The Hideout Spring Newsletter 2009

Greetings from all The Hideout staff & crew in Shell. 

We are finally enjoying signs of a long awaited spring and we are eager to welcome you all back to the beautiful Shell Valley and more adventures at The Hideout. The winter of 2008 / 2009 started with an early snowfall and we still have considerable amounts of snow remaining on the mountain.

Not long ago, one of our repeat guests, Kelly, told us on Sunday morning that he would like to see The Hideout covered in snow. At the time, we were all enjoying the first warm spring sun that had melted off most of the snow in the valley. Believe it or not, the next morning everything was covered in over a foot of snow and the snowplows were again struggling to keep the Shell Canyon pass open.

This weather is very hard on the newly born calves at the ranch.

This year’s crew at The Hideout Guest Ranch:

Every year in spring, our repeat guests start questioning us on the crew we will employ during the season. Who will still be there they know and who moved on to greener pastures? Who are the people that signed on for the season? Will they be as personable as the staff of last year? This is why we decided to make it the main subject of our spring newsletter. What stands out at The Hideout and Trapper is that most of our staff is year around.

When you visit The Hideout this year, you will be greeted by many familiar faces as well as a few new ones.

Stewart, our head wrangler and a constant presence at The Hideout for many years, will be here once again serving our guests as capably as always. We are pleased to announce that this winter; Stewart and Sara became the proud parents of a second daughter.

Yes, Shawn will also be present to greet our guests with even more patience and a bigger smile then ever before. Being a bachelor again, he will be there even more for our guests.

Farah is currently working in the office, and doing a great job, but when the season starts, she will change her office chair for a saddle. Farah’s husband Caleb, standing 6’5” and known as “Mr. Handyman,” will also help out at the Barn during the busy weeks. 

Ben, our new seasonal wrangler and cowboy, comes on board the end of May. Soft-spoken Ben is a real outdoorsman, an experienced cowboy and he is very talented with horses and using natural horsemanship. He and his wife, Nathalie, met traveling in China and moved to Shell from Colorado.

Nathalie, who is from New Zealand, will work as a floater at The Hideout, helping out in different parts of the organization.

Once the season starts, AJ will replace Farah in the office, AJ is completing her Masters Degree in Hospitality Management at Rosen College in Orlando, Florida. AJ, who visited The Hideout for ten days in early March to check out the area and learn about the job, also works for a leading Ski tour operator based in Florida.

Our own Marijn, who has been training since last year, will assume the job of our dedicated photographer.

As to the Kitchen & Housekeeping

Of course Chris and Robb will team up to man both The Hideout and Trapper kitchens. These two gentlemen, together with Robb’s wife, Heather, have been very busy dealing with the fast growth of The Trapper Lodge Supper Club and Restaurant. This initiative has benefited The Hideout in very positive way, allowing guests at The Hideout the opportunity to occasionally enjoy dinner at Trapper Lodge as well.

Maricella, Ramon’s wife, and her crew, are once again assisting Chris in The Hideout kitchen. You can look forward to her warm, welcoming smile greeting you again this season.

When it comes to housekeeping, Guille and her team will again be looking after you and taking care of your needs. Like Maricella, Marco, Stewart and many other employees, Guille is a long time “Hideout-er.”

Maintenance and Services

This is the 11th year that Marco Chavez and his brother will be taking care of The Hideout, Trapper Lodge, the PRC, the Upper Hideout, and other buildings, grounds, lawns and pastures. As well at being true professionals, they are also super ranch hands and colleagues.

In the Office

Linda Reed, our bookkeeper and administration manager keeps doing her ‘background magic” to our books, administration, financials and much more. She is always there for the staff in her discrete way, and she truly enjoys talking to our guests when she has the opportunity. Linda knows a lot about is area, as she was born and raised in Shell and has lived here all her life.

The Horses

To assure our guests the best riding experience possible, some of our older horses plus horses that have had difficulties dealing with the terrain have been sold.

Shawn, Ben, Stewart and Farah have been busy training and grooming new horses; some of them are still pretty young.

We continue to invest in Equestrian Training for our staff, so they in turn, can share their knowledge with our guests.

Several of our staff attended the two week Level 2 program at the Parelli Center in Ocala, Florida this winter.

The third week of April, Chip Harris, an excellent natural horsemanship trainer from Colorado will be at The Hideout for one week to work with the staff.

Debra, who moved to the Basin area from Washington State, is a trained and licensed Equine Massage Therapist.  Debra will be working with us during the season giving demonstrations to our guests interested to learning more about this fascinating aspect of natural horsemanship.  She is also schooled in Natural Horse Hoof Trimming, which enables horses to gradually go without shoes.

Massage services…

Debra is also a masseuse and will be available at The Hideout Thursday afternoons for scheduled massages. Marijn offered to be the “guinea pig” and has found her to have firm hands that give a good sports massage. For many years guests at The Hideout have been requesting massage services, but it was hard to find a masseuse that was willing to commit for the season.

The Hideout featured in the UK Telegraph Spring Travel Edition of March 2009.

Last year a photographer and a travel journalist came out to The Hideout from London to do a special on The Hideout as a Guest Ranch Destination.

We waited and waited, but finally the article was featured in the Spring Travel Edition of Telegraph as one of the main stories.

Surf to The Hideout website Newsroom Tab and you will be able to read the entire article plus watch the movie.

 The Hideout hosts the Flitner Quarter Horse Production Sale, May 17, 2009

As you may have read in one of our earlier mailings, every five years, the Flitner Ranch holds their Quarter Horse Production Sales at The Hideout Barn and Stables. All the horses that are sold are bred, raised and trained at the ranch. This year you can enjoy this unique experience on Sunday, May 17th.

For more information on the bloodlines you may go to www.cattle-work.com.

More Eco-initiatives at The Hideout and Trapper Lodge

Last year we started to use chlorine free cleaning products. This year Chris & Robb introduced both at The Hideout and Trapper Lodge disposable products from Eco-products.

As you are well aware off, we use real plates and silverware inside as well as outside and try to reduce disposable products as much as possible. In the event we use disposable products we use as of this year products made by Eco-products. This company out of Boulder, Colorado (www.ecoproducts.com) manufactures since years, high quality, environmentally friendly foodservice disposables that are made from plants like corn and sugarcane instead of oil.

This means they will break down in a commercial compost facility and the new compost will help new plants grow and divert waste from our landfills.

They supply cold and hot cups, soup & food containers, cutlery, sugarcane plates, bowls and clamshells, straws, bio bags, etc.

Chickens to recycle the kitchen leftovers

Last year we bought 24 chickens. They now recycle all leftovers from The Trapper and The Hideout kitchens. These chickens roam free and lay in the mean time lay around 20 eggs per day.

What about the recession at The Hideout?

Well you know what? You travel to The Hideout to “hide out” from the world, from your job and daily life, from the rat race and from things like recessions, economic crisis, elections, etc.

So let us agree on one thing this season…..unless you really want us to (after all you are the guests)….we will not raise the subject. We want to make sure The Hideout is always a very magic place where you come to relax, reload, “hide out” and run away from those sorts of things.

There is more news, but we promised to keep some for our next letter or when you visit The Hideout.

The Hideout Crew