Old West Cowboy Cookout: A bit of a cliché, but it was a fun time!
Visited Monday, July 21, 2014; reviewed December 7, 2014. See this review on Trip Advisor.
I was not overly excited about the cowboy cookout from the Roosevelt coral, but my wife wanted to try it along with the 2-hour horseback ride. OK, fine by me. Unfortunately, the horseback ride was canceled due to rain but we decided to stick with the cookout and just piled into one of the horse drawn wagons with the rest of the tourists. While it was sort of hokey, we had a great time!
The wagons are heavy duty vehicles, each of which probably carries 40 folks and is drawn by two draft horses. Our motive power was a pair of big, black Percherons named Jed and Jack. Our driver, Greg, looked like he had stepped right out of an 1880 cattle drive. He was dressed the part but you could tell he really lived it as well. He had the big hat, the duster and the mustache and sideburns like Wild Bill Hickcock. If ever there was a modern day cowboy, it was Greg. The last member of the flight crew was our wrangler, Addison, a young lady just out of high school. Her job was to entertain the folks in the wagon with tall tales, fun facts, corny jokes…whatever. She did a nice job.
There were eight wagons in the trail, and they all seemed full, so I reckon there must have been at least 300 tourists on this little excursion. The ride out to the cook-out grounds is only a couple miles and did not take very long. It poured on us most of the way out, so we were all thankful for the heavy canvas top and side curtains on the wagon as they kept us mostly dry. The route taken by our little train runs through the prairie to the northwest of Roosevelt and roughly parallels the Grand Loop Road (we were never more than a half-mile from the main road, but the trees blocked the sounds from the traffic). Great opportunity for animal sightings in this area, although we only saw a couple marmots in the one rocky area adjacent to the trail. However, there was a black bear in the cook-out area when the first couple wagons pulled in. The wranglers had chased him off by the time we arrived.
The rain had subsided by the time we reached the cook-out grounds, but it was still rather cool and overcast. Most of the folks had scurried over to the outhouses or to gawk at the bear, but we stayed back with the wagons so my wife could visit with the horses (after checking with Greg that it was OK to do so). Then we meandered over to the cook-out grounds. This is a very nice facility. Drinks were set up and waiting for us; on an evening like this the hot chocolate and coffee were greatly appreciated. The facility was quite nice and in a nice wooded setting on the edge of the open meadow and the base of a hill (the bear was on the hill).
Our timing was perfect as they rang the dinner bell right as we were passing by the serving pavilion, so we were near the front of the herd. Great food; steak and all the fixings and lots of it. No one was going hungry here tonight. We got our grub then found a spot to sit under the main pavilion. While most of the evening is self-service, there were wranglers refilling drinks and really pushing the cowboy coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker, so I did not partake, but my wife tried it. Her hair did not stand up on end, so it must not have been that strong.
After dinner there were stories and a sing-along around the campfire. The evening ended with a group all singing “Home on the Range.” I never knew there was more than one verse to that song. As part of the “thanks for coming” speech, the head wrangler made a point of talking about how most of the millions of visitors that Yellowstone has each year the vast majority never venture far from the main road and only about five percent actually get into the backcountry. But, she stated that the folks who make this ride out for this cookout have gotten off the beaten path are part of that five percent. Honestly I’m not sure that I would call this backcountry, but it’s her party so she can make the rules.
Once loaded back on our wagon, Addison explained the tradition of thanking the cooks as we rode past on our way home. The idea is to come up with a clever way of saying good-bye as we drove by, then the four cooks would rate our salutation by tipping their hats. The goal of course is to get “four hats” and there is a bit of a competition between the wranglers on the wagons to see who can get that top honor. Addison was trolling for ideas and someone in the front of the wagon suggested the chorus from the song “Kiss Him Goodbye” that goes “sha-na-na-hey-hey-hey-goodbye” so we sang that as we rolled by the cooks, basically drowning out the wagon in front of us but receiving a four-hat salute. That tickled Addison as she would have some manner of bragging rights with the wranglers.
The ride back to the corral was fairly quiet, but we did see a black bear on the hill side along the park road (we actually spotted the car stopped on the road first, then noticed the reason for the animal jam). Greg and Addison speculated that it was the same bear that was at the picnic grounds, a young male with a black snout that had been hanging out in the area and obviously attracted by the food from the cookout.
While the rain held off while we were at the cook-out, there was another deluge during the drive home, but it had let up by the time we reached the corral. We were back about 8:00. That little event was a lot of fun. Good food and a good time. With the rain, I’m glad we took the wagon as it would have been a major bummer getting caught in that rain on horseback. Maybe next trip to Yellowstone we’ll try the horseback ride.
I was not overly excited about the cowboy cookout from the Roosevelt coral, but my wife wanted to try it along with the 2-hour horseback ride. OK, fine by me. Unfortunately, the horseback ride was canceled due to rain but we decided to stick with the cookout and just piled into one of the horse drawn wagons with the rest of the tourists. While it was sort of hokey, we had a great time!
The wagons are heavy duty vehicles, each of which probably carries 40 folks and is drawn by two draft horses. Our motive power was a pair of big, black Percherons named Jed and Jack. Our driver, Greg, looked like he had stepped right out of an 1880 cattle drive. He was dressed the part but you could tell he really lived it as well. He had the big hat, the duster and the mustache and sideburns like Wild Bill Hickcock. If ever there was a modern day cowboy, it was Greg. The last member of the flight crew was our wrangler, Addison, a young lady just out of high school. Her job was to entertain the folks in the wagon with tall tales, fun facts, corny jokes…whatever. She did a nice job.
There were eight wagons in the trail, and they all seemed full, so I reckon there must have been at least 300 tourists on this little excursion. The ride out to the cook-out grounds is only a couple miles and did not take very long. It poured on us most of the way out, so we were all thankful for the heavy canvas top and side curtains on the wagon as they kept us mostly dry. The route taken by our little train runs through the prairie to the northwest of Roosevelt and roughly parallels the Grand Loop Road (we were never more than a half-mile from the main road, but the trees blocked the sounds from the traffic). Great opportunity for animal sightings in this area, although we only saw a couple marmots in the one rocky area adjacent to the trail. However, there was a black bear in the cook-out area when the first couple wagons pulled in. The wranglers had chased him off by the time we arrived.
The rain had subsided by the time we reached the cook-out grounds, but it was still rather cool and overcast. Most of the folks had scurried over to the outhouses or to gawk at the bear, but we stayed back with the wagons so my wife could visit with the horses (after checking with Greg that it was OK to do so). Then we meandered over to the cook-out grounds. This is a very nice facility. Drinks were set up and waiting for us; on an evening like this the hot chocolate and coffee were greatly appreciated. The facility was quite nice and in a nice wooded setting on the edge of the open meadow and the base of a hill (the bear was on the hill).
Our timing was perfect as they rang the dinner bell right as we were passing by the serving pavilion, so we were near the front of the herd. Great food; steak and all the fixings and lots of it. No one was going hungry here tonight. We got our grub then found a spot to sit under the main pavilion. While most of the evening is self-service, there were wranglers refilling drinks and really pushing the cowboy coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker, so I did not partake, but my wife tried it. Her hair did not stand up on end, so it must not have been that strong.
After dinner there were stories and a sing-along around the campfire. The evening ended with a group all singing “Home on the Range.” I never knew there was more than one verse to that song. As part of the “thanks for coming” speech, the head wrangler made a point of talking about how most of the millions of visitors that Yellowstone has each year the vast majority never venture far from the main road and only about five percent actually get into the backcountry. But, she stated that the folks who make this ride out for this cookout have gotten off the beaten path are part of that five percent. Honestly I’m not sure that I would call this backcountry, but it’s her party so she can make the rules.
Once loaded back on our wagon, Addison explained the tradition of thanking the cooks as we rode past on our way home. The idea is to come up with a clever way of saying good-bye as we drove by, then the four cooks would rate our salutation by tipping their hats. The goal of course is to get “four hats” and there is a bit of a competition between the wranglers on the wagons to see who can get that top honor. Addison was trolling for ideas and someone in the front of the wagon suggested the chorus from the song “Kiss Him Goodbye” that goes “sha-na-na-hey-hey-hey-goodbye” so we sang that as we rolled by the cooks, basically drowning out the wagon in front of us but receiving a four-hat salute. That tickled Addison as she would have some manner of bragging rights with the wranglers.
The ride back to the corral was fairly quiet, but we did see a black bear on the hill side along the park road (we actually spotted the car stopped on the road first, then noticed the reason for the animal jam). Greg and Addison speculated that it was the same bear that was at the picnic grounds, a young male with a black snout that had been hanging out in the area and obviously attracted by the food from the cookout.
While the rain held off while we were at the cook-out, there was another deluge during the drive home, but it had let up by the time we reached the corral. We were back about 8:00. That little event was a lot of fun. Good food and a good time. With the rain, I’m glad we took the wagon as it would have been a major bummer getting caught in that rain on horseback. Maybe next trip to Yellowstone we’ll try the horseback ride.