Riding a Motor Bike Was the Greatest Thing Ever!

One of Cheryl Ungerman’s first jobs was in the Great Outdoors.  Cheryl, a Butte native, was fourteen when she landed a job painting picnic tables and cleaning campgrounds along “the nine mile” in the Butte Highlands.   Doing this job, Cheryl realized how much she loved being outdoors.   As a youngster, she occasionally went fishing on Red Rock Reservoir near Dillon in her brother’s boat.   But it wasn’t until Cheryl married that she was able to spend as much time as she liked in the Great Outdoors.

When Cheryl married her husband, Dave, their first home was an old train car near Homestake Lake.  “The outdoors was my backyard,” said Cheryl.   Her husband Dave schooled her in the art of riding a motor bike and Cheryl was off to the Great Outdoors.  “I thought riding a motor bike was the greatest thing ever! I loved exploring.  There were old cabins at Coyote Flats to explore.  We would ride to Lake Delmo.   Our daughter Tonya was just a toddler, and she would fall asleep on the motor bike.”

Cheryl says her husband Dave was her greatest inspiration in developing a love for the outdoors.  She loves fishing with Dave.  She and Dave used to go hunting often, but Cheryl says hunting is hard work, and she is taking a break from it. 

Once when she and Dave were hunting in 2000, the Fall sun rapidly disappeared behind the mountains.  In the dark, they lost the trail they were walking to their truck.  Starting to get nervous, Cheryl and Dave sat down on a log for a moment to evaluate their situation.  They had emergency blankets, granola bars, a flashlight, and matches.  They knew they could make it through the night, but they wanted to get home.  Turning on the flashlight, they found they were on an old logging road.  Cheryl surmised they were heading the wrong way.  They turned around and eventually found the trail again. “We didn’t get home until after 10:00 pm that night.”

When asked about her most handy piece of equipment, Cheryl picks her four-wheeler.  She likes being able to drive over a rough road to a hiking trail.  She is disappointed at the amount of land the Forest Service is closing.  She thinks many of the closures are due to people who take their four wheelers where they are not supposed to and ruin opportunities for everyone.   One of Cheryl’s pet peeves is finding that horses have been on the trail she is walking on.  Cheryl says so many trails are open to horses, but horses impact the environment too.  Thanks, Cheryl, for your perspective on the Great Outdoors!