Down by the LLR Corral

The wranglers live down at the corral either in bunk houses or trailers. It is down the hill from the rest of the guest ranch so unless you know it is there, you would never know there were horses sitting up by the pool or at the Lodge.


Rebecca wanted to go see the corral as soon as we settled in on Sunday afternoon. We later learned that the horses here all get Sundays off, which is really nice compared to the day riding places around Estes Park. This pretty Palomino was by itself but definitely wanted some attention. We later learned that is was new this year and Denny was getting it ready to ride next year.


Here are Denny's horse, the Paint, and Mr. Man, the pony Amber rode when she led trail rides. He's quite large for a pony but just right for Amber. He's still young (4, I think) so he didn't always listen but you could tell he was going to be a great pony when he matures a bit more.

Here's the view of the Twin Sisters from the Corral. Just a gorgeous setting and a wonderful place to go every morning.

Here's Mount Meeker one day after a ride. The road leads up to the rest of the ranch. The tack room was behind us, the corral was over to the left and behind, and the bunk houses were up to the left just outside this photo.

And, a slightly different view of Mount Meeker. This was sunrise on our last day there. It sure was beautiful!

One morning, we got to watch the hay being delivered. This truck sure makes it look easy. And, those horses go through a lot of hay!

The horses would not be happy to see this sign if they could read! Denny told us we could bring carrots down for the horses if we wanted. We bought some but none of them were really interested in them. Guess they aren't spoiled like the horses we ride at home!


Of course, the horses do get fed. Denny has this cool old truck (I forget the year) that is perfect for dumping the hay into the horses' bins. Notice how interested they are in what he is doing! That horse in the front was trying to help, I guess.

And, here are some of them after he's finished filling the bins.


That's it for today's photos. Up next, photos from our rides.

Guest Ranch Photos, Part 2

I wasn't having any luck adding more photos to the previous post, so I'll try a second post.

This is Millie, the owner's dog. We really enjoyed all the dogs there - just 3 of them and they were never pests.


Here's the sign to the Kid's Camp. Normally, I think those tree faces look tacky but I really liked this one and it made the kids laugh.

Here is one of the many hummingbirds we saw. They had 4 feeders and the birds seemed very territorial. One day, when the other large feeder was empty, one of the hummingbirds kept chasing away any of the other birds that came to the full one.


Next, I'll post some corral and ride photos.

Guest Ranch Photos

Here are some photos from around the guest ranch. I didn't take as many as I thought I did. Oh, well, there is always next year. These are from around the lodge; I'll add corral and horse photos later.


Here is the sign you see in the parking lot:


This is the Lodge:



Here's our cabin - #13. Note the tree growing through the roof. Unfortunately, it is now dead.


Here is the front room of our cabin. Rebecca slept here. No, I didn't make Ali take the top bunk. She liked being on the bottom bunk and she pulled the bedspread down from the top to turn it into her special little cave.



Here's the back room, where Ali and I slept.


And, here is the view out from our deck, which also had a really nice hot tub.


All of the cabins were different. Some were larger with 2 full bedrooms and 2 baths; some were smaller A-frames. They also have rooms in blocks of 4, many of which connect. Most of the rooms and cabins have hot tubs. They also have a large house, the Doctor's House, up on the main road. They rent that one to large groups. While we were there, it was being used by a former Commandant of the Marine Corps and his family.

Some more photos

Okay, back to school has been busier than expected. Well, not really, just very busy. Add in all the after school activities, getting started with Girl Scouts, and a holiday today, I just haven't had tons of time to work on photos. I had planned to post some last night during swim team practice but I couldn't get an internet connection to work. Oh well, anyway, here are a few Elk images to tide you over until I get photos done.

Here is the large herd I was the morning of the wildlife excursion:


Here are two yearlings from that herd:


And, here is the bull - only one in the herd that we could see, other than the yearlings, which don't count:


Oh, these guys aren't Elk, they are Mule Deer. Thought the baby looking back at us was really cute:

First Photos!

Well, here goes - the first photos. These are all from Ali's bike rides so I'll do the best I can explaining them.

This photo is the first one he took on his first ride. (He didn't take photos on all of them). I wish I could tell you the name of the distant mountain, but I can't. This ride was from Big Elk Park to Lake Meadows. See if you can find his bike in one of the photos he took on this ride.

I know the name of this mountain - it is Mount Meeker. Poor Mount Meeker - at 13,911 feet, it doesn't quite reach 14,000 feet in elevation, so it is mostly ignored by all the hikers who think anything less than that isn't worth climbing. But, it sure is a pretty view that we saw many times during our trip. I'm guessing the road is Cabin Creek Road, but I could be wrong.

Another view of distant mountains. If you want to know anything about it, you will have to ask him.

I'm guessing this next photo is a closer shot of the mountains in the distance of the previous photo. I could be wrong. Notice the glacial lake in the center.

I'm not sure why Ali took this photo. I'm guessing he stopped here to "commune" with Mother Nature.

Ali didn't take any photos on his second ride, so sorry, none for his first trip to Johnny Park. But, his next ride was back to Johnny Park (and down to it) so no real loss. He saw this guy on the trail. Presumably, it is a Western Terrestrial Garter Snake.

Ali's last ride was definitely a pretty one. This ride was south of Lane Guest Ranch, near Pleasant Valley. Can't tell you anything about the photos, but enjoy the scenery he elected to share with us. See if you can find his bike in one of these photos too.