Golden Forge

05/31/2026

The children Captain Mike Parrish (right) pulled from the rubble in Oklahoma City in 1995 were Dylan’s age.

Dylan (left) grew up to become a Marine.

They found each other on a mountain in Colorado.

That’s who comes here.

05/29/2026

Some days you need people. Some days you need this. We’ve got both. Who wants to ride bikes?

05/28/2026

Learning that this is what it ‘feels’ like when people gather around something worth building.

05/27/2026

This is what community looks like. Guffey always shows up. Thank Tom, Gary and Tim (for supervising), Kurt, David, Sandra, Morgan, Clinton, The Longs, …and as always Sam for helping bring this crazy vision to life.

05/11/2026

Golden Forge is sponsoring seats for veterans and first responders in the June 8–12 Backcountry Horsemanship & Wilderness Medicine course — a five-day intensive operated by Rugged Mountain Outfitters in partnership with Orion Medical Consulting, hosted here on the ranch at 8,600 feet in the Colorado Rockies.

This course was built around a simple reality: when you’re hours from the nearest road and something goes wrong, you need to be able to manage horses and pack animals under stress, assess a patient in the field, control hemorrhage, treat trauma, and plan an evacuation — without waiting for help to arrive.

Over five days you’ll integrate basic horsemanship and pack animal operations with wilderness medical response, because those skills don’t exist in isolation in the backcountry.

You leave with two certifications: Wilderness First Aid and a Certificate of Completion in Basic Horsemanship and Pack Animal Operations.

More importantly, you leave ready.

Spots are limited. Email info@goldenforge.org by May 23 to be considered for a sponsored seat.

For general registration, contact ruggedmountainoutfitters@gmail.com

04/30/2026

A patch of ground, leveled by hand, where you show up and do hard things — on purpose.

We’ll be layering in programming from this summer—because strength should translate outside, not just inside four walls.

We’ll have a handful of memberships to give away for folks who want in.

Now we need a name.

Current contenders: The Grinder. The Chesty. The Quigley.

I’m leaning The Grinder… but I’m open to being overruled.

Marines, weigh in. Everyone else—just pick the one that sounds the worst.

04/19/2026

Nobody told them visiting hours ended at 0600 👀

04/16/2026

Morning ritual ran a little late.

The ranch doesn’t quite feel complete until the colors are up

04/14/2026

You don’t fix what’s broken.
You forge what wasn’t there.

Golden Forge
163 acres · 8,600 ft · Colorado Rockies

04/13/2026

Hard terrain heals. It also demands real skill. At 8,600 feet, remote is not a concept at Golden Forge—it’s the condition. Backcountry competence and nervous system regulation are not separate things. When you know you can handle what the terrain throws at you, something shifts. This training belongs here. Sign up.

June 8th is less than two months away, and registration for our Backcountry Horsemanship and Wilderness Medicine course is still open. If you have been considering this training, now is the time to commit.

This five-day intensive was developed in collaboration with Orion Medical Consulting to prepare outfitters, guides, hunters, search and rescue personnel, and anyone operating in backcountry environments for the realities of remote terrain. When you are hours from the nearest road and something goes wrong, you need to know how to manage your horses and pack animals under stress, assess a patient in the field, control hemorrhage, treat trauma, and plan an evacuation without waiting for help to arrive.

This program integrates basic horsemanship and pack animal operations with wilderness medical response because those skills do not exist in isolation when you are working in the backcountry. You will earn your Wilderness First Aid Certification and Certificate of Completion in Basic Horsemanship and Pack Animal Operations, but more importantly, you will walk away with the confidence to handle emergencies when evacuation is not immediate.

For registration instructions, reach out to ruggedmountainoutfitters@gmail.com.

Mitch Vazquez
Orion Medical Consulting
Jimmy Gruenewald
Golden Forge