381 Old Camp Rd.
Bellvue, CO 80512
970-484-2508
director@buckhorncampco.org
The Purpose of Buckhorn Camp is to provide camping space for and service to our guests. Our guests are groups and individuals who share our values and mission. They are looking for peace-filled experiences and closer relationships with each other or with God, and they respect this space, and one another, embracing the differences that make us whole.
Our Beliefs
Camp is for EVERYONE
Plug into Camp and you will be illuminated
Our Culture
We work hard, with servants' hearts, to ensure that the culture for both our staff and our guests is fun, above and beyond expectations, and awe-inspiring.
Our Team
Every person on our team is committed to respecting and protecting Buckhorn and its guests. They are energetic, optimistic, respectful, and inclusive, with servant hearts and a love of the camping culture.
Camp Director
Sean Orner
Sean oversees and manages all aspects of Buckhorn Camp and works to carry out the mission of Camp and Retreat Ministry of the Mountain Sky Conference at Buckhorn. She's your go-to gal for anything you may need while you're here at camp, whether it's a s'more or a flashlight!
Kitchen Manager
Robert Orner
Rob works hard to make sure everyone has healthy, satisfying meals while here at camp. You're sure to find him in Elkhorn Lodge cooking up something tasty. If you see him, ask him when he'll be serving up some of his gooey homemade cinnamon rolls!
Buckhorn History
History is an ongoing story. It is our hope that Buckhorn Camp and Retreat Center will always be striving to grow to meet the needs of the churches and greater community, and make a difference in the lives of the people who spend time here.
The Buckhorn Mountain Guest Ranch was built in 1946 by Myron and Louise Siefken in partnership with John and Josephine Smethurst. Using logs cut off of the property, a lodge and twelve cabins were constructed.
Walter and Emily Turle bought the ranch in 1947. The Smethursts managed the ranch for the Turles until 1954 when the ranch was again sold.
Three couples bought the ranch in 1954: Charlie and Marie Evans, Richard and Mary Evans, and William and Frances Roberson.In the fall of 1964 the guest ranch was purchased by the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Methodist Church. The guest ranch was renamed Buckhorn United Methodist Camp. From 1964 to 1999 Buckhorn was operated as a "summer only" facility with a capacity of 60 persons.
From 2001 through 2005 an effort to increase the youth camp ministry at Buckhorn resulted in an 300% increase in youth camp attendance.
Over the next few years a new camp area named "The Miners Camp" was constructed using volunteer labor. Phase one of this project was completed in 2005 increasing the total summer capacity of the camp to 250.
Another volunteer based project was completed at the camp in 2005. The new Director's house was built using logs harvested from the property, much like the original construction of Buckhorn Lodge and the Main Cabins was done many years ago. The new house made the acquisition of additional full time staff possible.
In 2012, the High Park Fire burned through Buckhorn, charring the landscape and destroying approximately one-third of the camp, including some of its cabins and outbuildings.
In 2020, the Cameron Peak Wildfire once again came dangerously close to Buckhorn, approximately 2 miles to the west of camp and 4 miles to the south. The High Park burn scar provided an additional layer of protection to the camp.
A Newspaper Boy’s Story
by Polly Voss and Memoir by Albert Voss
It’s September 10th, 2023. A dreary and leisurely kind of Sunday morning. My 76 year-old father is in the back seat of our Subaru as he carefully guides my partner and I up a rural and rocky canyon side road to a place he hasn’t seen since he was a youth. Colorado’s Buckhorn Dude Ranch, he tells us, is a place that set a promising trajectory for the rest of his life. A self proclaimed “nomad”, my father was born in the suburbs of Chicago in 1947 and was slated to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather working in the steel mills. Prior to visiting Colorado, he didn’t think much outside of the world he currently lived in until the opportunity of a newspaper boy’s lifetime presented itself.
My father takes us back through this beautiful memoir…
This is the place it all began. It was 1958. I was an 11 year-old newspaper boy from the south side of Chicago. Calumet city was known to be a steel mill town. Each year our local newspaper, The Hammond Times, held a contest to see who could sell the most newspaper subscriptions to earn a 10-day trip to a dude ranch in Colorado. Driven to discover what was outside of the world I knew and beyond the bustling city life, I pushed myself hard and racked up enough sales to earn the dude ranch trip! It would be a long trip on a rugged old, economy bus operated by Willis Busline, which my buddies and I jokingly renamed “Will It Make It” Busline.
Twenty arduous hours later, I awoke to the sights, sounds, and tranquility of this place which overwhelmed all of my senses. I had no idea a magical place like this existed. Riding horses, playing “capture the flag”, perfecting the archery range, and fishing at a nearby pond were all just a few steps away without any trace of the steel mill smoke, obstructing skyscrapers, or even a whisper of city traffic. I also have fond memories of playing billiards and ping pong in the recreation room and, of course, nightly sing-alongs at the campfire.
As street-smart city boys, we seemed to have a leg up on getting into a little trouble also. There are memories of a few dozen frogs becoming unfortunate targets at the archery range. We also seemed to somehow smuggle in firecrackers which we secretly tucked into the cabin and waited to throw them into the burning fireplace when everything was perfectly quiet.
Perhaps the most special moment, however, happened on the first night I laid my sleeping bag on the bare ground and looked up at the vast Colorado night sky. I could see stars! So many stars! And so clearly! This was an epiphany. This was my destiny. I would not confine the boundaries of my life to Chicago or even Illinois for that matter. I would see the world and realize all that was to be discovered.
At the age of 44, after marrying and raising my daughters, I made this dream a reality. As I write this memoir today, I have been living a nomadic life for 32 years and have not looked back once. I have been to 49 of the 50 United States (all but Hawaii) mostly via RV and have inadvertently taken on a mostly minimalistic lifestyle because of it. I have found that adventures and connections with people versus things are what is really important.
This adventure back to Buckhorn Dude Ranch, now called Buckhorn Camp and Retreat Center, recaptured so many fond feelings and memories for my father. It so was touching to watch him get teary-eyed while walking around the camp. He was surprised how little things had changed and how well preserved the grounds were from back in the 1950s. We left the camp that afternoon having checked off one of my father’s bucket list items and were also given a true appreciation of the wonderful camp he had spoken about from some of my earliest memories.
I believe as humans, we like to feel as if we have a piece of our parents living within us, especially when we admire a special quality about them. Although I have not personally committed to a nomadic lifestyle, I certainly share in my father’s love of adventure and curiosity. I believe we must always maintain a level of childlike curiosity and keep looking up to the vast big sky to discover the things that keep our sense of adventure alive.
Interestingly despite my father’s shenanigans, he went on to earn the newspaper subscription contest for two more years and attended the camp in both 1959 as well as 1960.
