DORRIS, Calif. — Living and working on a large cattle ranch is never easy. Shirl and Chuck Woodson have faced every day and extraordinary challenges, but they figure that’s just part of their chosen lifestyle.

The Woodsons run a cow-calf operation with several hundred cattle on 50,000 acres of deeded and leased lands on their Willow Creek Ranch, an area that consists of homesteads settled in the 1800s and early 1900s near Dorris in far northern California.

Late summer and early fall require long days on horseback locating and herding cattle. They run their own cow-calf operation and take in yearlings on the meadows and commercial cows on the outside country. In recent weeks the daily routine has included long days on horseback locating and gathering cattle across their ranchlands.

“Our lives are pretty unremarkable,” downplays Shirl. “We are just doing what a lot of ranchers and farmers do in the Klamath Basin. We are fortunate to love the life we live.”

But the Woodsons have faced serious challenges. Chuck, 75, is in remission for advanced prostate cancer. When diagnosed in 2012, doctors gave him three months to live.

Now, Shirl says, “They consider him something of a ‘miracle man.’”

Shirl, 68, has injuries that make it difficult to ride but, “I’m so grateful to be back on horseback and able to ride through the rocks. … Every time I’m mounted, I think of the nurse at the hospital who popped his head in my room and said, ‘You’ll never walk again,’ and left. Glad I’ve proved him wrong.”

Another challenge came when a 2021 wildfire engulfed sections of the ranch. “It was 51 days of hell,” Shirl remembers. “We rode through flames daily. … We didn’t do anything heroic, we used common sense, but we had to do our best to not let our cows burn. We would get cattle located and moved, then fire would break out in another area of the ranch.

“One day, Chuck, our hired man and myself were in three different locations that were in danger of the fire coming that way,” she said. “Each one of us separately had to get cattle to safety. We were truly at the mercy of the wind that day and fortunately when the fire made the big run it ran to the east of us.”

One gather was interrupted when Shirl received a call that her father’s homestead era shop building was ablaze. When she arrived the fire trucks were leaving.

There have been many good times, too. In September the Woodsons were grand marshals for the Tulelake-Butte Valley Fair. They took the day off from working cattle to be in the parade and visit with friends. “It was an honor to be selected as grand marshals and very much appreciated.”

Both stay busy away from the ranch. Shirl began working for Cotton Rosser’s Flying U Rodeo in 1982 and assists when necessary. She carried flags horseback in the opening ceremonies at the National Finals Rodeo in Nevada. Chuck is known for his award-winning silver bits and spurs. And, because of his interest in California’s cattle history, Shirl says, “He turned his passion for the traditions of early California horsemen into a business, Bear State Vaquero offering quality California style tack to the horseman.”