{"id":9364,"date":"2011-12-21T15:12:20","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T20:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/?page_id=9364"},"modified":"2017-09-06T11:38:36","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T15:38:36","slug":"w2011-day-at-the-ranch","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/recent-favorites\/w2011-day-at-the-ranch\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day at the Ranch"},"content":{"rendered":"

An idyllic but hardly idle day at the Laramie River Dude Ranch of Bill Burleigh \u201986 and family<\/p>\n

Text and photographs by Shauna Stephenson<\/p>\n

Bill Burleigh \u201986 stands at the bedroom door of his sons, Christopher and Alex. Cowboy clothes, he tells them gently. You need to find your cowboy clothes. It\u2019s time to get up.<\/p>\n

There is a grumble from within, and then two bright, yet less-than-impressed faces emerge. Life is both tough and exhilarating for boys growing up on a dude ranch.<\/p>\n

This notion does not seem to faze the even-keeled Burleigh. Cool, calm, and collected, he talks to his boys the same way he talks to everyone, from his guests down to Tex, the old and nearly blind cat eating his breakfast in the bathroom.<\/p>\n

\"Sun<\/a>

Sun rises over the Laramie River Dude Ranch of Bill Burleigh ’86 and family. Photograph by Shauna Stephenson.<\/p><\/div>\n

Outside, morning has arrived at the Laramie River Dude Ranch<\/a>, in Colorado just south of the Wyoming border, as the sun chases away the chill of the night, painting the peaks of the Rawah Mountains.<\/p>\n

Inside the main lodge, guests eat breakfast in a large, lofted dining hall. A bear skin hangs on the wall and guests dab their mouths with red, yellow, and blue bandanna napkins. A sliver of light slides in the window, highlighting a stocking hat, prompting a twinge of remorse on this mid-September day. Where has summer gone?<\/p>\n

Shocking things happen in these parts this time of year. First, you spot a yellow leaf in a stand of aspens, and it takes your breath away. Then you wake up one morning and the entire forest has gone from green to golden overnight.<\/p>\n

By winter, the guests who walked the halls and grounds of this 1,360-acre ranch will be long gone. In the gin-clear waters of the Laramie River, which winds through the heart of this place, trout that snapped at guests\u2019 fly-fishing lures in the summer will be left alone. The willows that line the riverbanks will be bare.<\/p>\n

Which suits Burleigh just fine. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t ever get lonely,\u201d Burleigh says. \u201cJust about the time I need some space, the fall arrives and it\u2019s just us on the ranch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/a>

Bill Burleigh readies Newt for the morning ride. Photograph by Shauna Stephenson.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Burleighs used to live year-round on the ranch, but as the boys got older it made less sense to drive 50 miles to Laramie for school. \u201cA pretty hairy commute in the winter,\u201d Burleigh says. So the family bought a winter home in town, and Bill and his wife visit the ranch a few times a week.<\/p>\n

As a chemistry major at Bates, and later a consultant in information technology, owning a dude ranch was never on Burleigh\u2019s radar until his wife, Krista Kaplan, weighed in. \u201cHer dream, of running a dude ranch, was definitely more interesting than mine,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In 1995, the two purchased the Laramie River Dude Ranch, re-opening a place that had housed guests from 1937 to the 1970s. \u201cIt felt like it had a history,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Now in its 14th season, the ranch welcomes guests from around the country and abroad. About 30 percent of their clients are international, mostly from Europe, and many return year after year to the dude ranch. (The word \u201cdude\u201d came into use in the 1800s and originally meant a fop or dandy; it soon came to mean someone from the East unfamiliar with Western farm life.)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A horse yawns before the morning ride. The ranch maintains about 70 horses each year, buying, selling and training their own herd. Photograph by Shauna Stephenson.<\/p><\/div>\n

Out in the corral, horses have been saddled up for the morning\u2019s ride. Other horses get the day off, and they\u2019re led to pasture by Alex, age 9, who then joins his dad for a drive to the spot chosen for the guests\u2019 lunch.<\/p>\n

In a grove of aspens, checkered table cloths are set out on picnic tables scattered among hammocks. Cribbage boards and cards are laid on the tables, a clear sign of the mission here: Let go of the stress of your life, relax, and enjoy.<\/p>\n

True, the ranch is idyllic, but rarely idle. Even inexperienced riders work on \u201cteam penning,\u201d a game that involves \u201ccutting\u201d a steer from a group and moving it into an open pen. Experienced riders help with larger cattle drives, helping Burleigh\u2019s neighbors move cows and their new calves from mountain pastures leased from the U.S. Forest Service (much of the land around the ranch is federally owned) back down to the owner\u2019s ranch.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost ranches have crews only big enough to get daily tasks done,\u201d Burleigh explains. \u201cThey\u2019re more than happy to have us come down with a trailer load of horses and guests to help on those big cattle moves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t