Meet the Wade Family

Both of us were born and raised on small family ranches, 3rd generation natives, in eastern Wyoming. For both of us, the ranches we lived on were a family operation, with no hired men to do the work.  Our dads had worked for many years on different old-time ranches north of Lingle, Wyoming as Cowboys (I can remember that they still used the chuckwagon during branding in the spring, when I was only a year or so old, early '60's).  They later both became ranchers on their own places, but they are still Cowboys more than anything else.  So, we were raised in the true "Cowboy tradition" of eastern Wyoming, just a few miles from the Texas Trail and the Pony Express Trail.  We spent our youth working at trailing and branding cattle, training colts, riding and exploring the many natural and historic features of our home country. 

Mike was raised on the open prairies, at a place called Prairie Center to be exact.  He and his Cowboy buddies made many drives of cattle over 60 miles from the prairie to higher elevation summer pastures, riding young horses and camping at one of Wild Bill Hickok’s favorite spots along Rawhide Creek.  After graduating high school in 1977, Mike started guiding hunters in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, near the southeast corner of Yellowstone National Park. He also worked extensively as a horse and mule packer and horse wrangler during those years.  He always had an intense interest in wildlife, guns, hunting, trapping, horses and wild country and we often said he had been born a hundred years later than he should have been. 

Bobbi lived on a couple of ranches along the banks of Rawhide Creek; one outfit was located at the site of the Rawhide Stage Station of the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage Line.  My dad taught me to rope at a young age, and I competed through high school in the roping events. My other passion besides horses was, and still is, vocal music of all genres. My love of music and horses, combined with an outgoing personality was a good combination to bring to the wilderness; I started as a cook's helper and campfire entertainer on pack trips and learned to pack mules that first year, then went with Mike back into a wilderness elk hunting camp, 56 miles horseback from the road and worked as camp cook and horse wrangler.  After we were married in 1979, we spent the next 10+ years packing all over the Teton, Shoshone and Washakie Wilderness and other areas of Wyoming, taking guests on pack trips and into hunting camps.

We chose outfitting as the industry to build our careers in, learning the trade from the ground up.  After about 20 years or so of working for others and running our own hunting business, the time came to make a change that would bring us back closer to our heritage and High Wild & Lonesome Horseback Adventures was born. As this company has grown and developed over the past ten years, a new name has now been discovered that is even more descriptive of what this lifestyle we love to share is all about - Blue Sky Sage Horseback Adventures.

Both of our daughters have grown up in the business and have spent most of their childhood summers at horse camp, working as cooks, camp jacks and helping wrangle horses and guests.  Our oldest daughter Amanda is now married and living with her husband Jeremy Talbot in Casper.  They were married on July 21, 2009 in a simple outdoor ceremony at the Miner's Delight B&B in Atlantic City, Wyoming, another little place many of our guests have visited while on a Blue Sky Sage horseback vacation.. 

Emily is completing her sophomore year in high school and has worked for the company full time in many aspects, both in the camp kitchen, out on the trail and in the office.  Her real passion is sled dog racing and she maintains a kennel of around 20 dogs for her competitive teams, Powderhounds Sled Dog Racing,  which is no small feat for a teenager.  She has had tremendous support both locally and from many of our Blue Sky Sage guests, for which she is very appreciative.  We are grateful that our girls have been able to live the lifestyle we chose so many years ago and that they have gained so much personal growth and character from their work and from the many wonderful people they have met over the years.

Our long and varied career has taught us that the best approach to a successful and enjoyable horseback vacation for all our guests requires a handful of simple, straightforward things.  Those things are to provide an active, hands-on horseback experience for small groups of people, active, well-mannered saddle horses to ride, remote locations that put folks in the heart of the real wide-open spaces, and a comfortable wilderness camp atmosphere.  These features provide every guest with the individual attention they deserve and appreciate.

We have both lived a very adventurous life and in spite of coming from a background that was very isolated and sheltered from the mainstream, (or as we joke, we were raised "at the head of the creek") somewhere along the line we knew we wanted to share the best things about the Cowboy way, as we knew and believed them to be, with people who had a sincere interest in experiencing what for us is a life, and a very good life at that.  It is our belief that Blue Sky Sage is a genuine reflection of what we have lived and what we envision.  There is always an open invitation to you to pull your cinch, catch a stirrup and ride for the high points with us across these wild, wide-open spaces we call home.

Welcome to Wyoming.

Mike & Bobbi Wade