Creative Writing & Riding Adventure
August 31 - September 5, 2025
Ranch-based Retreat (3 nights) + Wilderness Pack Trip (2 nights)
Horses Are Here to Help Tell Your Story: A Riding & Writing Adventure/Ranch Stay/Pack Trip
Join author, teacher, speaker Pam Houston for a beautiful five days of writing and riding in the inspiring landscapes of the Wind River Mountain Range. Let trusty mountain horses open your heart while good conversations open your mind about writing, craft and courage to tell your truest story. We will be talking about craft and generating new work every time we are not in the saddle.
We will spend the first three nights based at the Diamond 4 Ranch - sleeping in cabins, glamping tents, or sheepwagons, eating meals in the lodge, and going on day rides to explore the surrounding area while gathering inspiration and connecting with our horses. We will spend the last two nights on a wilderness pack trip, immersing ourselves deeper into the heart of the mountain range for a true backcountry horse-packing and camping experience. The campsite is in a meadow next to a river with a big view of the mountains. The horses graze in the meadow at night; we sleep in tents and have meals around the campfire.
This will be a glorious and life-affirming adventure, reconnecting with the land and being in the present moment with fine, fine animals to remind us of what truly matters. Whether you’re seeking creative inspiration, a deeper connection with nature, or simply the peace that comes from unplugging for a few days, this trip offers the perfect balance of adventure and tranquility.
AGENDA: (This is an outline that may be modified to best suit the group.)
AUGUST 31: Arrive at 4pm / settle into lodging space / introductions and orientation at 5pm / dinner at 6pm / activity after dinner
SEPTEMBER 1 & 2: Breakfast at 7-8am / horse orientation / day ride from the ranch (anywhere between 3-7 hours roundtrip in the saddle, with a break along the way for lunch, a writing class/exercise, etc.) / Dinner at 6pm
SEPTEMBER 3: Breakfast at 7am / ride about 5 hours into a campsite (with breaks along the way) / set up tents / time in the afternoon for writing class/exercise or personal time / dinner around the campfire around 6:30pm. We will spend 2 nights at this campsite.
SEPTEMBER 4: Breakfast at 7am / day ride from camp to explore stunning vistas along the Continental Divide
SEPTEMBER 5: Enjoy time in the morning at our beautiful campsite while the wranglers pack up camp / depart camp around 11am / enjoy a lunch break on the ride / return to the ranch around 4pm / say goodbyes and depart the ranch
TRAVEL: Arrive at the ranch at 4:00pm on Sunday, August 31st. Depart on Friday, September 5th when we return from the pack trip (around 4-5pm). Closest airport is Riverton, WY - you can use Classic Cruise Shuttle Service from Riverton to the ranch - or fly into Jackson Hole, Rock Springs, Casper, Denver, or Salt Lake City and rent a vehicle.
PLANNING: Please read our Terms & Policies to learn more about our ranch facilities, riding policies, etc. and visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.
QUESTIONS: Please contact Jessie with any questions - jessie@diamond4ranch.com.
COST: $3650 + suggested gratuity (suggested 15-20%)
HOW TO SIGN UP: Please follow this three-step process to get signed up.
Fill out this RESERVATION FORM
Sign this DIGITAL WAIVER
Pay the 25% DEPOSIT of $900
After completing those three steps, you’re signed up! We will then follow up with helpful trip planning information. We look forward to meeting you in the Wind River Mountains.
Meet your leader:
Pam Houston
Pam Houston is the author of the memoir Deep Creek: Finding Hope In The High Country, as well as two novels, Contents May Have Shifted and Sight Hound, two collections of short stories, Cowboys Are My Weakness and Waltzing the Cat, and a collection of essays, A Little More About Me, as well as a book of essay between Pam and environmental activist Amy Irvine, called Air Mail: Letters of Politics, Pandemics and Place. Her stories have been selected for volumes of The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Short Stories of the Century among other anthologies. She is the winner of the Western States Book Award, the WILLA Award for contemporary fiction, the Evil Companions Literary Award and several teaching awards. She teaches in the Low Rez MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, is Professor of English at UC Davis, and co-founder and creative director of the literary nonprofit Writing By Writers, which puts on between seven and ten writers gatherings per year in places as diverse as Boulder, Colorado, Tomales Bay, California and Chamonix, France.
Pam’s passions include Icelandic Horses (especially the ones who live in Iceland, where she goes as often as possible,) Irish Wolfhounds, travel, mentoring and teaching, particularly teaching writing about the more than the human world. She lives on a homestead at 9,000 feet near the headwaters of the Rio Grande in Colorado with her husband Mike and two dogs, a quarter horse, a miniature donkey, four Icelandic ewes, four hens and a rooster. Her forthcoming book, Without Exception: Reclaiming Abortion, Personhood and Freedom, will be published in September 2024.
See Pam’s website HERE.