Background on Bear Basin Ranch

There are many ways to gauge a trail ride but for me, my criteria for reviewing a trail ride revolves around the horses, the trail, and the wrangler guide. You can read more about this [here].

Mike runs Bear Basin Ranch and he used to work for the ranch before taking ownership. Bear Basin Ranch has a unique location. It is nestled in what many would consider the rolling foothills just to the west of Pueblo, CO near the Wet Mountains. Due west and running parallel past the Wet Mountains are another mountain chain referred to as the Sangre De Cristo Wilderness. The Wet Mountains Valley runs in between these two mountain chains. If you are traveling from the north or east to go south or west to get to the Great Sand Dunes or just generally driving through Westcliffe, having this stop along the way is a great way to break up the long drive.

Bear Basin Ranch offers trail rides in 2-hour standard or dinner rides, 1 full-day ride, and even 3 to 5-day pack trips. If you have tiny ones, the ranch also has covered wagon rides that will help them live out their wildest west fantasy! For this trail ride, I opted for the standard 2-hour ride which came out to $90/person and puts it right on average for 2-hour trail ride pricing.

The Horses

My horse’s name was Hillandale and he was a beautiful brown and white paint. The ranch uses the Western style for the horses which is typical. Hillandale’s steering was neck reining, a popular one for Western style. Neck reining simply means that if you move the reins to the left side of the neck from your POV, the horse will turn left. Moving the reins to the right side of the neck tells the horse to turn right.

Part of what I loved about this trail ride was that during the trail, there were spots where I wanted to take pictures of the scenery. The guides let us stop to take pictures of that scenery and offered to take pictures of us on our horses with the beautiful landscape in the background. This meant having to steer my horse off the trail and over to the spot to be in the picture. Hillandale did a good job of maneuvering around and doing what I wanted him to do. There were a few times when he seemed stubborn. That was probably because I confused him and he wasn’t sure why I wanted him to walk around my sister’s horse. It was to get into a picture pose of the two of us on our horses. Like any horse acting like that, I kept squeezing him and gave him clicking noises and he gave in to my directions with minimal delay.

My sister had a horse named Spirit and she had a dark bay coat coloring. Spirit was very good too. While my sister stayed more along the trail and didn’t do much steer out of her own choice, in the few pictures we got of both of us, she was able to steer Spirit into position. Spirit also tried to test my sister early on by sneaking grass, but my sister was able to show her who was boss right away. Spirit didn’t have any other issues with grass until we were almost back at the ranch.

There was one horse that a wrangler was using who was still under training. It was nice to see firsthand how the wranglers train and evaluate horses to understand their behaviors and determine when they are ready for customers. The horse that was still in training was Honey and she was a gorgeous golden chestnut color. Honey had just joined the ranch, so she was very new to trail riding as she was skittish and very alert to her surroundings. Even with Honey’s limited trail riding experience, the wrangler did a great job of keeping her calm and teaching her how to walk the trail relaxed.

The Trail

Disclaimer: no matter what words I use or pictures I show, the views on this trail won’t be given justice. I’ve ridden trails all over the Rockies and throughout deserts, plains, and forests. When I say I had a mouth-gapping experience, my mouth was on the ground and dragging! Much of the trail is through rolling foothills. While rolling foothills might not seem impressive, the vast landscape seems never ending and it gave me flashes of the opening of Spirit (2002). The trail would occasionally pass through light forest or thick aspens which made for nice shade and a nice change of pace. At one point, we stopped at an aspen tree and were shown where a bear had made claw marks halfway up the tree! I would say this lasted about the first 45 minutes of the trail ride. Rolling foothills to one side and aspens and trees to the other. While the trail is a huge roughly 9-mile loop for two hours, there is much changing scenery.

It was right at the halfway mark that the rolling hills stopped in the distance and the mind-blowing view of the Sangre De Cristo Wilderness came into view. It wasn’t just a vague view in the distance. It was a powerful skyline of the mountain chain that was cut off by either side of the horizon. The Wet Mountains Valley rests between the hills we were located at and the mountain chain which created the dominant visual of the landscape. This spot on the trail is referred to as “the hill” by the wranglers. Naturally, you’ll stop at the top to let the horses briefly rest as this hill is much larger than the others that the trail touches. Take pictures or videos but know that nothing will compare to seeing this landscape in person! It was the cool visual of the mountains in the distance being even in height that created this spectacular feeling of being on top of the world.

Even after reaching the hill and continuing on, there are still spots along the trail for the next 30 minutes that have glimpses of the mountains but none as vast as the hill. Those spots are still pretty and worth stopping for pictures. There is a very old and collapsed cobalt mine that is just off the trail that our guides showed us. Unfortunately, two men lost their lives when the mine collapsed because the ground was so unstable that rescue efforts were not successful. The wranglers also told us that asteroid pieces have also been found on the Bear Basin Ranch property. How cool!

I would say the trail alone is worth every penny you pay for the trail ride and everything else is a cherry on top! I’ve never seen a view quite like this one and I can hope this doesn’t warp my expectations for trail rides to come.

The Wrangler Guides

Like most trail-riding companies, the wranglers/guides work for tips. What I wasn’t sure of, and forgot to clarify, is if all trails are booked as private or if we lucked out and no one else booked during our time. We did end up on a private trail ride. It was our main wrangler guide, Preston, my sister and I, and two other female wranglers. One of them was born in Germany but grew up in Australia and is working the summer at the ranch – I did not catch her name. She was training the new trail horse, Honey. The other wrangler, Abby, was taking pictures of us on our horses during the trail ride.

All three of them were very friendly and knowledgeable about the horses, trail riding, and the trail we were taking. Preston pointed out general information about the aspens, landmarks on the property like the collapsed mine, and even where the bear had made claw marks on one aspen. I enjoyed talking about horse training with the wrangler riding Honey and appreciated Abby taking pictures for us throughout the trail ride.

Conclusion

If you are making your way to the Great Sand Dunes and will be passing through or near the Wet Mountains, it is absolutely worth stopping at Bear Basin Ranch for a trail ride. The trail ride has spectacular views that will leave you speechless. The horses are well trained and riding a horse is always fun. The people who make Bear Basin Ranch run are a delight to talk to. I recommend booking trail rides at Bear Basin Ranch. I mentioned they have 3 to 5-day pack trips to the Great Sand Dunes and hot springs. Based on my experience with the standard trail rides, my trail riding bucket list keeps getting bigger…

Contact Bear Basin Ranch

Address: 473 County Rd. 271, Westcliffe, CO 81252

Website: https://bearbasinpacktrip.com/

Email: info@bearbasinpacktrip.com