The western heritage of Grand County presents itself in everything from summer rodeos to year-round dude ranches, and the YMCA of the Rockies Snow Mountain Ranch offers a great way to tap into that legacy with its stables.

Rocky Mountain Stables took over operation of the horseback, sleigh and wagon rides at Snow Mountain Ranch in May 2022. Steven Schreckhise and his father-in-law, Ray Dotson, run Rocky Mountain Stables, and Schreckhise said they will have new offerings for their second summer.

“Last year, we just had the one-hour trail ride,” Schreckhise said. “This year, we’ll have a two-hour trail ride. We’ll also have wagon rides for families that have children that aren’t old enough to ride our horses and older people that don’t feel comfortable getting on the horses.”

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In addition to regular wagon rides, the stables will offer campfire chuck wagon dinners two days each week. Schreckhise said the dinners will involve a 30-minute ride that takes guests from the stables to one of the homesteads on the YMCA property. 

Schreckhise has not finalized a menu for the chuck wagon dinners, but he said he wants to have classic campfire food, like steaks, beans and baked potatoes.

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“We have a peach cobbler that we make in a dutch oven over the fire,” Schreckhise said. “Nothing too extraordinary.”

The trail rides head west from the stables towards the base of the nearby mountain, Schreckhise said. The scenic routes take riders through wooded areas, into a valley and through aspen groves. Schreckhise said the one and two-hour trail rides take different routes on different trails. 

“We’re not zigzagging back and forth just to make it longer,” Schreckhise said. “You cover a lot more in the two.”

Schreckhise emphasized that while the trail rides have some hills, the routes are easy ones. He said they do not have steep mountain terrain and are not dangerous for beginner riders. 

With the new offerings, and what Schreckhise hopes will be more business, Rocky Mountain Stables will have more horses on the property than it did last summer. Schreckhise and his father-in-law have operated Stockyard Stables in Fort Worth, Texas, for 12 years, so the horses and mules they use at the YMCA come from Texas.The Rocky Mountain Stables offer activities year-round at Snow Mountain Ranch, with horseback and sleigh rides in the winter. Visit RockyMountainStables.com for more information and to book an activity.

This story originally appeared in Explore Grand’s 2023 summer edition.