The Ranch at Rock Creek is definitely off the beaten path. If you’re driving, the GPS positions you between Anaconda and Philipsburg, Mont. and from there you’re guided, eventually, to a quiet, gravel road. A few miles on the left is your destination, The Granite Lodge. You check in and suddenly your car quietly vanishes, and you realize that if you really are determined to explore the surrounding 6,800 acres you had better saddle up. The Ranch has all the frills of a Ritz Carlton without caving into formalities.
City slickers yearning for wide-open spaces will find that the activities, from guided fly-fishing to hiking, rival shopping on Rodeo Drive.
To be precise, the Ranch deserves its own ZIP code. Rough and tumble rolling hills under a stunning blue skies are therapeutic.
Stop signs are replaced with gates that your guide opens and closes as you pass from pasture to pasture.
This is one dude ranch that stocks everything you need, from a well-bred horse to a handy highchair for your youngest cow-gal or guy. The “Merc” (for mercantile) is a hip gift shop with authentic spit-shined belt buckles that could have survived a few rodeos.
The elevation rises here to 5,400 feet and at one point the terrain has a sign posted, “Top of the World.” But the most popular place still seems to be the Silver Dollar, a saloon that has everything from an upright piano and screening room to a bowling alley. The decor is remarkable, from vintage magazines covering Western personalities and history to black-and-white photographs of cowboys from the past.
Jet Zarkadas, owner of Los Griego Studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico and responsible for the clever interior decorating, said she sourced saddle bags, cowboy boots and even a doctor’s bag and had many crafted into lamps, which are found throughout the Ranch. “Most of what you see I bought at local antique stores and each has its own story,” she said.
Thanks to a visionary investment banker from New York, Jim Manley, the Ranch evolved from a dream to a reality. When he purchased the existing ranch he made major changes from top to bottom, making no more than 70 guests feel at home. The accommodations range from nine spacious rooms in the Granite Lodge to three-bedroom private homes and more rustic canvas-sided cabins and bunkhouse-inspired cabins.
The rates hover around $800 a day per person with some adjustments made for holiday packages, children and nannies. Transfers by van from the Butte or Missoula airport are $350 per car each way.
Between fishing for trout or foraging for divine homemade desserts such as freshly baked apple crisp you can disconnect for a spell. In short this is the perfect moment to leave your Smartphone in your saddlebag and take the high road to true natural splendor.
The Ranch at Rock Creek: 888.757.2624; www.theranchatrockcreek.
Pam Price’s recent guidebook is “Day Trips from Los Angeles,” www.globepequot.com