Dear Friends,
Shortly after Lonesome Dove’s publication in 1986, Scott read it, and was instantly smitten, savoring every word, quoting passages at length, and recommending the book to one and all. His love only intensified when, a few years later, it was made into a mini-series starring Robert Duvall as Gus McCrea and Tommy Lee Jones as Woodrow Call, two former Texas Rangers whose life-long friendship is at the heart of the novel. 
During this same period Scott made several back-packing trips to what became one of his favorite destinations, Island Lake in the Wind Rivers Range of the Bridger Tetons just outside Pinedale, Wyoming. He first went there in 1980 with his good friend Ed Halpern. Scott was trying to decide if he should get married, Ed was trying to quit smoking; happily, both came to pass.
In 1982, the year after we were married, Scott and I planned our own trip to Island Lake, but were turned back by high country snow that had not yet melted by mid-July. We moved our trip north into Yellowstone National Park where we spent three days hiking and camping in the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone and afterward discovered Chico Hot Springs resort just south of Livingston, Montana. We were completely knocked out by the beauty of what is known as Paradise Valley and dreamed of the day we might 
actually call it home.
But there were many trails to follow before that happened. By the summer of 1983 we were expecting our first child and I was in no shape to take a back-packing trip, so Scott took off once again for Island Lake, this time with his friend Ken King. They made it to Island Lake and beyond it to Indian Peak and the Titcomb Basin, inspired, in part, by the definitive guide to the area, Wind River Trails by Finis Mitchell. More than just a travelogue, Wind River Trails is a poetic ode to the power nature exerts on the human heart. “From the first time I saw them, I felt the mountains were my real home. Where else can a man get so close to heaven … with both feet on the ground?”
Both Scott and Ken carried their well-worn copies of Wind River Trails on many subsequent trips to the area. Ken brought his wife Sandra Simpson there while Scott and I finally made it to Island Lake about 15 years ago but, mostly, it was Scott and Ken walking in Finis Mitchell’s footsteps. It was on one of those trips that Scott, conflating the grandeur of Lonesome Dove with that of “the Winds,” made Ken promise that, just as Call had brought his friend Gus’s body back to Texas for burial, Ken would bring Scott’s remains to Island Lake. It’s an easy, even fanciful conversation to have when you’re in your thirties, in the thick of building a career and raising a family, but Scott was completely serious about this and there is no doubt he intended his wishes to be honored.
That sad day came on November 30, 2013 when Scott died far too young of a heart attack, while we were spending Thanksgiving with our children in Breckenridge, Colorado. In the following months Ken and I began planning the trip to take Scott’s ashes to Island Lake. Unfortunately, work responsibilities kept our sons Josh and Ben in Denver, so our group included myself, Ken, Ken’s 18 year-old son Jackson and Ken’s nephew Tyler King from Atlanta who became our default photographer. 
We hired Muleshoe Outfitters to bring our gear down the twelve-mile trail on horseback and I rode in with our guide while the guys walked. The trail, comprised primarily of rock and scree, is used by thousands of outdoor enthusiasts every year and is not terribly difficult — but it’s no walk in the park either! No surprise, people in their 60s or thereabouts are not as nimble and sure-footed as they once were, and altitude hovering around 10,000 feet can be a challenge at any age. We found a decent-enough spot to make camp and after dinner we watched the stars and swapped Scott Colky stories.
It seemed appropriate to scatter Scott’s ashes on a beautiful Sunday morning, so it worked out well that Sunday, August 3RD was a glorious day in the mountains, with a bright blue sky, full sun and temperature in the low 70s. After breakfast we stuffed our day-packs with the usual peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, gorp, fruit and plenty of water, and headed down the trail looking for just the right spot for our little ceremony. It had to have spectacular wildflowers – one of Scott’s main occupations when in the back-country was photography and his pictures of wildflowers are among my favorites. Here are a few. [NEED 3 PIX OF WILDFLOWERS TAKEN BY SCOTT HERE].
We were on the loop trail around Island Lake when we saw the ideal place – a field of wildflowers bordering the lake with the mountains rising in the background. Here is a picture of the setting up close [NEED PIX HERE OF WILDFLOWERS ALONG LAKE]. And here is another Tyler took of Ken and me scattering Scott’s ashes. [NEED PIX HERE OF KEN AND ME]. All the while we talked to Scott about how much we loved and missed him and how we thought this was the right place to set his spirit free. Then I read an excerpt from Wind River Trails I had discovered just that morning. I knew I wanted to end with Gus’s final words from Lonesome Dove but there was a conflict as the book has him saying only “Oh dern” in despair over the course his life has taken while in the screenplay he rests his eyes for a moment, then startles Call by saying “By God, Woodrow; it’s been one hell of a party” before dying. That’s the one I went with.
We spent the rest of the day hiking down the same trails Scott and Ken had traversed so many times, marveling at the stunning views and telling more Scott Colky stories as they came to mind. [NEED 2 OR 3 HIKING PIX HERE]. With no particular destination in mind, we wandered wherever the path looked interesting, soaked our tired feet in cold mountain streams and laughed a lot – a whole lot. Scott would have been very pleased with how it all turned out.