My daugher and I stayed at Goosewing for 5 nights in late June 2008. I would thoroughly recommend the place to anyone who wants a relaxing holiday in beautiful countryside with superb horseriding and friendly and comfortable surroundings. Whilst the ranch is not cheap, you really do get a holiday to remember and it was well worth the money. Of all the things we did on our month long trip, this was the place me and my daughter rated no 1.

We flew into Jackson Hole airport - in itself an amazing experience as the airport is located right in Grand Teton National park, so the views from the plane were astounding - and picked up a SUV for our drive to the ranch. (The ranch will pick you up for a fee. if you prefer not to drive). I'm glad we rented a SUV becuase a large part of the drive is along a pretty windy, steep and bumpy dirt road. Even in an SUV we had to travel quite slowly so it takes around 1 1/2 hours from the airport. Do not attempt the drive in the dark, and do not take an ordinary, low slung car as it would be pretty horrible. An SUV is perfect though. However, the scenery was lovely and we generally enjoyed our drive out to the ranch. The directions given to us were very good.

We had advised the ranch we would be arriving around 8pm, and they had thoughtfully saved dinnner for us - lovely ribs. yum. Right from the word go I knew we had picked a great place as Paula the manager ,took us under her wing and explained everything to us and the lovely owner Francois made a point of introducing himself and being very friendly. All the staff were so helpful, nothing was too much trouble. The cabins were cosy and private - my only minor complaint being that the beds were not particularly comfortable, expecially the pillows and I wished they had had a spare blanket in the room as I was a little cold some nights, but I only had to ask for a spare blanket, it was no problem. The stillness and quiet of the Wyoming nights was beautiful and the stars were sight to behold.

Our rides on the next days were fantastic. We chose the 1/2 day rides each day (3-4 hours) although they offer day rides (6 hrs). Take your camera as there is a lot to see. Both rides include a packed lunch and they give you water bottles for all rides. Drink plenty as the ranch is quite high up, and you can suffer from altidude related problems if you don't. The packed lunch was filling if not particularly interesting in terms of content. If you wanted to only ride for an hour or two, as we did on our last day, they will willingly accommodate that, and you could then have lunch at the ranch.

They take trouble to find you a horse that suits your riding experience and that horse is then yours for the duration. However I wanted to try my hand at another horse on our last day - again, no problem. We had a different wrangler each day, all very competent and interesting and they took us on quite different rides each day. If you are experienced riders like we are, you can ask for a faster ride for the second day onwards (on day one they like to assess you first , but we did get to lope on day one after the wrangler had determined that we could ride) and they will give you a ride that allows you to lope (canter). We did a lot of loping and it was fantastic. The horses are so fit and willing, it was a great experience. We saw a grizzly bear, and its cub, loads of deer, bald eagles and hawk and a badger. Others saw moose too but they are very few and far between.

We absolutely loved our stay here. We loved the fact that the ranch organises activities for after the rides - there was archery one day, line dancing the next. We liked the eating arrangements such that you had to sit with other families which meant making friends was very easy. My daugher loved the camaradarie with kids her own age and as a parent it was good to know they could go off and play in perfect safety at the ranch. We liked the pool too, and the fact that often the wrangler's dogs would come on the rides with us - that was fun watching the dogs have such a blast on the rides with us. We loved how friendly the staff were and how nice all the food was. If you don't like something it wasn't a problem, there was an alternative. We loved the "surprise" present that Paula organises for everyone's last day - we'll keep it a surprise so as not to spoil it.

After our stay here we drove up through Grand Teton National Park (awesome) and Yellowstone NP. The location of Goosewing is such that it's a relatively easy drive into Teton and Yellowstone, so worth considering tacking those places onto your holiday if you have time.

We would thoroughly recommend this place. We hope you have as good a time as we did. We would love to go back someday. Thankyou to everyone at the ranch for making it such a wonderful experience for us.

My husband and I booked a half day ride at Goosewing. It was an hour out of town, which was okay until you hit that unpaved road that goes for twenty excruciating miles. The cab driver from the airport called the ride "LEGENDARY" for making people sick. I was absolutely ill by the time we pulled up to the remote ranch, and the thought of sitting on a horse for 5 hours made me want to cry. The staff was nice enough - our guide was about as exciting as a rock - and the couple we rode with, who just GLOWED with excitement about their trip from last year - was noticeably upset with their second experience. It was pretty, but kinda dull. I think we thought we'd be riding near the Tetons. We were happy to be done, unhappy about the money we spent, and even more unhappy about the ride back to the main road. Great for adventurers, but not what we wanted.

My daughters and I spent 4 days at Goosewing Ranch and had the time of our lives. Francois, the owner, couldn't have been more hospitable, and the rest of the staff went out of their way to attend to any of our needs, and always with a smile. The horseback riding was as spectacular as the scenery. On the rides we saw bear, antelope, coyotes, deer, and a black wolf. And the food -- it was five-star, both in taste as well as presentation. We definitely will go there again. It's nice to know that paradise still exists in this sometimes hectic world.

Goosewing is an awesome experience and i am trying to get my family to go with me next time. dont belive the other guy. the have natural spring water, towels at the pool and hot tub, and free water and soda fountain, francois is the nicest person i have ever met, plenty to do like fly fishing, target shooting, bow and arrow, dancing with tina, and much more. i am soooooo excited about coming again. the wranglers, tina, jennifer, wayne, eric, and others are soooooooo nice. including denver and angela and john, the chef.
i am sooo excited to come again.



john baillargeon