B efore saddling up for a frontier adventure, consider
making camp at the Circle View Guest Ranch, where the beauty of the Badlands National Park collides with the history and culture of the area. Circle View Guest Ranch has been in the Kruse family since the 1930s when Philip Kruse’ s grandparents purchased a 160-acre ranch during the Dust Bowl as many others were leaving the area.
“ If they wanted to make a go of life in the Badlands, they had to be on the river. So their original homestead location was up in what is now Badlands National Park,” said Amy Kruse, Philip’ s wife.
When the park boundaries were established, part of the ranch was within the border. The Kruses sold it and purchased the current ranch along the White River in the late 1930s. For years, they lived in the old Hamm Homestead Cabin, which was built in 1880.
From there, the ranch went to Philip’ s father, who was one of 12 children.
“ They were dirt poor, no shoes. They were really hardy back in those days. He ended up joining the military. He was in the Air Force, and he ended up being a bomber pilot in World War II and went from the dirt of the Badlands to flying some of the most sophisticated airplanes in the world at the time. He flew all over Europe bringing the troops home after World War II,” said Amy.
In 1960, Philip’ s father purchased a kit home from Sears and
Roebuck to build a four-bedroom, three-bath home on top of the butte overlooking the Badlands. The kit homes came in different styles and arrived disassembled with all of the supplies. Then, he had to erect the home.
That’ s where Philip was raised. As his siblings branched out to start their own ranches on neighboring land, Philip, the youngest of the eight, took over the original ranch.
Philip always loved to travel and knew visitors would enjoy the view of the park from the ranch. For years, Philip saved his money to build a bed and breakfast on top of the butte. He started building in 1996 with his own two hands and the help of others. After four years, the eight-bedroom, eight-bath bed and breakfast was complete.
Philip opened the business in 2000 with a webpage that his cousin built for him.
“ He would get maybe one or two families a week to come stay. So he was still running the ranch, taking care of the few guests that he had coming through and doing the best he could with very little knowledge of hospitality or anything of the sort. He was this old cowboy trying to open the B & B by himself,” said Amy.
In the spring of 2003, Amy came from Arizona to work as an intern for the semester at Badlands National Park as she pursued her bachelor’ s degree in Parks and Recreational Management. It was suggested that Amy and Philip meet, so they did in early April. They were married by October and have been running the guest ranch together ever since.
The beauty of the Badlands National Park collides with the history and culture of the area.
Circle View Guest Ranch has been in the Kruse family since the 1930. The ranch is located just six miles away from the main gate of Badlands National Park.
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