Dude ranch w/ adventure for nonriders

[Anonymous]

Two teen boys. They like the idea of a dude ranch (thanks, “Yellowstone”) with lots of other active options in case they don’t want to ride.

Anyone have recommendations for ranches that also offer things like rock climbing, ATVs, rafting, fly fishing, etc.? Ideally on the property or within easy transport. Parents don’t want to spend their vacation shuttling Larlo to and from rock climbing practice.

[Anonymous]

the ranch we stayed at only discounted 500$ for a "nonrider". You might want to look at YMCA of the Rockies in Colorado (might have a slightly different name)

[Anonymous]

The only one we’ve stayed at is Tanque verde guest ranch in Tucson. They had stuff like mountain biking. Are they riders already? I found the dude ranch vacation challenging because we couldn’t do some of the activities unless we passed a rather difficult test. We did do cattle rangling which they let you do without passing the test, some lessons, and some basic walking trail rides. I’ve been on probably dozens of trail rides but had not taken lessons and there was no way I was going to pass that test with just a few days of lessons. My teen had been to a one week riding camp and they said she was close to passing and would probably pass with another day of lessons but we only stayed like 4 days, not a full week.

[Anonymous]

Check out Lone Mountain Ranch in Big Sky, MT. In addition to riding, there is hiking, tours of Yellowstone, fly fishing and rafting. There is rock climbing in the area that they coukd help set up as well as ATV’s.

[Anonymous]

There’s no point if they aren’t going to ride- just go camping.

[Anonymous]

CM ranch in Dubois. Best vacation of our life and we’ve been a lot of places.

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thanks for the ranch suggestions — I’ll add those to my list. I’m not interested in camping for a week out West. I enjoy camping, but only when I don’t have to fly my stuff to our destination.

Our extended family has a mix of riding levels. Some will be happy with walking trail rides in nice scenery, or may want to bypass riding entirely. Others aren’t especially solid, but will enjoy having time to advance their skills. As the trip planner and a regular rider, I’m asking ranches about opportunities to move up through the gears once everyone is comfortable. (To the PP who had to pass a test — be glad that ranch was responsible enough to institute some safeguards like that. Murphy’s Pony’s Law says that the time to fall off is when you’re three hours from the barn and another two from any sort of medical facility, and you haven’t worn a helmet because Western machismo.)

[Anonymous]

We went to Drowsy Water Ranch, which did group by skill level. I think at that time there was only a 500$ discount for nonriders.

[Anonymous]

+1 for Drowsy Water Ranch. We loved it but I can’t imagine going to dude ranch and not riding horses??? You are paying a premium for an adventure that you aren’t using.