A human wall. That’s how staff and guests were positioned at the Triangle X ranch in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park. They were directing a stream of horses to their evening pasture, blocking off where they shouldn’t go.
“It's gonna be wild and western,” said Kathryn Turner, whose family owns the ranch.
Moments later, dozens of horses and mules galloped by kicking up dust, clearly eager for their night off. They had names like Hunger Games, Hot Tamale and Duct Tape.
“I've lived here my whole life, and this happens every single day, and I never get tired of it,” Turner said.
The Turners have owned the ranch for five generations. Earlier this summer, they celebrated 100 years of introducing guests to the looming Teton mountains in the Jackson Hole valley. Visitors stay for at least a week, horseback riding, hiking, rafting, fly fishing and more.
“Families come and they bring their kids, and then when they get old enough to work here, they come here to work and help us out in various roles,” Turner said. “And then when they get on with their lives and married and have kids of their own, then they bring their kids.”
That about sums up Wendy Kelsey from Pennsylvania’s story. She first visited with her grandma in 1966.
“From the time I was, you know, 15, my dream was to be out here as often as I could,” Kelsey said, sitting outside her cabin. “And then when I got married, my dream was that the kids would love it as much as we did.”
Now, even her grandkids love it. They all road trip to the ranch every year. They have to drive to fit all their western gear — loads of chaps and cowboy hats.
This is part of what makes the Kelseys “dudes,” a word that dates back to the 1800s.
“So if you dressed nice or kind of over the top, you were a dude,” said Bryce Albright, whose parents met at Triangle X.
She leads the Dude Ranchers’ Association, which represents ranches, many of them in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Arizona.
“That was how people came out West,” Albright continues. “They wanted to dress the part. They wanted to look fancy and look like a cowboy.”
That was increasingly the case in the ‘90s, when the movie “City Slickers” with Billy Crystal sent people racing to dude ranches.
“You came here city slickers,” a rancher says in the trailer. “You’re going to go home cowboys.”
The industry then took a dip with the 2008 recession but saw another boom with the pandemic. People were flocking to the outdoors and shows like “Yellowstone” helped.
“It honestly is kind of deemed as this generation's City Slickers,” Albright said.
But not all’s hunky dory. Albright said the horse market has “gone nuts.” Many ranches have had to raise prices. Triangle X is considered one of the more affordable options, and it can be around $10,000 for a family of four per week, all included. Other owners have recently shut down and sold.
The Dude Ranchers’ Association had 117 members in 2003. Now there are 91.
“The generations are aging out,” Albright said. “And then the kids don't wanna run it.”
However, that’s not the case at Triangle X.
“In fact, more Turners would like to be involved here than the operation would economically support,” family patriarch John Turner said while sitting on his porch on the ranch, completely unbothered by the mosquitoes landing on him.
He used to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but he grew up on the ranch.
“Whether it's cleaning cabins or putting up hay or breaking a horse, taking a ride, teaching a square dance, cleaning toilets, doing a cookout, guiding for a bull elk, taking fly fishermen down the river,” Turner listed, “it takes a pretty diverse skill set, and we're blessed to have a family that’s still willing to fill those niches.”
His granddaughter, 12-year-old Lily, said she wants to take over someday.
“It's already, like, so fun, just living here,” the wrangler-in-training said. “But, like, also, working here would be so fun.”
The bell rang for dinner, and Lily headed for the kids’ table, where a dozen little gremlins were avoiding their asparagus. That included 9-year-old Zoe Vonwiller, now 10, who had a Band-Aid on her forehead from riding. It was her first year at Triangle X.
“I don't even wanna go to another ranch 'cause no other ranch could compare to this ranch,” she said. “It's, like, the best ranch.”
Zoe said her family will definitely be coming back.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
