What's it like being a cowboy for a week? Primitive and fun! BY JACK REBER A YOUNG BOY'S DREAM OF BE- coming a cowboy dies hard. Oh, it may get pushed to the back- ground in the course of growing up, as school, marriage, children and career rearrange priorities, but the urge to sad- dle ol' Paint is always there. A great place to live out that fanta- sy is the Hunewill Ranch, near Bridgeport, Calif., in the eastern Sierra (phone: 619-932-7710). The Hunewill Ranch has no tennis courts, Jacuzzis, TV sets or telephones. This is a working cattle ranch, a real home on the range, and the emphasis is on riding horses. Guests check into their cabins on Saturday, and for the next six days they spend a minimum of four hours a day in the saddle. Riders are divided into three groups. The experts are called on to help move herds of Herefords from pasture to pas- ture, but when the work's done they en- joy long lopes over the ranch's 5,000 acres. Intermediate riders walk, trot and lope their horses, but the pace is easier. The third group, called the bucka- roos, doesn't advance to loping until the end of the week. This is the group for younger children and adults who don't crave thrills. Riders are free to switch groups at any time, and the buckaroo group sometimes is the largest, particularly on those days when they're riding out to a stream for a swim or going on a splash ride, a series of mad dashes through a shallow pond that leaves ev- eryone dripping and laughing. At the ranch, the food is plentiful and varied, and even finicky eaters find their appetites at the Hunewills' table. Dinner might feature fish, chicken or roast beef. Cookouts feature ham- burgers and ribs barbecued beside a 25-foot-wide stream that roars as it pounds over rocks and fallen trees, al- most drowning out the shouts of the 24 STYLE The dilapidat- The main activity ed workshop, for on dude ranches is instance, is one horseback riding of the original but you don't have buildings. One to know one end of a side is filled with horse from the other modern power before you go. tools, in use the day I visited by work- ers building a new chuck wagon. Lenore Hunewill is the matriarch of the 10 family members who work at the ranch. Her son, Stan, manages the live- stock operation, which includes Hereford cattle, Morgan horses and a few llamas, sheep and pigs. Most of the guests were repeat vis- itors, and by the second day they were being asked by curious first-timers to explain how each of the Hunewills is related to the others. It wasn't nosiness so much as that there is a strong family feeling here and that the guests — for a week — feel like part of that family. ❑ Copley News Service, 1992. Home On TheRange Continued from previous page. patio lodges. Counselor- supervised chil- dren's programs and babysitting are available. Activities in- clude guided horseback rides; pack trips; tennis ; swimming ; health spa; fishing; hiking ; golfing ; and birdwatch- ing. Rancho de los Caballeros (602 684- 5484) is in Wickenburg, Ariz., 56 miles northwest of Phoenix. There are ac- commodations for 150 guests in southwestern-style adobe casitas. Horseback riding at all levels is featured, in addition to cookout rides, tennis, nature walks, trap and skeet shooting, and golf. Children's programs are also available. If you like to alternate your horseback riding with perfecting your tennis game, The Wicken- burg Inn Tennis and Guest Ranch (602-684-781 1; 800-528-4227) should suit you. Casitas and rooms in the ranch lodge provide accommoda- tions for up to 160 guests. Riding and tennis are the main sports but there are also swimming, archery, golf, gold-pan- ning and water sports, as well as an arts and craft and a nature center. Special programs for an additional charge are available for children during hblidays. In New Mexico, The Bishop's Lodge (505-983-6377) is a good choice for those who are interested in the cultur- al offerings in nearby Santa Fe. Deluxe rooms and suites house 160 guests. Activities include tennis, swimming, horseback riding, trap and skeet shoot- ing, and hiking. There is a summer chil- dren's program and a limited program for teens. Located in Bandera, Texas, which bills itself as the "Cowboy Capital of the World," Flying L Ranch (512-796-3001; 800-292-5134) offers 38 guest houses scattered across a 542-acre guest ranch. Riding, swimming, fishing, golf, tennis, - PHOTO COU RTESY OF DU D E RAN CHE RS ' ASSOCIATION. Qin children playing alongside it. Evenings are spent with square dancing, sing-alongs and talent shows. Friendships are forged quickly in this setting. The youngest guests find com- pany with children of ranch employees, and the teenagers will get up a game of volleyball that continues long after darkness. The Hunewill ranch is strong on his- tory. Napoleon Bonaparte Hunewill sailed around Cape Horn to join the great California gold rush in 1849. He wound up here, near the north- eastern corner of Yosemite, supply- ing lumber and firewood to miners at the boom town of Bodie. As Bodie faded into a ghost town, the Hunewills concentrated on ranch- ing. Guests are free to wander anywhere they like on the ranch, and it doesn't take long to discover there are antiques at every turn.