Moonlight Rendevous
Raw nature has rarely been this accessible.
Hardware Ranch, owned by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, is located 15 miles east of Logan in the heart of Blacksmith Fork Canyon. The mission of the ranch is to provide a wintering site for elk and other animals that keeps them out of the valley and out of harm.
The ranch offers guests the opportunity to see these animals from the comfort of a sleigh.
“The ranch has been doing these sleigh rides for about 30 years now,” said Dave Hawkes, a sleigh driver and winter seasonal worker for Wildlife Resources. “It’s just one of the ways that we support the ranch and get the community involved.”
The ranch currently offers daytime sleigh rides through the ranch several days a week.
“We run the rides Thursday through Monday from noon to 4:30, except for Saturdays where we open at 10:00 am and close at 5:00 pm,” Hawkes saids.
Each sleigh holds 25 people. After everyone is loaded, the sleigh heads through the ranch in search of the elk herds. Currently, there are about 450 elk in the herd.
The ranch also offers weekly dinner and moonlight rides through the ranch each Saturday through the middle of March.
The evening starts out with registration at the Visitor Center. Guests pay the fee and then walk down a grommed trail to the ranch’s lower pasture. At the end of the trail, two ranch employees help visitors into the sleigh.
With the aid of a million candela spotlight when it’s cloudy or the moon on those cloudless nights, the sleigh takes its visitors through the elk herds. The ride lasts for 30 minutes.
“When the clouds are gone, you see hundreds of elk out there. That moon makes it so incredible when we do the rides,” Hawkes said. “On those cloudy nights when we have to use the spotlight, it makes it easier to point out the animals to riders.”
When the ride ends, guests are ushered off the sleigh and back up the hill to the ranch lodge for a buffet style dinner.
The menu for the evening includes prime rib and chicken paprika with a variety of side dishes. In true buffet style, the café, currently operated by Stock Crossing Catering, gives visitors as much as they can eat.
Jim and Kacie Hunt, of Lake City, Florida, commented on the meal and the experience.
“This is our first time out West and we love it. The meal was excellent and the atmosphere was great. We have things like this in Florida, but it isn’t much like this,” said Kacie.
“I liked the food. It was really good,” Jim added.
The band “Root Beer Reunion” provides the evening show. After a few minutes of sitting and eating and digesting, the entertainment comes out to play.
Braden (12) and Kort (8) Fuller from Wellsville, step up to their instruments and begin the show. These two young men, both dressed in cowboy outfits, perform eight shows each Saturday for the crowds.
The duo’s set list includes cowboy music, cowboy poetry, cowboy humor and yodeling.
“We really like doing the shows,” Braden said. “We learned how to play classically first but we told our mom that we just want to be cowboys when we grow up.”
The dinner and moonlight sleigh ride costs $25 per person.
Jed Rasmussen, a junior in biochemistry, and his date Tawnya Carlson, a senior in math/statistics education, enjoyed the evening.
“I got to pick the date,” said Tawnya, “and a couple of friends had mentioned something about this place so I thought it would be pretty cool.”
“I didn’t have any idea where we were going,” Rasmussen said. “Tonight was so much fun. The ride was fun, the food was great, and the entertainment was incredible. Overall I really liked it.”
The sleigh rides will continue through March Tickets for day-time rides cost $5 for person over the age of and over and $3 for those below. Children under three are free. The moonlight dinner/rides are $25 per person. For questions or to get directions to the ranch contact them at (435) 753-6206 or visit their Web site at www.hardwareranch.com.
-nebutler@cc.usu.edu
Hardware Ranch’s Moonlight Rides feature cowboy entertainment and a prime rib buffet-style dinner. Tickets cost $25 per person. the reanch also offers daylight sleigh rides for $3-$5. (Michael Sharp)
Entertainment (Michael Sharp)
Hardware Ranch (Michael Sharp)