A Ranch Taking Shape
Fall 2026 · Suzi McKinley
I'm sitting in the yurt with a small fire going against a forty-degree October morning. The aspens are turning brilliantly gold and the elk are bugling. There's a massive pile of split wood outside with my name on it, but first, I want to tell you what we've been building.
Golden Forge has been in almost constant motion since we started. We’ve been building the ranch while people were already beginning to use it—hosting, working with partners, listening, adjusting, and building what came next. The place has taken shape in real time alongside the people using it.
What we built
A little over a year ago, Golden Forge was 163 acres at 8,600 feet in the Colorado Rockies, three bare-bones cabins, and an idea we were still proving.
Those cabins became a project of their own. Before we could make them welcoming, we had to make them sound. Our running joke was to make them as “Four Seasons” and as four-season as possible. Today, each 244-square-foot cabin is ready for year-round stays, freshly furnished with a queen bed, private bath, kitchenette, sitting area, and its own deck.
From there, every addition had a purpose and a place in the rhythm of the ranch. The Pit is a dedicated functional-fitness space for strength and conditioning. The LZ (landing zone) is the ranch’s fire-pit gathering place—where people launch from in the morning and return at the end of the day, with coffee before heading out and fire and conversation when the work is done.
The 24-foot yurt gives us an all-weather space for movement, recovery, focused work, and small-group connection. We also built a greenhouse plus farm-to-table kitchen around growing food, shared meals, and fireside conversation. Two full-hookup rig sites, camp space, and the washhouse now nearing completion make longer stays possible.
Miles of trails connect the ranch and give people somewhere to go—toward a workout, a project, a meal, a quiet place, or simply the next point on the path. Sometimes having a path to walk and somewhere to go is enough to create momentum. There is a rhythm to the land: move, work, gather, recover, return.
Sam, who manages the ranch day to day, and I have built much of this alongside skilled builders, volunteers, local supporters, and partners who kept showing up. My nephew Riley, a Marine veteran and skilled craftsman, first came for a visit, then returned to help build. He has played a central role in shaping the LZ, the greenhouse and farm-to-table kitchen, and the washhouse—places that make daily life at Golden Forge possible.
Putting the ranch to work
Approximately 150 participant overnight stays.
Approximately 58 participants across four core summer experiences.
Two Valor Archery Challenges took participants across roughly three miles of steep mountain terrain, with about 1,000 feet of climbing and 30 three-dimensional targets. The mountain made the event what it was: physical effort, fatigue, focus, judgment, and precision all working together at 8,600 feet.
Pack & Purpose brought veterans together for three days centered around horses, practical backcountry skills, shared work, and responsibility. Participants cared for the animals, learned to ride, tie knots, rig loads, and work with a pack string, then came together for meals and time around the fire. The horses still needed care when everyone was tired, so everyone had a role and the responsibility was real.
Our five-day Backcountry Horsemanship + Wilderness Medicine course, delivered with trusted experts, combined horsemanship, pack-animal operations, wilderness medicine, and decision-making in remote mountain terrain where weather, altitude, limited resources, and teammates all mattered.
“It felt good to contribute to something bigger than myself.”
— Golden Forge participant
One participant left with new skills, greater confidence, meaningful friendships, and a clearer mind. What stayed with me most was that he wanted to come back and give back.
What makes the work matter
What we are learning
The experiences have looked different, but the same things keep surfacing: meaningful challenge, responsibility, consequential skill, shared meals, time outside, quiet, strong relationships, and the chance to contribute.
What happens here is meant to travel. People learn skills that matter—wilderness medicine, backcountry operations, judgment under pressure, stewardship, physical training—and gain confidence by learning something difficult. They carry those skills and that capacity back into families, units, departments, teams, and communities. Golden Forge remains here after a program ends, giving people a place to return and keep building.
There is also space to slow down: to move your body, work with your hands, and eat well; to pursue something that matters to you with fewer distractions and the quiet of the mountains around you.
The work underneath
While all of that visible work was happening, I was also building the organization underneath it. That has meant governance and compliance, legal and accounting systems, donor infrastructure, insurance, participant documents and waivers, partner agreements, emergency planning, contracts, filings, and the systems required to operate responsibly.
I have been fortunate to have very good people watching our back, starting with a small, committed board of directors. I am especially grateful for our experienced legal counsel and for a treasurer who brings real financial discipline, along with an accountant helping us build the books and systems correctly from the beginning. None of that makes for a great photograph. All of it makes the visible work possible.
We also began carrying the story beyond the ranch. Filmmaker Cameron Cushman captured the land, daily ranch life, the origin of Golden Forge, and why we built it in Iron Sharpens Iron: A Golden Forge Film. And we have continued building relationships with organizations doing similar work, comparing what each of us is learning about challenge, contribution, and the value of a place people can return to.
The next chapter
I’ve learned a lot this year. We’ve been building and hosting at the same time, and keeping experiences small has helped us listen and adjust. I’ve leaned on people who know things I don’t, from wilderness medicine to getting the books right. I still have plenty to learn.
This fall, I am using that learning to decide how Golden Forge moves into 2027: what we should do exceptionally well, where expert partners should lead, how many people we can serve while protecting depth and quality, and what people and infrastructure it will take to sustain the ranch well.
I have committed significant personal resources to getting Golden Forge off the ground. The next chapter requires a broader base of support—people like Sam who keep the ranch running, trusted instructors and partners, food, maintenance, insurance, safety systems, participant support, and the ability to keep cost from becoming the reason someone cannot come.
If you supported Golden Forge early, thank you. Your belief is now visible in cabins people sleep in, trails people train on, food grown and shared around a table, skills learned, relationships formed, and a ranch that has gone further than I could have imagined a year ago.
If you have never been here, come see it.
We’re looking for people who want to take an active role in Golden Forge’s next chapter, especially through fundraising, introductions, communications, and board service. If you have the time and interest to contribute, I’d welcome a conversation.
There is still a lot to build, but one thing is clear: Golden Forge is real. People are using it. And we are only beginning to understand what it can become.
Watch Iron Sharpens Iron, our short film, for a look at the ranch and the story behind Golden Forge.
