Saddleback Ranch is home to year-round Western fun in the Yampa Valley near Steamboat Springs. Snow-filled fun includes sleigh rides, horseback riding, tubing, and snowmobile tours. Come summer, it’s wagon rides, horseback riding, and cattle drives.
Saddleback Ranch is a fourth-generation, 8,000-acre, actual live-working cattle ranch located around 15 miles from Steamboat Springs. Wayne and Luanna Iacovetto purchased Saddleback Ranch from Luanna’s father, Jim Thompson, in 1993, and run it today with help from two of their sons and their families.
The booming Colorado agri-tourism business has allowed the Iacovetto family to continue ranching, sharing the traditions and stunning landscape with visitors by offering unique outdoor activities through all seasons.
Snowmobiling
Saddleback Ranch is the only guided snowmobile tour in Colorado on private land. With thousands of ranch-owned acres to explore, they’re able to offer snowmobile tours affording some gorgeous views of the Flattops, Mt. Werner, Sleeping Giant, and the Zirkels.
The easy-to-operate Skidoo 4 Stroke machines “leave no smell behind” with their clean fuel exhaust feature. Tour packages vary in length, and some even finish off with a chaser of tubing. There are half-day, two-hour, and sunset snowmobile tours.
Two-passenger snowmobiles are used, which are easy to operate, with effortless acceleration. Complimentary shuttles will pick you up from your lodge in Steamboat Springs. You must be at least 16 years old to drive the snowmobile.
Snow Tubing
Saddleback Ranch also offers fantastic snow tubing on Yee-Haw Tubing Hill. It provides an exhilarating blast of fun for kids of all ages and sizes. The groomed hill is equipped with a state-of-the-art lift system that transports guests back to the top effortlessly.
Inner tubes are provided by the ranch, and they will even shuttle tubers around who stay for 1 ½ hours. Combine a tubing session with a dinner sleigh ride for a truly memorable evening.
Horseback Riding
And for those interested in seeing the ranch on the back of a horse, two-hour winter horseback rides tour the massive property, visiting historic, century-old homesteading points of interest along the way.
Winter horseback rides typically are 1.5-2 hour treks. Soak in life the way it was nearly a hundred years ago. There are horses for all levels of riding. Trips depart once daily, and twice a day during peak season. Riders must be at least 8 years old. There are no tandem horseback rides.
Summer horseback rides depart Tuesday through Saturday, with one two-hour tour in the morning and one in the afternoon. Shorter one-hour scenic ranch rides are offered several times a week in the afternoon. You can also take an evening horseback dinner ride on select nights. Riders must be at least 6 years old to ride.
Wagon Rides
After the snow melts, wheeled wagons take over. Offered on select evenings, horse-led wagons escort guests to eat via a 30-minute trek. The Wagon Dinner Ride delivers guests to the Lodge by wagon or horseback for a scenery-laden cocktail hour followed by a sumptuous dinner.
Calf roping 101 provides the after-dinner fun before guests ride home, savoring the scenery After dinner, soak in a gorgeous Colorado sunset on your wagon ride home.
Cattle Drives
Perhaps there is nothing as western as a cattle drive. Spend the day doing typical ranch duties, including herding up strays, checking for sickness, and a varying set of day-to-day duties. It’s typically a 3-4 hour experience, or until the job is done. Guests ride a horse.
In addition to the above activities, the ranch can be rented for weddings and private events. Saddleback Ranch makes it super easy to pick the activity or package of your dreams online in one clearly laid out page that includes all rates and times. Winter packages run through March, snow permitting of course, and the summer fun starts on June 1.
Details
Address: 36975 County Road 179, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487
Photo: 970-879-3711
Season: Year-round (summer and winter seasonal activities)
Website: saddlebackranch.net