Goodbye, Daphne Duck! Rest in Peace, High Park Fire. You are now just an Adventure Vacation chapter in our Colorado Dude Ranch History!
Joy and Gratitude!
So many folks have called or emailed – we are deeply moved by your friendship and concern. Thank You! Feel free to reply below.
The High Park fire is no longer news. More than half of the fire fighters (and TV vans) have all moved on to other parts of the state, with our prayers and gratitude.
The fire met the containment perimeter cut by fire fighters and stopped dead in its tracks, miles from here.
It stopped growing about three days ago.
And then a bit of rain cooled it off. Remaining fire fighters are mopping up.
Yesterday almost all of the evacuees went home.
Our ranch family is now smaller by five humans, five dogs, four cats, two horses, and a very awesome DUCK.
Gary, Carol, Jeanie, Penny & Ron, we are so glad to have gotten to know you better! You are no longer good neighbors, now you are dear dear friends.
For the dude ranch, very little changed.
Sundance Trail continued on with our guest ranch life, always watching closely and fully prepared with fuels mitigation, sprinkler and foam throwing systems (& a few miles of
hoses!), strengthening defensible space, staff training, evacuation plans, back-up vacations with neighbor ranches for guests, safe pasture for horses…. and, of course, groceries!
We have been preparing for this for more than 5 years, since long before the beetle kill adventure began.
Thanks Dave, for getting us started with those Colorado Forestry Service fuels mitigation grants so many years ago! And thanks to our friends and neighbors who were there for us; Dickie & Christine, Luann, Jim Beck, LeAndra, Patti & Dennis.
A HUGE big thanks to our Glacier View Fire Department and Greg and Andrea. You folks left your homes, livestock and businesses to lead the crews to protect our homes. We are grateful to you and will not soon forget your generosity and dedication.
Wow! So many emails and phone calls! Y’all make us feel very cared for.
The fire remains at least 25 miles south east of us and on the other side of the river ( a major big protective fire line).
Our prevailing winds continue to be from the west or northwest, pushing the fire away (and filling Fort Collins with smoke). A wind from the south will push the fire north, but still far west of us. A wind from the east will push the fire far south of us. Our concern is high winds from the south-east; pretty unusual. We are watching closely and we are prepared.
Staff fire training is complete. We own our own foam system to cover the lodge. We have set up impulse sprinkler systems around defenable buildings as a precaution. The last few beetle killed trees will come down today. All is well, we are prepared. Actually, thanks to Nick, Victor, James and a few others, we have been well prepared for a couple of years now. (We have been expecting this since we moved here – Smoky the bear has caused almost one hundred years of fuels to be left on the ground – Mother Nature is trying to balance out our arrogant foolishness.)
Neighbors closer to the fire are bringing their horses here. Thanks to Dicky and Christine’s loaning us their 10-horse trailer, we can move all of the horses to Luann’s corrals in Owl Canyon in less than three hours.
In other words, we are expecting the best, prepared for the worst, and watching closely.
Now join us in praying for rain.
And we are starting the summer dude ranch season. Yee-haw!
Sorry no pictures on this post – have been off buying horses! Have bought 6 new horses in the last two weeks – all are “honeys”! Pictures of Ralph, Dharma, Rio, Guss, Soda-Pop and Gene soon.
Answer: Our riding program is NOT nose-to-tail! It is based on a “curriculum” of learning objectives based on the level of skill you bring with you.
If Sunday afternoon through Wednesday sometime. You follow the same riding schedule as the full-week guests.
If Wednesday through Saturday, you have your own wrangler who will start you with the first learning objectives (depending on your skill) and build from there.
Answer: First, this is not a nose-to-tail riding program!. Our program is small enough to accommodate both proficient riders, and beginners. We are one of the smallest ranches in Colorado, and we enjoy being flexible in our programs and teaching.
Those who enjoy sight-seeing at a walk can; and those who want the faster jogs and lopes can too!
Our program uses a series of six steps to bring beginners from the ground up, starting with basic Dude Ranch Western Riding and ground manners. These steps are based on principles of Western Riding taught by the American Association of Horsemanship Safety and the Dude Ranchers Association Wrangler Safety programs. More details on our Riding and What Makes Us Different pages.
4. How often?
Answer: Every day but Sunday (Horses’ Sabbath)!
Monday both AM & PM
Tuesday AM (or Rock Climbing) and PM
Wednesday All day ride or two shorter rides AM & PM
Thursday white water rafting or AM ride for shorter stay folks
Friday All day ride or two shorter rides AM and PM
Saturday AM Gymkana (Ranch Rodeo!) and swim with horses in the pond.
5. Are there fast rides? Long rides? Family rides? Separate kids rides?
6. What type of terrain is the riding in (mountains, meadows, rocky, flat, etc)?
Answer: We are in the Rocky Mountains. Although we have lots of meadows where we can jog and lope horses, much of our trail in the Roosevelt National Forest involves some climbing and descending.
Visit Old Town Fort Collins (a few hundred unique shops, galleries, brew pubs, tea houses, restaurants, a VERY cool toy store, and Ben & Jerry’s)
9. What’s new? Disc golf course is known for being knarley! (Nice word for nasty!!!)
Obstacle course — we’re designing now. Should have up by the end of May.
Dude Ranch Vacation Events near the Sundance Trail Guest Ranch
Lots of great summer family adventure vacation opportunities coming up this summer. Here’s just four:
#1 Greeley Stampede June 22–July 4, 2012
Dust off your cowboy boots for one of Colorado’s largest summer festivals and rodeos. Dating back to the 1800s, Greeley’s Fourth of July celebration puts the “Yeehaw!” in Colorado’s western culture. Justin Moore, Credence Clearwater Revisited, Montgomery Gentry and Luke Bryan will headline this year’s Stampede.
greeleystampede.org
#2 Colorado Brewers’ Festival June 23–24, 2012
If you’ve tasted a Colorado-brewed beer, then you know why Colorado Brewers’ Festival is wildly popular. 30 Colorado breweries, showcasing more than 60 cold and fresh handcrafted beers, fill Fort Collins’ historic downtown. Summer has never been more refreshing than at this beer-lover’s paradise.
downtownfortcollins.com
#3 Cheyenne Frontier Days July 20-29
Cheyenne’s world-class rodeo is truly the Daddy of ’em All. Known for its fast pace and large number of contestants, the CFD rodeo ensures that visitors see more rodeo action (over 40 bulls and 70 saddle and bareback broncs daily) than they can see at any other rodeo. Every event is performed in each of the nine daily performances, so any day at Cheyenne Frontier Days is a good day to see an exciting, action-packed
rodeo.http://www.cfdrodeo.com/
#4 Larimer County Fair & Rodeo August 3 – 7th
The Ranch 5280 Arena Circle Loveland, CO Mary Starck, 5280 Arena Circle, Ste 100, Loveland, CO 80538 mstarck@larimer.org (970) 619-4009 Aug. 3-5
www.larimercountyfair.org
Spring Trail Maintenance – Dude Ranch Work Vacation
By popular demand! A new get-away idea! May 13 to May 19
So, if you want to get away from
the telephone ringing,
the traffic,
the TV commercials every six minutes
And you think that celebrating spring might include
hauling logs,
carrying buckets of dirt up steep climbs
setting fence posts and
a few hours of riding horses every day for a week?
May 13 is our spring trail maintenance week, and you are invited to join us!
We will have 12 – 15 new horses joining our herd, and they will need lots and lots of riding to get into shape for the summer.
Our trails will also need lots of attention (that is, lots of sweat and dirt!). Areas of erosion will be repaired, dead trees that may compromise safety will need to be removed, water bars built, and just maybe we will build a small barn.
Hard physical labor and
Lots of dirt.
No texting,
No cell phones,
No TV
and very limited internet available.
A break from civilization!
If this sounds like fun, visit our Dude Ranch Specials Page or call the ranch (970-224-1222) for more details.
BTW, summer is booking now. If you are planning to join us this year, you might want to call soon!
When at Sundance Trail Guest Ranch, either for a summer dude ranch vacation or Fall/Winter/Spring B&B stay,
you will spend lots of time with our horses (and donkeys!).
Horses communicate with body language. (Is this why women so often understand their horses immediately, and why guys are so often clueless?) Their faces, and especially their ears speak volumes, once you learn how to read them.
Here’s a quick primer on some easy to recognize “expressions.” Have fun!
Answers to each of these facial expressions are listed at he bottom of the page!
1. Stevie is ANGRY!!! She is having a bad hair week. Spring snow has melted and she want’s to party, and the geldings around her are all nerds or something!! Dude ranch horses are supposed to be romantic!!! None of these guys want to dance!!! Best to just leave her alone for a few more days…
She is clearly saying: “keep your distance or I will bite you!!!”
2. Mocha is taking a nap, or maybe she is meditating. Nope, she’s sleeping, in fact, she is snoring! One of her back hooves is up on the toe, her ears are flopped off to the sides, and her eyes are soft, gently starting off into the distance.
3. Rose Blossom is definitely sleeping! She’s still a baby, so she sleeps a lot. She even has her eyes closed, which only babies do – adults sleep with their eyes open.
4. Apache is awake, alert, and wants the cookie in my pocket. He is demonstrating interest and is interacting.
5. Khalli also wants the cookie in my pocket, but at the same time she is listening to some interesting gossip BEHIND her! Yes, kinda like radar dishes, horses’ ears can pivot front to side to back; even in different directions. Yes, if she wanted, Khalli could listen to two different conversations at once!
6. Rusty is actually sleeping. one of his hind feet is up on the toe, his ears are flopped off to the side, and his eyes are softly staring off into space…
7. Calamity is not happy that she is the last picture. She is small, but she is VERY bossy!
Hmmmm…… The weather people call for an October total of 2.9 inches of snow for our area. We got that three weeks ago, and it disappeared the next morning, as October snow should. The aspens still claim October as theirs; time to show off their golden leaves.
Oops! Wait a minute – we got a good eight more inches last night, and another six inches falling today!
The dogs are delighted! The older horses are playing like foals! The goats are making snow angels and laughing!
And the guests riding in the snow? Just look at their faces…
Tracy (from Houston!) says that riding in the snow is spectacular. I think that Laura (from Cleveland) agrees. Not too sure what Texan Kevin (also from Houston) thinks, but his horse, Jack is a happy fella! At lunch Kevin said it was a great ride…
Cowboy Victor was born and raised up here – he’s just cold!
–After successfully keeping momma black bear and her cubs out of the dumpster and the kitchen all summer, Sundance Trail Guest Ranch has been been completely overrun with bears… and mooses*!!
-Take home a bear as a memory of your ranch vacation! Or maybe a Christmas present from your family vacation. Looks like there’s a whole herd of the critters hiding in the gift shop, next to the Jackalopes, water bottles, disc golf Frisbies, and elegant Colorado hand carved bowls.
-Our neighbor, Rob, is a chainsaw artist, and he make some of the finest carvings we’ve ever seen!
-Our dude ranch has become a gallery of finished pieces!
-Rob’s work shows the demanding control and precision needed for this unlikely art form.
Big ones, little ones, some holding signs, some holding tables, some just sitting on a table top being cute.
Most of these are bears, but there are cubs and mooses* as well.
He takes custom orders for wood carvings of any kind; including bears, bear lamps, Eagles, Indians, Cowboys, Santas, pumpkins, …you name it!
Rob’s prices vary, depending on the size and difficulty of the piece, and whether any museums or fine arts galleries are bidding for the piece.
Generally, small bears & mooses*, about a foot tall, start at $35 or so.
If you have something special in mind, please feel free to email the ranch and Rob can give you a quote.
Also, Rob said he’s open to demonstrating his art here at the guest ranch if you have a group that would like to watch & learn more.