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Just Another City Slicker

By Carole Herdegen

After reading the many attributes Lost Valley Ranch in Colorado was receiving on its website, I simply knew it must be a very special place. As I began searching out its location, I learned it was approximately 2 hours from both Denver and Colorado Springs. However, my curiosity peaked when I was further informed that when one travels to the ranch, ". . .the last 9 miles you will remember forever". And therefore, I could not resist the experience.

The turn off of the main Colorado highway onto a dirt road with 9 miles of twists and hairpin turns was a vivid wakeup call that I was departing city life and entering an era of the Old West where I would experience life on an authentic cattle ranch.

YES, guests were welcome, and YES, they would allow a city slicker like me with little riding experience to participate in the cattle round up before winter sets in.

I didn't realize that dude ranching has been around since the 1850's. Almost from the time cattle ranches were established

as a part of the great western expansion, they catered to "paying guests" from the East. Their financial contributions helped the ranchers offset the expenses of running the ranch while the guests, in turn, were able to experience what life on the American frontier was all about.

After all, a mystique of this life in the Wild West had long been developing. Images of cowboys, Indians, horses, buffalo hunting, wide open spaces with enormous blue skies and star studded nights, filled the print media of the time and captured the imagination of city-bound Easterners and wealthy foreigners alike. Stories were told, such as the one about Buffalo Bill Cody organizing a hunting party of dignitaries and wealthy hunters from Europe.

His clients brought along not only elaborate tents and equipment for comfort and enjoyment but also dozens of chefs to create gourmet meals in the midst of wild lands of the western frontier. It wasn't long before others realized the potential for tourism in the thousands and thousands of acres in the great American west. Guest and dude ranches began emerging from Texas to Wyoming and beyond.

This nostalgia for the American frontier still exists today. And, although they are obviously more up-to-date, today's dude ranches offer just as an exotic vacation destination as, for example, the Amazon.

The wilderness setting provides a great respite from the workweek of most people's lives. So, when the "last 9 miles" becomes a lifetime memory, it is because a visitor to the Lost Valley Ranch enters a place of isolation,

peace and solitude abundant in activities for outdoor recreation or simply leisure. Guests can "close the door" to the bustling outside world for a real change of pace. They can happily begin to have a love affair with history and a chance to

participate in real ranch work, ride horses, enjoy wonderful outdoor lunches on the trail and sing songs around a campfire. Forget about your daily diets of television and computers. And, if you have a cell phone, put it away because

without transmission cells out here, it can't possibly work anyway. But, don't worry about being totally cut off from the outside world because there are 2 old-fashion phone booths in the main lodge for guests.

One luxury is that one can forget about the bunkhouses of the past because today's guests are housed in well-appointed modern log cabins. Each cabin has a comfortable sitting room with fireplace and personally decorated and

exquisitely furnished by the owners, Karen and Bob Foster. This is certainly one reason why the ranch has received the prestigious "Four Diamonds" rating by AAA.

After settling in, normally the next item on the agenda is to mosey down to the corral to meet the wranglers. They then select just the right horse for each rider from more than 130 to choose from. Finding the perfect match for each individual's experience -

or, in my case, so very little experience, is no problem. While at the corral, guests are then taught the fine art of "roping a steer". It is very important that every cowboy and cowgirl knows how to rope a steer. I learned that this skill is probably

more important for the spring round up when the branding of young calves takes place. On the fall round up, our task was to move the cattle from the distant valley back to the ranch where they then would be brought to market. But, it is still

a great challenge to learn the art of roping.

The dinner bell is rung for dinner but also for other activities during the week. Hearty home-cooked meals, freshly baked warm bread, and a variety of delicious desserts are waiting after a long day on the trail. But, when out on the trail, the meals came to us. Why is it that food

tastes so much better cooked on an open fire in the middle of nowhere?

Tuesday night is square dance night. All of the ranch personnel, wranglers and guests participate. Riding the range all

day is tiring; however, dancing the night away can also be hard work.

After a night of square dancing, the following morning I opted for a quiet gentle ride to the valley. At Lost Valley Ranch every guest rides a couple hours in the morning and again in the afternoon. Guests come to the ranch because they can ride as frequently as they like and at whatever pace they are capable whether their selected tempo is walking, trotting, cantering or galloping.

At the end of the week, it was time for the cattle round-up. Like me, many guests chose this week at the end of September because it is an important week for the ranch and is reminiscent of the bygone days in the Old West.

It was surprising to learn that many ranch guests return year after year to be a part of this annual fall experience. During the spring and summer, the ranch's nearly 100 head of cattle roam to other valleys in the Pike National Forest. They graze on grasses to be fattened up for market.

In order for us to locate the cattle without a great deal of searching, their whereabouts was already scouted out earlier in the week. Early Friday morning, all the wranglers and guests rode out on the

trail to begin the daylong cattle drive. I discovered that cattle must scent the inevitability of their "capture" and delivery to the ranch because they tried to escape at every opportunity. The sights and sounds of this unique western adventure will not be soon forgotten.

Once the cattle arrived in their corral at the ranch, an atmosphere of satisfaction and accomplishment prevailed over the Fosters, the hard working wranglers and ranch hands. Everyone could now relax and have fun on the final full day at the

ranch.

Contests and games were the order of the day. One of the events was "team calf-cutting". Here, teams of 3 persons each were provided the numbers of 2

calves from the herd at the far end of the corral. The object of this timed event was to ride into the herd, identify and "cut out" the 2 calves and steer them to a small pen at the other end of the corral. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, it isn't! For a novice rider like me, to actually come in second place was very exciting. Unfortunately, in the relay horseracing event,

I failed miserably but had a lot of fun trying.

As the week ended, there were final farewells, lots of hugs and kisses and promises to return again next year.

And, these seemed to me not to be empty promises. In fact, the Fosters told me that as many as 60% of their guests return year after year. This is apparently true not only for the special cattle drive weeks but also for the main summer

season of June through August when families with children enjoy the many other dude ranch activities. For proof of this, there is a special ritual of personalized branding of the walls in the main lodge by families who have returned for their second or third time.

For more information on the Lost Valley Ranch
The mailing address is:
29555 Goose Creek Road
Sedalia, CO 80135-9000
Or at the website: www.lostvalleyranch.com
Phone: (303) 647-2311
Fax: (303) 647-2315

Visit the TravelSITE store to purchase maps of Colorado.

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