| Download PDF - Canadian Geographic Travel Magazine Download PDF - Branded in Heaven - By Chris McBeath YouTube - BIG BAR RANCH - TESTIMONIAL An Amazing Ranch in the middle of beautiful Cowboy Country The Ranch is beautiful located in the middle of the cowboy country. A very warm welcome and a really nice crew made my stay unforgetable! The Horses are amazing and so is the landscape you see on the trail rides! I really have to recommend the day rides - so much fun! Another point was the good and healthy food! I would go there in a heartbeat again! Fantastic Time We just returned from our vacation that also included a 3 day stay at the Big Bar ranch. I am a lover of horses and riding and for me Big Bar was everything that I was looking for - a real ranch experience, with people that have lived the Wild West experience. I was out riding every day and the trails that Bill (the head wrangler) showed me were astonishing. It must be one of the most beautiful hills I have ever seen. For non riders I can tell you my husband had a blast too. He spent most of his day’s outdoors, walking, taking pictures and even joined as on a 2 hour ride. Our day by day lives are hectic so for us Big Bar was a heaven of recreation and quietness. The staff was fantastic, the meals were good and varied and we had many interesting conversations around the dinner table with the Danish owners and managers. Definitely a place we would want to see again ... soon hopefully. Great Experience We camped at the Big Bar Ranch for four nights, and we absolutely loved it! The goal was to have a horseback vacation off the beaten path. The remote location made us feel like we were truly on the Western Frontier. The ranch was rustic and had a truly authentic appeal, but had all basic amenities. We rode for four days straight, with horses perfectly matched to our ability, and each day we saw new stunning vistas. The wranglers were taken right out of a Western movie and clearly loved their lifestyle. The steaks from a nearby ranch were among the tastiest we've ever eaten. In addition to horseback riding, we rode mountain bikes, hiked, and played table tennis and pool. Other guests highly recommended the canoeing, but we simply ran out of time. There were always plenty of things to do and lots of nice people to talk to. We will definitely be going back to Big Bar Ranch. Fraser Academy - Big Bar Ranch Round-up In early February the grade eight class accompanied by Mr. DePutter, Mr. Rees, Ms. Temple, Ms. Nelson and Ms. Power headed up to Big Bar Ranch for 3 nights and 4 days of horseback riding, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, tobogganing, and many other fun activities (like being branded on their old pairs of jeans on the last night!). A few excerpts from students’ writing about the experience tell the story: “I had a great time at Big Bar Ranch with all of my friends. My favorite activity was horseback riding because it was fun and new. I was really excited because I have never really done it before.” – Devin “Big Bar Ranch was a big blast for me. One of the reasons was the hospitality there was just amazing. The cabins were really good. The room that I shared with Devin had two twin beds and a bathroom with a shower, a very nice sink and a toilet! They had some great food for us. The last night we were there, they cooked a cow from their farm just for us!!! It was really good!!” - Wesley On the grade eight retreat to Big Bar ranch, we did many fun things. One of these fun activities was sledding on the hills. When we were sledding, I was by far the king, conquering all the hills. Sadly though, there was one hill I could not achieve, and fell drastically down it. In the end however, I survived and continued on dominating all the hills.” - Adam "Big Bar was a very fun and an everlasting memory that I think everyone should be able to experience. From pulling into the little winter paradise just outside of Clinton, to leaving a place that felt like a second home, we all owe a tremendous thank you to Big Bar Ranch.” – Warren “One of my favorite activities was horseback riding. Horseback riding was relaxing and exciting because we went on a long, nice walk through the forest. It was also funny because I had a very slow horse that was holding back a couple of other people. Even though it got annoying at times it was still a lot of fun.” - Tessa All the staff thoroughly enjoyed working (and playing!) with this great group of students, and want to congratulate them on being wonderful ambassadors for Fraser Academy. “A+ for Authenticity” We just spent four nights at Big Bar where we had an excellent vacation. Situated in a pristine valley in BC’s Cariboo region, Big Bar provided the best terrain for horseback riding we have yet experienced in the province. For those intent on improving their riding, Big Bar offers a superlative selection of mounts, wranglers and trails. Be sure to make your level clear to the staff. They proved equally accommodating to beginners, intermediates and advanced. Anne Freeman--the owner--and her staff will welcome you into the “family” with open arms, making the spirit of Big Bar infectious. We had lovely chats during hearty meals at large tables with fellow lodgers who mainly came from Europe (including many from the U.K.). The accommodations, while Spartan, helped us decompress completely and keep our minds on the beauty of the surroundings and the next day’s riding. For the more adventurous, Anne can arrange a three-night packtrip or a day driving cattle through--often into (!)--the bush. “Big Bar - authentic Cowboy Pack Horse experience!” Our family of 5 including our teenage son and 2 daughters aged 9 and 11 arrived in the wee hours of the morning (almost a day late as we had underestimated travel time from Vancouver in our 36ft RV!)...we were met with a hesitant welcome and it seemed as though all was not right...a few minutes later Pat (wife of Charlie the Cowboy and manager of Ranch and owner of next door cattle range) told us that they were short of cowboys and we could only head out at midday and not 10am as planned. As it happened this really suited us as we had a huge amount of laundry and Pat said that, to make up for the inconvenience, we could do the washing and drying free of charge. We had a leisurely breakfast accompanied by about 5 real live cowboys(!), also having breakfast - awesome ;-) At midday we chose our cowboy boots (!), cowboy hats (!) & steeds - mine a lovely 16 hand mare called Mollie - an appropriate mount was provided for all levels of expertise and experience. Western style took a little getting use to - especially as Mollie was so wide! Kim was positioned at the back of the ride to check that all was OK. We set of over stunning terrain and after a couple of hours arrived at our corral camp. The horses were untacked and placed in a fenced area next to us and we erected our tents while Charlie started cooking. We lit a lovely campfire and watched the sun setting whilst sipping cool beers. Charlie's T Bone steaks were huge and delicious - Pat wouldn't partake as this was 'Malcom' that we were eating - one of their calves raised on their cattle farm! Charlie is a true real live cowboy - check out the Canadian Geographic for September 08 (I think & hope it is this edition!) as it has a 2 page article all about Big Bar Ranch and Charlie with a great review! We had a comfortable night in the tents although we heard some noise in the middle of the night - when we woke in the morning we discovered that all barring 3 (Charlie's horse and me and my son's horses) had escaped and broken through the fence - hence the noise! Fortunately while we ate breakfast their location was identified and while we rode off to meet them the others headed off to find their horses by pick up truck! We had another enjoyable ride and when we got back to the Ranch we were pleasantly surprised when Pat re-imbursed us with $800 as we had arrived a day late and missed some meals but had prepaid everything (our being late was entirely our fault so we were very appreciative of this gesture!) - we would definitely recommend this place - it is a no frills and is an authentic cowboy experience if you go out on the pack trip, which is perhaps what had been missed by other travellers with bad reviews! My only comment is that we really wished that Charlie & Pat had joined us at the camp fire after cooking our great steaks as we would have loved to hear all about his experiences of being a cowboy and their lives growing up in such a spectacular place! We suspect that they were respecting our privacy, but we would have welcomed their conversation! If we find ourselves in the area we would definitely go again! Liked — The scenery and being out on the horses Disliked — Nothing Date of Stay: August 2008 Visit was for: Quality time with family Traveling group: Family with young children Your age range: 35-49 Member since: February 29, 2008 Would I recommend this hotel to my best friend? absolutely! I recommend this hotel for: Young singles, An amazing honeymoon, A romantic getaway, Girlfriend getaway, Families with young children, Families with teenagers, Tourists |
