The No Dude Ranch

Outside of Boulder, CO

What to do for summer vacation?  This year we decided it was time to go back out West and explore.  While Joe and Theresa would be perfectly content to hike around national parks, Theresa was concerned about Anna's fun factor....which would have a direct impact on the fun factor for everyone else.  Where could we go that has something for everyone?  Thus was born the idea for going to a dude ranch.  Anna could ride horses.  Joe and Theresa could hike.  Good food so no one had to cook (everyone liked that idea).  The final destination:  Colorado and the Elk River Guest Ranch.

It was the first trip to Colorado for Theresa and Anna and the first for Joe that did not involve skiing.  The adventure began with a 5:30 AM flight to Denver on July 26 (oh yet...that was early rising).  This meant we arrived in Denver at 7:15 AM and faced our first challenge:  the car rental.  We were greeted by a very chipper representative who was originally from Virginia.  After the pleasantries, she suddenly morphed into a villainous sales woman trying to up sell at every opportunities and talking to us in a condescending manner when we declined her offers.  When we finally found our rental car.....well let's just say it had seen better days.  There were dents and scrapes all over the car.  When the representative walked around the vehicle with us to mark damages, he actually just circled the entire call as there was little that was undamaged.  On the plus side, it really took the pressure off of us to make sure no one dented the door in a parking lot.

We spend the first three days of the trip exploring outside of Denver and Rocky Mountain National Park.  On the first day, we stopped in Boulder and were able to enjoy our first hike and some delicious food.  We also quickly realized we were suffering from a bit of altitude sickness with dizziness and headaches.  This required some water and ibuprofen for the entire family, but we adjusted by the third day.  We then headed up to Estes Park at the gateway for the national park.  The beauty of the park was truly breathtaking.  Occasionally it was literally breath-taking as we hiked up mountainous trails.  Other times it was breath-taking as we drove on mountain roads (apparently the highest in the nation) with no guard rails.  Theresa was wondering what the accident rate was.  It was also breath-taking to watch the cyclist bike up the mountain roads (we are talking 12,000+feet) and then race down the other side.  Apparently this is a prime training ground for serious racers.  We thought they were crazy.  Of course there was also the breath-taking car ride up the one-way dirt road to the top of the mountain in which Joe kept stopping to take photos.  Between mountain drives to the tundra area, hikes to beautiful mountain lakes, and an array of wildlife (we saw elk, big horn sheep, wild turkey and moose), it was spectacular!

On the trail to Dream Lake

The next part of our Western adventure was a dude ranch outside of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  The drive there was much different from the mountains as we crossed over and entered the plateau area of the state.  We finally reached the foothills of a mountain range....and the Elk River Guest Ranch.  We arrived to a warm welcome from Bex, one of the owners.  We had a nice cabin for the week and our back windows overlooked the horse corral.  When we arrived at dinner (you eat dinner with the rest of the guests) we were expecting to see some other families.  Apparently all the cabins were rented, but there were half the number of guests as usual.  Our fellow ranchers for the week included:

• Deb and Kathleen from Massachusetts/Rhode Island - They were in their late 50s and own horses.  They came out for a week of serious riding in the mountains.
• Peggy from Dallas and Sandy from Oregon - They were also in their late 50s and were sorority sisters in Texas. Sandy's daughter was one of the wranglers at the ranch.
• Sarah from Oregon - Around 30 and a college English professor who is working on a book.  She was traveling around for the summer.
• The Fagellas from Virginia

Top of the Mountain at Rocky Mountain National Park

Three of the four wranglers were also female.  This left Scott (one of the owners) who was traveling during the week and two other guys that worked at the ranch.  Thus began a week at the no dude ranch for Joe.

The focus of the ranch was horse riding, but there were lots of other activities.  Anna rode the entire week and really learned a lot.  The ladies, including the wranglers, took her under their wing and had her trotting and loping and riding on the mountain trails.  She also got to practice in the arena and do some barrels.  Her horse for the week was Bonanza.  Joe and Theresa rode the first day and one time later in the week for the overnight camp-out.  Mid-way through the week, we rode horses up to the top of the mountain where tents were set-up.  It was absolutely beautiful with spectacular views of the stars.  We were also treated to a huge breakfast in the morning before riding the horses down to the ranch.  Joe and Theresa enjoyed hiking the surrounding trails and Joe got to try his hand at fly fishing.  There were camp fires each night (including some western singers).  The end of the week also included a night at the Steamboat rodeo - complete with bull riding, steer wrestling, bronco riding, and barrel racing.  When looking at the program, we noticed there were several advertisements from orthopedists and chiropractors (that sums it up).  We enjoyed the Western hospitality and Anna is ready to return again.

Camp out on the mountaintop

We left for Denver to catch our flight back.  While in route, we passed a half marathon....running over the mountain.  There are some incredibly fit people in Colorado.  It would certainly never occur to any of us to either run or bike up a mountain....but there they were.  We took the flight back - a red eye - and were immediately greeted with a wall of humidity when we got off the plane.  Welcome home.

It was a great trip - one that we will not forget.  The National Parks are truly a treasure and we look forward to visiting more of them. 

Joe and Moe

Anna and Bonanza

Theresa and Jessie