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Culinary Excursions: 10 Savory Cooking Retreats
by Carrie Miner
This rustic ranch offers trail rides ranging from one hour to a full-day and specialty events ranging from steak fry rides to overnight pack trips. Other recreational opportunities at The Flying M Ranch include volleyball, tennis, horseshoes, mountain biking, hiking and swimming.
True to its name, the Flying M Ranch offers an onsite airport [OR05] for private pilots. However, the Mitchells ask fly-ins to check-in for updated flying conditions and permission to land.
Dressed to the Nines
 Pilots landing at Nine Quarter Circle Ranch Airport [1MT0] are in for a treat. Not only does this ranching retreat offer the convenience of a private airstrip, but it is also the home to a nationally-renowned Appaloosa breeding program.
The Nine Quarter Circle Ranch, located in Montana's Gallatin Gateway and surrounded by more than a million acres of protected wilderness, specializes in this hardy breed.
With a string of more than 120 Appaloosas, the ranch is able to offer everything from short trail rides to overnight pack trips. Wranglers offer formal riding classes Monday mornings and a gymkhana is hosted by the ranch each Saturday.
Campfire cookouts, square dancing, hayrides, fly-fishing and wildlife watching round out the activities. Children receive extra attention in the specialized kid's program. Even dining is set up by age brackets to give parents some "adult time".
 Tucked away in a secluded valley overlooking Yellowstone National Park and hemmed in by the Montana Rockies and the Taylor Hilgard Wilderness, The Nine Quarter Circle Ranch carries on the tradition started by the original 100-year-old homestead. Interestingly enough the ranch's signature brand also has a long history—with the "9" brand being one of the oldest, single digit brands still in use to this day.
Wilderness Retreat
Urbanites truly looking for something a little different might want to take an extended wilderness adventure offered by Ford Creek Guest Ranch, which is located near Augusta, Montana on the border of the 1.5-million-acre Bob Marshall Wilderness.
With pickup available at both Benchmark Airport [3U7] or Augusta Airport [3U5], fly-in guests can concentrate on choosing their favorite combination of trail rides or pack trips.
After being paired with a horse, you'll be ready for your excursion into the Montana wilderness where you'll follow elk migration routes, explore craggy canyons and pass by high mountain lakes. Other recreation opportunities offered at the ranch include sport shooting, target archery, fly-fishing, evening cookouts and a pontoon cruise up the Missouri River.
Ford Creek Guest Ranch offer two distinct, six-day horseback adventures—the Horseback Riding Ranch Vacation, which includes 29 hours of guided trail rides and the comfort of one of the ranches cozy cabins and the Wilderness Pack Trip Combo, which mixes things up by pairing trail rides and cabin lodging with a three-day pack trip.
Either way, you'll be following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark and what could be wilder than that?
Cowboy Up
Further south on the trail blazed by Lewis and Clark, you'll come to the original homeland of the Eastern Shoshone and the Wyoming homestead now known as the T Cross Ranch.
Located near Dubois and easily accessed from the Dubois Municipal Airport [U25], this historic cattle ranch has been offering Western hospitality to guests for more than 85 years. And, while Wyoming is often called the "Cowboy State", it's the small community of Dubois that continues to nourish those ranching roots as evidenced by the multitude of dude ranches in the vicinity.
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