You can tell a real ranch by the number of junked trucks you find in the front yard. So when you drive up to SK Ranch in northwestern Montana, you know right away these folks are real ranchers.
Steve and Alison Skelton farm 8,500 acres in Conrad, Montana about 40 minutes away from their ranch here on the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains. At the ranch in Bynum, the couple and their children, Cassy, 18, and Matt, 15, offer real riding vacations that make guests part of the family.
Steve, 42, is a big man with a quick wit. He is also a multi-talented horseman with a quiet confidence who knows how to gently guide horses to follow the rider's commands. It's amazing to watch him with a rope quietly "horse whispering" the steed to obey.
Alison is the family rock. She's the steady hand who guides the family, takes care of the books; she's the yin to Steve's yang. They met 20 years ago at a veterinary clinic. Her warmth and easy laugh make the ranch kitchen an inviting place.
The SK Ranch welcomes guests all summer long; the combination of open range riding, horse whispering and daily ranch chores draws lots of guests. On our visit in late July, the guests here were a pair of grandmotherly women who rode horses every day and loved it. They had driven the 2,000 miles from their homes in Columbia, Missouri. Edie, 82, a former school superintendent, was proud to meet the challenge of learning how to "lope," or gallop. Carolyn, 76, also loved the riding and especially the wildlife seen on long, early morning walks around the spacious property.
Unlike the horse-riding terrain of New England, here there are no trails, just wide-open range. The typical riding experience, known as "nose to tail," keeps everyone walking nearly all of the time on a narrow track. Most dude ranches or riding centers adhere to the rule of never trotting or galloping, which is considered dangerous in woods or on narrow trails. But out here, you can let the horse go into a trot and, with another kick, a lope. It's the most fun and biggest thrill I've had in a long time.
For an Easterner, it is hard to fathom both the distances and the remoteness of Montana ranch life. The address here at SK Ranch is Bynum, but the actual town is 15 miles away. The closest "big town" is Choteau, population 1,200, another 13 miles south. The nearest neighbor is a rancher about five miles away. The gravel roads can easily puncture a normal radial tire, so most everyone up here drives on expensive 10-ply tires, in large V-8s or diesel trucks, that all burn a lot of fuel over these long rides.
After a dinner of Skelton's own fine grass-fed steaks cooked on the grill, we frequently ventured out for a wildlife watch. One evening, we set ourselves up with binoculars and cameras on the top of a bluff overlooking a grove of diamond willow, aspen and choke cherry trees. A wide stream meandered through this lush green glade, surrounded by dry yellow fields dotted with large, rolled-up hay bales.
After a few minutes of careful binocular scanning, I spotted two elk in a grove, eating leaves from trees. The male had a large rack of furry antlers, and he was joined by a female, also dining on leaves. We watched the elk until they wandered out of view into the brush, and then suddenly we heard Steve whisper loudly, "Bear!" A grizzly bear suddenly splashed into view. He stood up, his face framed in silver, and looked right up at us. It was an incredible moment, watching this ferocious animal staring right at us. Then he ambled away through the water and crawled into the brush.
As I said goodbye the next day, I felt as if I had gained something important from my time away from my email and telephone back east. The routine of our days here slowed me down and made me appreciate what really matters in life.
Max Hartshorne is the editor of gonomad.com, where you'll find more about his time in the saddle.
