Dude ranch fun: Hunewill Guest Ranch in Bridgeport, California

A horse and its visitor are silhouetted in a barn at Hunewill Guest Ranch on the outskirts of Bridgeport, Calif., about 360 miles north of Los Angeles. Founded in 1861, Hunewill is a working ranch that also seeks to offer guests an authentic cowboy experience – to wit, a dude ranch. Posted on the wall are the names of ranch horses that have passed away. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Hunewill horses await the round-up. According to the Dude Ranch Assn., an alliance of guest ranches in the Western U.S. and Canada, Hunewill is one of the few such establishments that have resisted becoming more resort-like. Competition from luxe resorts and cruise lines has caused some ranches to adjust by adding swimming pools, saunas and tennis courts. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Latte, a brown Swiss cow, accepts the attentions of young visitors at Hunewill ranch. A Times reporter spending a week at the ranch noticed that, of about 50 guests heading out for a ride, almost half were younger than 14. Separated into three groups on the basis of their abilities, guests would work each day on their riding skills. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

A faux steer becomes a target for youngsters’ lassos one evening. At night, guests leave their cabins and gather -- sometimes to roast marshmallows as the ranch’s wranglers play guitars and sing, sometimes to try milking a cow. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Hunewill ranch’s guest cabins are simple but comfortable, resembling ultra-economy hotel rooms: no TVs or phones, no mini-bars or coffee makers. Ranch boss Betsy Hunewill Elliott and her siblings are pondering whether to add more amenities – there’s already a full-time masseuse (undoubtedly welcomed by saddle-sore guests) – but she is leery about changing the character of the ranch that has been in her family for nearly 150 years (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Tall in the saddle at age 9, Ian Mattice is ready to ride with his group. As they take breaks in the field, riders are treated to recitations of cowboy poetry by wranglers, most of whom are seasoned cowboys. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

A group of riders sloshes through a stream one morning. A Times reporter placed with a group of novices said that at first he learned to turn, stop and maintain his perch in the saddle – but that by week’s end he and his mount were racing across fields and leaping over ditches. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Riders cross a meadow at the 4,500-acre Hunewill ranch, improving with each moment their horsemanship while enjoying the ranch’s environs in a wide valley between Yosemite National Park and Bridgeport. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Guiding cows – it’s what cowboys do. A Times reporter who helped move cattle reported that the 10 riders in his group slowly tightened their circle around a herd, the horses closing in on the cows without prodding. A few heifers briefly rebelled but then yielded to the riders. A couple of hours of such cowpunching left the writer feeling more confident in his skills but also in need of ibuprofen. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)