanding him then! If he is wound up, it comes out crystal clear. Those pack trips with Monte were the best vacations ever. Why go anywhere else? There’s so much to see right here. Interview by Judi Myers