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Fly-in Ranches: Saddle Up For 12 Ranch Retreats
by Carrie Miner
Cowboy Chic
While cowboys and the Southwest travel hand in hand, you can also wing southeast for a city slicker vacation. The trendy West Gate River Ranch, which features a private 5,000-foot runway at the River Ranch Resort Airport [2RR], offers "western-style" fun at a Florida destination.
The 1,700-acre property was once part of the vast holdings of the Kissimmee Island Cattle Company cattle ranch. Today, it offers urban comfort combined with a dude ranch experience.
Those looking for a taste of the Old West are encouraged to participate in the ranch's rustic activities—trail rides, campfire cookouts, hayrides, fishing derbies, skeet and trap shooting, nature hikes and weekly rodeos. For urbanites looking for something a little more familiar, there's a swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts, a golf course, a video arcade, and a petting zoo.
Although the ranch offers the convenience of being centrally located between Orlando and Tampa, this relaxing retreat offers the seclusion of more than 100,000-acres of protected wildlife preserve.
 The natural beauty of the Kissimmee River and the surrounding countryside adds to the family-friendly dining experience at the Fisherman's Cove Restaurant. And if you still have some energy to burn when the stars come out, mosey on over to the saloon where you can kick up your heels and dance the night away.
Colorado Cattle King
While many of our featured destinations have their origins in the cattle industry, King Mountain Ranch is a breed of its own. Located in the Colorado Rockies, this high-altitude ranch retreat offers the seclusion of the surrounding Arapaho National Forest—a favorite destination for the daily trail rides.
Since its construction in the 1920s, the ranch has gone through several transformations—from its origin as a fox farm to a private hunting lodge and then from an exclusive corporate retreat to its final inception as a dude ranch.
Foxes from that first failed farming attempt still haunt the rugged landscape; the shooting range and guest lodge built by the ranch's namesake (oil tycoon John King) add to the historic ambiance of this rustic retreat.
This family-oriented dude ranch offers pickup at the nearby Granby-Grand County Airport [KGNB].
With a horse program tailored to each individual's riding ability, King Mountain Ranch is able to offer a wide variety of trail rides ranging from one-hour jaunts to full-day rides.
Adults can sign up for some one-on-one instruction for everything from riding basics to driving cattle. Kids also get saddled up with riding instruction and a combination of kids-only trail rides to full-fledged family excursions.
Best of all, everyone is encouraged to show off their skills at the weekly, on-site rodeo. After the horses are stabled, urban cowpokes can sample some of the ranch's other outdoor activities including fly-fishing, sport shooting, nature hikes, campfire cookouts and tennis. Indoor options include bowling, swimming, ping pong, shuffle board, line dancing and fine dining.
Spacious Skies
Unlike many of the tall mountains found in the Rocky Mountain range, Pikes Peak looms as a visible landmark, casting a shadow on Colorado's Great Plains.
In 1893, English professor Katharine Lee Bates took a trip to the summit of this majestic mountain where she was struck with the inspiration to write the song "America the Beautiful".
More than 100 years later, the "amber waves of grain" are still spread across the eastern plains where cattle ranches have thrived for decades.
Chico Basin Ranch, located 35 minutes southeast of the City of Colorado Springs Municipal Airport [KCOS], is one of those historic, working cattle ranches.
Managed on a lease through the Colorado State Land Board, this 87,000-acre ranch takes a slightly different approach to the education and recreation of guests seeking a dude ranch experience.
In addition to teaching horsemanship and cattle ranching, the stewards of the native rangeland instruct guests on holistic management and ecological preservation.
The century-old ranch sprawls over a wide-open prairie that the cattle share with a whole host of natural inhabitants such as pronghorn antelope and prairie dogs. In addition to the environmental management of this rangeland, Chico Basin Ranch offers guests a working ranch experience complete with cattle branding, calving, cattle drives and herding—giving a whole new meaning to "saddle up".
Rustic Retreat
The Flying M Ranch, located along the North Yamhill River in the Oregon Coast Mountain foothills, might not have the long history of hospitality other dude ranches thrive on, but ranch owners Bryce and Barbara Mitchell do follow the tradition started by their predecessors who homesteaded here in 1922.
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