Panniers, Ponies and Prospects — OutWest with the Best
By Nancie McCormish
“This is Doris, do you copy?”
Radio upheld in an earnest salute, Doris contacts a lone hunter camped in the shimmering trees far above her. It is October, and we are overlooking one of the most scenic valleys colorful Colorado has to offer. The Crystal River roars below us, crashing down from its birthplace in the Elk Mountain Range high above the town of Marble. Along its way to the Colorado River it splashes past the happy home of OutWest Guides. Here, about 160 miles from Evergreen, Gary and Doris Hubbell and their young sons Reed and Jake, have built their own “almost heaven.”
Quarrying
This valley holds a rich past, most of it lost to us, but it includes Paleo-Indians, Ute Indians, California ‘49ers and a buckshot history full of prospectors, some eventually striking it rich above Yule Creek in the form of a nearly 7-mile-long marble formation within Treasure Mountain. Snow-white Yule marble (harder than the famous Italian Carrara marble) quarried from this remote valley graces our Capitol building, Denver International Airport, the Equitable Building of New York, The Lincoln Memorial and The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. In his book Marble and Redstone, Jim Nelson reports that, by 1907, the tiny town of Marble boasted the world’s largest marble mill, and by 1915, it was nearly a quarter-mile long.
After a closure spanning 49 years, Stacy and Linda Dunn reopened the quarry in 1988. Linda, once a schoolteacher in Evergreen, parted with the quarry after Stacy’s untimely death. But today the valley echoes again with the rumble of heavily laden trucks hauling enormous marble blocks from the heart of Treasure Mountain to some distant artisan’s hands.
Panniers and Ponies
Gary’s own history includes a childhood spent all along the Roaring Fork Valley and a romance with Doris, his “Swiss Miss,” who came to America with a friend and ended up marrying a cowboy. Their family and OutWest Guides are growing up together along the Crystal River. Sons Reed and Jake help as they can but have some big boots to fill. Staunch environmentalists, Gary and Doris revere this land and earnestly try to share their appreciation with their guests. Their goal: a top quality outdoor experience encompassing a personal introduction to the wilderness, a chance to discover one’s place in it, or perhaps just an opportunity to appreciate the simple smell of horses in the high country. Their “quarry” isn’t mineral so much as mental.
Gary and Doris set out to make OutWest Guides a top-shelf business. To this end, they added a business partner, “Dapper” Dan Brumbaugh, and some high-quality equine employees. In Gary’s words, “we’re after quality, not quantity. Our staff and I strive to provide the absolute best outdoor experience that we can.” Horses are rotated on and off shifts with a concern many unions would envy, their panniers (packs) meticulously balanced to keep them happy and healthy “employees.”
The horses (a.k.a. ponies) are happy and fat, even at the end of summer — a strong testament to the thoughtful care they receive. Some even seemed disappointed when we didn’t catch them for the day’s ride! Keeping these horses happy is important as they have a difficult job safely ferrying riders of every skill level up and down these steep mountains. Up here, your horse has to take care of you and vice versa, or you face a long walk home.
My ride up Raspberry Creek, which offers what Head Wrangler “Bear” called “a definite pucker factor,” took us up over 3,000 vertical feet in just 2 miles. As overnight frost thawed on the trail, it began to look more like good molÈ than good footing. I recall thinking out loud it was “like riding a cat climbing an icicle!” This slippery trip, guiding a pair of ambitious elk hunters to a drop camp, was more than worth the effort, and at the top we were generously rewarded. Looking down over Anthracite Creek in full fall color is a truly “God Bless America” view. Pat Madera, a returning guest, concurs: “The best part is just being here.”
The Prospects
OutWest Guides offers a wide selection of photography workshops, all sorts of horseback rides, wilderness camping and hunting trips and flyfishing adventures. Hunters and non-hunters are equally respected here, and custom vacations can be arranged, too. When asked for a memorable vacation story, Bear shares one about a group of women who asked to be packed in for several nights at a remote camp, which happened to be named Love Cabin. Once he got them all there, unloaded their gear and prepared to leave, Bear was hastily invited to a “cowgirl contest” inside. Seems his discriminating judgment about which woman’s costume looked the best was required. Judging by the color of his ears when he relayed the story, some of the clothing was of the imaginary sort!
Today, OutWest Guides keeps a string of about 30 stalwart mountain horses, including several smooth-riding Missouri Foxtrotters and Tennessee Walking Horses. They’ve secured permits for access to over 120 square miles of wilderness and national forest lands. In the past few years they completely remodeled the Marble Outpost Lodge, which provides complete and cozy lodging in four separate living quarters. Last year they successfully guided over 1,200 horseback riders and over 60 hunters between June and November. And guests are happy — a repeat rider, who had driven from Aspen with a friend, mistook me for an employee and gushed like the river about the quality of riding here. And guess who lately provided the horses for Kevin Costner’s western wedding?
“Doris, copy this. Prospects bright at OutWest Guides!”
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