If you have ever had a hankering to be a cowboy (or cowgirl) and you have a few thousand dollars to spare, then you now have more chances than ever to fulfill your western fantasies.
Dude ranches are popping up like saguaro cacti in Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico and Texas. Heck, you can even saddle up your bronc in New York or Canada, too.
The lure of riding the range in the Old West remains strong.
And these are not your father's dude ranches, where you might have had to share a cot in a bunkhouse with the rest of the ranch hands.
Many of today's dude ranches are darn near luxurious in their accommodations and they offer a lot more than nose-to-tail trail rides. Swimming pools, Jacussis, rec rooms, library, massages, open bars, pools, flyfishing, canoeing, hayrides, dancing, spa/fitness centers, skeet shooting, tennis and a lot more (including various children's programs) is available. One (King Mountain Ranch of Granby, Colo,) even features an indoor bowling alley in its main lodge.
The basic attraction is still daily horseback rides through the mountains and desert country, where it is not unusual to see such things as bear, deer, antelope, elk, moose, wolves, bighorn sheep, foxes, etc. You can even find one or two ranches that will let you take part in a cattle drive or wrangle horses.
Several ranches offer different skill level rides, with advanced riders given the opportunity to blaze mini-trails and run their steeds at full gallop.
Two dozen states (even Alaska) have dude ranches, but Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Arizona have more than the rest combined. There are only a relative handful east of the Mississippi River, but you can find them in such states as New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Tennessee (for a listing of dude ranch locales on the Internet visit the Guest Ranches of North America at http://www.guestranches.com/ or Dude Ranches Association at http://www.duderanches.org/ or the Colorado Dude and Guest Ranch Association at http://www.coloradoranch.com/).
It is unclear as to how the term "dude" was coined, but it appears in all American dictionaries, with dudes sometimes defined as greenhorns or city slickers. The term originated in the early 19th century when Easterners discovered they could travel to the West to experience a starry skies way of life, renting rooms and blending in as a part of the western mystique. Some of the more well-heeled visitors sometimes brought their own chefs. Ranch cowboys taught them western riding skills.
In the 1920s, ranch owners began charging for the various services they offered to entertain dudes. This soon resulted in a nice income source for ranch owners and the dude ranch business began to blossom.
. Perhaps the dude ranch capital of the U. S. is Grand County, Colo. (about 90 miles west of Denver), which features half a dozen such facilities, including the reknown C Lazy U Ranch at Granby, the nation's highest rated ranch with four-star, five-diamond ratings from Mobil and the American Automobile Association (AAA).
The C Lazy U is surrounded by 8,000 acres of Rocky Mountain scenery in the Willow Creek Valley area of the Arapahoe National Forest and guests are housed in a series of single and duplex units, all within about 100 yards of each other. The main lodge features the dining hall. The food is excellent and varies from casual to elegant fare (ranging from glazed, roasted chicken breasts, rack of lamb, blackened ahi tuna and roulade of veal, with wild rice and savory grilled vegetables to barbecue and beans).
Rates vary according to the season, but the usual all-inclusive summer price is $2,650 per person per week, based on double occupancy, and includes complete use of all recreational equipment, three gourmet-quality meals per day, patio building snacks, drinks and desserts and the riding program. Children ages 3-17 receive a 20 percent discount.
The ranch has more than 100 horses and conducts guided extended trail rides twice a day for three different horsemanship skill levels. Mountain rides extend for several miles through pine and aspen-forested areas and flower-covered meadows. Spectacular vistas are everywhere and it is not uncommon to see elk, bear, deer, moose, foxes or wolves on such rides. Riders who prefer more sedate surroundings may ride in the corrals or the 12,000-square-foot heated indoor arena. Riding instruction is given in group or individual sessions. To promote good rider-horse relations guests are assigned the same horse for use each day.
In winter, the facility -- which is much like a resort spa with a ranch setting -- offers ice skating, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, sleigh-riding, snow tubing, and horseback riding.
None of the rooms in the 40 rustic guest units have phones or TV sets, helping promote the "get away from it all" relaxed atmosphere. About 75 percent of the rooms include fireplaces.
The ranch has plenty of parking and also offers transportation to and from nearby airports (including Denver) and an Amtrack station for an extra fee.
Off-ranch sports such as downhill snow skiing, golf and whitewater rafting are available nearby.
The personalized service at C Lazy U is incredible, with an average of one-to-one ranch personnel to guests.
A special feature of the equestrian program is an annual horsemanship clinic (this year Aug. 29-Sept. 3) conducted by Buck Brannaman, the horse trainer who inspired the best-selling novel and motion picture "The Horse Whisperer."
If you're a equestrian tyro you might get a lesson from Dawn Cone. Cone, 75, has been a wrangler at the C Lazy U since 1955. He's retired now, but still gives lessons as needed and always shows up for the Western dance night. The ranch still issues copies of his instructional pamphlet, "Basic Horsemanship" to all guests.
Cone, recognized by his small-brimmed Western hat (no six-gallon topper for him) and his black-and-white-checkered rope reins, says he would rather teach a beginning rider than someone who "has ridden a little and thinks he knows a lot." He emphasizes that riders learn to work with a horse in a friendly fashion, communicating clearly rather than forcing the animal to do what they want. "A friendly horse is a good horse," he says.
Cone wrinkles his weather-beaten brow when he talks about how macho-oriented riders sometimes fudge about their riding skills when wranglers question them as part of the horse assignment process. "I had a fellow up here once who said, `I know how to ride horses. Heck, I've rode motorcycles all my life.'"
Families have found the ranch the perfect getaway. "We have several families that return intact year after year," said C. Lazy U President Brian Murray. Murray started coming to the ranch when he was 5. His family made it an annual trek to escape the August heat in Kansas City. In 1988, the family bought the ranch. "It was actually a boyhood dream come true for me," says Murray. "We bought our vacation spot."
The ranch is still very much a Murray clan business. He and his wife are raising their children here; his brother and wife work on the ranch; and his sister-in-law and her husband help run the place.
Many of the hired hands also are extended family, he says, who both work and live on the property. "Some of them have been here longer than we have," he says.
Guest ranches such as the C Lazy U have relatively high occupancy rates and anyone interested in making a reservation is advised to do so several weeks in advance (http://www.clazyu.com/ or 970-887-3344).
Guests at Western locales are advised to bring warm evening clothing year-around since even summer evenings can be quite cool at the 8,000-foot or higher elevations.
As novelist Mary Roberts Rinehart once wrote: ``Go ride in the Rocky Mountains and save your soul.''

This story was published on 17 Aug 2004.