This geocache will take you on an eight-mile roundtrip hike into the Little Dominguez drainage of the Dominguez- Escalante National Conservation area. This is a 66,831-acre wilderness area where motorized vehicles and mountain bikes are not allowed. The end point will be the historic Rambo family cabin.
In 1911 William Henry Rambo (1875-1974) and his wife Charlotte M. Lottie Baer (1890-1975) homesteaded 160 acres of land in the Little Dominguez Creek drainage. They built this primitive cabin and raised their family on the land. The family was able to eke out a living by setting up an irrigation system from the nearby perennial creek. They planted an orchard and raised other crops to sustain themselves. Prior to homesteading this land, in 1905 William Rambo and his brother-in-law, William Baer, constructed a primitive road and ferry to cross the Gunnison River that allowed them access to the outside world such as the settlement of Bridgeport and the towns of Grand Junction and Delta. The Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was built in this area in 1882 and a RR station was built here in 1883. The road allowed them to deliver goods and import essential supplies to cultivate the land and survive in this harsh desert environment.
One of the Rambo children, Billy Rambo, returned to the homestead when he retired in 1975 and lived most of the remainder of his life in this cabin. The last few years of his life were spent living with a nephew whom I recall lived in the Hotchkiss area. He died in 2015.
In 1987, Billy sold this property to the Bureau of Land Management and the agreement gave him a lifetime estate. This allowed him to live out the rest of his life on this property and drive his old Volkswagen bus in and out of the wilderness area. He also used the VW as a shelter on sunny but cold days.
The first time I was in this area was in 1984 when I was working as a biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and assisted with the transplant of 10 desert bighorn sheep into the area. I was told by some of the local CDOW people that a hermit lived up the valley and his name was Rambo. My mind conjured up an image of an independent, tough guy in line with the movie character of Rambo played by Sylvester Stallone.
I did not return to his area until 1997 when I was extremely lucky to draw one of the highly coveted desert bighorn sheep tags for this unit. These are once in a lifetime licenses. During the summer I made many trips into the area scouting for my November hunt. I had a several occasions to view Billy, from the ridge top to East of his house, going about his daily life. I would pack in a few cans of food and leave them hanging on the gate to his 160-acre property that was marked “no trespassing.” Later I was invited by another retired friend from the CDOW to go with him to meet Billy in person. He had previously made several trips into the property and became acquainted with Billy. After meeting him for the first time I realized my initial impression was totally wrong. Instead of being some tough, independent guy, I discovered a very shy man who had a kind and gentle soul.
We made several more trips into the property and would bring him a little food and maybe a fresh sandwich for lunch. Billy did not really encourage us to bring him things since he felt that he might become too dependent on these foods and would want more of them. Also, he only had a few teeth, so chewing was a problem. Billy had a herd of very wild goats that liked him and would return occasionally for a handout of a grain. He had a metal chest that contained some large bags of rice and beans. This and some goat milk appeared to be his main diet. He also had an old barn cat that came and went through a hole in the bottom of the cabin door. No doubt the cat probably existed on the mice it could catch.
On one trip I brought him a new set of sweats and some wool socks. I thought these would be nice to keep him warm at night. I could tell that he was not too happy about my gift. On a subsequent trip about 6 months later, he asked me if I was the person who gave him these items. I said yes and he went into his cabin and gave me a plastic bag that contained all these items in new and clean condition. He told me, “to give these to someone who really needed them.”
On one trip in the early Spring, we met with Billy. He had probably not seen or talked to another person since the previous Fall. It took him several minutes before he could regain his verbal skills and talk with us. At first, I was not sure if he wanted our company or not. However, after a while he started talking and sharing stories of his life with us. After a few hours, when it was finally time for us to leave, I could tell that he did not want us to go. During this trip he asked us to return the next Saturday (he seemed to know what the day was, and I think he did listen to a battery powered radio) and help him harvest one of his goats that he keeps for milk and some meat. He said that he did not harvest them much anymore but would like a little meat but did not have the skill or desire to kill one anymore. When we returned the following Saturday, Billy was dressed in nice clothes that were clean and pressed. He had a billy goat tied up to a tree. He told us that he had tied up a nanny goat earlier but this billy came up and butted him and he got mad and tied up the billy instead. He brought out a .22 caliber rifle and we harvested the goat, skinned it, and hung up the quarters in the tree. Billy thanked us for our help and said that he hoped to share it with needy people in Delta.
I believe Billy would make a few trips into Delta each year to get supplies. These trips would have to be timed to when the primitive road was dry, and the creeks were not running too high at the crossings. The road today is very faint and hard to follow. I also recall Billy telling us that he liked to go to Delta to vote and attend the Democratic caucus meetings.
I recall Billy saying that he had been in military (US Air Force?) and I think he was a college graduate. I believe that he said he had an engineering degree. He told me that, “he had not accomplished much in his life.” That got me thinking about why he would have picked this life of a hermit. As I said earlier, he was a truly kind and gentle person. I suspect that he might have been bullied somewhat in his life and decided that he wanted to go some place where he could live in peace and quiet.
I hope you enjoy the hike into this special area. The original geocache contains a picture of Billy Rambo I took in 2009. This is taped to the inside lid of the waterproof container. Please do not remove this photo. There are 3 other photos (same as the lid photo) that are available for you to take. The cache also contains a FTF gift, log and pencil, 2 new TBs and other swag.
Congratulations to cllecr and Elliemayt for the FTF.