Grizzly Riders International

2009 Fall Newsletter

The Trail Boss' Report

TheTrail Boss

The forty forth anniversary of the Grizzly Ride began and ended on a high note in September at our most beloved site, the E Bar L Ranch.  With beautiful fall weather as a backdrop, Forty Three Riders and guests spent five days fishing, trail riding, skeet shooting, golfing, dining and finding both new and old friends around the fire place.   The sweetest note came Saturday night when over a dozen area guests joined us for a first ever Grizzly Ride “Jazz On The Trail” performance by  internationally recognized jazz singer Edin Atwood and jazz pianist David Morgenroth.  Both musicians just back from a tour of Japan promoting their new jazz CD, entertained a packed house with old jazz favorites and original compositions. In response to such a warm reception by both Riders and guests, we hope to offer a musical performance of equal quality during the 2010 Ride. 

As a special tribute to the charter members of the Grizzly Rider organization, we presented our members with a special bottling of Grizzly Rider Wines this year.  Andy Sponseller and Connie Poten, owners of Ten Spoon Vineyard and Winery in Missoula, provided us with two excellent wines and a beautiful wine label to pay homage to our original Riders. 

Grizzly Rider Red is a blend of 2007 Petite Sarah and Zinfandel grapes grown in Mendocino County’s Redwood Valley.  It is rich in berry flavors with big coffee and chocolate notes.

Grizzly Rider White comes from 2008 St Pepin grapes grown in Missoula’s fertile Rattlesnake Valley.  It has a delicate floral nose with lemon grass, freesia and melon notes and finishes with crisp honey citrus.

The description on the back of each bottle provides another tribute:

“Celebrating over forty years of campfires, wilderness rides, mending lines, saddle sores, tall fish tales, fine spirits lasting friendships and a few grumpy old camp mates.”

These wines are available for sale to our Grizzly Rider members and to the public.  A portion of the proceeds from each sale of Grizzly Rider Wine is donated to the Grizzly Riders Memorial Fund for the support of education, the arts and conservation projects at The University of Montana. 

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While there are too many things to mention in one brief column, i would like to take a moment to point out a few special highlights of the 2009 Ride.

First, special recognition must go to John Howard who, with minor assistance from Lew Keim and Ed Matteucci , provided several days of entertainment by surprising fellow  Riders with a creative yet memorable historical tribute to the anniversary of the sinking of the Andrea Doria.  In recognition of this event, the Riders presented Howard with the greatly coveted “A Beer Award”.  

As many longtime Riders remember, Earl Morgenroth first presented this award to Doc Curry several decades ago for his valiant self sacrificing mid river rescue of  scarce endangered libations in the midst of a minor naval engagement on the Blackfoot River.   It should be noted that in spite of its frequent aquatic association, the A Beer Award is not limited to just those involved in marine actions.  We also proudly hand out this small treasured trophy to Riders and guests in humorous recognition of notable mishaps occurring on dry land, in mid air, atop (and under) unruly trail horses, and, on rare occasion, in some combination of all of the afore mentioned predicaments.  This year’s “A Beer Award” recipient raised the bar for future winners. 

The Trail Boss would like to give special thanks to two wonderful guests who were gracious sports:  Irma Russell, Dean of the University of Montana Law School and Chris Comer, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.         

They met each new days challenge, whether leaning to cast a fly line in strong head winds, mastering the ever challenging skeet range or simply being gracious and charming to their fellow Riders and guests with grand enthusiasm, warm smiles, cheerful words and a joy of learning new things while sharing their knowledge and professional expertise with their fellow guests and Riders.  They are both outstanding ambassadors for the University of Montana.

Finally, please mark your calendars for the 2010 Ride that we will hold at the E Bar L Ranch on September 10 through the 15.