There have been many questions and concerns about what will happen to the ranch when we turn it over to the new owners, and I thought I’d take a moment to allay some fears. First, we have been impressed by this company’s people and culture.
Here is what I know from them so far: They intend to keep the name Rock Springs Ranch. The buyer has been talking with John about consulting with them about the operation before and after the change in ownership. They are also looking into their operational and staffing needs. Those who live around us in Tumalo will not see any major change in the operations. They also assure us that they plan to be the same good neighbor that Rock Springs Guest Ranch has always been.
Soon after closing the purchase, they are intending to re-roof and re-carpet the cabins, and put a portico on the front of the lodge. These are all things we had on our list, but did not get to. A few years ago, we had a conditional use permit to build a new guest accommodation and remodel the lodge. We ended up putting those plans on hold, and never got back to them. The changes the new owners are anticipating were ones we would have done ourselves.
Interestingly enough, John e-mailed me this morning with an article in the Denver Post today.
Dude ranch tradition disappearing
By Colleen O'Connor The Denver Post
Maggie Palazzari evangelizes about Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch on the Big Thompson River.
She raves about the "Cowgirl Round-Up" — like a slumber party with horses, plus a cowboy serenade. She so adores this Western lifestyle — riding horses and driving cattle — that she has visited four times in four years and recently invited her sister to meet her at the ranch for a family reunion.
Jenny Mayer didn't take long to accept. It took just momentary reflection upon the history of dude ranches, and these changing times.
"I thought, 'Are they going to go away or be here? I'd better do it before it's impossible,' " said Mayer, eating a steak-and-baked-potato dinner at the picnic tables as dusk fell on this 62-year-old dude ranch. "I don't know what the future holds."
That is a key question as the Old West morphs into the New West, and dude ranches fall victim to soaring land prices, tough economic realities and a new generation of guests who would rather eat bruschetta than beans and who demand a hot tub after a long day in the saddle. In the past 25 years, the Colorado Dude and Guest Ranch Association has lost more than half its members, from about 68 to 30. In
"The dude-ranching tradition is a little bit endangered, especially in places where there is development pressure," said David Jessup, who co-owns the Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch with his sister, Susan. They've started to sell homesteads, a small collection of 4-acre lots that start at $250,000, plus a membership fee of $9,000 that gives access to all dude-ranch amenities. The slogan on the marketing brochure captures the zeitgeist: "New
The Jessup siblings, who grew up on this family-run dude ranch, are intent upon preserving the place. "The ranch has diversified over the past 30 to 40 years in order to survive," Susan said. They do weddings and holiday dinners and bunk-and-breakfast weekends, along with the Cowgirl Round-Up with a yoga class, moonlight ride, campfire and s'mores. They've also put 60 percent of their land into conservation easement, which ensures the land won't be developed — and also lowers their taxes. And, in 2006, they finally added a hot tub to the dude ranch, fulfilling the No. 1 request from guests. These days, most dude ranches have Jacuzzis and also offer activities such as rock climbing and foot reflexology.
"We're starting to drift toward the resort side even as we try to stay true to the cowboy image and make sure people get the ranch experience," said Bob Foster, president of the Colorado Dude Ranch Association, who owns the
The solution for Penny Persson at the Colorado Cattle Co. & Guest Ranch is to offer a "hybrid experience" that blends a working cattle ranch with the comforts of a five-star resort. Guests can work the ranch all day, branding and roping, then return at night to soft chenille bathrobes, huge bath sheets — not mere towels — and fall into cushy beds with deluxe mattresses and down comforters imported from Sweden.
For those who correctly sleuth out what guests want, and protect their core business of horses, "the future of dude ranching is very bright," said John Fisher, president of The Home Ranch, which he says has been full all summer.
That's how Melanie Timmins sees it too. She and her husband, Patrick, recently bought the scenic Rawah Guest Ranch near Glendevey at the
That's how Melanie Timmins sees it too. She and her husband, Patrick, recently bought the scenic Rawah Guest Ranch near Glendevey at the
When the couple bought Rawah Guest Ranch, they embarked on a flurry of renovation and redecoration. "Everything was stripped, from linens to mattresses," Melanie said. "The cabins are still rustic, but when people are done hiking, they can get into a nice shower with granite countertops."
At the Bar Lazy J in Parshall, the "spa ride" — part of its weekly package — is particularly popular, a trek on horseback to the Hot Sulphur Springs Resort & Spa, where dude-ranchers can soak in the hot mineral springs or book a massage. On a recent Friday, a group of guests dismounted their horses across from the Hot Sulphur Springs Spa after lunch in nearby
At Bar Lazy J, where the word spa so easily becomes a verb, the onsite masseuse is swamped with business. "If someone told me that I'd be having a masseuse on board and that the swimming pool would be the focal point of the ranch and that people would be doing rides to soak in the hot spa, that's not the kind of ranch I'd want to buy," said co-owner Jerry Helmicki. "But that's what the guests want, so we offer it."
Over at the Laramie River Dude Ranch, co-owner Bill Burleigh closely monitors these developments. "People are looking for amenities that they didn't have before, like improved food," he said. "People used to associate steak and beans with the dude ranch, but now they're looking for vegetables and alternatives."
At Sylvan Dale, during a recent lunch, there were four choices of pizza: meat, cheese, vegetarian and bruschetta. Guests snatched up the trendy Italian bruschetta first and fast, leaving an empty pan.
That same week, at Bar Lazy J, Angela and Martin Reilly, visiting from
Colleen O'Connor: 303-954-1083 or coconnor@denverpost.com
More profitable to sell
Land prices can make selling a dude ranch more profitable than running one, causing some owners to sell the land to developers or private interests.
• In 2005, former eBay president Meg Whitman paid $20 million for the 150-acre Skyline Guest Ranch near Telluride — buying it from owners exhausted after running a dude ranch for decades — and turned it into a private residence.
• Peaceful Valley Guest Ranch near
• The
• Beaver Meadows Resort Ranch in
• The C Lazy U Guest Ranch at
