When I purchased our tickets to see NEEDTOBREATHE at Red Rocks, I realized we could easily visit a couple of other states while flying in and out of Denver. The Wyoming border is only an hour and a half north of Denver, so I started looking for points of interest near the capital city of Cheyenne. When I read that we could spend the night on a Wyoming bison ranch, I was immediately sold.
Terry Bison Ranch spans nearly 30,000 acres, with over 2,000 American buffalo. It’s a popular place for RVers to stop, but they also have a few cabins on-site. They offer a train ride to feed the bison, ATV tours, horseback riding, a restaurant and more.
Wyoming bison ranch by night
After exploring Rocky Mountain National Park in the afternoon, we set off for the ranch. We didn’t arrive until the very last moments of dusk. We immediately checked in and unloaded our luggage at the cabin before grabbing dinner at Senator’s Steakhouse (where Brandon ordered a bison burger, of course!).
The cabins at the ranch are no-frills, which suited us perfectly. We both laughed at the cheery orange fly swatter hanging by the front door, and we put it to good use. I did not consider the stench of the ranch or the swarming flies when I booked our stay, but Brandon assured me that those both come standard on any farm. There wasn’t a television (ok, there was, but it was a TV/VCR combo and it was about 12 inches wide) and the wifi connection was very weak, but we were happy to get to sleep early, without distraction.
Wyoming bison ranch by day
I wake up earlier than Brandon every day, and vacations are no exception. I’ve come to love getting up early while on vacation because it allows me some extra time to explore before we get the day started. I woke up while it was still dark across the ranch and stepped out onto the porch to take in the sun rise over the meadow. Then I spent a half hour or so taking photos in the early morning light. There weren’t a lot of ranch visitors when we were there in September, but I read that the campsites and cabins are booked solid for Cheyenne Frontier Days each July.
We grabbed breakfast at the ranch’s Tombstone Cafe. We were the only patrons, and there was one employee who seated us, served us, and cooked our breakfast. Curious from an advertisement in our reservation paperwork, we both ordered the ranch’s “famous” biscuits and gravy. We decided that the locals had clearly never tasted biscuits and gravy in the south. ? After breakfast, we joined a few families on a bison train tour. Along the way, the tour guide shared the history of the ranch. We saw a baby bison that had been born earlier in the week and had the opportunity to stop and hand feed the bison.
I wish we could have spent more time at Terry Bison Ranch, but after the tour it was off to Cheyenne and then on to our next overnight in Nebraska.
Next time
I look forward to returning to Wyoming someday and visiting Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.
