The Last American Cowboy

There is a great new series on Animal Planet that you just don’t want to miss. The show is called “The Last American Cowboy” and it follows life on three working cattle ranches in Montana. You see up close the very tough, but rewarding reality of this traditional lifestyle. I just love the show.

It’s especially enjoyable because I have a connection to one of the featured ranches – the Galt ranch. The Galt Ranch is a neighbor ranch to my good friends the Voldseths who own the Voldseth Ranch and the Bonanza Creek Country Guest Ranch. Both of these ranches are located north east of Bozeman, around White Sulpher Springs.

I’ve met Bill and Jill Gault and was lucky enough to have Bill give me a personal helicopter tour of his beautiful ranch.

It’s also great to see Tanya Hill on the show. Tanya is the wife of Galt foreman, Tyson Hill, and is a wrangler for Bonanaza Creek in the summer guest season. Tanya’s just a great gal with a lot of talents. She speaks French fluently, has traveled the world, and is a heck of a hand and horsewoman. I always enjoy riding with Tanya.

Last American Cowboy is on Mondays at 10pmET. The show started on June 7th, but if you set your DVR, you should be able to catch the earlier episodes on reruns. You can find more about the show on the Animal Planet Website:

http://animal.discovery.com/tv/last-american-cowboy/

And make sure to check out my favorite Guest Ranch in the world – Bonanza Creek Country:

http://bonanzacreekcountry.com

Bonanaza Creek Guest Ranch

This week I’m at my annual retreat to Bonanza Creek Guest Ranch in Martinsdale, Montana. It’s my opportunity to drop out, slow down, and ride, ride, ride in this beautiful country.

This year I really lucked out and hit some fabulous weather – cool, sunny, and gorgeous. Enjoyed the White Sulphur Springs Labor Day Rodeo on Monday, but the rest of the time has been spent on this gorgeous ranch exploring the mountains and valleys and chasing cattle. Nirvana.

If you’ve ever dreamed of a guest ranch vacation, you really should check out Bonanza Creek Country. June and David Voldseth operate a working cattle ranch that has been in the family for over 130 years. They’re the real thing, and their hospitality, horses, and landscape are wonderful.

Bonanza Creek Country: Living The Cowgirl Life

I’ve blogged previously about Bonanza Creek Country, a working cattle guest ranch in south central Montana. I first came eight years ago and haven’t missed a year since. The owners, June and David Voldseth are now like family. Just wonderful people.

So, this week I’m writing this post from Bonanza Creek. I thought you might enjoy, vicariously, the guest ranch experience. I brought my horse Skip with me, but when you come, you’ll want to enjoy one of the great ranch horses in their string.

The weather is spectacular – bright sunshine and temps in the 70′s. This morning we mounted early at 8am and rode to the chuck wagon for a fab breakfast cooked over the open fire. We then rode on to a ridge top with a jaw-dropping view of the ranch.

After a hearty lunch, we again mounted and rode the “high ride” up atop another ridge to an even more spectacular view. You can’t help but be humbled at the power and beauty of this landscape.

Tomorrow we’ll be heading out on a long ride through more beautiful country to a little canyon where there are prehistoric Indian pictographs. Later in the week we’ll be moving cattle to new pasture and trying our hand at team penning.

The mix of wonderful horses, spectacular country, gracious hosts, and new friends make every visit to Bonanza Creek a special memory for me and the highlight of my summer.