Includes:
5 Days / 5 Nights
Horsemanship Clinic
0-2 Camp Moves
Final Night at Bear Lodge Resort
Complimentary Photography
On the Open Range Cattle Drives we gather the cattle and move them to the next pasture in our rotation. Sounds pretty simple, but it is anything but that. With over 60,000 acres inside the boundary of our mountain allotment and only 7 pastures it should tell you immediately that getting the cattle found in any one pasture is a major undertaking by itself. These trips take place entirely on the mountain in some of the most beautiful remote country you have ever seen. The advantage to these trips is that the weather is generally the most stable and since we have no humidity, the temperatures in all likelihood will be in the 80’s. Since we have the cooler temperatures we don’t have to have breakfast at 3:00am like we do on our July Cattle Drive. This actually makes for a more restful trip. We can have breakfast in the neighborhood of 6:30am and plan on being out of camp around 8:00am. Like all of our trips the day ends when we get the cattle to where we need to get them for the day. The riding on the Open Range trips is as challenging as any trip we do and the hours in the saddle will equal any trips we do. I promise when you ride “Screamer Hill” or the “Oh sh*t Trail you will not feel unchallenged! On one of our Open Range Trips a couple years ago, we took a GPS reading in the pasture where we started gathering the herd. We then took a reading when we got to the destination at the end of the week. As the crow flies it was only 4 miles, but the route we had to take, because of the canyons that we can’t get across, we trailed the herd 25.5 miles. You could walk the 4 miles by foot but you couldn’t lead a horse across it. It is that rough. The 25.5 miles we trailed, had us trailing through all kinds of terrain from heavy pine timber stands, to high alpine meadows and swampy area’s that could bog your horse down. And like all of our trips, it is ago each day unless we were to have white out blizzard conditions! That has only happened twice in 25 years and both times it was in the fall.
With all of the scattered timber, high Alpine meadows, rocks, canyons and rough country, it’s not as easy as it sounds. There is nothing nose-to-tail about this trip. With 600 head of cattle, we can promise you lots of time in the saddle. There is an abundance of wildlife, wildflowers, cows and plenty of fresh air to make this one of the most fulfilling weeks of your life. The trip will cover elevations between 6,200 feet and 9,300 feet.
With our cook’s phenomenal Dutch oven cooking, incredible horses to ride, and the camaraderie around the camp fire, you will make new friends forever. With our many horses to choose from, we can accommodate any level of rider. Give us the opportunity to share with you what you have been missing in your life.
So don’t hesitate to book one of these trips because it’s not just opening the gate, and kicking cattle through! We get more REPEAT bookings off of our Open Range Cattle Drives than any other trips we offer. Last year we took 40 people combined on the two trips and had 17 of them rebook for another trip next year or the following year. Our trips are filling up earlier each year, due in large part to the Open Range Cattle Drives! Many of these repeat bookings, book another trip the next year to get the extra day that the Open Range Trips don’t provide. We have looked at our trips and ask the question, is there any way to add another trip to our summer? The clientele is there to support another trip, but the horse flesh can’t handle another trip. They just physically can’t do it. Each of our trips is like a marathon for these horses and in all likelihood, you will ride around 100 miles during the week on any of our trips. So take a chance, on satisfying your wild side!