Journeys | High Lonesome Ranch

Welcome to The High Lonesome Ran Journeys

HLR Journeys

A compilation of essentials for the adventurer

The latest edition of Journeys is ready for viewing with all of our stories, photographs, specials, and adventures for 2016.

Gorgeous photography, a few choice words to support it, and a real passion for the outdoor pursuits of fly-fishing, dude ranching, and wing shooting tell the HLR story.

Photograph by Mark Lance

Journeys

Welcome to the Ranch

Fly-fishing, wing shooting, dude ranching and more

Why we do this

The evolution, conservation & restoration of a national-park-sized ranch

2016 happenings

What’s in store for our guests this year

Sporting Adventures

The opportunities are many and seasonal

Features

SPRING AT THE RANCH

Everything comes alive in the prettiest time of year.

Spring Fishing

The epic feeding frenzy begins in March.

Main Ranch fishing

Thanks to some overzealous beavers throughout the years, the natural springs that once meandered down the valley have been transformed into a series of productive pools.

Fly-fishing Expeditions

Explore the diversity around the main ranch and be inspired by some of our big beautiful neighborhood.

Photograph by Mark Lance

Journeys

Features continued

SUMMER AT THE RANCH

Jackets in the morning and short sleeves in the afternoon. Perfect for Dude Ranch adventures, camp outs, the opening of our little sister the K-T Ranch in Meeker for some legendary freestone river fishing on the White River.

Dude Ranch Experience

Find your inner cowboy. Explore your western heritage.

New Adult only weeks

Peace and quiet, western adventure, and laid-back luxury for couples, women’s groups, and everyone old enough to need a getaway.

K-T Ranch fishing

The fabled freestone White River rambles through some of Colorado’s most fertile farmland.

Photograph by Mark Lance

Journeys

Vol. I No. 2

Features continued

FALL AT THE RANCH

Colors brighten, temperatures cool, and everyone gets a spring in their step.

Wing Shooting

Make sensory memories of cold mornings that turn warm as you walk, hunt three species of game birds in pristine upland coverts and spend a day with a great dog.

Staff Focus

Meet Marian Cole, Equestrian Director

MEET THE RA

General Manager Scott Stewart

Operations

Maren Smith

Executive Chef

Matt Chasseur

Breakfast Chef

Aunt Linda Doden

Guest Services & K-T Ranch

Amber Shults

HLR Journeys

RANCH TEAM

Sales & Reservations

Mark Weaver

Tenna O’Dell

Equestrian Director

Marian Cole

Outdoor Pursuits & Landscape and Maintenance

Greg Stewart

Farming & Ranching

Jason Lynch

Photograph by Russ Schnitzer

Meet the CONTRIBUTORS

Contributing Photographers

Mark Lance, Russ Schnitzer, Isaias Miciu Nicolaevici, Tom Payne, Nancy Anisfield, Barry and Cathy Beck, Jim Rowinski, Brent Steiner, Cristina Eisenberg, Margo McKnight, Karen Mann, Jim Stenson, Tom Stahl, HLR Staff

National Sales

Christopher Pipes

Marketing

Integrated Digital Publishing, Karen Mann

Photograph by Mark Lance

HLR Journeys

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of autumn.” –

– John Muir

Photograph by Russ Schnitzer

The High Lonesome Ranch

Welcome to your western getaway. The High Lonesome Ranch is a guest and dude ranch specializing in outdoor sporting pursuits and adventures.

For intimate parties, sizeable families, or groups of friends and associates, we are the perfect escape. Along the Western Slope of the Colorado Rockies, our 400+ square miles of deeded and permitted lands stretch far and away from civilization and provide a welcome respite. From the mountain forests, grasslands, and alpine mesas to the lush meadows

and cold-water streams, the ranch is a mecca for wildlife. At an altitude ranging from 5,000 to 9,000 feet, this is an ecosystem consisting of a large, central valley with astonishingly beautiful mountains and adjoining valleys, each lush and fertile in its own right. The Ranch is located near the small cowboy town of DeBeque, Colorado, a 40-minute drive from Grand Junction’s Walker Field Airport. This is the place where outdoor dreams can and do come true.

If you enjoy sporting pursuits and the very big outdoors, this is your place. The size and scope of the ranch offer many opportunities. Choose one activity or build your own Colorado

Photograph by Isaias Michiu Nicolaevici

The High Lonesome Ranch

HLR Journeys

Photograph by Russ Schnitzer

vacation including as many as you like. Dude Ranch weeks, Sporting Pursuits, Guest Ranch experiences, Weddings, Corporate Group Retreats, Family Reunions, Hunting Leases, and Personal Getaways are all waiting for you.

The High Lonesome Ranch packages are oriented toward year-round outdoors activities. Options include a full dude ranch program, fly-fishing, wing shooting, hiking, mountain biking, big game hunting, nature tours, white-water rafting trips, wild-horse tours, golf, cooking classes, and winery tours.

At The High Lonesome Ranch’s epicenter are the ranch headquarters and cookhouse where we serve warm hospitality and local, farm-totable contemporary western cuisine. Both log buildings are from an authentic, pioneer homestead. The Lonesome Outfitter shop has all the hard and soft goods you’ll need if you’ve forgotten anything from home. Happy hour is held by the stone hearth on the living room’s leather chairs and couches or in the new barn-sized pavilion for larger groups. A private guest business center in our headquarters is complete with a computer and a hard phone line as well as WIFI. There is Internet access at most of our guest quarters. You can choose to be out of reach or in touch. Rough and tumble outdoors complement western luxury accommodations. Exactly as wild as you want is what we promise.

Our Dude Ranch Experience gives you the time and place to explore your family’s western personality. The High Lonesome Dude Ranch is the premier place to make memories that will last a lifetime. The nostalgic

“Exactly as wild as you want is what we promise.”

The High Lonesome Ranch

combination of a Rocky Mountain view with the size of a national park, equestrian activities and culinary adventure creates the perfect setting to discover true western tradition and please everyone in your family. We have an assortment of equestrian activities for riders of all levels. During the week, your family will reconnect and by the end of the western adventure everyone will have a newfound bond. In addition, you will have a new “ranch family” that includes other guests, your wranglers, and especially your horses. Our goal is to provide you with a wonderful trip, great memories, and good stories to share with your friends and family.

To provide a context for the ranch and its goals as an outdoor sporting destination, we have to tell a few words about the bigger

picture. In order to ensure a lasting landscape to share with adventurers as well as our own future generations, we have always been deeply involved with conservation and stewardship.

The ranch became highly attuned to the needs of the land and wildlife through our baseline studies, habitat assessment, and real applied science. Inviting nationally renowned scientists, universities, and conservation groups to partner with us, we are working to create a model of sustainability. A plan that preserves stewardship of this large western landscape, maintains biodiversity and ecological connectivity, enhances the lives of wildlife and fish, and preserves and restores degraded habitat is key.

Our goal is to accomplish all of this while actually using the land

Photograph by Russ Schnitzer

The High Lonesome Ranch

and welcoming a mix of uses. Those are primarily ranching, recreation, and research. That’s a big job. This mission led us to the creation of the High Lonesome Institute, the first institute in the intermountain west for leading universities, scholars and professionals to conduct science studies on a multiple-use working landscape of this size. It is an onsite, world-class institute dedicated to wildlife, wetlands and resource management research, education and outreach.

As the home of the institute, The High Lonesome Ranch will become North America’s largest private land multiple-use outdoor laboratory for the nation’s most prestigious universities. The science being conducted here will have impact far beyond this ranch and even other western lands, providing a forum for dialogue among diverse groups, creating common ground on conservation and sustainable development. Together we can do this. Having shared our bigger mission in the mix of what and who we are, we invite you to come visit us and experience all the ranch has to offer. A national-park-sized landscape and intimate accommodations make for a very peaceful space-to-person ratio. While you’re here, we’ll do our best to make you feel like you own the place.

Photograph byMark Lance

The High Lonesome Ranch

We are much more

We are a large west

HLR Journeys

e than a guest ranch

Guest Ranch because we believe in stewarding this estern landscape and sharing it with others.

recreation

The High Lonesome Ranch

We have a working model of sustainability that maintains biodiversity and ecological connectivity, enhances the lives of wildlife and fish, and preserves and restores degraded habitat. All this is the goal while promoting a mix of uses – primarily ranching, recreation, and research. We want to expose as many people as possible to the ways we do this.

HLR Journeys

Large, resilient ecosystems and committed land stewards are among the best tools we have to conserve biodiversity against a backdrop of rising resource consumption, population growth, urbanization, and climate change. This is why we are here. This is what we want to share.

ranching

rch

The High includes much conservation strategies; an independent Institute engaged in applied science and research; a forum for international dialogue; a leadership role in the Western Landowners’ Alliance (representing over 20 million acres of private land being managed for conservation outcomes) and numerous active partnerships with universities, non-profit organizations, business leaders, policy makers, legislators, and others.

Photograph by Isaias Michiu

SPRING FIS

The most exc

What’s exactly as wild as you want.

ALL ADULT Opening Wee adult getaway

NEW DUDE

Find your inne in new ways.

K-T RANCH

The White Riv about the Fou

WING SHO

Three species great dogs, se

HLR Journeys

’s up in 2016

FISHING

xciting time of year starts in March.

ULT WEEKS

eek of the 2016 Dude Ranch Season will be an way, and again the second week in August.

UDE RANCH ACTIVITIES

nner cowboy and explore your western heritage ys.

CH FISHING SEASON

River and spring creeks make us wait until just ourth of July. And it’s so worth it.

HOOTING

ies of upland game birds, the smell of gun oil, sensory memories of crisp dark mornings.

Photograph by Mark Lance

S porting

Choose from Fly-fishing, Wing Shooting, Dude Ranch Experiences, Big Game Hunting, Hiking, Mountain Biking, Birding, Horseback Riding, Wild Horse Tours, and Sport Shooting. Pick a package or feel free to create your own adventure. We’re here to help you plan a trip that’s exactly as wild as you want.

porting adventures

Photograph by Russ Schnitzer

othing stimulates a healthy trout like spring temperatures. Spring does the same for human souls. This is the most exciting time of year at The High Lonesome Ranch. The western slope of the Colorado Rockies is coming alive. The wild grasses are greening, the wildflowers are blooming, hatches are coming off, and trout are rising. The epic feeding frenzy begins in March.

Photograph by Russ Schnitzer

The epic feeding frenzy begins in March.

Book early to take advantage of Orvis-endorsed spring fishing, because it’s absolutely the most exciting time of year. As soon as the water temps begin to warm the fish come alive and the party begins. Anglers warm up too and finally pack up the gear they’ve been admiring at home just waiting for these first days

out. Our guides help you pick out the biggest cruisers, use your greatest stealthy moves, and have net always ready. When you’re not scanning for a big rainbow, you can look up and out and remember why it’s often said that trout only live in the most beautiful places on earth. Don’t miss it. Call for details.

The High Lonesome Ranch

Early

spring what seems guide how take, which landscape yourself for

Fly-fishing & soul rejuvenation

spring fishing brings the annual epic feeding frenzy after seems like an eternity of winter. It will be up to you and your how to fish each different cascading pool, what approach to which pattern to use. All this happens on a ruggedly scenic that’s one of the prettiest places you’ll ever find to plant for a few days.

The High Lonesome Ranch

Thanks to some overzealous beavers throughout the years, the cold, clear natural springs that once meandered down the valley have been transformed into a series of productive pools. There you’ll land some incredibly large but selective rainbows. Add to the mix a bountiful supply of aggressive browns, a few

HLR Journeys

brookies, and an occasional cutthroat, and on the rare occasion you can complete the grand slam before lunch.

The High Lonesome Ranch is the perfect place for families with kids who want to learn how to fly-fish. At the same time, it can be challenging enough for even the most experienced angler.

Photograph by Mark Lance Vol. I No. 2

The High Lonesome Ranch

HLR Journeys

Access to the pools and creeks is easy and makes them accessible to a wide variety of anglers who would rather fish than tackle the rugged landscapes so typical of some of the larger western rivers. Book your fly-fishing adventure today.

The trout are waiting for you.

Photographs by Mark Lance

The High Lonesome Ranch

HLR Journeys

Photography by Russ Schnitzer, Mark Lance, and HLR Staff

Expeditions

Explore the diversity around the main ranch and be inspired by some of our big beautiful neighborhood.

Photography by Mark Lance

Icreating a fly-fishing adventure designed to fit your individual needs and desires.

Now it’s possible. In 2014 the Ranch introduced its new Expeditions Program.

HLR Journeys

The High Lonesome Ranch

When it comes to fly-fishing and wing shooting for individual sportsmen and families alike, The High Lonesome Ranch serves it up with a real western flair.

HLR now features memorable float trips on two of Colorado’s premier fly-fishing rivers: the Roaring Fork and Lower Colorado plus an outstanding hike and wade trip on the Frying Pan. Even though

HLR Journeys

fishing these rivers requires a short shuttle, it can all be done while staying at the sprawling main ranch on the Western Slope of the Colorado Rockies.

To explore the best trout fishing in the West, just book one or two days at the ranch, one day at the K-T, and a float trip on the Roaring Fork, or let us help you design your own adventure.

The High Lonesome Ranch

The High Lonesome Ranch

Let us satisfy your angling soul that always wants more. A river is different every time you fish it, but imagine the diversity of three rivers in one trip.

In the height of summer everything is at top performance. The northern hemisphere is running wide open at full speed ahead. Everything is fully alive – the garden is producing, fruits are ripening, kids are out of school, foals are running, grasses are green and lush. The sun is high in the sky and so are our spirits. Summer is a great time at the ranch and it’s in total vacation mode.

SUMMER

SUMMER

Imagine a secluded week of all adult adventure. Laid-back luxury for couples, getaways for grown ups, and women’s gatherings. Fresh air, equine exercise, big skies, outrageous scenery, world-class food, adult beverages around the fire after

All Adults Week.

dinner. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Join us for the opening week of our Dude Ranch season the first week of June. We will be doing it again in August, so you can repeat if you like. Call for details.

The High Lonesome Ranch

Find your Inner Explore

Photograph by Mark Lance

Dude Ranch Weeks

The High Lonesome Ranch

HLR Journeys

Photograph by Mark Lance

You’ll ford streams, ride miles of mountain valleys and trails, and drive cattle. A trip to The High Lonesome Dude Ranch will bond your family or group like never before. You’ll also bond with your horse, which is handpicked just for you and chosen to fit your riding ability and temperament.

The High Lonesome Ranch

Explore your western heritage

You will also have a new “ranch family” that includes other guests, your wranglers, and especially your horses. It’s a fun-filled time of activities, great food, and western adventure. We are a working cattle ranch and every day will entertain you. If it’s your first time in the saddle or your 50th year, you’ll have a great time. First of all, you will really get to know your horse and will build a bond learning to work together.

HLR Journeys

Photograph by Mark Lance

The High Lonesome Ranch

HLR Journeys

Photography by Isaias Michiu Nicolaevici, Mark Lance and others

Dude Ranch Weeks

The High Lonesome Ranch

Our Dude Ranch weeks give you time to get to know your horse and form relationships. Our Tenderfoot Experience is an abbreviated trip, and we offer two Adults Only weeks this year. With any choice, you’ll bond with your group and make new friends.

Learn new skills

a western obstacle course, participation in a real cattle drive, team penning, roping, fly-fishing, sporting clays, wild horse viewing, picnics, rafting, swimming, wagon rides, and wildlife viewing. There will never be a dull moment, but you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the company of friends and family, great food. restful sleep, and lots of laughs.

HLR Journeys

Dude Ranch Weeks

Every day concludes with dinner and a social then a story or game around the fire pit. These are great times to share your day’s adventures. It’s all about making memories that will last a lifetime for you and your group. Call for details.

Photography by Mark Lance and others

The High Lonesome Ranch

HLR JourneysPhotograph by Mark Lance

“A horse is the projection of peoples' dreams about themselves - strong, powerful, beautifuland it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence.”

– Pam Brown

The K-T Ranch located just outside Meeker, Colorado, has some mighty special trout water – private spring creeks and big stretches of the fabled White River. Twists, turns, braids, deep cuts, rip rap, seams and under cut banks – its all here. Anglers are drawn to the K-T in early July right after runoff from the winter snows. Big grasshoppers are also drawn to the neighboring farmers’ drying

Knee deep in bliss.

K-T Ranch: A world-class fly-fishing lodge

fields around cutting season. They are plentiful and so are the trout that feast in a frenzy on their annual arrival.

All this plus a comfortable Victorian Lodge with friendly, hospitable staff and hearty meals made from scratch have all the makings of a dream trip.

The High Lonesome Ranch

An intimate freestone

The Ute Indians called River.” Steam rises from fishing during those evenings. In-between

freestone river

called the misty stretch of the White the “Smoking Earth from the river in the spring and in the fall, and anglers those times are shrouded in fog in the mornings and the In-between times are a little slice of magic.

Photograph byMark Lance

The High Lonesome Ranch

There are seven plus miles of private fishing on the White River, including spring creeks, braids and beaver dams at our K-T Ranch just outside of Meeker, Colorado.

Photograph by Mark Lance

The High Lonesome Ranch

There you’ll discover the White, a freestone river that meanders through some of Colorado’s most fertile farmland. The White is not your typical sprawling western river, it’s an intimate freestone stream, and the fishing is outstanding. The real treat in store for you

HLR Journeys

are the various spring creeks that feed the White. Find aptly named beats like Oz, Jurassic Park, and the Stream of Broken Dreams. Here you can fish for some of the largest specimens of browns and cutbows in the state.

Photograph by Mark Lance

The High Lonesome Ranch

Photography by Mark Lance

The legendary freestone White River meanders through some of Colorado’s most fertile farmland.

Photographs by Mark Lance

The High Lonesome Ranch

Photograph by Mark Lance

Colorado means color in Italian. In Spanish it means red. In September and October at the Ranch, both meanings apply. From colorful aspens to shorter and cooler days, and red-hot bird hunting in the sage flats, creek bottoms, and oak brush, fall is also a perfect time to fish. The trout are getting ready for winter and feed aggressively. Their colors are beautiful, too, and when you hook one it fights like a champ.

FALL

Photography by Nancy Anisfield and Tom Payne

Fall makes the best memories. Crisp cold mornings with some wispy clouds give way to warm afternoons. Pull on your cold boots, smell the gun oil, finish your coffee and head out. Hunt pheasant, chukar, and quail in tons of acres of pristine upland coverts with a great dog or two. We typically use a brace of dogs–English Pointers and Labrador Retrievers who are perfectly suited to the ranch’s hunting conditions. The diversity of terrain can take you through tall wheat, sorghum, and

The High Lonesome Ranch Days

HLR JourneysPhotography by Mark Lance

DaysAfield

Shorter, cooler days, tall grass, and hundreds of acres of pristine upland coverts give a hunter and a dog some of what really matters.

The High Lonesome Ranch

Spectacular large-scale scenery feeds your soul at The High Lonesome Ranch. Western luxury lodging and contemporary farmto-table dining feed your desire for great comfort. Our five-star guest services team is committed to making your trip exactly as wild as you want. Hunt three species of birds in the hundreds of acres of well-established upland coverts. Anticipate rising birds that range

from the wily pheasant to the covey-oriented chukar. Our landscape features quail as well, and enthusiasts have an opportunity to hunt our wide variety of hard-flying game birds every day. HLR

Expeditions now add Fin & Feather Expeditions to the number of options so guests can explore the diversity of other rivers around this big beautiful neighborhood and hunt on the same trip.

The High Lonesome Ranch

“All the sounds of this valley run together into one great echo, a song that is sung by all the spirits of this valley. Only a hunter hears it.”

– Chaim Potok

Photography by Nancy Anisfield and Mark Lance

The High Lonesome Ranch

HLR Journeys

Marian Cole

The High Lonesome Ranch

HLR Journeys

Marian was born and raised in San Francisco. As soon as she could, she made her way to the back of a horse, and that is where she has spent most of her time. Born to ride, Marian made equestrian life her own. She has always been able to build relationships with her horses and has an innate sense and that helps guests feel comfortable on theirs, whether it’s child riding for their first time or a seasoned adult. Marian came to us in our 2012 Dude Ranch Season while still a student at Colorado

State University. She has now earned two degrees as well as our respect and admiration and we are pleased to have her as our new Equestrian Director. Marian has Bachelor of Science Degrees in both Equine and Animal Sciences as well as a minor in Business Administration, she has the credentials as well as the personal charisma, drive, and knowledge of horses we need and appreciate.

"Our guests are always very quick to comment on her knowledge, her caring attitude toward them and our stock and especially her infectious smile and positive attitude," said Scott Stewart, President, Ranch General Manager.

Please join all of us in welcoming Marian to a role that will allow her to continue to win our guests' hearts and be part of their lifelong experiences!

HLR Journeys

Photograph by Isaias Michiu Nicolaevici

2016 Adventure

March Spring Fishing, Main Ranch

Fishing, K-T Ranch

Equestrian & Guest Ranch visits

April Spring Fishing, Main Ranch

Fishing, K-T Ranch

Equestrian & Guest Ranch visits

May

Fishing, Main Ranch

Fishing, K-T Ranch

Fly-fishing Expeditions

Dude Ranch Season Kickoff, All Adult Week, June 5-11

Equestrian & Guest Ranch visits

June

Fishing, Main Ranch

Fly-fishing Expeditions

Dude Ranch

Equestrian & Guest Ranch visits

July

Fishing, Main Ranch

Fishing, K-T Ranch

Fly-fishing Expeditions

Dude Ranch

K-T Ranch summer

Equestrian & Guest

August

Fishing, Main ranch

Fishing, K-T Ranch

Fly-fishing Expeditions

Dude Ranch

All Adults Dude

August 16-20

Equestrian & Guest

September

Fishing, Main Ranch

Fishing, K-T Ranch

Fly-fishing Expeditions

Fin & Feather Cast n Blast

Equestrian & Guest

Adventure Calendar

October

Ranch Ranch

Expeditions

summer fishing opens

Guest Ranch visits

Fishing, Main Ranch

Fishing, K-T Ranch

Fly-fishing Expeditions

Fin & Feather Expeditions

Cast n Blast

Wing Shooting

Equestrian & Guest Ranch visits

ranch Ranch

Expeditions

Dude Ranch Week, 16-20

Guest Ranch visits

November

Fly-fishing Expeditions

Fin & Feather Expeditions

Wing Shooting

Equestrian & Guest Ranch visits

December

Guest Ranch visits

Holiday visits

Ranch Ranch

Expeditions

Expeditions

Guest Ranch visits

Wing Shooting

THE HIGH LONESOME RANCH

Journeys

HLR Journeys

“There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholoy, and its charm.”

–Theodore Roosevelt

Photograph by Isaias Michiu Nicolaevici