Wilderness Pack Trip!

We are offering something new and exciting this year at the ranch. A real wilderness pack trip! It's more than just an overnight trip like in the past. You will find yourself enjoying nature first hand for many nights in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Views you have never seen before or imagined! Here are the details:

"Looking for the adventure of a lifetime? Something unlike what you have ever done before? A Colorado Wilderness Pack Trip is waiting for you! A five day, four night, back country, horseback, wilderness camping trip at 10,000 ft. Fill your leisure days with fishing in alpine streams, hiking nearby peaks and horseback riding. Explore Craig Park in the Lost Creek Wilderness Area as only a few have been able to do. Enjoy the open space, fresh air, ultimate peace & serenity of getting away from it all! A guide and camp host will care for your every need and safety. This exciting adventure is for one family or possibly two couples and only offered three different weeks: July 2nd, July 9th and July 16th, 2011. Contact us for more exciting details."

Is That For Real?

Yes....you are seeing correctly. Karen is playing horseshoes!!! The fall Colorado Dude & Guest Ranch Convention was earlier this week where all of the dude ranches within the state get together to discuss everything from the "dude ranching business" to marketing, the economy, etc. Many great speakers, great conversation, great people. One evening we had a horseshoe tournament where the ranches all competed against each other. North Fork Ranch was well represented and made it all the way to the semi-finals. Unfortunately we lost by three to advance to the finals. Karen was quite the natural accumulating many points for North Fork, including a "ringer." It was a lot of fun. Just wanted to show everyone yet again, that Karen can do it all. :)

What a Week!!

This has been such a wonderful 25th season here at the ranch with amazing guests and terrific staff. We can't believe we only have a few weeks left and then jump into our meeting groups! This last week, all of us at the ranch were treated to a wonderful group of guests, all from the UK. It was a 50th birthday celebration with all friends and family and they were just a fantastic group of people. Many, many laughs, new friends and great memories were shared. We were even treated to "concerts" several times last week as many of them were so very talented guitarists and singers. It was incredible!!! You've never heard the lodge so loud, filled with music, singing, and laughter! We were all "jamming out" night after night. So much fun! Please enjoy some pictures from the "sold out" concerts.

Kansas Girls.....Know How To Get It Done

Karen and I had the pleasure of heading to South Park last week to feed horses. We weren't sure what we'd run into as the ranch got about 7 inches of snow, so we were a little nervous that South Park would be worse. Thankfully, they only had an inch at the most, but the snow that had already been there had drifted some from the wind. We were only a couple hundred yards from our gate to enter the pasture, when we hit a huge drift and got stuck in Dean's truck. Twenty minutes later, after much shoveling, the truck was free and we were ready to enter the pasture. However, there was one more drift standing in our way right in front of the gate. Karen stepped up to the plate to drive through this drift and you could tell by the roar of the engine, the spinning tires, and the determined look on Karen's face.....NOTHING was going to keep her from getting through that drift. "The look" clearly stated that we were not about to get stuck again. :) Karen plowed through that snow like you've never seen before in your life! She busted through and handled the truck and the snow like a champ! She later stated her "mad skills" came from the many years of dealing with the mud in Kansas from the dirt roads. :) It was too fun to see her "in action." Karen can do it all!

So, after a full morning of shoveling snow at the ranch, plowing the driveway, getting unstuck and feeding horses in South Park, we had a pretty full day. But with lots of laughs, great pictures, and some fun memories...it was all worth it. Two Kansas girls can handle anything that is thrown at them. :)

Newbie

Ok...to be honest, I'm still learning so much about all this blogging, social networking stuff. So this is kind of a "test post" to see if my new additions to our blog work. I added a Feedburner to the blog to see if those that are already followers can now sign up to get automatic emails when a new post is made (since blogger doesn't automatically do this). I also added a "widget" (like my new vocabulary?) where you can just sign up for email subscriptions of when new posts are made. Naturally, I signed myself up for the email subscriptions, will post this, check my email to see if it works, and hope to goodness it does. Everyone cross your fingers. :)

COOKBOOKS, COOKBOOKS, COOKBOOKS!!!

As we have mentioned before, our cookbooks are in and ready to be delivered. Here is the cover, a bit different look than the past. It has updated photos and great new recipes that are sure to satisfy your taste buds. And Chloe, the cat, is ready to get them all out to you. She is anxiously waiting in the cookbook boxes to get them distributed. Too cute! :) Please give us a call at 1-800-843-7895 or email us at: info@northforkranch.com. Be sure to check out our website: http://www.northforkranch.com/.

Our famous bald eagle has returned to the valley this winter. We had early sightings of him in October & November, but then he kind of disappeared. But we are happy to say that he is back and exploring the river for fish and scavenging as well. Hopefully, he'll stop long enough for us to catch a quick photo. It's just spectacular to see him soaring through the sky. You definitely can't miss him. :)

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.

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.

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.

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. :)