Tuesday 2 December 2008

Tuesdays for Travis - Douglas Lake Ranch, British Columbia

Douglas Lake Ranch is a four hour drive from Vancouver, accessible by highway and is located in the interior of the province of British Columbia close to Merritt. For those with a pilot’s license, a private paved airstrip is available, which is 4,500 feet in length.

Established in 1884, Douglas Lake Ranch is the largest, privately owned ranch in Canada with 350,000 acres and 20,000 head of cattle. The ranch has a staff of 16-18 cowboys responsible for the movement and care of the cattle. As all cattle work is done with horses, each cowboy has a string of 10 horses that are rotated during the year.




To maintain their impressive herd of cattle, Douglas Lake Ranch utilizes careful management of the natural grasses, including the indigenous Bluebunch Wheatgrass, which are resilient to the cold winters and dry summers.

The Ranch provides tours, movie film locations, and offer fly fishing on 12 private lakes, promoting catch and release. There are three fishing seasons: spring, summer and fall.

For accommodation, they have several cabin locations throughout the property for up to approximately 65 people, plus 24 serviced RV sites and over 50 campsites.



Research: douglaslake.com.

18 comments:

Reya Mellicker said...

Those must be some very happy cows.

Thanks as always for your great research and beautiful essays. Happy December!

Tess Kincaid said...

Beautiful.

I enjoyed the narrator's great Canadian accent! :^)

Charles Gramlich said...

I grew up in a place much like this, although with somewhat fewer cows.

WH said...

i have never been to the norhwest, let alone vancouver. i hear it's paradise from nearly every friend and family member.

Rune Eide said...

That sounds like an immense ranch! But the, Canada is immense. I got my first impression of that when I flew from Copenhagen to Seattle. It took about nine hours and we passed over the northern end of Greenland. About half the flight was crossing Canada from the North-east to the South-west.

Travis Erwin said...

Cos to eat and fish to catch. My idea of utopia.

laughingwolf said...

canuck accent, my ass :P lol

been to merritt many times, no interest in the ranch, other than it's in beautiful country :D

Barbara Martin said...

Reya, happy enough until loaded onto a trailer to be shipped to the abbatoir.

Willow, well, as Tony aka LaughingWolf, pointed out below the narrator's accent is not Canadian. I was waiting for someone else to pick up on it. Certainly the accent has a French covering, but its not French-Canadian. The narrator has been living in France for many years and came back for a visit.

Barbara Martin said...

Charles, I have always liked the area and the fact this ranch does the cattle herding the original way, not with all terrain vehicles.

Billy, it is paradise indeed. Take a vacation there and you won't be disappointed.

Barbara Martin said...

RuneE, the ranch is probably larger than the 350,000 acres with the leased land from the Crown and the First Nations.

Travis, it seems I found the right place for you.

Tony, I noticed it, although knowing the narrator lived in France, and decided to see if anyone else caught it.

In the 60s and 70s I would go to the cutting horse competitions to see Mr. Woodward ride his expensive Quarter Horses. Too bad his stores folded.

I like the concept of ranching with cattle herds and horses because my great-grandfather started up a ranch in central Alberta in 1904. Its in the blood.

Cloudia said...

Wonderful country I'd love to visit someday!
Aloha-

Shelley Munro said...

It looks like a beautiful area. Hubby would enjoy the fishing.

Sekhar said...

Good one :)

pattinase (abbott) said...

I've been to Vancouver, which we loved, but not up here. Sounds great.

David Cranmer said...

Barbara, You have given me at least fifty great ideas for vacation spots. Now to just find the time. (deep sigh there)

BernardL said...

An extraordinary way to run a ranch.

Barbara Martin said...

Cloudia, this part of the interior of BC I like as Kelowna and Kamloops tend to be deserts if not irrigated.

Shelley, this is my idea of paradise.

Sekhar, thank you.

Barbara Martin said...

Patti, the place is also open in the winter.

David, a busy man needs his vacations and be certain to make time for them.

Bernard, I expect to keep the ranch whole like this in a viable form these methods work.