Bruneau Canyon

I spent a night in the bunkhouse
Down on Sheep Creek at Simplot #2
Those black rock cliffs were all around us
And the sky was a starry midnight blue
Woke with the sunrise in the mornin'
Desert sparrows singin' through the brush
I saddled Jasper in the lantern light
And prayed I would make a hand that he could trust
In Bruneau Canyon
Springtime brandin'
Lonesome as the windy ‘Wyhee plains
North of Elko
Southeast Idaho
The cold gray sky that never rains
I thank God some things never change
Ten thousand acres to a pasture
We gathered heifers until noon
With their babies a bawlin' ‘long beside them
They’d feel the brandin' iron soon
Owyhee Mountains on the skyline
Horse sweat and leather on the wind
Lone buckaroos driftin' through the sagebrush
I prayed the day would never end
We branded through the afternoon
Ate lunch out on the dusty desert ground
Then me and Elvin trailed some old dry heifers
Back to the old Sheep Creek corrals
I loaded Jasper in the Sooner
And bid my new found pardners Adios
And I think about them to this day
But it’s the deep, dark Bruneau Canyon I miss most