M2| Friday, April 3, 2020 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
L
iving on a vast
Wyoming ranch,
where the clos-
est sign of civi-
lization is a
town with a population of
roughly 260, is a lot of nat-
ural social distancing.
“We didn’t buy the ranch
for these unusual times, but
it’s a good place to be,” said
owner Bob Kaplan, who lives
year-round on this nearly
29,000-acre property with
his wife Laurence Kap-
lan. “It’s pretty normal
here.” So while much of the
rest of the luxury real-estate
market is in a deep freeze,
the Kaplans are putting their
ranch on the market now for
$19.95 million.
With a population of un-
der 600,000, Wyoming is the
least populous of all 50
states. The state had about
120 confirmed cases of coro-
navirus as of Wednesday,
and the governor has asked
people to stay home. A
spokeswoman for the Wyo-
ming Department of Health
said the state is asking peo-
ple to abide by social-dis-
tancing requirements; thereBYKATHERINECLARKEseat theater, a temperature-
controlled wine cellar, three
dining areas, a commercial
kitchen, a bar and a great
room with a huge wood-
burning fireplace.
There are four guest-
houses as well as barns and
other houses for staff. There
are also elaborate eques-
trian facilities, including a
roughly 22,000-square-foot
indoor riding arena.
While they originally en-
visioned the ranch as being
for their family, the Kaplans
began allowing some guests
on the property around
2006, after their children
(they have six between them
from previous marriages)
expressed little interest in
spending a lot of time there.
The guest ranch facility,
which charges from roughly
$550 to $850 a night per
person, became a profitable
enterprise, and helps pay for
the costs of maintaining the
ranch, Mr. Kaplan said.
Mr. Kaplan worked in the
family’s mattress business
until starting his own com-
pany, baby products firm
SassyBaby, which sold in
2002 for $50 million. He
and Mrs. Kaplan met when
she was running a compet-
ing baby products firm, and
they married nearly two de-
cades ago.
Around the same time,
the couple grew weary of
the crowds of tourists at
their property in Jackson
Hole, where Mr. Kaplan had
lived for over a decade.
They decided to flee to the
ranch, where they could
have the hiking trails to
themselves. Elk hunting was
also more challenging in the
Jackson area, since elk can
smell humans from a long
distance, Mr. Kaplan said.“Where you see people, you
don’t see elk,” he said.
At the ranch, which sits at
the foothills of the Bighorn
Mountains, Mr. Kaplan said
he spends long days during
the season in September out
on the trails bowhunting elk,
with no one but himself to
scare the animals away. On
these trips, he hikes about 6
miles a day, dressed head-to-
toe in camo. “I have been
alone, and from 300 yards
the whole herd will smell me
and leave,” he laughed. “I
brush my teeth. It must be
my breath.”
The couple own 6,600
acres of the property out-
right and have ranching per-
mits for the rest of the land,
which is government-owned.
A few weeks ago, while
the couple were preparing
to sell, they had one poten-
tial buyer come by: rapper
Kanye West. Mr. West, who
has been widely reported to
be buying up ranches in Wy-
oming, came by to scope out
this one, though ultimately
he didn’t bite, Mr. Kaplan
said. “He’s a kid in a candy
store with a five-dollar bill,”
Mr. Kaplan quipped.
The couple said they are
selling the ranch because
they are retiring and want
to do more traveling. Mr.
Kaplan, 77, said they envi-
sion spending several
months in Europe once the
pandemic has subsided and
spending more time across
the country with their chil-
dren, some of whom live in
California.
James H. Taylor of Hall
and Hall has the listing.A Cape Cod estate sells
for $20 million, setting a
price record. M10are no restrictions on show-
ing properties in the state.
Aside from driving 40
miles to the nearby city of
Worland for supplies, the
Kaplans, both licensed pilots,
travel by plane. The ranch
has its own hangar and a
5,000-foot lighted runway
for their small Cessna.
“When we do go to Billings,
we usually stop at Costco,”
Mr. Kaplan said.Back home, the couple op-
erate a chicken coop, a large
organic garden and a green-
house. They grow corn, let-
tuce, tomatoes, squash, wa-
termelon and cantaloupe,
and have a small butcher’s
shop where they prepare
meat from cattle reared on
the ranch.
There are more than 30
structures, all of which the
Kaplans built or remodeled.Mr. Kaplan estimated they
have plowed about $25 mil-
lion into the property over
the years.
The main lodge, built in
2008, is nearly 9,700 square
feet and is contemporary
western in style. The 3-story
steel building, designed to
look as though it was made
of wood, sits on a high ridge
overlooking the ranch’s
meadows. It includes a 12-Owners estimate putting
$25 million into the
property over the years.Over 30 structures on the property
! "
#$%& ' &(" ) * + , -
&, ) . *, / &(0 1%(%1%(%2 # * 3 4-*! //# .5 ! 3
6* 6
-*! *
" 7
#! #$(8(( 4-*! - 48( 9 (( :
, -
88(, 4-! , ; (0 < 88 8(818%&(2 /*
4-*! 5 - :
4=88 2 6*
6
>
*
>2 # * 3 4-*! , //#,
3
?
, 5
, -*! ,
>
3-
**-* *.
.! 6
. **-* -
**-.
*
! 3
6 ! 3, .! - *
.
.
2
. *
! ! 32 5
*
*-3
!*
2 7@- A- 3 B
-
2 4-*! . #
! -
2 C8((
1
! "
4?
//#2 4 "3
" 6
2
! "
! "
3 3
- 3
6* .5 -
>
. 2 7*
! "
?*
>
2 D
,
! "
4?
//#
?
*. 6
3
-*
6* * *! >
-*! 6
2)4/E 74#A, /
AUCTION
Previously Offered for $13.75M.
With Reserve.SELLING TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER.
In cooperation with:Listed by Betsy Fry (#BK3186857) of Sotheby’s International Realty
ConciergeAuctions.com | +1 646.760.7823A place to become...An artist, a business leader, a
teacher.Ifkidsandteenscandreamit,Boys&GirlsClubs
can help them become it. Because at our Clubs, it’s not
magicthatmakesdreamscometrue,it’sthepeople.Likeour
Youth Development Professionals who ensure our youth have
a place to feel physically and emotionally safe. A place to
belong. A place to have fun. A place to learn and grow on their
path to a Great Future.It’s about showing your true colors.
It’s not just about coloring a page...
GreatFutures.orgCLOCKWISE FROM TOP: MINDY CAMBIAR/RED REFLET RANCH (3); RED REFLET RANCHLots of Social Distancing: A Remote
Wyoming Ranch Comes on the Market
PRIVATE PROPERTIES
FOR SALE$19.95
MILLION
29,000 acres, runway
and hangar, luxurious
homeNY