At Colorado Trails Ranch, we offer families a chance to go on horseback riding vacations that they'll never forget. Before you head to Colorado for your ideal dude ranch vacation, however, you should educate yourself a little about the Western saddle. Western Saddles vs. English Saddles You may be aware that there are two main riding styles ... [Read More]

About a year ago, BBC documentary film producer Jonnie Hughes brought a handful of tribesmen from a remote jungle village in Papua, New Guinea to London. He had been making a film about the tribe, known as the Insect Tribe, and the tribesmen asked why the study only worked one way – why did the ... [Read More]

For guests of the Colorado Trails Ranch, there's a lot more to explore than horseback riding and fishing or rafting. One of the most interesting is the opportunity to tour the ruins of the ancients nearby. Mesa Verde National Park is the finest example of Ancient Puebloan dwellings. These Puebloans were formerly called Anasazi. Mesa Verde ... [Read More]

Vacationing in one spot, only having to unpack once, meals and activities all at the same location, sounds like a cruise…..or a dude ranch vacation. You can think of a dude ranch vacation as a cruise on horseback and know just what you are getting into. As with a cruise, you can get settled into ... [Read More]

It certainly has nothing to do with today's younger crowd referring to each other as 'dude'. It's also doubtful that they coined the name after anything connected to a guest ranch. So where did this ranch classification come from? As it turns out, credit is due mostly to Theodore Roosevelt and people like him. How Theodore ... [Read More]

Dude ranch vacations have been considered some of the very best family vacations ever since dude ranches and guest ranches first burst onto the scene in the late 19th century. The Romance with the American West Why did folks from “back East” start heading to Western dude ranches in the first place? If you remember any of ... [Read More]

There's a reason that cowboys of both past and present wear cowboy boots. Far more than fashionable footwear; cowboy boots by design are the best footwear for riding horseback. As a matter of fact, at Colorado Trails Dude Ranch, we require all of our guests who plan to go horseback riding to have smooth-soled footwear ... [Read More]

The Durango Melodrama is a little piece of the Old West that's still alive and well. At Colorado Trails Dude Ranch, visiting the Durango Melodrama & Vaudeville at the Henry Strater Theatre for one night during their stay is one of our guests' favorite activities. Here's a look at what's on-tap at the Durango Melodrama ... [Read More]

Across America, as well as all over the world, people enjoy the sport of fly fishing. Although you may be under the impression that fly fishing is a more recent fishing innovation, in fact it's a sport that dates all the way back to ancient Greece. Here's a brief history of fly fishing. Fly Fishing in ... [Read More]

If there's one thing we love at Colorado Trails, it's horses. From old to young, we love them all. That's why it's very upsetting for us to think about horses being abused, misused, neglected, or starved. If you understand how Colorado Trails Dude Ranch staff feels about horses, then you'll also understand why we host the ... [Read More]