Saddle Up

When an 800-pound steer shook its sweeping horns at me, it was hard enough to stay upright in my saddle, let alone insist it stayed in the herd. I tried to hold its gaze atop my chestnut mare, Buckshot, but the steer sensed my uncertainty and bolted for a grove of golden larch. “Git!” shouted Dustin, the head wrangler at the Resort at Paws Up. It took two more commands before I realized he was talking to me and not the cows.

Paws Up is a sprawling, 37,000-acre cattle ranch just outside Missoula, Montana, that doubles as a luxury resort where guests can be pampered with massages and river-side picnics or dip a toe into cowboy life. I opted for the latter and had signed on to assist the resident ranch hands in a cattle drive. But I was turning out to be more work than help.

I had one job: keep the herd together. When I spotted the steer munching on grass, I nudged Buckshot with the heels of my boots, but she decided she also wanted a snack. “Git,” I said to the steer, waving in the direction of the herd. He ignored me, but Buckshot obeyed and took off toward the group at a gallop.

Above: Float fly fishing at Brush Creek Ranch, Wyoming; Horseback riding at Brush Creek Ranch; Via Ferrata at Ted Turner Ranch (Photo: Deann McBride); Fishing at the Ranch at Rock Creek

When Buckshot finally slowed, Dustin trotted up alongside us with a grin. “You need to let these animals know who is in charge,” he said. Within minutes, he’d rounded up the steer and led it back to the herd. When I noticed a fluffy calf had wandered off I guided Buckshot toward it. With conviction I yelled, “Git,” and to my surprise the little guy shuffled back to the group like a scolded child. Dustin gave me a wink of approval.

It took just over three hours to push the cattle into the pasture. By the time I dismounted, I was bow-legged, saddle sore and covered from hat to heels in dust. But when Dustin patted me on the shoulder and said, “Good work, cowgirl”, I almost asked to help again. My sense of accomplishment far outweighed my exhaustion. And I knew I’d be coddled the remainder of the day with a soak in my cabin’s outdoor hot tub followed by a tasting menu meal at fine-dining restaurant Pomp.

Director Taylor Sheridan’s hit series Yellowstone may have sparked the current fixation with Western adventure, but ranch vacations existed long before streaming. The concept of the dude ranch dates to 1879, when Howard Eaton started hosting friends at his Custer Trail cattle ranch in the Dakota Badlands. Stories of the cowboy lifestyle and wide-open wilderness captured the imaginations of East Coast city dwellers (known as “dudes”) and the ranch eventually evolved into a hospitality business, charging $10 for a week. By the 1920s, the decline of the cattle industry led many ranches to turn to tourism to survive.

Above: Rodeo roping at the Ranch at Rock Creek

Over the decades, the humble dude ranch concept has evolved into the luxury ranch retreat, immersing guests in incredible landscapes and providing every imaginable comfort, from bathhouses with saunas, to wine cellars stocked with rare Barolos and Burgundies. Despite the ritzy makeovers, the original allure remains the same: a connection to nature, a slower pace, and a taste of adventure.

“A ranch resort offers more than just luxury, it provides a cultural and environmental immersion,” Steve Hurst, Managing Director of Paws Up, told me. “Guests don’t just visit the West, they experience it, embracing the stories, traditions and landscapes that have captivated generations. It’s a place where history, adventure and the untamed spirit of the frontier come alive.”

Art, television, film and literature have returned time and again to the epic stories of the American West. But Yellowstone has undeniably fuelled the insatiable demand for ranch vacations. “Yellowstone has brought so much visibility to the western way of life,” said Samantha Dopp, barn manager at the Ranch at Rock Creek, a 6,000-acre property in Philipsburg, Montana. “We’ve seen so much interest since the premier. People want a glimpse into ranch work, while still enjoying the luxury hospitality they’d expect from a five-star hotel.”

I’m not sure what John Dutton, the main character of Yellowstone, would have made of the Ranch at Rock Creek’s bowling alley, private cinema and saddle-seat bar stools, but I’m certain he’d enjoy an afternoon casting for rainbow and brook trout on the property’s private, mountain-fed stream. I certainly did, and I was a novice angler. Nathan, my patient guide, lent me a pair of polarized shades to help me spot the “hogs” as he called them and showed me how to deftly flick my wrist when I cast.

When a violet glimmer flashed near my bait he yelled “set” and I instinctively yanked up my rod to find a fat, glistening rainbow trout on the end. Nathan scooped it into his net and snapped the prerequisite photo of me with my catch before gently releasing it back to the water. Other than my yelps of excitement when I’d hook a fish, we were surrounded by silence and stillness. I returned to my log-and-chink cabin, Bluebird, more relaxed than if I’d just taken a yin yoga class. As I soaked in my claw-foot tub that evening, I thought about my dad’s passion for fishing and understood for the first time that he loved the solitude of nature just as much as the triumph of landing a whopper.

Fishing is the main draw at Taylor River Lodge, an off-grid, eight-cabin property southeast of Crested Butte, Colorado. Part of Eleven, a collection of high-end, family-focused adventure lodges, Taylor River resembles an exclusive summer camp with an on-site rock climbing wall, archery and hatchet-throwing areas, and firepits for s’mores. Avid anglers come here to fish the country’s best trout water – the Taylor and Gunninson Rivers.

Above: S’mores around the fire at Brush Creek Ranch; The Bath House at Taylor Ridge Lodge, Colorado; Castle Rock near Vermejo Park Ranch, New Mexico (Photo: Sean Fitzgerald); The Lodge at Brush Creek Ranch

I devoted a day to casting under the tutelage of Moose, one of the best guides in the Rockies. We started at the stocked trout pond onsite so he could observe and improve my casting skills, then moved on to the mile-long, semi-private river. It took only a few casts before I felt the line tug and I cranked my reel, battling with a six-pound trout. I matched that adrenaline rush the rest of the week in the surrounding mountains, hiking and mountain biking, then decompressing with a hickory-smoked Old Fashioned back at Taylor River’s Kokanee Lodge bar.

Ranch getaways provide tremendous opportunities for self discovery and a deeper connection to the land, but they also foster human connection. Some of my most memorable girlfriend getaways have been at luxury ranches. When my friend Val’s mother passed away a few years ago we escaped to Magee Homestead, a nine-cabin, adults-only property in Saratoga, Wyoming. Set on 7,000 acres of high mountain desert plain, Magee is a private prairie hideaway and sits just across the road from its family-focused sister ranch, the Lodge & Spa at Brush Creek. Val and I had the staff cracking up at our attempts at archery, wrangling and fishing, but Val wowed them all at the shooting range when she nailed a 1,200-yard target on her first attempt, earning her the nickname the Magee Bandit. On our final night, the staff joined us around the fire and kept the Dominus Cab flowing as Val recalled stories about her mom. We left feeling like family.

Above: Sunset at Camp Roosevelt, the Ranch at Rock Creek

Wranglers and “dudes” may come from different worlds, but a mutual appreciation for nature bonds them. And it reminds us that we all have an obligation to protect wild spaces. One of the best examples of environmental stewardship is Vermejo Park Ranch. Spread across 585,000 acres straddling the New Mexico-Colorado border, Vermejo feels like a private park, with 19 fishable lakes and 30 miles of streams, plus elk, mountain lion, mule deer and black bear. When American cable mogul Ted Turner bought the property in the 1990s, he replaced the ranch’s cattle with a bison herd and returned the indigenous Rio Grande cutthroat trout to the Costilla Creek watershed. He then turned the low-frills hunting lodge into a high-end wilderness escape where guests can savor a cowboy breakfast of biscuits and eggs cooked over a fire or a six-course meal served in Turner’s personal marble-and-mahogany mansion.

During my week there, a handsome cowboy named Tyler taught me to lasso a bale of hay at the lakeside barbecue and guided me on a high-country horseback ride through wildflower-carpeted meadows up to Vermejo’s cowboy camp, perched at 10,000 feet. But the highlight was a utility vehicle excursion that proved as thrilling as any African safari I’ve been on. Golden and bald eagles soared overhead and pronghorn antelope pranced across the Castle Rock basin. Hundreds of giant bison roamed freely and when I pointed at a lone bison crouching in the trees Tyler cut the engine. From the tall grasses emerged a baby, born just seconds earlier. “This is why I’m a cowboy,” he said. “Experiencing moments like this, and sharing it with guests.”

Cowboy cool

To say Western style is having a renaissance right now is something of an understatement. While some might argue it never went away, it’s undeniable that cultural juggernauts ranging from Yellowstone to Cowboy Carter have brought fresh appeal to this eternal aesthetic. Fashion Editor Megan Logue rounds up six pieces, perfect for riding off into the sunset.

1. Icon jacquard cardigan by Alanui: £2,560 / US$3,465 / S$4,775 alanui.it
2. Paisley-print cotton scarf by Drake’s: £95 / US$145 / S$150 mrporter.com
3. Suede Jenny boots by Kemo Sabe: £1,000 / US$1,295 / S$1,727 kemosabe.com
4. Mini bracelet Hobo bag by Chloé: £1,850 / US$2,547 / S$3,193 chloe.com
5. Denim Western shirt by J.Crew: £110 / US$142 / S$190 jcrew.com
6. Griffin 10X cowboy hat by Stetson: £428 / US$555 / S$740 stetson.com