Rock Creek Watering Hole
An Authentic Sheepherding Experience
Experience Life as a Sheepherder
Enjoy sleeping in an authentic sheep camp on a 6th generation working ranch, amidst the beautiful mountains along Rock Creek. We will supply you with all your meals including gourmet lamb suppers. You can either spend the day relaxing in the Rock Creek oasis or ride along with sheep woman, Marie McClaren, to learn about sheep ranching and get first hand experience of the day-to-day tasks. These season dependent tasks include moving/supplying camps, shearing, lambing, docking, trailing, visiting with the Spanish-speaking, Peruvian sheepherders and so much more!
Rock Creek Watering Hole is an authentic, "roughing it" sheep ranching experience. You will be staying in an "old-time" sheep wagon on the ranch with no running water. An outhouse and fresh spring for water will be near the camp. There will be a water cooler with spigot in the camp for use as well as a fridge for food or drink storage. Solar lights will light the camp. I will be cooking breakfast and lamb supper for you each day, with a packed sandwich or town stop for lunch. Sometimes the mornings are early and the nights can be late. I will be doing my normal jobs with you tagging along to help, ask questions, and see the country and the sheep. You will have the option each morning to either go with me, if what I am doing interests you, or stay at the ranch if you need a day off.
Stays are available any day of the week from June 1- the first week of October. I can only fit 2 people in my pickup to ride along with me each day, but can board up to 5 people in 2 camps with full size beds and 1 camp with a small single bed.
The ranch is about a 30 minute drive from the towns of Kemmerer and Cokeville, WY. It is a 15 minute drive from Fossil Butte National Monument. It is about an hour from Bear Lake.
The Ranch's
Story
My great-grandpa’s grandparents, the Cooks, originally homesteaded up Rock Creek in the late 1800s. In 1944, with the marriage of my great-grandparents, Don and Josephine Julian, the Rock Creek Ranch was established where it is now. I’ve heard endless stories of how my grandma Josephine always had hot food in the kitchen and a constant flow of people in and out of the house. The Rock Creek Ranch was a booming place filled with grandma and papa’s siblings, many other relatives, sheepherders, and friends. Family and friends came from near and far to spend time at the ranch which was always filled with lots of hard work, good meals, and cherished memories. As the 6th generation living at Rock Creek, I want to continue making these great memories and family-like community with new and old friends coming to experience the sheep rancher’s way of life.