Luxury Travel at Vermejo Ranch - Leave No Trace - S01 EP03 - Travel Documentary
my name is Richard Crawford and I've built my career on representing luxury Brands around the world and in doing so I've had the privilege of having some truly out of the ordinary experiences but at what cost it's getting harder and harder to blindly ignore the impact our extravagant lifestyle is having on the planet and its people so I've decided to invest the game whether there really is a sustainable way to visit the wonders of the world but still have extraordinary luxury can I have globetrotting Adventures without leaving a significant footprint well let's find out and by using the basic principles that Define equal tourism which are minimal impact sustainability social responsibility and of course let's not forget overall guest experience I will rate my travels around the planet to see if we really can make a difference for this trip I'm staying a little closer to home than usual today I'm off to New Mexico where I'll be visiting one of the largest private land Holdings in the whole of the United States I'm off to Vermejo part Ranch run by Ted Turner Expeditions yes the very same Ted Turner who started CNN Vermejo plays a very important part in the conservation of a number of species including bison and Rio Grande cutthroat trout and not only that but I hear the scenery is absolutely spectacular I can't wait to get home on the Range and roam with the Bison Rome this is one organization that not only leaves no Trace but is aiming to leave a better one [Music] thank you [Music] I just landed at Denver Airport and I've gotten into my car and I'm heading about five hours south through Colorado and into New Mexico now New Mexico is a 47th state and it's a sixth at least intensely populated and down there truly was the Wild West in fact the Santa Fe Trail ran right through New Mexico now in the mid 19th century the largest land grant in U.S history was made there it was over 2 million Acres it was called the Maxwell land grant and in fact where I'm heading today was part of that [Music] I'm heading over to see the folks at Ted Turner Expeditions now most people know Ted Turner as a major Media Mobile but he's also a huge philanthropist and until very recently it was actually the largest private landowner in all of the United States now Ted Turner Expeditions consist of three properties in New Mexico ladder Ranch Sierra Grand Lodge and Spa and where I'm heading to now from mijo Park Ranch which believe it or not it's 600 000 acres and to give you a little perspective that's about the size of Rhode Island now Vermeil pot Ranch is primarily a conservation reservation however Ted Turner has introduced quite an extensive gas program providing five-star accommodation and some amazing experiences now where this differs a little from some of the stuff we've done in the past is that the organizations we've looked at up to this point have worked diligently to minimalize the impact that the tourism has in the environment here ever may help our Randstad actually repairing a lot of the damage that was done in the past now this is my first time in New Mexico uh and I'm told it's really beautiful so I'm really looking forward to seeing it I've also been told that I can expect all four seasons in one day so they just told me to bring everything that I have in my wardrobe well this is it quite literally where the pavement ends and the adventures begin time to get rugged [Music] oh [Music] hello how are you welcome you must be Richard I am USB Jade Jade McBride cool good to have you yeah thank you looking forward to being here come on in cool I like that jacket man that really made me look like a cowboy thank you yeah it might actually no I'm seriously I really like it do you need this jacket I want it yeah I think I think it'll look really good can I get it you know Ted Turner Expedition is like anything is possible oh cool oh let me try it on thank you you guys quite literally give the shirt off your back right that's how it works love them all set thank you Jade appreciate it yeah now you're you're good so uh Ted Turner Expeditions is a concept that was born about three years ago Ted decided that he needed to protect and preserve his lands forever and one of the things that he decided to do was introduce Ted Turner Expeditions as a way to bring guests to his property so that we could see and experience the work the conservation work that's been done and so today in New Mexico we have just over a million Acres of Ted's private land that we have now access to share with guests in years we have all different kinds of guest accommodations so for example we have Lodge rooms that you can stay at in by the room and then we have guest Cottages so we have two bedroom three bedroom four bedroom guest Cottages so it's really great for families and then we have these like historic buildings like Casa Grande it's 110 year old stone mansion that's been completely renovated do you want to see it you better do all right let's go okay oh wow this is absolutely beautiful it is so special yeah so this was the original home of William Bartlett um he built this home and started construction on this project in 1901. wow and we have just completed a four-year renovation process where they went in and their goal was to do everything they could to try to return it back to its original condition and so there's fun stories about pulling up the carpet in this beautiful floor was the original floor all this all this all this mosaic has original original wow but in fact all of the flooring on the bottom floor of the house is all original yeah it was covered with carpet and when they were able to pull it up this is what they had and how many now today um how many people can stay here so in Casa Grande we have seven guest rooms and would you want to look at one yeah sure I'd love to see one yeah oh wow this is really impressive that's very very period is all the furniture the original furniture from from some pieces of furniture are original to the house other pieces are antique pieces that we brought in to match what was original in the house yeah and I like to see a nice working fireplace and chimney that's nice and cozy isn't it and look Mr Ted Turner himself that's him in fact this is the room that Ted would stay in when he's here oh so this this probably more like the master suite then right well you could call it the master yeah yeah now this is the bathroom oh my God I love it look at that tile original all the original fixings the original tub I would imagine it could be a vanity right original yeah I think original bathtub original light fixtures wow in fact even the marble on this shower is original to the shower sometimes you look at that you think nah that's modern but yeah it's not it's it's original [Music] oh wow this is really neat I I I'm assuming that this is an office this was William Bartlett's uh original office yeah and is this all the original Furniture it's it's not the original Furniture but there is a fun story to tell um so inside of this Vault we found uh photo albums their photo albums of pictures that were taken in 1914. and there's actually a picture of this office inside of there and so during the renovation process they used those photographs to help us like return to the original condition so for example we were able to find an antique desk that was very similar to the original desk that was here in the office and the furniture Arrangement is similar to how it was when William Bartlett had it so it's fair to say you get a real sense of what this office actually looked like it looks and fills just like it was at the at the time including this the latest technology and telephones right right here and so how do you take your picture take a selfie with this phone I don't know I don't think you can post to Facebook that way but you can definitely call the doctor oh cool by the way there's a really cool story about these light fixtures the light fixtures in the house are all original but one thing that's interesting about them is they had electricity running to them as you can see and then there was also a gas outlet so that you could run the light by gas gas and electricity right it's a little bit of a recipe for disaster isn't it it's all in the same fixture wow now this Jade has an incredible room tell me a little bit about this room it's really special this was William Bartlett's living room there's all kinds of great pieces in here for example I love this Crystal in these cabinets they've even got William Bartlett's initials on them now it is quite the space right it's a lot of space it is large yeah William Bartlett was kind of a naturalist he had the same Mission as Ted Turner Expeditions he wanted to connect people with nature so he would invite family and friends to come here and experience this place you know the accommodations here at Casa Grande are pretty impressive um and it's not the only option that you have but the public space is in here are really cool and it really feels like you actually stayed in somebody's house and not a hotel not what I really like is that they have this billion room you know date and my day it was a little bit of a shock let's see if I still have a shark yeah let's see if I still got it no I don't that wasn't even close oh well oh you've convinced me I'll take the whole thing come a little bit before you take the whole thing we need to show you a few of our other accommodations uh it'll be pretty hard to talk but we'll give it a shot we'll try Okay after visiting the spectacular Casa Grande I'm off to see more of the historic property foreign Casa Grande which was William Bartlett's house but on the other side of the lodge is Casa minor which is actually his son's Old House Norman Bartlett now there are living rooms here um this particular room was actually Norman's living room I mean it's not often you see a huge Hearth and fireplace like that that's pretty awesome now all of the rooms here actually have two beds in them but my favorite part of this room is this big bay window area where you can look right out there against the mountains in the valley foreign [Music] welcome to one of the guest houses here on the property yet another accommodation option at Vermejo Park Ranch now when Bartlett owned the property it was important for him to have family and guests here to enjoy this place just as much as he did now we looked at Casa Grande and we looked at Casa minor but apparently that wasn't enough so he actually built five guest houses on the property now each one today has a specific design to it and this particular one is a classic 1930s now there's a reason for that when Bartlett and his sons died in 1920 the property went into an estate about seven years later the owner of the LA Times purchased the property and he basically turned it into a private club or a Haven for the Hollywood celebrities and couldn't hear Pickford Douglas Fairbanks in the original Hollywood Cowboy Will Rogers now each guest house has two levels and five bedrooms now this particular bedroom in here has a massive super king size bed definitely fit for a Hollywood celebrity and look at this fireplace it's huge it takes up half of the room it doesn't get any Cozier than that and I love the bathrooms I love the fact that these vanities continue with the 1930s style that art deco look and this shower let's be honest if I was a Hollywood celebrity I'd want to live here too as I mentioned earlier bermijo encompasses almost 600 000 acres of land and it offers a vast range of natural landscapes and these vary significantly as you climb from the lowest point that 5850 feet right up to Big Castilla Peak which Rises to almost 13 000 feet in the early 1900s Bartlett built a lodge to allow his family and friends to enjoy the High Country and sitting at just over ten thousand feet it certainly is high Ted Turner built a new Lodge in 2010 close to the original property but this time with all the Creature Comforts now this is absolutely beautiful now we're 2500 feet higher than where we were before and this is known as the High Country and Bartlett had originally built a lodge up here now this is not the original Lodge but it is close by and I can see why they've built this Lodge here because that view is absolutely incredible now the lodge itself is a lead certified building and was awarded a silver by the Green Building Council now all of the materials are local most of the wood you see is Pine from the forest and all of the stone was actually quarried right on the ranch now all the electricity is provided by their own solar farm their water all comes from a natural spring and the waste management is a closed system [Music] thank you [Music] the lodge has eight rooms and designed to accommodate 16 people and I think it's pretty safe to say that this dining area is more than adequate but what an atmosphere it must be here at the end of the night everybody around here sharing a meal with a fireplace going and talking about all the stories from a day out in the wilderness [Music] now the rooms are a little more Cosmopolitan than I would ever have expected in such a remote Lodge and every one of them has an ensuite bathroom now a nice touch here also is they've commissioned a local artist to handcraft every one of the headboards in here and each one of them is a different animal now I have to say I do feel just a little bit guilty in such a luxurious setting but as the sun sets tomorrow is a big day outdoors and I'm hoping that will make me just a little more rugged but until then I want to get a good night's sleep and I'll see you guys in the morning [Music] how much longer do you think we should wait oh look I think we're running late already let's just go is this his room here yeah the second one okay oh no Richard uh we're not letting you off that easy this morning no no good morning hi I'm Lee I'll be your guide today hey Lee how are you buddy very good good I'm actually just kidding I'm actually bright-eyedon but she tailed and ready to go all right except for one thing hold on if I'm going to uh get out and be rugged I got this for a purpose I got this from uh from Jade told me it told me it would look really manly what do you think a very rugged vest you have there yeah thank you buddy not sure I believe you so uh what are we gonna get up to well we've got a lot of activities planned today but I thought with 600 000 Acres we'd start off on foot it's one of the best ways to get out and see the property so not all 600 000 Acres okay we'll start out on foot and go from there fantastic cool I'm ready to go we've got your package then I'm then I'm good I got a pack I got a vest we ready we're ready let's go let's go Well Ricky I thought the best way to start off this hike today would be with a little bit of breakfast fantastically I like a good breakfast let's go all right well you know there's no such thing as a free breakfast what do you mean that's gonna be a little bit of a hike to get there there's a gazebo up there it's got a bit of ranch history to it which I'll I'll get into once we're up there and you see a little bit of a hike what do you mean it's roughly a mile up a pretty steep grade but the view is worth it once we get there that'll be good buddy that'll be good all right Lee with this much effort better be fine dining we'll see in a minute [Music] so Richard we've made it this is our gazebo oh wow that's really neat and look that's about as sustainable as it gets it's only made out of logs and twigs and stuff right uh William Bartlett actually had it built in the early 1900s and he would have a string quartet here during the day to serenade the valley and the lodge down below no way so they literally came up here and played yeah they were played during the day in the evening they would travel back down to Casa Grande and entertainment you know you know who I feel sorry for as a bass player all right well this morning it's just going to serve as your dining room fantastic fantastic I um I deserve a breakfast after that hike Richard this is Ally hey Ali nice to meet you nice to meet you we have some breakfast prepared for you thank you thank you for setting all this up and look at this this is a full-blown breakfast this is better than anything you get in room service mainly because that view is incredible [Music] thanks Ali that was an incredible breakfast I appreciate it thank you so Ricky if we look here you can see we've got a really good vantage point of all the original Bartlett area headquarters yeah yeah I feel like you've got a really good vantage point to see the lay of the land kind of across the ranch yeah all the way to the High Country like down the valley there look there's a whole herd of bison now oh yeah that's good it's really neat [Music] thank you so I have to say Lee it really is stunning up here it is isn't it this is you know in the High Country here in the early fall it's one of the most beautiful scenic parts of the ranch you've got the Aspens changing colors elk you're going that's one of the great things about the ranch is you've got such a wide variety of ecosystems from short Prairie Grass down to the Ponderosa Forest down low so you've got a lot of options for hiking now what in the winter is this all snow up here will be covered completely in snow so you probably have to go down lower to the Ponderosa forest or the Prairie wow now what's your uh what's your favorite part of the ranch to actually hike I think we're in it this is it early fall in the High Country is hard to beat [Music] good [Music] I had discussed earlier the restoration program for the Rio Grande cutthroat trout and it's not surprising that this place is a really popular destination for fishing and I've charged Lee here with a very difficult task of making me a master fly Fisher in the next 10 minutes um but why are we here fishing Lee why this spot in particular well personally this is my favorite area of the ranch the stream's pretty technical it's a little tricky to get these fish out yeah it's just I think the most beautiful scenery we have on the ranch for catching trout so why don't you give me a little demonstration here yeah well this is fun this is exciting I think I got this yeah yeah I think a beautiful day for fishing right so where are you looking where are you looking at here this uh shaded side of the bank all right okay just about 10 yards in front of us yeah I'd wager to guess there's a fish in there okay cool Lee had obviously done this before and it wasn't too long before I thought I had the hang of it but he did make it look easy so we're just going to let that little fly just let him drift on down let him drift on he must have been a good teacher though because it was only a few minutes before I had my first catch well it's so beautiful look at that look at the color on that yeah no you know as exhilarating as it was to catch him I really I really want to get them back real quick because oh yeah of course it's all catch and roll he's here right yes sir yeah what a beautiful fish man did the little fellow no harm I'm starting to get I'm starting to feel a little uh cocky on my technique here did I just get lucky well yeah yeah The Beginner's luck yeah look in the spirit of full transparency I should point out that it actually took me about two hours but hey it's a magic Television right considering the history that Vermejo pot Ranch has as a hunting lodge it kind of makes sense that has an alternative for those folks who like me are not happy about shooting any kind of animal um and so we're here at the Sporting Clays Now give me a little uh information on what we're going to be doing here sure this is a game called five stand we've got six different throwers and five different stations where you get a random configuration of shots it's fairly challenging so uh we'll see how many we can hit okay so as with all gun Sports safety is important and the equipment's a big part of that so I have my my trusty earplugs to make sure I don't blow my eardrums up and I have my eye protection eye protection and we'll load up the gun make sure we're pointing down range so I don't shoot my uh my guide by accident my cameraman Ben is very very nervous right now and has every right to be so let's lock that up safety off and pull ah [Music] yep that sucks watch out bed then step back a little chop is it oh good well I guess one thing we know for sure the birds will be safe around you yeah thanks man yeah maybe we'll go try a little archery sure is that easier yeah we'll we'll find out and if it's not there's always McDonald's right that's right Well Ricky Welcome to our archery range uh hopefully we'll have a little better luck here seeing as these targets are stationary yeah thanks man I've never shot a compound bow before um not necessarily but I watched all of The Hunger Games so I think I'm pretty much ready to go you should be set yeah yeah that's the right condition all right yeah we'll have a shot at our Target bag here okay if we want to take it up a notch we've got a 3D course we can walk through and uh try that out fantastic now I do need an arrow don't I oh sure yeah that'll help thank you mate ah here we go here we go [Music] [Music] now look at that Katniss Everdeen foreign [Music] the fall of 1974 and have been around oh well I bet you've seen a few changes yeah just one or two yeah well look too bad I think I'm ready to be a cowboy what do you think it's all about the look right yeah it's all about well you want to make a cowboy out of me well I might take a deer too but we'll give it a try let's go this horse's name is Leandro Leandro and uh so leandra's a female no he's a gilding all right I have all Gillings on my right so we're up and in right yep there we go oh oh that was a more painless than I thought it would be considering my experience on horse one of the main rules is keep one leg on either side of the horse and if if the unimaginable happens and you can't get him stopped dropping the range and strangling the saddle horn and screaming whoa at the top of your lungs doesn't work okay it doesn't okay now it'll be funny he said let's go horse riding a few steps all right nothing can happen he said let's give it a shot [Music] all right so dog god you said you've been here since 1974 what was it like back then well it was it was quite a bit like uh living in the 1800s actually we uh we lived in calc what we called cow camps in those days yeah so uh we stayed and stayed horseback most of the time and and uh road and road and and worked our cattle so it truly was like the wild west yeah even as recent as the 1970s yeah we made the transition from cattle to Buffalo and that was that was a big deal you know for a lot of the guys Ted with his program and everything wanted uh all the interior fences out and so the most all the the fences on this place are are gone these days yeah so it's mainly open range Ted bought and paid for the place he can do what he wants that's about as real as it gets right there you know you you want you want a real opinion on something you ask a cowboy right I mean let's be honest I know you've been doing this for decades my friend I think it's pretty fair to say that I managed to master that in a few minutes I was up there well yeah it's been my pleasure but we'll give you a call when we need help thanks man I appreciate it thanks for your time and everything I'm just going to go ahead and head back to the ranch alrighty [Music] good morning now they see the early bird catches the worm but you have to be up even earlier than that to get the sound of the elk now what you're hearing behind me very haunting Eerie sound that's like so the bugling of the elk and do it for a couple of reasons the males bugle to um they're very territorial so they're letting other males know that they're there and stay out of my area but they're also it's amazing call we're trying to call females and that's incredible it's coming from all around the valley here it's so crisp and clear and it just sounds so Eerie it's amazing [Music] we've come to this property it's because of its conservationist credentials now before we get into all of that let me give you just a little bit of a history lesson now William Bartlett bought the property in the early 1900s and over the next several decades the property changed hands many many times now by the late 1960s a widow of one of the previous owners sold the land to Pennzoil now Pennzoil did not look after the land at all the overfished the over grazed the over hunted and the over mined hence these big whale heads now fast forward about 20 years and Ted Turner had the opportunity to purchase the property and as we know he's a big conservationist now unfortunately as part of the negotiation Pennzoil still had the rights to mine the natural gas here and the natural resources and they're actually still about 1100 of these wellheads all around the property just to give you a little reminder of his checkered past now the good news is that natural resource will actually run out in about seven years or so and Pennzoil have been charged by restoring everywhere that these wellheads were so hopefully in about seven to ten years you can come up here and you would never know these big ugly things were here foreign [Music] I'm here with Jeremy Gingrich who is the assistant general manager here on the ranch Jeremy how are you man good good to see you record thank you um so tell me a little bit about what's going on in this Ranch especially since Ted Turner purchased that in 1996. you know uh on all of Ted's ranchers the mission statement that we have is to manage Turtle
lands for economic sustainability environmental sensitivity and the conservation of native species and habitats bison really fit right into that one of Ted's passions and why he got into owning land was to be able to preserve a species like bison that's a national mammal it's really a part of all of our history the way they are beautiful creatures but I am a little bit nervous they are low close but you know when he purchased it there was a small herd that had been here since the mid 20th century and there was only about a hundred head here when he purchased it and then how many out of today right we've been able to grow the herd to about 1400 head oh wow they have half a million Acres of grass to roam on but we every year we Harvest a small amount of them and they go into the market and some of them end up at 10 Montana Grill so let me get this quite literally created the supply and the demand for bison yeah exactly well I hate to see this guys but I'm actually a little peckish and I'm gonna go have I'm going to head over to one of these Ted Turner Montana grills and try a little bison meat sounds good enjoy thank you thank you so here I am I made it to Ted's Montana Grill an American chain restaurant specializing in bison now they're established in 2002 and today there are 45 restaurants in 17 States now the concept of the restaurant was established to create a demand for bison and what's the point of having a supply if you don't have a demand it was also created to educate the American people on bison and I'll tell you what I am ready to be educated via nice big bison burger yep definitely lots of ice in meat on the menu now teutono realized the importance to the survival of the species by educating the public on bison it's been a very successful program the restaurants are extremely successful so much so that other restaurants are actually put in bison on their menus now I think it's important to note too that all the restaurants are very environmentally friendly and sometimes it's just the devil in the details whether it's the paper straws environmentally friendly bathrooms or of course the responsible sourcing of the bison and yeah hey buddy yeah I think I recognize this guy from the ranch um back at the ranch as Jeremy and I drove around I was surprised to see a fence when I had been told that when Ted Turner purchased the property he had removed all the internal fencing but Jeremy explained to me that this was all part of the riparian restoration project so Jeremy this is one of the Regeneration spots down here is that right it is this is one of the locations on the Vermejo River where we've built a an exposure to keep grazing and browsing animals out and what that does is allows the riparian vegetation The Willows the Alders shrubs and forbs and grasses to grow up along the river yeah now what would what would happen if that fence hadn't been there for the last couple of years um it'd be grazed down very shortly there's a lot a lot of animals and this is one of the most productive areas of the ranch along the Riverton so it would really be Gray's quite sure to not have that shade and vegetation we want but not as much vegetation is it a chance we can get down there close enough so we can see upstairs perfect so my big question for you is why why recover these these Riverbank our goal eventually is to get more of this kind of vegetation and get the streams narrower and deeper and that keeps the water cooler and so trout actually will have a longer stretch that they can survive in this River the other thing it does it actually it provides great habitat for migratory birds and all sorts of wildlife species yeah and and how is the program going you know it's going very well we have now a 10 of these exposures along the river and what we think probably after about eight of ten years this hair will be recovered and we could take down the fence it's fantastic it's really good to see that you guys are not just looking to protect the environment but actually add to its well-being it's great you know that's part of Ted's vision for uh for Vermeil Park and all the ranches amazing [Music] doing a program like this is you never know what is going to happen next and as we drove back to HQ I thought I spotted something in the trees [Music] for my shoulder here you see the bear at the front of the tree line and it's a little Cub which is a little blonder just a little further up and this is the beauty of being somewhere like this that you actually just come across this them and their natural habitat I'm really excited I've never seen a beer in the wild before in my life this is amazing thank you foreign [Music] is primarily a conservation project but Ted Turner wants people to come and enjoy this and as we've seen he's introduced a very extensive guest program now as we know tourists can have a really negative impact on an environment like this sort of Taken several steps here to avoid that now all the power supplied to the ranch comes from a solar farm just south on the property all the water comes from Natural Springs that's on double filtration systems filtered one time for General use and then each building has its own individual filtration system too now all the drinking water comes out of these fountains and it negates any use of plastic bottles and up until this point there's been about 1923 plastic bottles saved all the water in the rooms is put in glass bottles so that's recyclable now they've also introduced paper straws back into the property which hasn't really been done in the States since the 1970s now all the trash is very extensively managed all the trash cans on the property are proof and all the food that's coming out of the kitchen has to be very carefully managed and taken off properly because that could attract bears and as we know a Fed bear as a dead bear and finally Minor Details but all the cleaning products are environmentally friendly now for me it would be a shame to see all of this Environmental Protection and environmental Rehabilitation go to waste with the attraction of tourists but fortunately here they're managing that very well my time at the ranch is coming to an end but before I vamus from vermeo I wanted to take a look at a renewable energy project located at the South End of the property now of course on a property of this size this actually translates into a three-hour trip and it's so big that the weather actually changes as you drive and boy did it change the Vermejo pot Ranch it's not just about conservation they also take their environmental responsibilities seriously now believe it or not this part of the ranch which is the most southern part of the ranch gets about 300 days of sunshine a year now you couldn't tell looking right now I think I brought the Scottish weather with me but for that reason about seven years ago they built what at the time was one of the largest solar farms in the country with 500 000 solar panels putting up 30 megawatts which provides clean energy to about 9 000 homes locally and the ranch also takes all its energy from here so it's all renewable energy that's been provided up at vermeero Park Ranch and it really is quite impressive [Music] Well Ricky for our final stop of the tour today I've brought you just south of the ranch here to the St James Hotel in Cimarron New Mexico yeah I think I've heard of this place is Saint James hotel isn't that where all the Outlaws used to come it is yeah can we go check it out let's go awesome [Music] in the 1870s Henry Lambert President Lincoln's personal chef at the White House came out here to Cimarron New Mexico and built the St James Hotel and I was Vision at the time was to bring fine dining to the wild west and that's kind of where it all went pear-shaped now the who's who of Outlaws have stayed here Buffalo Bill Wyatt Earp Billy the Kid and Annie Oakley and you can bet with that many Outlaws coming to one place that was bound to be trouble and there certainly was now you get a real sense of what it must have been late walking down this Corridor for those guys to come in and go to the room and spend the night it really is amazing [Music] and certainly my favorite room in the hotel is this Saloon and it quite literally is a wild west Saloon you can see over in the center of the floor there is the original roulette table and it even has as every Saloon should have a piano right there now I have a list here of the original rules of the saloon and a couple of my favorites I'll read out to you Gold Dust flakes or nuggets also accepted as payment fisticuffs to be served in the street and finally all cheaters will be shot now I'm sure we can all agree that those are good rules to live by now speaking of shooting when they refurbished the hotel in the early 1900s they actually found over 400 bullet holes in the ceiling today it is about 24 left and it's kind of a reminder of the 26 people who lost the life being shot right here in this Saloon now as soon as I am in excellent I think it's time for a drink Lee you want a whiskey my friend [Music] it's okay Ricky I got it no I said I got it man I'm good it's okay I got it I said I got it I got it [Music] foreign [Music] Jade Lee thank you so much guys it's been incredible I've really really enjoyed my time here it's been a real eye-opener seeing everything that you guys are doing and all the conservation I really hope to get back soon so I appreciate it Richard we've loved having you thank you a really good trip thanks guys well I want to get on the road thank you as sad as I was to be leaving I have to say that I was very grateful to have been able to experience Vermejo Park Ranch I was completely awestruck by the scenery it wasn't a theme park version of wild it was actually the real thing the scale of the ranch was difficult to comprehend yet there was lots to do with an easy reach of accommodation all that aside Ted Turner has a long-term vision for the ranchers Rehabilitation some projects that have 10 years or more to run it's amazing that so much time effort and money has been invested in these programs especially considering it's not something that he has to do so where does vimejo part right sit on the leave no Trace equal score card while taking all our criteria into consideration I am screwing the whole operation a very well deserved a minus so I've said my goodbyes and I've been driving already now for about 30 miles and I'm still on the property which gives you a sense of how big this place actually is but there's one more feature that I want to show you just before we leave now this is Castle Rock which is a very unique geological feature right smack Bank in the middle of the ranch here now when I came to firmijo park Ranch I was really looking forward to seeing some incredible wildlife and some wonderful nature what I didn't expect was a commitment in the investment that Ted Turner and his organization has put in to reclaiming this property and it's 600 000 Acres that's a pretty big feat now what's even more impressive is that Ted Turner doesn't do it as a commercial entity or for a good press he truly has a passion for it and with the success of some of the programs like the Rio Grande cutthroat trout reintroduction and the Bison introduction reintroduction it really has made a positive impact on the environment now normally at the end of these programs I would ask you to leave no Trace but in this instance I'm going to demand that you leave a better Trace foreign [Music] [Music]
2023-12-09 02:43
