Wildest One-Day Rodeo in the West

Augusta Rodeo pics from 2004


The Augusta Rodeo was this last weekend. And yes, we all had to head on down to par-take in the festivities... Augusta, where Pat is now based with the Forest Service, is about a half hour South of Choteau. The official rodeo is on Sunday, but the party is all weekend long, with the slack rodeo on Sat. For those of you who have been to the Houston Livestock & Rodeo, or any other large scale rodeo... This is nothing like it... It is an official Pro Rodeo, so it does bring in big name riders. But as a small town (pop. 300) which multiplies by ten for the weekend activities, it makes for a great fun. Even if you are on the top of the stands (which only go to row 15....) you still eat the dust from the arena.

The weekend started with a group of friends heading out to Lake Eureka for some fun in the sun. Then down to Augusta to BBQ and check out the Slack rodeo with the Forest Service Crew that lives there. Ate lots of Indian Tacos (a taco with Fry Bread instead of a tortilla) and partied '"till the sun come up" with the town at the street dance.

On Sunday, Pat and I were up early, due to a neighborhood dog's charming wake-up barks... So we decided to go exploring... First we drove around checking out houses, then headed up into the mountains... Where we ended up dead-ending on a trail-head that was only 6 miles from the Scapegoat wilderness... A must do hike for some future date...


But not then, because we had to get back for the Rodeo!!!! So in the heat of the day we all watched the cowboys and cowgirls strut their stuff, even as they participated in the annual wild cow milking contest, which is a hard event to look good in... Buy supper time we were all shot, so we drug ourselves back to Choteau to sleep off the weekend before everyone had to go back to work today...

This weekend is Choteau's 4th of July festivities, including another "in your face" rodeo... Everyone will be resting up this week, to make sure they're at the top of their game for another rodeo weekend... The Summer Festival on Saturday is Choteau's arts & crafts show... So I will be gathering my "art" up to prepare for my first attempt at a show... I will let you know how it goes...