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Feature Article
Rising from the Ashes
After surviving the Hayman Fire, Lost Valley Ranch is hanging on by hearstrings.
by Andrea Burns
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"Welcome to Beirut, Lost Valley," he said.
Foster, 56, is the second generation of his family to offer trail rides, family-style meals and square dances in the lush belly of Lost Valley, two hours southwest of Denver. Once tucked among aspen groves and babbling streams, the ranch now stands as an oasis in the middle of the bleak Hayman Fire burn area. The ranch shut down on June 9, 2002, and spent its three busiest months without a single guest when it reopened Labor Day weekend.
The ranch itself sustained minimal damage—its AAA Four-Diamond cabins and historic ranch house were virtually untouched. A pristine green lawn still grows, along with an inner circle of healthy pine trees. But there is no escaping the damage that has been done.
Look a fraction of a mile in any direction from the valley floor and one can see the devastation of the Hayman Fire. The fire approached the valley from the south and split in two, consuming the steep slopes on both sides of the ranch. The riding trails that thousands of guests have enjoyed are now flanked by the dark skeletons of trees.
Incredibly, the ranch survived the fire. Can it now survive the fire's aftermath?
The man who has made personal relationships the main attraction at his dude ranch is hoping those relationships will be the ranch's saving grace. "If I think I have a future, it's because a significant amount of former guests will come back and support us," Foster said.
For years, Lost Valley Ranch has had a tremendously loyal following. Between 50 and 60 percent of guests are return visitors, whose rave reviews are responsible for another 30 percent of customers. While the promise of beautiful views and lush forests has enticed new guests to visit Lost Valley for decades, it's clear that something more than mountains is what brings them back.
The Foster's philosophy of relationship-building is the cornerstone of the Lost Valley vacation experience. Guests are seated at round tables at dinnertime and rotated over the course of their stay so they can get to know each other. Guests ride together, square dance together, sing together. Children play together. There are virtually no individual activities. Like a miniature summer camp, many guests leave with the feeling they've made some lifelong friends, and many return year after year to reunite with one another and the lovable ranch staff.
Karen Foster, Bob's wife, has seen more clearly than anyone the true loyalty and affection guests have for the ranch. When the fire came, she was evacuated to her family's second residence in Woodland Park. When power and telephone lines to the ranch burned, her home phone began ringing incessantly.
A half-century's worth of guests were calling.
Who knows how they got the number, but they called all day and all night; former guests, crying, asking if it was true that the ranch was gone; guests who are now 40, calling because they had vacationed there at age 14. One woman, 92, didn't know the Fosters but called because she had been to the ranch in 1950 and remembered it as the happiest time of her life. Some people wanted to share their memories; most just wanted to help.
Charles Henry is executive director of the Colorado Dude and Guest Ranch Association, whose members took in people jettisoned from Lost Valley all summer, and then donated profits to the Fosters. In advising travelers on their choice of ranch vacations, Henry says he hopes to convey the integrity of the ranch's programming, despite the landscape. "Bob will find ways to make that fire educational and fun for everybody," he said.
The slopes surrounding Lost Valley should see grasses sprouting in the summer of 2003, according to Terry McCann, public affairs officer for Pike National Forest. There will be black, dead trees for the next century, but slowly, depending on factors like snowpack, spring thaw and reseeding efforts, small flowers and bushes may grow in 2003.
One person who intends to help that process is Pam Schilt, 50, whose family has vacationed at Lost Valley Ranch for 11 years. She will return in 2003 to introduce her new daughter-in-law to the ranch, and she plans to bring seedlings. Planting them, she feels, is a small gesture of support for a place that has been her family's home away from home. Like so many others, Schilt believes that the heart of Lost Valley Ranch is fireproof.
"As long as they're running—and as long as I'm running—we will go there," she said. "It's got nothing to do with how green the branches are."
Planning Your Trip
Lost Valley Ranch is located in the mountains near Deckers. Advance reservations are required. During the spring and fall, the minimum stay is two nights. In the summer the minimum stay is seven nights, from Sunday to the following Sunday.
More information: Lost Valley Ranch, 29555 Goose Creek Rd., Sedalia, 80135-9000; 303-647-2311; http://www.ranchweb.com/lost/; e-mail, lostranch@aol.com.
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