Where the earth whispers

Some travelers look for a more hands-on vacation than a week at the beach or visit to DisneyWorld: dude ranches and guest farms.

Call it rural relaxation, and even if these sojourns are not always restful, folks come home with a real sense of tranquillity.

Although dude ranches have provided adventuresome travelers with a chance to experience a taste of "life on the range" for more than a century, the popularity of dude ranches has soared in the past 10 years, thanks in part to the "City Slickers" movies.

These days, several hundred ranches of varying size across the United States and Canada give city folks a chance to get down and dirty. They also vary widely according to the amenities and activities they offer. Some of these spreads, such as the one Robert J. Sule and his friends visited in his cover story, are working ranches organized around seasonal cattle drives or daily chores.

Last fall, I got the chance to spend several days at the Horse Creek Guest Ranch outside Fort Assiniboine, a two-hour drive north of Edmonton, Alberta.

Set on 800 rolling acres situated between the Athabasca River and the Sandhills Wildland Park, Horse Creek is less a dude ranch than a small working horse ranch. Operated by an affable, capable and very accommodating Dutch couple, Siebe and Emmy Brouwer, Horse Creek Ranch has rooms for 12 guests in the main house and neat, wooden cabins Siebe's built in the past few years.

The Brouwers were dairy farmers in Holland, when the promise of plentiful, inexpensive and unfettered land lured them to this vast, beautiful countryside. Running his finger around a globe on the same latitude as Amsterdam, Siebe found what he was looking for in these sandy, wooded hillsides and wide river valley. As he noted proudly, "There are only three paved roads between here and the North Pole."

After a decade of milking cattle, raising their family and entertaining a steady stream of family and friends who came for working vacations, the Brouwers decided to expand the invitation to paying guests, opening an R&R ranch, a B&B with three meals and twist.

Siebe sold off the cattle and turned his attention to buying and training horses, a skill for which he had considerable aptitude. Watching him call and calm a young horse was an engrossing experience, more reminiscent of the movie "The Horse Whisperer" than "City Slickers."

Siebe is also a patient teacher of people. With several hours' training and a trail ride through the 16,000 acres of protected forest in the Sandhills Wildlife Park, he put us to work. He had us novice riders galloping with some confidence across a large field and gathering together several dozen cattle and driving them into the corral, where we practiced using our horses to cut one calf out of the herd and maneuver it into a holding pen. Although he admitted he wouldn't have hired any of us as ranch hands based on our natural abilities, he was encouraged by our progress.

That afternoon, as he sent me out alone to ride the ranch's barbed wire perimeter in search of a bull that had escaped from an enclosure, I got an idea of the lonely chores of a wrangler. OK, I was only out there for a little more than an hour and encountered neither the bull nor the grizzly bears Siebe had warned were in the area, but I can tell you I was alert and appreciative to the environment.

Later that evening, long after a star-studded blanket had settled over the otherwise perfect darkness, I had a chance to comprehend the deep and encompassing emptiness of the Alberta night. Rather than horse whispers, I could hear the earth whisper.

Although I don't claim to have become an accomplished wrangler in two days at Horse Creek Ranch, I did leave with a sense of satisfaction at having gained new understandings and abilities. More important, sensations and images of my all-too-brief visit to Horse Creek Ranch remain as vivid in my mind as if they had happened yesterday.

But don't think that all dude ranches require their guests to repair barbed wire fence lines, brand cattle or rope dogies for their supper. Many guest ranches are mini-resorts, offering palatial accommodations, gourmet meals and a wide range of organized leisure and outdoor activities, from scenic trail rides to swimming, rafting, hiking, fly fishing, and even golf and tennis. A growing number of guest ranches offer cross-country skiing in winter.

Since the majority of guest ranches are smaller operations which, like Horse Creek Ranch, are operated by the people who own them, they differ widely in character and amenities, not to mention location. Lost Creek Ranch in Moose, Wyo., an upscale favorite, has a spectacular setting in the Grand Tetons. The Triple Creek Ranch in Darby, Mont., is a romantic log cabin hideaway for couples only. The Alisal Ranch in Solvang, Calif., is a plush ranch with a country club setting and two championship golf courses.

Obviously, choosing the right ranch for your style and sense of adventure may involve a bit of research, as can making reservations. Several publications can help. "Gene Kilgore's Ranch Vacations" has details on more than 300 guest ranches across in the United States and Canada. Several states and Canadian provinces have guest ranch associations that publish directories and descriptions of their members. There are also loads of online listings. Here are some resources to get you started.

Gene Kilgore's "Ranch Vacations" (John Muir Publications) or at Ranchweb.com (707-939-3801).

Dude Ranchers Association Directory, 970-223-8440, www.duderanch.org.

Arizona Dude Ranch Directory, Box 603K, Cortaro, AZ 85625; www.azdr.com.

Colorado Dude Ranch Directory, 970-887-3128, www.coloradoranch.com.

Idaho Guest Ranch Directory, 208-342-1919, www.ioga.org.

Montana Guest Ranch Directory, 1627 W. Main St., Bozeman MT 59715; www.montanadra.com/.

Texas Guest Ranch Directory, 512-474-2996, www.texaslodging.com.

Alberta Ranch Directory, 403-625-2295; lucasia@telufplanet.net.

British Columbia Ranch Directory, 250-374-6836.

Horse Creek Ranch, 888-699-6099; www.cantravel.ab.ca/horsecrk.html.