Sandy Seaton Sallee
Poet, cowboy, packer, outfitter
Sandy Seaton Sallee writes and rides from her cabin above the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley, Montana. She grew up in Yellowstone National Park, where she and her family lived in the historic mail carrier's cabin built in the late 1800s. She rode horseback among the elk, drove four-up stagecoaches, and dreamed of being a cowboy. After cowboying in New Mexico, she returned to her native Montana where she met her husband, Scott, in a high mountain hunting camp. Sandy and Scott now own and operate Black Mountain Outfitters, a wilderness outfitting business. They also train and sell mountain trail horses and mules. She spends several months each summer and early fall living in a wall tent in their wilderness camp while they are entertaining clients.
Sandy recited her poems at the first Montana Cowboy Gathering back in 1986. She's performed at a number of cowboy poetry gatherings, and has often been a featured performer at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering held annually in Elko, Nevada. Her original western writing has been shared in multiple national magazines, podcasts, and anthologies. The Academy of Western Artists chose Sandy as the top female poet in the nation in 2016.
She is the author of The Yellowstone Poet, Volumes I and II; a CD, Montana Legacy; and Magic Montana, a hardbound book of poetry illustrated by her husband Scott's dazzling photography. She is well-known for good mules and good writing.