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King Ropes
By
Published: Feb 26, 2023
Category:
Clothing
Long, long ago, when my stepchildren were young, we’d spend a summer week at a dude ranch in Wyoming. Not in the trendy, Jackson Hole corner of Wyoming. We’d fly to Sheridan, near the Montana border, and then drive for an hour to Saddlestring, home of the HF Bar Ranch — and nothing else.
The road into the ranch is an exercise in humility. The HF Bar occupies 7,500 acres at the edge of the Bighorn National Forest — you see big sky and a lot of green. The ranch is also elemental. The simple cabins, the dining hall, and the stables seem not to have changed in the ranch’s 112 years, which is perhaps a good reason it’s been named one of the “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” on the National Register of Historic Places. (Actually, there has been one improvement: WiFi, powered by solar.)
Margi Schroth runs the ranch. She’s an excellent judge of character. You can ride without a wrangler unless she has her doubts about you. If you have a glass of wine at dinner and want to take an evening ride, she assumes you’re adult enough not to spook the horses. One evening, we were riding with six guests on a high plateau when our wrangler spotted trouble below. He turned to the rider behind him. “Nick, you bring them in,” he told my eight-year-old stepson, and rode off. Nick did. And that was the big news of that day. [To write to the HF Bar: hfbar@wyoming.com The office phone is (307) 684-2487.]
In 1923, Frank Horton, one of the founders of the ranch, explained why it’s not, in any way, a resort:
“A vacation doesn’t mean just slumping. If you are to get the most out of it, working hard at something entirely different: it means putting into play different sets of muscles and brain cells. You will find ranch life so real, so interesting, that within a few days you actually live the new life to the utter exclusion of the old and when the time comes to go home, though the return will be with regret, you will find yourself going back with an eagerness for the old job and a zest for the old life that could only come as a result of a renewed mental and physical condition brought about by a refreshing change. Years will have dropped from your shoulders like feathers from a molting hen. And, we know, you will come back here again.”
Got it. We rode twice a day. Sheridan beckoned. There are, we found, two destinations of interest. One of them is the Mint Bar, “the meeting place for cowboys, ranchers and dudes” since 1907. The other is King Ropes. Also legendary: Queen Elizabeth visited the saddlery in the 1980s and bought a saddle, To read about it, click here. To watch a video about King Ropes, click here. To watch a video that explains how ropes are made, click here.
You are not going to buy a saddle. Or ropes. You want a cap. Not because Hollywood stars with ranches wear them, but because no one you know does. And they look good, worn the way caps were meant to be worn: bill facing forward. They cost between $28 and $31. Need I say: they make great gifts.
Choices! That’s the problem. To see everything they sell, here’s the link to the King Ropes site. Here’s the link for hats. I prefer hats from the “original collection” and the “grandpa collection.”
Good news: King Ropes hats aren’t sold on Amazon. You must deal direct. Call 800 443 8919 or 307 672 2702. Business hours are 8 to 4:30, Mountain Time. The business office is closed Saturday and Sunday. Questions? bking@fiberpipe.net For more information, click here.
In a world that’s increasingly branded, consider a King Ropes cap a small, creative blow for individuality.
