Beautiful baby Shelby and happy Grandma Kathy!

Kathy Adelman, office manager extraordinaire and all around “Ranch Mom”, is now a grandma! Congratulations to Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Jimmy, Papa Casey, and Mama Joni. Baby Shelby Leone Adelman is beautiful!

As any parent knows, welcoming a child into the home is one of the most incredible experiences in a lifetime. The birth of a child is a life-changing event: overwhelming, awe-inspiring, humbling. We wish the very best to Joni, Casey, and Shelby as they start their life together as a family.

Shelby’s arrival reminds us of the Two For One Kids Special at 4UR. It runs June 9-16 and August 11-18, 2012. We’re full during the August special, but we still have openings in June.

With the Two For One Kids Special, one child (aged 5 – 10) stays for free when another child stays for the regular price. If you have only one child (aged 5 – 10), she or he will stay for half price.

Your children will challenge themselves and thrive at 4UR.

Have a Colorado Family Vacation this summer. Bring your children to 4UR, and spend your time horseback riding, hiking, and swimming. It’s an all-inclusive vacation: parents enjoy gourmet cuisine while children feast on tasty favorites. Parents can spend a few hours each day on their own, while children explore the world of 4UR in the Kids Program. Its the best of everything, for everyone.

So, here it is: we’re updating the pool complex at our Colorado Guest Ranch. Yippee!

It was time. This is very exciting for us, as we’re sure it will be to anyone planning a Colorado Family Vacation at 4UR next summer (and summers to come).

The original Wagon Wheel Gap historic bath house is on our Creede Colorado Dude Ranch. It was built by General William Palmer in the early 1900s, so his guests could soak their weary or achy bodies. The hot springs at Wagon Wheel Gap have long been believed to have curative powers. Try them for yourself and see.

These days, the spring fed hot tub is adjacent to the pool; soak while you watch your children romp and splash in the pool. Soak after exploring mountain paths on horseback or fly fishing on Goose Creek. Soak in the Wagon Wheel Gap Hot Springs when you feel sore and soak when you feel great – it’s part of the experience here at our Creede Colorado Dude Ranch.

The “Adults Only” weeks at our Colorado Guest Ranch are open to all adults, whether you are parents of young children or grown children, or not a parent at all. This is a time for you to go for long trail rides in the Rocky Mountains. It is a time for you to linger by the pool with a Corona in your hand. It’s a time for long soaks in our natural hot springs, and late nights gazing at stars.

Adults Only Weeks: August 18-25 & August 25-Sept 1, 2012

Please contact our Colorado Guest Ranch for more information.

Care to warm up in the hot springs?

Closer to home, Robin and the kids enjoyed seeing 3 big bull elk while driving into town for school one morning. They were right off the highway, and you could see their breath and the steam rising from the backs. Amazing. We’re also having fun watching a family of bald eagles that’s settled at our Colorado Vacation Ranch this winter; they roost in the cottonwoods on the compound and in the trees along the creek. It looks like fishing conditions are good, for they seem healthy and well-fed. We’ll take it as a good omen for the summer fish runs.

Hiring for the summer is in full swing. We’re pleased that many of our staff are returning, and we’ve been interviewing quite a few people to fill our openings. We anticipate a good team come opening weekend at 4UR.

Things changed dramatically in 1890, when a high-grain vein of silver was found on Willow Creek. The population swelled quickly to 10,000 (more than ten times what the population of Mineral County is today) as tent camps and towns grew with miners, saloons, hotels, etc. It seemed that fortunes were made overnight, and as long as the mines produced silver and people paid for it, there was prosperity in Creede.

Delve under the rocks of the Southern Rockies.

The last mine in Creede closed in 1985, but the legacy of the Creede silver mines is visible throughout Creede and Mineral County. Consider delving into this interesting subject the next you travel to our Southern Rockies Vacation Dude Ranch. The Underground Mining Museum in Creede was never a functioning mine, but it was carved out of the rock by a few Creede miners. The museum and community center are completely underground, and offer visitors a rare glimpse into the life of a miner.

It does something to the soul to spend time in the Southern Rockies. It’s hard to explain, but if you’ve been here, you know what we mean.

This photograph was taken by Liesje, one of our guests.

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.

However, owners Pete and Lindsey are avid equestrians, and once they became the caretakers of 4UR ranch, they were excited to integrate an active horse program into their Rocky Mountain Vacation destination.
Now, 4UR Ranch has a thriving Natural Horsemanship program that is spearheaded by head Wrangler Damon Gibbons. Because of his dedication to the animals, riders reap the benefits.

Remember how much you love Riding, or learn what it's all about in 4UR's Equestrian Program

When you ride with Damon and our other wranglers, be prepared to learn some new techniques for interacting with your horse. He and the other wranglers will help you learn the basics of approaching and mounting a horse, if you are new to the saddle. If you have been cutting cows and bending barrels for years, than be prepared to enjoy some active rides over the wild Colorado landscape during your Western Vacation.

We also want to share with the children the tenements of natural horsemanship. So many boys and girls are in love with horses, or the idea of horses, without actually knowing anything about what it really takes to be a rider. We help your children to understand what it means to be an equestrian.

At the end of the week, we have a “kiddie rodeo”, where the kids get to show off the skills they learned over the week with their wrangler. It is a fun time for them and their families, and one of the events that makes a visit to our Colorado Dude Ranch so memorable.