Just Visitin'

Mike Dawson reports on a recent trip he and his wife Mo made to the Wilderness Trails Ranch in Colorado. The Wilderness Trails Ranch (WTR), the name alone is enough to set the imagination running. Located in the south west corner of Colorado near to Durango (famous for its narrow gauge railway and well worth a trip, but that's another story), has looked after guests for over 50 years. WTR is located in a glaciated valley, surrounded by peaks more than twice the height of Ben Nevis. Many trees did not survive the great fire that hit the region in 2002, but the beauty of the area is not diminished. On arrival you cannot fail to be impressed with the scenery. The view from the Lodge across the pasture, with mare and foal (andJan's retired mount), to the massive peaks beyond, will stick in my mind for ever. The owners Jan and Gene Roberts have built a team around them who are dedicated to looking after you throughout your stay. From first class chefs, to Marie who would put most men's wood cutting skills to shame. On arrival at the Ranch, all guests are questioned about their previous riding experience. I am sure that the staff have been caught out by people who said they could ride and when the dust settled, did not know which end the hay went in. You are 'graded' into one of the groups and allocated a horse for the stay. The Ranch is well organised and to prevent a jam at the barn the different levels of rides left at different times. My first trail ride out was on 'Matador', a Quarter Horse bred and born on the ranch (we found an article in the WTR magazine announcing his birth). In the company of Jim, another guest, and guided by a young lady from Canada, we set out to explore. We rode through lush green vistas that the Ranch staff call parks and onto the tree lined slopes. What a beautiful place to ride, the trails varied from easy to follow, to virgin slopes criss-crossed with fallen trees, which in places was a case of "find your own trail". Once back at the lodge it was time to refuel ready for another trip out in the afternoon -the quality and quantity of the food would make it difficult to stay on a diet, not that I need to!! A really nice feature is that the ranch staff (including Jan and Gene) take their meals in the dining room too, which gives you a chance to chat with the people who want to look after you and for them to find out about you.Most evenings there is some form of entertainment -as there is NO TV! The dancing lessons in preparation for the dance on Thursday was a particular favourites -OK so I am not a Fred Astair, but I did learn to two-step and waltzed round with Mo. "Visiting" (sitting round and chatting in the bar) is an important part of passing the evening and the old skills of story telling are put to good use. Gene is a master at story telling, buy him a drink and your evenings entertainment is assured. Jan is a poet and the story of her love for horses, meeting Gene moving to WFR and their new life together is worth the listen and an insight to their dedication. Cattle 101 was a chance to work some cattle. The first job was to find them, then get them into the arena so we could try our hands at Cutting and Team Penning. Finding the fifteen steers was more difficult that one might expect. Twelve we found easily, so we ran them into the arena and went back for the rest. Chase, the Wrangler was impressed when I headed down a steep bank to turn the renegade three back on track as they attempted to escape. Now to what really made the trip worthwhile for me, and the real reason for writing this article was a "Natural Horsemanship Clinic" arranged by Jan and run by her daughter Erika. There were only two people for the clinic, so Erika's time was split between us. First we did some groundwork, with Janet as the guinea pig in the round pen, while I watched and listened, then we swapped. Then we mounted up and repeated the work in the round pen, this time without bridles. Without going into too much detail, I managed to walk, jog and canter while maintaining steering and brakes on a regular ranch horse, with no bridle, enough to surprise myself as well as Mo. After lunch it was back on the trail. Erika was taking a youngster out for a warm up, before going into the arena. After leaving the ranch, we did not use a trail that had been ridden before. It was a great experience to head off the trail and see how skilled 'Matador' was at crossing the rough terrain. While we were out we came across some cattle that belonged to the ranch in the next valley, Erika asked if I would like to help push the cattle back over the hill, saying it would be a full days riding. I did not need to be asked twice. The 'cookout' night was not to be missed, meat and fish in abundance with all the fixings - even the herbivores were catered for and you could either cook for yourself; or have a chef fix it for you. Have you ever had a buffalo burger? The weather during the days was nice, cool to start but quickly warming up. Late afternoon saw a change, as the clouds would roll in and for an hour most days we had a little rain (Mo says "often with spectacular thunder and lightening"). As quickly as it started, the clouds disappeared and the sun returned. The next morning we were up and ready to go, a change of mount to 'Copper' the horse I had used earlier in the week for cattle 101. Erika, Trish and I accompanied by four dogs headed off We searched high and low for cattle. Some of the places I recognised from earlier in the week and we were lucky to see a coyote standing on a fallen tree, but cows, what cows? Overnight we had quite a storm, so the tracks we had seen the day before had gone, and so it seemed had the cattle. After searching for half the morning, it was agreed that one of the cowboy must have collected the cattle and taken them back. Rather than go straight back, we climbed higher up the mountain and took a detour via Bear Creek back to the ranch -an incredible ride. I do not know how high we were, but the oxygen was getting mighty thin. 'Copper' looked after me. When Gene asked me how I had got on riding out with Erika, I told him that I thought I had ridden through places that even the elk had not walked. He laughed, knowingly! Thursday night is dance night, after dinner the tables and chairs were moved to make space to dance; a five-piece band arrived to supply the music. Eight o'clock, and all the guests, staff and some friends of the Roberts arrived and we were off - boy do they know how to dance - two-step, waltz, western swing and a couple of line dances. The younger members of staff really let their hair down and showed us a fancy step or two. When all the guests were worn our and heading off to bed, the staff went of to Virginias, (a local watering hole with a jukebox) until the early hours of the morning. Sight seeing trips, fishing (guided or on the ranch), water skiing and white water rafting or a day out on the Durango Narrow Gauge Railway are just a few of the other activities. There was so much to do and achieved, it doesn't seem possible we were only there for a week. So if you like trail riding, good horses that know where their feet are, in beautiful scenery, then a Ranch holiday such as WTR will not disappoint.

 

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