Tis the Season

We can't believe Christmas is here already! This fall and the beginning of the winter has flown by for us!! The May's went and got their Christmas tree today. Kind of nice having Christmas trees right out your back door. :) So, I think we are all set for the season: we have lights up, the tree is up, some presents are wrapped (except we haven't quite finished our shopping yet), Christmas music is playing, and Christmas cards are going out as we speak. Here is a funny photo of Hayley & Tyler fighting of which way to go with their Christmas tree.


AND.....for those of you that haven't heard......the Cookbook is FINALLY done!!! Yea!!!! So, if any of you urgently need them for Christmas presents, please give us a call or email us (1-800-843-7895 or info@northforkranch.com). And for those of you that aren't in a hurry, we can get them mailed to you mid January. Just let us know. :)


We hope this finds everyone well, we wish everyone safe travels, and precious memories with friends and family.


Happy Holidays!

North Fork Ranch

Update

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and great holiday weekend. We "tip our hats" to anyone who dared the crowds on "Black Friday" for those tempting sales. :) We all enjoyed a nice, quiet Thanksgiving here at the ranch with wonderful weather. The kids were even able to go ice skating on the pond. Karen had a great time in Cleveland where she attended a Grand Opening of a new Orvis Store in Cleveland, Ohio. There was a large crowd all weekend long and she met some wonderful people and was able to spread the word about the ranch. The CDGRA convention also went well in Santa Fe. Dean and Karen had a great time visiting with fellow ranchers, learning more about what's to come and was able enjoy the great town of Santa Fe. We also have some new additions to the ranch....yet again. Tyler decided we needed some roosters among our chicken flock. So, we are now the proud owners of two, very exotic roosters. They were quite noisy when they first arrived providing their morning wake-up call, but have settled down now and are behaving themselves. :)

Close Encounter

Check out this funny picture of a curious deer checking out Chloe, the cat. Neither one was quite sure what to make of the other. It was very cute! :)

Dean & Karen are off to Santa Fe, New Mexico for the Colorado Dude & Guest Ranch Association (CDGRA) annual fall convention. This is a great opportunity for all the dude ranches within the state to talk about upcoming or ongoing issues/concerns within our industry, reminisce about the season, and catch up with one another. As busy as we all are, Karen also serves as a board member and convention chairman of the CDGRA and has planned the spring and fall conventions for the last few years.

Everyone is doing well here at the ranch including all the horses, fish, dog, cat, goats, chickens, rabbits, and Belle, Tyler's calf.

White, Fluffy Snow

Well, the snow storm did hit. We got a little over a foot of snow while other parts of the state got much more. There is a possibility we could get another few inches today. We'll see. It has consistently been snowing for the past two days, a very light, fluffy snow. Very peaceful, quiet, and still. It's been absolutely beautiful. Hopefully the wind will not show it's face anytime soon and ruin the serenity. Please enjoy this beautiful picture of the river and the cutest, ranch dog in the business....Pepper. :) She LOVES the snow.

Busy, Busy, Busy

My apologies for not blogging sooner. I didn't realize it had almost been a month since our last post. Oooops! :) We have been extremely busy with groups and LOTS of fisherman lunch everyday. And we just finished yesterday cleaning and bagging all the cabins for the winter time. They are already to be "tucked away" for the season once Dean gets the water turned off.

The deer have finally started to return on a consistent basis. We've had several smaller bucks and only one big one that we've identified. He hasn't stayed around long enough for us to get a picture for you yet. :) We've also had a very curious raccoon hanging around lately. He was really enjoying sneaking into the shop to get into left over chicken feed as well as some rabbit food out of the barn. Needless to say, we've put all the stuff away now and we haven't had any more "break-ins" from the curious creature.

We are suppose to be getting a pretty big storm in this evening. We'll see what happens. We'll attach pictures if we get alot of snow.

Hope all is well with everyone. We'll write soon. Picture is of a beautiful frost one morning.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow....

As a new front is moving in today to take us down to 25 degrees tomorrow (brrrr), we were able to enjoy a beautiful rainbow down the valley here at the ranch this morning. There are some rain spots on the picture, but you can see the rainbow pretty clearly. It was perfectly situated over the ranch. http://www.northforkranch.com/

We also had an eventful day last weekend as Tyler decided to move the goats for the day to our upper pasture, (where Will Dudley sing-a-long and Mountain Man are held). It was one of the funniest sights you will ever see! Goats...in a line....following Tyler....up the driveway. It was priceless! :) Thank goodness they are so well-behaved, otherwise we could have easily gotten quite the workout chasing them around. However, Oreo, did not like being in a new place. She is the smallest goat of the three and amazingly jumped over the fence and ran back home....leaving Maggie and Gracie to fend for themselves. Enjoy the picture. :)

Just another day at the ranch.

Snow already?

For those of you that haven't heard.....we are skipping fall and heading straight to winter here at the ranch. :) We actually got snow on Monday, September 21!! And not just a little for this early.....a lot! Around 5 inches to be exact! Of course Tyler was so excited as he is hoping the ski slopes will get opened early this year. :) Thankfully our fisherman are very "hearty" and they did not let the weather deter them from fishing for our famous trout. It has all melted now and the temperatures are starting to warm back up. We'll keep you posted of when the next "winter storm" hits. Enjoy these photos from our first snow of the season.

24th Year Under Our Belt

Well, it's official....We have completed yet another "dude season" (our 24th in fact). However, we are still in full swing closing down the barn, putting horses out to pasture, closing staff quarters AND cooking and cleaning for our groups that are already underway. Our first group of the fall is our Casting For Recovery Women's Retreat group. A great group of women who are breast cancer survivors who have been joining us every spring and fall for the past seven years. Remember....We are open as a bed & breakfast and fishing lodge through the fall, winter, and spring. Come and check us out! http://www.northforkranch.com/html/fishing_lodge_rates.htm

Be sure to check out this link to a wonderful article written from one of our guests this summer on the ranch. We thought she did a great job of painting a picture of the ranch and what we are all about. Go to: http://www.santacruzwire.com/, then click on "North Fork Ranch: Where Kids Can Be Kids (So Parents Can too!) located just down the page. Thanks Tara! :)

Enjoy these two photos of two of our staff members enjoying the Alpine Slide in Breckenridge.

Finally.....

It's the moment you've all been waiting for.....the most popular, fascinating and talked about sight on the ranch....Dean's HUMMINGBIRDS!!!

For those of you that have visited the ranch this summer, you have witnessed an amazing sight. Our hummingbirds here are so interesting to watch. And we don't just have one or two....as you know, we have TONS! Throughout the day, there will be up to five to ten buzzing around the feeders, and then as the evening settles and dusk draws near, there will be around twenty hovering over the sugar water! Our hummingbirds are quite energetic (to say the least), and enjoy seeing people dodge and flinch as they zoom past their heads. We give them quite the sugar rush as we have to refill the feeders three to four times a day! Enjoy these great photos taken by one of our new guests and now, new friends from this summer. Thank you David!

August Already?

Wow! We can't believe it's August! This season has gone by so fast. We only have a few weeks left, then we move into our corporate and meeting groups during the fall. The weather has still been great and the deer and elk are starting to show their faces again. The deer are a beautiful, rusty red color right now with bucks in full velvet. It's quite a sight.

Hayley competed in her first barrel racing competition this last weekend. Check out these great photos. :)

Staff will be leaving us soon as most of them are heading back to school. Hayley will be leaving for her sophomore year of college in a few weeks and Tyler starts his junior year in high school as well. We are going to miss all of them. Everyone has done such a great job this summer!

Hola!

Well it has been quite warm here at the ranch for the last week. Well....hot to us anyway. Eighty to eighty five degrees here and we are all complaining how hot it is. :) But the mornings and evenings still cool down which is nice.

Our family reunion group and the "Pond Contest" winners had a great week. The ranch was filled with lots of children enjoying pony rides, the swimming pool, the petting zoo and much more. There was always laughter in the dining room every evening with everyone recalling the days events. Friendships and memories were made and we hope to see all of them again next year.

Here's a great shot of two of our staff members this summer really "playing the part" at our Mexican Buffet lunch. They are quite the hosts. :) All the staff is doing a great job this summer and have enjoyed all of you that have stayed with us. We all look forward to meeting the rest of you as the season continues.

Update

We've had great weather here at the ranch the last two weeks. Warm temperatures, the afternoon showers have disappeared, and the Colorado blue skies are gorgeous.

For you fisherman out there, you'll be happy to know that all of the spring run off has passed through, therefore the water is clear, crisp and flowing at a great level right now. The fishing is unbelievable!! Come and visit us to "wet a line" and perhaps catch one of our famous, 18-22 inchers. :) We are an Orvis Endorsed Fishing Lodge as well. http://www.northforkranch.com/html/orvis_endorsement.htm

The winners of our "Pond Ice-Breaking Contest" are arriving today for their free, family vacation they won. We are very excited they will be joining us again! Their two little ones are eligible to ride this year!! We also have one of our family reunions that visit us year after year arriving today as well. We are glad to have them all back as well as some new guests this week.

It's going to be a great week! Come and EXPERIENCE North Fork Ranch! http://www.northforkranch.com/index.html

"Wrangling" at the Ranch

Wonderful excitement this last week at the ranch. Tyler went to the sale barn and brought home a baby calf and two baby lambs!!! They are so cute!!! Tyler rolled into the ranch on Wednesday evening with his new pets, but the calf decided to take a stroll through dinner while everyone was getting their steak outside....he then proceeded to the front of the lodge. EVERYONE was chasing the calf round and round! It was quite comical. :) Finally, one of our staff "wrangled" the calf to the ground, Hayley proceeded to hold down the hind legs, and Tyler put on his halter. Check out this great picture of the "event" that one of our return guests took.

New Happenings at North Fork!

We have a few weeks under our belt and things are going great at the ranch. We've had wonderful guests already and can't wait to meet the rest of you throughout the summer. The spring weather is still hanging around here....warm mornings like summer, then afternoon showers and cool temperatures. You just never know what the weather is going to do in Colorado. Our Wednesday hikers even got snowed on last week on their way up Square Top Mountain!!!

There are new arrivals coming to the ranch soon......lots of exotic, baby chickens!! We already have four chickens but decided to add more that are quite different looking than the rest. :) We are getting a variety of colors that are sure to look quite funny....yet very cute. We'll see if they like to roam around the ranch when they are older like our other ones. These of course will join our three goats and rabbits in the petting zoo.

Dean finished the bridge to Stonehenge that was being remolded and it looks wonderful! It is wide enough for the 4-wheeler to fit across so we can clear brush along the river and has copper piping below the railing that looks very sharp. You'll have to come and test it out first hand.

Dude Season is Here!!!

Well today is the first official day of dude season and everyone is so excited to begin the summer. Dean is on his way home with our first week of guests from the airport and we can't wait! The smell of Thanksgiving turkey and homemade pumpkin bread fills the kitchen.

Our horses are healthy and ready to ride, the fisherman are catching fish left and right, and everyone is geared up for square dancing and all of our evening activities. The anticipation and wait is over. :)

Chloe, the cat, (see right) is guarding the ranch and directing traffic to the office. Can you see her? She's waiting for you!

www.northforkranch.com

Ten Days & Counting!!

Things are really starting to move along here at the ranch. All the buildings are open and we've already had several groups at the ranch to help us prepare for summer. Horses are now here, lawns are being mowed, the pool & hot tubs are getting filled and we are anxiously awaiting for guests to arrive for the official start of the season!

Our new staff for the summer is also arriving. Our wranglers "reported for duty" on Sunday to begin our horse clinic and several cooks are already here learning Karen's wonderful menu for the summer. They have already perfected the popular "ice cream roll dessert" and Thanksgiving dinner. :) The rest of the staff will be arriving throughout the next week. We have a great crew lined up this year with a few familiar faces from last summer. We are very excited to have them all here and know you will enjoy them as much as we have!

Looking forward to another great season (25th in fact)!

The Horses are Coming!

The dude season is fast approaching and horses are coming in from pasture today!!

Hayley just returned home from college late last night and went out with Dave this morning to start bringing them in from our pasture in South Park.

Come and visit us this summer to see all your favorites as well as some great new horses Dave has added to the herd. Who knows...you may even be able to help name some of them. :)

North Fork Videos

As technology keeps changing, we are trying to play "catch-up." Here is the latest on where to find North Fork on the web. We hope you'll check us out and come and visit us.

Come and check out our newly, redesigned website, http://www.northforkranch.com/.

We also now have video footage of the ranch on our video website. http://www.northforkranchvideos.com/

You can visit our youtube videos from this site: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=North%20Fork%20Ranch&search=Search&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&spell=1 or just type in "North Fork Ranch" in the search box and our videos will show up.

If you want to see some great still shots of the ranch, we are also on Flickr. Again, just go the following link: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=North+Fork+Ranch or go to Flickr's home page and type in "North Fork Ranch" in the search box.

Orvis Endorsed

For those of you that haven't heard....North Fork Ranch is now an Orvis Endorsed Fishing Lodge! This is a very prestigious, world-wide acknowledgement of our lodging, the structure of our river, our quality of fishing, and our wonderful hosts, Dean & Karen & Kevin. We are very proud of this endorsement and hope you will come and visit us and spread the word. http://www.northforkranch.com/html/orvis_endorsement.htm

The Homestead Cabin

Dean has remodeled the living room in the Homestead Cabin

this spring and it looks great!! He stripped the walls down, put in new chinking, carpeted the floor, painted the walls, and added a coffee bar. It looks wonderful!! It has a completely different look than before. Come and visit us this summer to check it out.

http://www.northforkranch.com/html/homestead_cabin.htm

Winter....in the Spring???

This was the ranch a few weeks ago. It's "suppose" to be spring, yet 20 inches of snow decided to fall!! The picture on the right are the picnic tables off the back porch of the lodge. Crazy, huh? It all quickly melted away and provided some much needed moisture for the lawns and pastures. Now everything is starting to green up and we will be mowing lawns before we know it. :)

North Fork Ranch in the Fall

Fall is always a great time at the ranch. This year, we got quite the surprise when the deer returned. They decided to eat ALL of our Halloween pumpkins!!! We had pumpkins by the corral and in front of the May's House and they would come everyday and eat them all. It was one of the craziest things we've ever seen! Even Pepper and Cooper, the cat, (picture on left) couldn't quite figure out what was going on. Deer eating pumpkins is a first for all of us. It also provided great entertainment while we are working in the office, looking up from the computer, and there is a deer eating off the front porch.....chowing down on the pumpkins. Priceless. :)