The High Lonesome Ranch — Hotel in Parachute

We just returned from a six day dude ranch experience which was really beyond expectations. We have done a couple different ranch vacations, both of which were wonderful, but HLR is truly next level, especially with regards to the food and the service. A few words of advice: Do NOT try to diet on this vacation. Enjoy the incredible meals, wine and cocktails and worry about the calories later. The 8 course tasting menu was unreal. It was made even more enjoyable by the fact that the kids were off with the wranglers enjoying their own special night. Justin S.'s cocktail, wine choices, and most of all, service was top-notch. The chef and sous-chef are on their A-game and the food alone made this trip worthwhile. Not only will they accommodate dietary restrictions, they take pride in going out of their way to accommodate them. The service in general is beyond what we've experienced at other ranches, and beyond what most would find at even a luxury resort. The staff knew the names of all the guests by the end of the first day and happily chatted, answered questions and asked about each guest's day. The HLR wranglers are the best. There is seemingly nothing these young women cannot do - whether it is roping steers, giving riding instruction, trailering horses, line dancing, or entertaining kids while their parents sit back and relax. They are amazing role models for kids and adults alike. The ranch horses are wonderful and well trained to the different tasks, whether it's arena work, trail riding or rounding up cattle. The fly-fishing and skeet-shooting guides are super knowledgeable and helpful. Our lodging was clean, spacious and serviced daily, including replenishing of water, soda, wine and snacks. The range of activities was great - plenty of time in the saddle, but also enough down time, along with other choices such as fly-fishing and river-rafting, to allow our posteriors to recover. Our 12 year old son cried when we left and made us promise to return. We're pretty sure this is a promise we will keep. Thank you to everyone at HLR for making this such a...

We just spend a week here at this wonderful ranch in Colorado with two kids unter 10 yr old. I could probably write about 6 six pages full of highlights and positive reviews of every single day. Here are some of them.|1. The Wranglers. Marian and her crew are excellent ( & Jackie obviously). We were almost-beginners but were guided in the arena first and then into the wild with them with the highlight of the cattle drive on Friday. Very special was the first get-together with the horses when the Wranglers chose the right horse for every guest.|2. Amount of people. We had two more families here; totaling 11; and you can expect that you wont have more than 20 guests which makes it very exclusive. |3. THE FOOD. Come here and find out yourself. It was just amazing! Top rated restaurant style with the highlight of Wednesdays 5-course-gourmet-dinner. Justin was a very knowledgeable chef de service, especially about the wines. The selection every evening was rather impressive!|4. The staff. It is an excellently organized team overall with a great family business and the CEO (Scott). We were like a large family here indeed. |5. Accommodation. Amazing! Only large houses with patios and great views for each family. The fridge is always filled up with drinks (including wine). We actually had the smallest house (3 bedrooms on two floors), large kitchen, laundry room and spacious living room, 3 bathrooms with large showers.|6. Surroundings: it is a beautiful huge ranch offering great views. |7. Activities: fly fishing, cocktails every evening, sheep race, rodeo, river rafting, wild horse tour, etc etc etc.||Lowlights: honestly, none. ||Thank you for this amazing experience to all the family &...

This was my fifth hunting trip to the ranch and I was super excited. Unfortunately the ranch has experienced some staff changes and has also changed the guest experience. For hunters there is no more fine dining with passed appetizers before dinner, nice wines and gourmet food. Instead hunters get a crock pot of mystery slop put out in the kitchen of the lodging building they are staying in. There's a commercial coffee pot in the morning where you make the coffee while you navigate the mess in the kitchen from the night before...the staff don't come by until midday to clean up the dishes and take away all the food from the prior night. Needless to say there are bugs having a party on the mess.||The first night the caters brought the food by, they didn't bring serving utensils so we ended up serving potatoes with a table spoon we found. I asked about wine and they found a couple bottles and then attempted to open them. They destroyed the corks and had to pour the wine through a coffee filter. ||To say I was disappointed is an understatement. It really felt like the ranch was trying to cut corners and pinch pennies. Maybe they are having financial issues?||The hunting was fair, the main valley was very dry so most fields were fallow. You used to see hundreds of deer going through, now most have moved elsewhere.|If you like a first class operation...this place is no longer it. I will probably not be back. ...