I just came back from Cowgirl Camp. What a great week. Lots of good riding plus interesting evening activites for the 15 ladies. I have visited and enjoyed thr ranch on family vacations 4 times, but wanted a true get away. This week was just that. Lots of riding, with gentle instrustion and beautiful weather and scenery. My favarite riding is herding cattle and I had 3 different opportunities to work with the cattle. Over half the group owned horse but the varied level of teh group was handled well. Everyone seemd to have a good time no matter what their level was
Everyone had thier own room and bath in an upscale 2 room cabin.
The staff was great and friendly

The Good
The staff was very friendly and accommodating. The ranch's small size (only 9 cabins) helps in this regard. The scenery is, on the whole, beautiful. The food is very good and evening entertainment was very good. Accomodations are average - think Holiday Inn in the woods.

The Bad
The ranch is surrounded on three sides by its neighbor's property. This significantly limits the riding opportunities. Fortunately the ranch does back up to National Forest - which offers a lot of variety on longer rides. For shorter rides, however, you are basically limited to a 1.5 hour loop. Our kids unfortunately had to ride this same loop repeatedly. The adults rode it more than we would have liked.

Trotting and cantering is possible but limited to a few smalli/medium-sized fields. You essentially get to trot or canter for 15 seconds then it is back to nose and tail riding. This is primarily due to the restricted property boundaries. It is also a function of Colorado's large groundhog population. Riders must stay on the trail while cantering lest they injure themselves stepping into a gopher hole.

The Ugly
A large wildfire scarred the landcscape around the ranch in 2002. The 1.5 hour loop referenced earlier travels through several burned areas and some of the hills across from the ranch were badly damaged (90%+ trees destroyed). Overall the secenery is beautiful - just not unblemished.

Summary
This ranch gets a "B-." For the price I expected nicer accomodations and a greater variety of riding options. Dude ranches are mostly about riding and this one fell short on this account. The only area in which the ranch exceeded expectations was the quality of its staff. The were friendly, helpful and responsive.

We recently returned from a stay at Wilderness Trails with our three children and our parents. What a perfect place for an extended family vacation. The children were delighted with riding with their own age group and counselors, and we adults were free to ride with our own group or hike, relax, or explore the other activities offered. We really enjoyed coming together for dinner to swap stories and participate in the nightly entertainment. The staff is incredible---everyone knew our names by dinner, and they were extremely flexible and accommodating with our group's desires. Lodging is rustic, but comfortable and clean. The food was delicious, you can hardly take your eyes off the beautiful scenery, and the Natural Horsemanship clinic absolutely changed the way I feel about horses and riding. In short, a great vacation! We would recommend this to anyone looking to fulfill their Western dreams or to reconnect with nature.

My family have been visitors to Wilderness Trails for more than fifty years. I can say it is still the most beautiful spot in the world. The ranch lies in a private open valley with a river below and the pine-covered mountains above. Add the ambiance of the ranch lodge, cabins, and horses and it just doesn't get any better, except for the above-standard level of service.
The Roberts family and their friendly staff are able to meet your every need and make your stay enjoyable. And for the parents, you can relax on this vacation as the ranch has a children's program like no other. The program has several age groups and provides age-appropriate activities while the adults can enjoy their own skill-level horseback ride. Extra attention is given to matching each guest to a safe and patient mount. Just sit back and take in the awesome scenery and wildlife. Or guests can take advantage of the hiking trails or local fishing.
Add to all this, executive chef meals, special kid's meals, evening activities for the family, an abundance of night stars, and a relaxing let-go-of-it-all climate and you have a vacation that will leave you refreshed and wanting to come back.