Spend a week at 4UR, and let your dreams come true.

That’s what you’ll find at our Colorado Vacation Ranch. Our fishing waters include miles of private tailwater trout streams (Goose Creek), the Rio Grande River, wilderness lakes and trophy ponds. You can stand in different water every day, surrounded by the incomparable beauty of the Southern Colorado Rockies. For many an angler, a week spent at 4UR is a dream come true.

Our fishing guides are patient and extremely knowledgeable. They’ll help you as much as you like. Novices, rusty anglers, and children may start with casting lessons on the lawn; you may spend one or several mornings or afternoons with a guide on your own stretch of water. If you know what you’re doing and crave solitude, they’ll get you started and leave you be.

Most of the fish in our waters wild. They were born in these waters. You’ll find rainbow, cutthroat, browns, cutbows, and brook trout. Guests frequently catch 16 to 18 inch fish–a satisfying experiencing indeed.

Some of us are passionate about our work. Some of us are passionate about the arts. Some of us are passionate about fly fishing. We spend the winter months tying flies, remembering the best moments of last season, and anticipating great moments to come. If this describes you, contact our Colorado Vacation Ranch soon.

We invite women to join us at our Colorado Fishing Lodge for the Women, Wine, & Waders Retreat.

That’s what it’s like at our Colorado Dude Ranch during the Women, Wine & Waders Retreat. In 2011, women anglers will take over the ranch the week of August 21-27. You could be there.

You’ll spread out over Goose Creek and spend a day at Lost Lakes. You’ll fish all day, maybe learning new techniques with one of our fishing guides, maybe perfecting old ones. Perhaps you’ll go horseback riding one afternoon, or relax into a massage.

In the evening, you’ll soak in the natural hot springs and cool off in the pool. You’ll indulge in long, sumptuous dinners and share bottles of wine. You’ll talk with old friends and make new friends. You’ll laugh. You’ll be happy and fulfilled.

Sounds ideal, doesn’t it?

It is.

Join us during the Women, Wine & Waders Retreat at our Colorado Dude Ranch, August 21 – 27, 2011. Come with your good friend, your sister, your mother or daughter. Fish in one of the most glorious places on earth. Celebrate life.

Fish Goose Creek.

We are currently in the middle of a kids stay free week at 4UR. It has been fun to see fathers and their children bond over the activity of fishing. It happens every year, and has been as long as humans have known to take from the bounty of the sea and stream. Imagine throwing dry flies to the big wild Browns and Rainbows in Goose Creek, or exploring the pristine high mountain stream for big Cutthroats. Come and start your next adventure! We use a lottery system that makes sure that each angler gets to pick a private station on the creek. You end up with solitude, peacefulness and a great chance to catch exciting fish. Of course this is also part of a fabulous horseback riding vacation that you will be able to partake in.

We look forward to welcoming you!

We’ll keep you updated on all the seasonal changes around our Rocky Mountain vacation spot as the sun banishes Winter!

Our Head Guide Andy Lee at Station 1

We have a very fair manner in which we distribute access to our 20 “stations” or private 1/3 mile sections of the creek to our anglers. We use a lottery system to determine who gets to pick their station first. So as the week goes by, almost everyone will get a chance to have a nearly perfect place to fish.
We call our Goose Creek “nearly perfect” because it is some of the nations only private tailwaters, which means that Goose Creek’s drainage is quite unique. Flowing from the Weminuche Wilderness, it passes through only two pieces of private property before reaching the Rio Grande: our Rocky Mountain vacation spot and our neighbors upstream. Our neighbor’s reservoir feeds the creek from its cool waters via an 80-foot dam, making this creek one of only a handful of “private tailwaters” in America. Years of astute stream management and rigorous catch and release practices make for some surprisingly big, well-colored trout.

Expect to see a variety of special types of trout – rainbows, browns, snake river cutts, cutt-bow hybrids and even brookies. You may also take a guided fishing trip above timberline to Lost Lakes for rare Rio Grande cutts, or fish Station 21, a trophy pond in the ranch valley. All waters are catch and release, fly fishing only except for Walton Pond, which can be ideal for kids.

We hope to see you for a Western Vacation at 4UR ranch this summer!

Dining: We recruited our chef, Wray Warner, from the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole. Some of his specialties include unique home-made ice creams, and ambitious pasta, beef and fish dinner entrees. One of my favorites is a mushroom pasta that has been prepared to allow the delicate flavors of the fungi to come out.

It’s not just about dinner, breakfast and lunch are stunning as well. I love to start breakfast with the home-made granola and yogurt, along with hot, strong coffee. We also serve unique cook-to-order breakfast dishes. Breakfast is a very personalized meal, and we want you to feel right at home.

Even lunch is a special affair, esp. on Wednesdays when we hold our Mexican luncheon poolside. We have fajitas, chips, guacamole, cold Coronas and margaritas. Box lunches are also available to take out for your fly fishing trip.

Bathing: We have great “watering holes” – literally! Our pool is large and refreshing; there is plenty of deck space for lounging or playing games with family. We have tables if you want to sit in the shade umbrellas and have a cold drink or a snack. The pool is the place to be, if you ask me!
The hot springs are what Wagon Wheel Gap was originally famous for. In the early 1900s, General William Palmer founded the Wagon Wheel Gap Hot Springs Resort. The Hot Springs were thought to have medicinal qualities; we still have the historic bath house on property. You can still enjoy the Hot Springs, they are just adjacent to the pool and may still have the power to cure what ails you.
The sauna is here for you to enjoy as well – it is also in the pool area, and next to it is our massage parlor. This is relaxation central, and something that makes 4UR quite luxurious.

Catch a beauty in our "Private Tailwaters"

Fly Fishing Vacation: Our fly fishing is renowned as spectacular. We divide our pristine Goose Creek into 15 “stations”, each a 1/3 mile, which are assigned by lottery in the evening. This system keeps everything fair, and assures each fisher-person prime waters at a prime time nearly every day.

Along with Goose Creek, there are four stations on the Rio Grande and one in the Weminuche Wilderness. You may also take a guided fishing trip above timberline to Lost Lakes for rare Rio Grande cutts, or fish Station 21, a trophy pond in the ranch valley. All waters are catch and release fly fishing only, except for Walton Pond, which is a great place to start practicing with your little angler.

Goose Creek’s drainage is quite unique. Flowing from the Weminuche Wilderness, it passes through only two private properties before reaching the Rio Grande; the 4UR Ranch and our neighbors upstream. Our neighbor’s reservoir feeds the creek from its cool waters via an 80-foot dam, making this creek one of only a handful of private tailwaters in America. Andy Lee and Aaron Christenson have spent their years with us managing the stream rigorously. This, along with our catch and release practices make for some surprisingly big, well-colored trout. Look forward to seeing rainbows, browns, snake river cutts, cutt-bow hybrids and even brookies.

As you can see, 4UR Ranch is more than boots and dusty arenas – come here for something completely unique.

4UR Ranch now a Member

The DRA also promotes western vacations by continuing to build a strong working relationship with Federal and State land agencies in order to preserve and protect parks, forests and wildlife. Here at the 4UR, we know all about that. Our seven miles of pristine creek, which flows from the Weminuche Wilderness, is lovingly managed by Ranch Manager Aaron Christenson and Head Guide Andy Lee. They take extreme care to keep our creek the perfect place for large, healthy trout to flourish.

We are so glad to now be a member of the DRA, and hope that you will choose to come see us for a Rocky Mountains Vacation this summer. We can promise horses, hats, hospitality and history.

Soon it will just be our core staff at the ranch, and the horses of course. This is an important time to allow for Goose Creek to re-coop for next summers Fly Fishing Vacations. Soon the town of Creede will be reduced to the few steadfast year-round residents.

The Creede Repertory Theater closed at the end of August, so all the big stars are out of town as well. Soon we will have the San Juan Mountains all to our self. We work hard to maintain this precious land for the year to come. We want the fields to be green and plentiful to supply the horses in the spring and throughout the summer if possible. Plus, the better care we can take, the better the valley will look for horseback riding vacations in the summer.

A wet winter and spring make for wildflowers and green hillsides

Soon the snows will come, and there will be a whole new reason to visit Colorado! The skiers and snowboarders will ascend the mountains in search of thrills. We will watch our beautiful valley change as the snows come, and wait, not too differently from hibernating bears, for the spring to come again.

Please feel free to contact us over the winter; we will still be here to answer phones and emails about summertime Rocky Mountain Vacations. We’ll just be carrying hot chocolate instead of ice cold pop.

One thing is for sure: you will always have plenty of quiet, spacious & clean creek to fish all to yourself, no matter the time of year you visit.

You may have to write home about the big fish you catch!

Our beloved Goose Creek is closely monitored year-round by our head guide Andy Lee, who makes sure that it is a healthy environment for the various strains of trout that live in Goose Creek. In fact, when you come to 4UR during our shoulder seasons, the fish aren’t being caught as often, and can be more energetic and more eager for a bite!

Regardless of the time of the summer that you come to 4UR, you will always enjoy the ranch as a horseback riding vacation destination. We are always looking forward to bringing guests through our little slice of heaven we call the valley at Wagon Wheel gap. We have a variety of other activities on the Ranch, including Trap Shooting. Colorado is a treasure chest of outdoor recreation, and we hope to share some of what we love about Southern Colorado with you.

We have a variety of lodging options that our dedicated staff work hard to plan perfectly for your family trip. For example, we try to put couples in the same lodging area, and families in another, so that kids can become friends with their neighbors, and no one has to worry about a sleepless night.

Some 4UR Guests Relaxing in front of the Lodge

Most of our lodging is structured Adirondack-style, with a long shared porch. The lodges are centrally located by and large; close to our dining room, lodge and pool area. However, we do have some homes that are pulled away for the rest of the ranch, and offer a quiet and secluded option.

Step two for a family ranch vacation is a great variety of activities to keep everyone in the family happy and entertained. We have Goose Creek of course, our world-class fly fishing creek, with seven pristine miles of private waters for anglers of all skill levels. Our head guide, Andy, can often be seen on the lawn in the morning with a group of young folks, showing them fly fishing techniques and tricks.

Then there is our equestrian program, which we are so proud of! Head wrangler Damon is trained in natural horsemanship, and when you come to ride at 4UR, you won’t just plot along behind the next horses’ bottom. We will lead you through our beautiful valley onto mesas and mountaintops for stunning views or delicious meals, like the Steak ride and the Fish Fry. We have a great riding program for the kids as well, which culminates in a hilarious kids rodeo.

There is our pool, and hot springs, as well as massage and yoga classes to partake in.

The last step for a great dude ranch experience is, or course, relaxation. With the quiet and peace of our little valley here at Wagon Wheel Gap, you are sure to find pure moments of serenity. After all, people have been visiting this valley for just that purpose for more than 150 years. I guess that is what keeps folks coming back again and again to our Guest Ranch. We provide a place for effortless and pleasant memory-building. That is what 4UR Ranch is all about.