TimeOut

Hualapai Ranch

 

Haulapai Ranch
Grand Canyon West , Arizona

In the heart of Grand Canyon West is a miniature version of a old western town called Hualapai Ranch.  The Ranch is one of 2 accommodations on the Hualapai Nation and is the only place to stay that is close to the landmark Skywalk Bridge.  The other being the Hualapai Lodge which is many miles away in the city of Peach Springs.




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This place reminds me of the Universal Studios Hollywood Back Lot Tour when they did the cowboy skit!  The roads leading into the Ranch is all unpaved and access is restricted to normal vehicular traffic.  If you drive out here you must park at the Grand Canyon West Airport to obtain your pass and take the shuttle buses to Guano Point, Eagle Point, or the Ranch.  There is a great reason to spend the night here, more on that later.

Let's take a look around the town.  We enter the wagon wheel shaped doors with the horse shoes on it:

A wagon sits near the side of the Dance Hall.  Can't imagine being from that era and heading out west in one of these things.  Must have been one heck of a bumpy ride in the desert!





It's hot, Hualapai Ranch is in Mohave County in the state of Arizona so today it got to over 90 degrees!  Here's a layout of the Ranch:

There are different areas of the town with all kinds of activities for the tours to participate in.  Yep, it's a tourist trap and kinda cheesy but I have to admit it has a certain charm to it.  If you have kids, I'm sure they will get a kick out of this place, there's a lot for them to run around and do.




On one end of the Ranch is a functioning (but simulated) gold mining operation.  They have cowboys on the Hualapai Ranch that demonstrates how it works, visitors can pan for precious metals!

Back in the day, people ventured out west to strike it rich by prospecting for gold.  As it was the wild, wild, west, things must have been crazy.  If you found gold, you got to make sure no one steals it so 'claim jumpers' beware!

 
The miners shovel up a scoop of dirt and pour it into the running water.  You take the pan and shake up your pan separating the dirt and rocks from the minerals and metals.  If you're lucky the gold settles down to the bottom and you get these flakes or nuggets.  Sound easier than it is, unfortunately, we didn't have much luck.




The have lots of animals around the Hualapai Ranch, we spotted a goat walking around. 

I tried to get a close up with the billy goat but he slipped through the fence to join the horses.




Woah, had to stop as I just noticed the big storage box of dynamite!  

The goat keeping an eye on me...





This area is the horse shoe toss, didn't know they were that heavy.  Reminds me of those carnival/Circus Circus Vegas games.

Here you can get a shave and a haircut from Miss Rusty.  Plus a bath if you need one.

Barber's chair waiting for it's first customer of the day...

The local saloon, Shane's Pour House where you can get a shot of Whiskey.  The have Blue Agave and guano out here so I'm surprised that they didn't advertise tequila.

or if you can wait, you can have a free beer:

When I think of an old western saloon, I always think of the Three Amigos movie where Dusty Bottoms, Ned Nederlander, and Lucky Day go to Santo Poco and have perform that 'My Little Butter Cup' song!  LOL!

Right outside the saloon is the setup to learn how to lasso.

Next up is the archery station.  They have recurve bows that you can use to shoot into the hay barrels.

Of course I spotted these on the ground and it caught my attention right away...

A bunch of .22 cb caps on the ground....

Cool, they have a gun slinging quick draw contest!  The plexi glass protects each other from any  blast that may come out of the cb caps.  Fanning a Single Action Army style pistol takes some getting use to, I'll stick with my high capacity 1911's! 

Over in the corner at the edge of town are the stables.  At the Hualapai Ranch, you can do horse rides and tours depending on how much time you have.

Lots of birds around.  This guy at the top of the barn was chirping away...

Don't mess around in Hualapai country, there are severe consequences if you do!  There's a new sheriff in town and homey don't play that:

All the rustlers, town drunks, and claim jumpers that get caught are taken straight to jail, no passing GO and collecting $200 in this place.

This place reminds me of the Mongo scene in Blazing Saddles!  LOL

If got something while panning for gold, we could've headed to the Assay Office and cashed in.

Yellowhair's Trading Post is the souvenir shop, they have all kinds of gifts to buy and they have some beautifully hand crafted Hualapai Native American Indian items and jewelery.  The most interesting for me was the cool Indian Arrowheads inside the shop.  I collect magnets for the fridge on all the places I visit so I get my usual magnet and souvenir shot glass.

No phones back then, messages were sent via telegraph (actually the guest rooms here have no telephones!).  Since we are in the middle of nowhere, power is generated via electric generators on the premises.  Pics of the cabins can be found in the post below.

Rates and duration for the horse rides:

They get quite a few visitors so there are places to sit outside and enjoy the activities. 

Another buggy in front of the Bank.

I guess if you have a place to hang someone, you got to have a undertaker.  Man, 'This town getting too rough for me'! 

The pen area is where the kids go on the short 15 minute horse rides.  I'm not really into horse rides but if I had more time it would have been cool to go out on the 3 1/2 hour trip as the cowboys were great at telling stories and talking about the history of the Hualapai people.

Yep, we took a ride on the wagon (see pics and video post below )

Next to the horse pen was the grave year, some of the signs were kinda funny.

I was surprised to see that they had so many horses in the back area.

-MW