Hardware Ranch

On President's day Eric and I went with my mom, Amanda, Alexis, and Devin to Hardware Ranch. It is a elk reserve up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. I had been there before but didn't remember what it was all about. They explained to us that an elk's natural habitat is down in the valleys so the purpose of Hardware ranch is to keep the elk up higher in the mountains so that they don't come down into the valley. All they do is leave food for the elk, they are free to come and go as they please. If one of the elk is sick or hurt they just let nature take its course. I thought it was pretty cool how it was all so natural. We got to go on a sleigh ride around part of the ranch. I can't remember how big they said all of Hardware Ranch is but the sleigh ride only takes you around a tiny portion of it. The sleigh ride was a lot of fun. Eric is such a planner, he brought this big mug of hot chocolate and cups, I think that everyone on the sleigh was jealous of us. There were some huge elk but they told us that the really, really big ones were up further in the mountains which is still a part of the ranch but the sleigh ride doesn't take you there. After the sleigh ride we petted the huge horses that pulled the sleigh. They were huge!