Participants in the Cowgirl Roundup at Paws Up in Montana gather at a chuckwagon dinner. Pam LeBlanc photo

I returned from the Fall Cowgirl Roundup at The Resort at Paws Up in Montana with cow poop on my boots and a little swagger in my stride.

That’s what comes from four days spent horseback riding, fly fishing, whip cracking and more. The event is held each spring and fall at the luxury resort in Montana.

Without further ado, here are my 10 favorite things about this year’s Cowgirl Roundup…

1. Climbing aboard a gorgeous black horse named Raven and helping to herd a group of about 60 cattle along the Blackfoot River.

2. Hanging out with past National Cowgirl Hall of Fame honorees Sharon Camarillo, a champion barrel racer and horsemanship clinician; Donna Howell-Sickles, who portrays cowgirls in her colorful artwork; and master engraver Diane Scalese.

Western artist Donna Howell-Sickles cracks a bull whip at the Cowgirl Roundup in Montana. Pam LeBlanc photo

3. Trying to learn how to crack a bullwhip. I never quite mastered the skill, but now I’m determined. Guess what’s now at the top of my Christmas list?

Read more: In Garnet, Montana, visit one of the best-preserved ghost towns in America

4. Listening to Courtenay Dehoff, part owner of the pro bucking bull Top Dollar (who I just watched send a cowboy airborne at a PBR event in Austin) talk about what it means to have cowgirl courage.

5. Riding a horse through stands of towering pine trees.

6. Looking for wildlife. I admired a bald eagle perched in a tree top and saw a coyote dash across a field during a long walk one morning.

Montene Trimback fly fishes the Blackfoot River in Montana. Pam LeBlanc photo

7. Honing my inner angler. If you’re going to learn how to fly fish, you might as well do it on the Blackfoot River, which inspired Norman McLean’s novel “A River Runs Through It.”

8. Watching the stars pop out as I soaked in the hot tub behind my cabin in the woods every night.

9. Meeting and interviewing Colleen Tuohy, founder of the women’s clothing brand Wyatt Outdoors, and her bird dog Patsy Cline.

10. Making new friends. I attended the roundup solo, which made me a little nervous. Most folks were there with friends or family members. But people invited me to sit with them and made me feel welcome and comfortable.

Garnet, Montana, is considered one of the best-preserved ghost towns in the American West. Pam LeBlanc photo

​Remember that episode of “The Brady Bunch,” when our favorite blended family stumbled into a perfectly preserved ghost town and met a crotchety prospector wearing a crumpled felt hat?

I felt kind of like that this week, when I detoured to the skeletal remains of the town of Garnet, about 30 miles east of Missoula, Montana.

More than twenty wooden buildings, including old log cabins, a three-story hotel and a dry goods store, still stand in the old town. I spent a few hours trying to imagine what it was like to live there during the mining boom of the late 1890s.

The town sprung up after an enterprising businessman built a mill to extract the precious metal from rocks excavated from the nearby hills. In its heyday, it included seven hotels, three livery stables, 13 saloons, four stores, a school, a doctor’s office, a drugstore, a union hall, two barber shops and – hooray! – a candy shop.

The boom didn’t last. The gold veins mostly ran out by 1900, and by 1905 most folks had abandoned their cabins. The population shrunk from about 1,000 to just 150. Then, in 1912, a fire raced through the community, destroying many of the structures. World War II drove most of the remaining residents out.

Read more: From wildlife to wildfires, 10 memorable moments from rafting the Snake River in Idaho

Miners lived in log cabins tucked on hillsides in Garnet, Montana. Pam LeBlanc photo

When gold prices jumped in 1934, the town experienced a bit of a rebirth. New buildings went up, the mines reopened, and town briefly bustled once again. But the advent of World War II ended that boom, too. People moved away, but left their homes, and much of the furniture inside them, behind.

Looters hauled off many of the artifacts in the following years, but today the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Garnet Preservation Association protect and preserve the site, considered one of Montana’s most intact ghost towns.

I didn’t find any old prospectors during my visit, but I did find plenty of other treasures.

A old sewing machine sits inside a hotel in the ghost town of Garnet, Montana. Pam LeBlacn photo

Highlights? Finding an old bicycle and lots of old household products inside the main downtown store. Climbing a set of creaky stairs to explore the pint-sized rooms of the old hotel. Chatting with a ranger at the visitor’s center, who showed me a collection of old bottles and cans and explained that miners didn’t eat many fruits or vegetables and relied on bitters to stay regular.

For more information about Garnet, go here.

This bench delivers the best sunset view at Inks Lake State Park. Pam LeBlanc photo

I first camped at Inks Lake State Park in the 1970s, when my dad pitched a giant blue canvas tent and set up bunkbed cots inside for me and my sisters.

That tent disintegrated long ago, but my fondness for the park, located an hour and 15 minutes northwest of Austin, has stuck around.

I’ve made four overnight trips this summer alone. After all this time, I still discovered something new – the Devils Backbone Nature Trail.

The trail starts near the Devils Waterhole, where people launch themselves off 30-foot granite cliffs into Inks Lake.

The Devils Backbone Trail leads past interesting granite formations. Chris LeBlanc photo

It’s a bit of a scramble to get up and over the rock formations at the start of the trail. Just follow the small paint markings strategically located along the route, which weaves through patches of prickly pear and ash around some cool granite towers. The trail curves down and leads toward Spring Creek, crossing the dry creek bed just before Park Road 4. From there it curves back toward the lake and into the woods.

Our destination? A wooden bench high on a ridge that we’d spotted from the other side of the cove. We finally found the overlook at about the 1-mile point.

Read more: Leap into a spring-fed river at Pedernales Falls State Park

Front row for the sunset

Take my word: It’s the best spot in the park to take in the sunset. And even though the campground was full the day we made the hike, we didn’t encounter a single other person.

Inks Lake State Park is one of the most popular parks in the Texas State Park system, drawing nearly 230,000 visitors in 2023.

The State Parks Board first acquired 1,200 acres along the Colorado River in 1940. The Civilian Conservation Corps, which had just completed work on nearby Longhorn Cavern State Park, went to work turning the plot into a public park shortly thereafter. Funding dried up in 1942, though, and work was temporarily abandoned. The State Parks Board finally completed the project, and Inks Lake State Park opened in 1950. 

Today, the park offers ample opportunities for hiking, birding, camping, picnicking, boating, fishing and swimming. It’s spliced with “islands” of pink granite-like rock called “gneiss” (sounds like “nice”), and visitors go for family reunions, camping, nature watching and recreating on the lake.  

I love it as a swimming destination. It’s got a huge no-wake zone, and I can swim alongside my husband as he paddles his standup paddleboard around the zigzagging shoreline.

Inks Lake State Park recently opened new restroom and shower faciltiies. Pam LeBlanc photo

Another reason to love the park? New infrastructure. The park opened four new restroom facilities in the last few years and will unveil a new headquarters building in the next few months.