Guests don't rough it here, though. "They experience the rustic West, only with modern comforts," says Linda. My cabin-for-two is small but lovingly appointed with American antiques and crafts pieces from the area. The wonderful slate-tiled bathroom has a locally custom-made bowl-in-washstand sink.
"We want our guests to leave here feeling as though they'd been guests at a family's private ranch," Marley Jr. adds. It does feel that way to me, in part because the whole family works here; the Hodgsons' two children, Marley, thirty-one, and Lindsay, twenty-eight, pitch in sometimes as cohosts when their work schedules permit. The younger Hodgsons are omnipresent, attending to guests' needs, and Marley III occasionally serves as a fishing guide.
Some meals are served at the Dinner Bell Cook House, a cabin-style dining hall original to the property that Marley Jr. went to amazing lengths to restore--with exposed-log walls; wagon-wheel chandeliers; chestnut tables with half-round log edging inspired by 1920s designer Thomas Molesworth; and booths, from a Berlin delicatessen, that Marley Jr. refurbished with calf-hide siding by Ghurka. In warm weather, though, guests dine outdoors in the Pavilion. There's no menu; award-winning chef Bob Isaacson, formerly of the Little Nell, in Aspen, decides what to serve for each meal. His cuisine is haute Western, based mostly on the fare locally available; the nearby North Fork Valley is known as the garden center of Colorado.
Tonight, by the light of imposing antler chandeliers and trout-silhouette sconces, the Hodgsons and I sit down to crab cakes with avocado salsa, followed by velvety elk steaks and roasted sweet potatoes. Marley Jr., a wine connoisseur, orders a 2001 Elyse Zinfandel and reminds us to drink plenty of water because of the altitude: 7,100 feet. (Unsuspecting guests may get dehydration headaches, especially if they don't accept the water bottles constantly offered by the staff.) For dessert there's apple-cherry strudel topped with homemade ice cream.
After dinner I savor a particularly unfamiliar luxury for a New Yorker: the utter quiet and dark of the night. Sleep comes easily--a good thing, since fishing starts early. And so do all the other activities the Hodgsons provide to ensure that their guests have a well-rounded visit. "There are plenty of ranches that are more stereotypically dude ranches," says Marley Jr. "We try to offer a balance." Yes, there's riding, but there's also great fishing, challenging hiking, and the whole rest of the Western experience, including rodeos, skeet shooting, local craftspeople and the Cherry Days festival (July 1 through 4) in nearby Paonia. The ranch has a stable of thirty-one horses and four mules and conducts guided excursions on the hundreds of miles of riding and hiking trails in the hills and up into the high, Colorado spruce-covered mountains, which are often snowcapped through early July.
Smith Fork Ranch is the kind of place where you might find a Cabinet secretary appreciating the remoteness (yet trying, comically and in vain, to get a cell phone to work in the woods) or see Napa Valley vintners dropping in on their own jets to visit their friend Marley III. Guests also include financiers, entertainment executives and sporting families--even the occasional honeymooners, who take dinner on the deck of their cabin. (The rest dine privately or with other guests, as they wish, at the Pavilion.) Some evenings, people sit together after dinner to listen to performances by a local band or to SFR's own wranglers sing cowboy ballads.
The ranch prides itself on customizing each day for every guest. The first real cowboy I've encountered in my life, Chuck Gunther, ranch manager and head of the horse program, sees to that. I'm captivated by this genuine character in denim, black cowboy hat and well-worn boots, sporting a handlebar mustache. Chuck is weathered, agile and quiet, as all true cowboys are supposed to be. One of his skills is in discreetly discovering each morning what guests would like to do that day. Chuck's wife, Kerry, manages the front office, and together they make all things possible with the help of some fifteen in staff.
"What's on your mind for today?" Chuck asks sleepy-eyed Andrew, who's just come into the Dinner Bell for breakfast. Andrew, an English adman living in Greenwich, Connecticut, is here with his wife and two children, as well as Mike--his friend and a fellow Brit--and Mike's family. This big group returned yesterday from an overnight horseback trek, guided by Chuck, up to 9,000 feet, where they camped in elaborately outfitted tents and had dinner under the stars (a ranch chef went along to prepare the meals). "Riding, please," Andrew says, and it's done. I hear that the two families' six children left with a guide at the crack of dawn to go river rafting.
