The people you will find… The people on the UU Bar Ranch from day to day are the upmost genuine people around. Guests and visitors are always greeted with a handshake, and a smile. The sound of an old steel dinner bell signals twelve o’clock noon where the sound of spinning spur rowels clinking toward the dining room is soon to follow. Horse trailers parked out back, the cowhands shuffle in along with their tie strings and wild rags, skoal cans in hand. After re-fueling for the afternoon, they head back out to the pastures to doctor cattle, and tend to the herd. 
Our History… There is much to be said about the history of the UU Bar. Years ago settlers of all kinds passed through New Mexico on the Santa Fe Trail, making a long journey in the search of prosperity. Originally part of Lucien B. Maxwell’s Maxwell Land Grant, the UU Bar was part of the largest land grant ever, making its original owner Lucien B. Maxwell the largest single landowner in the Western Hemisphere. In the southeast corner of Colfax County in present day New Mexico lays the history of Rayado. In 1848 and 1849 Lucien B. Maxwell along with his friend Kit Carson would establish the township and ranch settlement of Rayado, being named for the creek on which it sat. The land would also be home to some of the US Calvary. Fort Union, the largest fort in the west sat near Rayado, and served as a safe haven for many travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. As time passed, the Maxwell Land Grant would fall into the hands of two brothers, and in 1927 Waite Phillips would buy 500,000 acres and build Villa Philmonte. He would then later give 37,000 acres to the Boy Scouts of America. The Philmont Boy Scout Ranch borders the UU Bar today, and both ranches share much of the same history, as neighbors. Phillip’s ranch would eventually pass through several ownerships over the years. It is now; under the ownership of Mr. Bob Funk that the ranch is on its way back to including much of its original acres.
The Country… Geographically, the country that the Express UU Bar covers is expansive and pristine. What we call “The High Country,” which is another term for elevated pastoral land, is a portion of the ranch that is best described by its alpine tundra which opens up to display vast, lustrous pastures. Two of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains sub ranges, the Taos Mountains and the Cimarron Range are quite near the UU Bar. The Taos Mountains span the western lobe of the Sangre de Cristos, and include the highest point in New Mexico, Wheeler Peak (13,161 feet), which is part of the small Wheeler Peak Wilderness. Taos Ski Valley lies just to the west of Wheeler Peak. The Cimarron Range lies across the Moreno Valley to the east of the Taos Mountains. It is a lower range, and the UU Bar Ranch lies on the east side of the Cimarron Range. At lower elevations, and to the East and South of the UU Bar’s High Country the terrain varies. With rolling prairies and juniper covered foothills, large flattop mesa’s, and many pastures that are the basis for the cattle that graze them.
