According to Butch Jensen, “A cowboy knows he doesn’t have any friends when he has to buy his own zucchini.” There’s a lot of humor as well as truth in that and Butch is full of both. He and his wife Jeanie run the Tavaputs Ranch, a mountain top lodge and Shangri-La that’s nestled high atop the Tavaputs Plateau in southeastern Utah. Every June, like clockwork, the Jensen’s move several hundred head of cattle up to this 9,000-foot high venue where, over the summer, the herd grows fat on lush meadow grasses. In October, back down they come and the cows are once again put to winter range. Between June and October, Butch and Jeanie Jensen offer a dude/guest ranch experience that is second to none. If you’ve ever given any thought to taking part in a real Old West cattle drive, be it summer or fall, the Jensen’s can guarantee that fun will be had by everyone. In fact, if you’re considering such an adventure, rent the movie City Slickers, because driving cattle and wrangling horses out West is an experience that’s good old-fashioned fun, just like it’s portrayed in the movie.

Your first question will probably be, “How can I enjoy this unique experience while I’m touring the country towing a 35' travel trailer or fifth wheel, or driving a 45' motorhome?” No problem. The Jensens have this all figured out. In fact, there are several ways to arrive in the largest of recreational vehicles and still take part in all of the cowboy/ranch fun the Jensen’s offer.

First, the headquarters for the Jensen’s TN Ranch is located in Price, Utah. There’s plenty of room to park great big rigs at the ranch headquarters, then you can leave from there. Butch has several 18-wheeler livestock haulers he keeps here that he uses to move the cattle to market, so even several 45-foot long, 102" wide, triple slideout motorhomes will almost go unnoticed. Furthermore, the ranch headquarters is secure for there are ranch hands here 24-hours a day. A second option is to use one of the RV campgrounds in the Price area. Should you want to keep your RV hooked up to shore power, you can leave your rig at one of these campgrounds. Either way, from the ranch or from one of the local RV campgrounds, you can ride along with Jeanie in her four-wheel drive Ford pickup, or go with Butch in the one ton Dodge dually he uses. Tate and Jennie (the Jensen’s children) also have four wheel drive trucks that they use to get to the Tavaputs Plateau ranch. There’s also a third way of doing this adventure, one that offers its own unique excitement and adventure. You can park your RV in an RV campground in Green River, Utah and fly to the top of the plateau using a local air shuttle service. Butch and Jeanie have an airstrip near the lodge where they meet guests who elect to fly in. People who go river rafting on the Colorado and Green Rivers with Holiday Expeditions, often couple their river trip with a stay at the Jensen’s Tavaputs Plateau ranch. They use Slickrock Air Guides, an air shuttle service that delivers and picks up guests at the lodge.

If you drive up to the ranch, one of the things you’ll discover is that the forestry road climbing to the top of Tavaputs Plateau mandates a four-wheel drive vehicle of some kind. In places, the dirt road is very steep but the drama of the topography, the vistas, the quakies, pines and the pastel blue sky makes this ride an unforgettable experience. If you are towing a travel trailer or fifth wheel with a four-wheel drive truck or SUV or if have a four-wheel drive in tow behind your motorhome, you can follow the Jensen’s up to the top and experience the drive for yourself.

The lodge is nothing less than grand. There are individual bedrooms and bathrooms, a giant living room, a recreation room (pool table and all,) a hot tub, a first rate galley in which Jeannie prepares excellent ranch style meals three times a day, plus there are individual cabins if that is more to your liking. A 20 KW diesel generator runs from 5:30 in the morning until 10 at night, providing power for all of the creatures comforts you would expect at any first rate resort. Just like many RV enthusiasts, the Jensen’s have a satellite dish that brings in every channel known to man.

If you want to participate in the cattle drive, for example, the one in June, here is a snapshot of what to expect. Moving the cows up on top of the mountain takes a full three days. You can participate in one, two or all three days if you choose. You can even follow along in your own four-wheel drive vehicle or ride along in one of the ranch trucks. After gathering the cows from the winter range, Butch, Tate, Albert, Bubba and Terry (neighboring ranchers and cowhands) haul them to a staging area at the entry of what is called Horse Canyon. After the cows have been watered, it’s time to “head ’em up and move ’em out.” The first day starts at sunrise and ends at dusk. Jeanie shows up at mid-day with a buffet lunch that she spreads out on the tailgate of the truck. This is food that is fit for a king. It’s hard to imagine the delight of being served such good fare in the middle of Color Country.

The second half of the day is down hill all the way, which means the “little doggies get along” at a faster clip. On day two, the cows are rested and watered in one of the side canyons west of the Tavaputs Plateau. It takes a day for all of the calves to find their mothers. During day two, Butch and the boys once again ride the first leg of the trail to make sure they’ve rounded up all the strays. Then, on day three the final push is made up Sheep Canyon, over a route Butch’s dad carved out of the mountain in 1951 using a Caterpillar bulldozer. The trail is so steep that four-wheel low is the only way you can make it. In 2.5 miles you gain 3,000 feet in elevation, with switchbacks so tight they require a pickup or SUV to move forward, then back up, then move forward again to complete the turns. After reaching the top, it’s awesome to look back and see where you’ve come from. It’s unbelievable to think that you actually rode a horse or drove a vehicle up this trail.

“One thing you will see plenty of on top of Tavaputs is wild game.”

Reaching the top of the Tavaputs Plateau you are near the end of the trail drive, with the best part of the adventure about to begin. The lodge is ready and waiting, for Jeanie, Jennie and Cliff (one of the hired hands) arrived earlier and have everything ready and waiting. Each meal Jeanie prepares is a veritable feast. Every one is like Thanksgiving dinner. And in between meals, Jeanie and Jennie are baking, turning out cookies, cakes, pies and pastries that are set out and enjoyed round the clock.

Now keep in mind that you don’t have to participate in the cattle drive to enjoy the splendor of the Tavaputs Plateau Lodge. Remember how we said that the Jensen’s, Terry, Bubba, Cliff and Albert commute between the ranch headquarter in Price and the lodge on top of the Plateau? They only drive their trucks or ride horses up Horse and Sheep Canyons when moving the cattle to the mountain. The rest of the time they travel using a different forest service road that is less demanding. Between June and October, guests are taken up to the Lodge via a route that winds through the old coal mining town of Sunnyside. If you’re a history buff, there’s old mining equipment that was used in the mines of yesterday displayed alongside the road.

Coal has been mined in this basin for the last hundred years. Cliff’s father, an immigrant from Finland, worked these mines loading and unloading coal, for six cents a ton. Cliff himself retired after working for 27 years in the same mines his father worked in. Ask him to tell you about the mining history of this areas – it’s fascinating. Above Sunnyside at about the same place where you put your truck or SUV into four-wheel drive, you begin to see old wooden towers with rusted cables that still have ore filled buckets dangling from above. These were abandoned in place 75 years ago. In addition to mining coal, this area is also rich in a mineral resource called natural asphalt. On several occasions venture capital has been used to try and make the mining and use of natural asphalt profitable. It was once thought that the streets of America could be paved using natural asphalt, and in fact many streets in Salt Lake City at one time were actually paved with it. However, it’s a dream that has never worked out.

One thing you will see plenty of on top of the Tavaputs is wild game. During the summer, herds of elk and deer call the top of the plateau home. Black bears can often be heard at night as they move past the lodge because it sets the dogs off. When the generator is running, motion sensitive floodlights turn on, sometimes exposing a bear for all to see. In October, after the cows have been moved off the mountain, Butch and Jeanie offer the lodge and this private property to those seeking to land a trophy bull elk or large buck.

During the summer, Butch likes to take the guests at the lodge out horseback riding or for a drive to a point on the plateau where you can see the Henry Mountains 150 miles to the south and Desolation Canyon and the Green River to the east. It’s a breathtaking vantagepoint. If you’ve ever traveled I-70 across the center of Utah, you’ve no doubt looked up at the Tavaputs Plateau and not knowing its name thought, “Now that is some really rugged desert badlands.” Covered with aspens, pine, lush mountain grasses and carpeted in flowers, this venue is anything but a badland. It’s a place where often the only sound to be heard is the wind as it washes through the pine or rustles the silver dollar leafs of the quakies. It’s one of those places Mark Twain no doubt was talking about when he wrote, “The air up here is the air that angels breathe.”

J. Martin Kohler is a freelance writer based in Northern, California, and author of several Holidays and Lifestyles features.

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