Welcome to the Soldier Meadows Ranch in Northern Humboldt County. Soldier Meadowns is an oasis in the desert. Served with ample water, this place has been somewhere for as long as time. Native Americans inhabited this place before the coming of the gold seekers and settlers in the middle 1800s. The area is dotted with hot springs, cold springs and warm springs that was a magnet for game thus a prime hunting spot for the indigenous population. In the middle 1860s, a fort, was built on the site and housed soldiers from 1865 to 1868 to protect settlers passing through the region on the Lassen Applegate Trail. Today, Fort McGarry, known now as Soldier Meadows Ranch, is the center of a 500,000 acre cattle ranch and was once part of the famed Miller and Lux ranching empire. Today, it also offers the traveler a perfect place to relax and get away from it all. The ranch offers rooms and meals to those who wish to venture to the true Nevada outback. It is ranch style living at its best. Bathrooms and showers are a shared affair but they are always clean and plenty of hot water. Food is served in the dining room off the kitchen. It is ranch style food with plenty of ranch raised meat and potatoes. It is served family style and everybody eats together...guests and ranch hands alike. If you dont walk away from the table without making some new friends, then you arent doing it right. Activities in the area include hunting, ATV/four wheeling, Exploring the Lassen Applegate including High Rock Canyon, birding and wildlife viewing and just plain enjoying this massive country. On my trek a week or so ago, I took a day trip from my camp at Dufferena Ponds to Soldier Meadows. I was curious as to see if they were still in operation. The ranch changed hands recently to some out of state owners and I was wondering if they still were doing the lodging. I met the new proprietors who are pictured. Roy Bridges is the cow boss and ranch manager....this is still a working cattle ranch. His wife Kendra (with the baby) is the lodge manager and her mother Brandy Bernal (center) is the cook. Justin, (far right) is a hand on the ranch. Since I was there at lunch time during the middle of the week, they had no guests but were preparing for a full house arriving the next day. So the dog and I ate lunch together in the orchard...well, I ate and the dog just watched...every movement I made. they can be found at soldiermeadows. The website is dated but the rates are current according to Kendra and Brandy. I have stayed here at the ranch before as well as camped on the ranch near the hot springs. It is vast country and is damn hard to take photos. It is just too big for a picture to capture it. The best I can do is chronicle the places and people that make up this empty quarter of our country. Tomorrow...opals.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 01:26:58 +0000
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