(Sean & Julia Maloney won the bid for a trip to High Lonesome Ranch at our 2007 banquet. Here is Julia’s review of their trip.)

A Stay at High Lonesome Ranch

by Julia Maloney

I love my husband. I like to fish. I love to get away with him. So when Sean bought the trip to High Lonesome Ranch at the Trout Unlimited auction, I was delighted. I asked my mom if she would stay with the kids. She said, “You must really love that man.” She says this before every fishing trip, especially ones that involve several layers of polar fleece and little hand and foot warmers.

This trip was different. We flew to Colorado. Kenny from High Lonesome Ranch picked us up at the airport. He took us out to lunch. He drove us to our “cabin” which was actually a beautiful large house overlooking a pond and a field which usually had some mule deer loafing about. Kenny drove us around for a bit of a tour of the 26,000-acre ranch and then we had our first wonderful meal at the lodge. They pride themselves on their food and deservedly so.

My mom told the kids, “Your folks have a chef and a driver.” I have never felt so pampered. Every comfort has been thoughtfully provided; real half and half in the fridge stocked with soda, beer and water bottles, nice bottles of wine on the counter, a coffee maker with real coffee, not little hotel pods and snacks that we never needed as we were always full from the last fabulous meal.

The fishing was great. I caught some nice (18 to 24 inches) brook and rainbow trout and one gorgeous topaz and bronze brown trout (okay, well almost, he got away just as we were ready to net him). No deprivations or discomfort on this trip. Everybody at High Lonesome was fun, friendly and so in love with what they do.

After dinner every night Kenny took us on a twilight wildlife spotting tour. The ranch is on land that is high desert. It is very beautiful and quiet in a way that is very rare. No highway or railroad is near enough for you to hear it. I learned a lot about ranch management and saw mule deer, bears, elk, a golden eagle, and flocks of turkey, pheasant and chukars all over the place, a muskrat and a flock of indigo buntings by our house. At night the Milky Way is as plain as it is anywhere on this planet.

A beautiful setting, perfect accommodations, great fishing, superlative wildlife, great food, but as always, it is the people that made the trip. I’d fish anywhere if Kenny was guiding, Buzz made the campfire, and Rose and Aunt Linda were cooking. Even if I needed several layers of polar fleece and those little hand and foot warmers.