Deer Valley Ranch

We used one of the cabins as a base for a fall getaway and it served that purpose very well. The cabin was nicely furnished, clean, and, important for me, filled with light from many windows. We had a delightful stay.

4 generations of our family have been going to Deer Valley Ranch for 50 years. It is a great place for a family vacation for all ages. You can do nothing but relax or be as busy as you can. They have two naturally heated swimming pools, 2 hot tubs, wonderful horses for expert or novice for ages 6 on up, beautiful hiking from easy to 14 000 plus mountain climbing, rafting in the most popular commercial river rafting on Arkansas River that even pick you up at your door for a ½ day of thrills.
There are 15 cabins and about that rooms in the lodge. They are comfortable, most cabins with fireplaces that come into use even but the most summer of days (air conditioning is not needed).
We have ala carte meals one per day and then fix the rest in the cabins. Our favorites and they stay the same through the years are:
Saturday dinner buffett, wrangler breakfast, lodge breakfast, deck lunch, mexican buffett, wrangler cookout, etc.
The meals are very yummy, but don’t worry as you will likely be so busy you likely will not gain weight.
We love St. Elmo, about ½ hour further up the road, a ghost town, with plenty of chipmunks to feed sunflower seeds.
The Woolmington’s started the ranch in 1950s. There offspring run in now.
We just got through spending 7 wonderful days with about 9 family members and are planning another week with more next July.
It is a Christian atmosphere. Limited availability for TV, cell phone and computer internet may drive some crazy but it is good for getting away.
There is a great summer group of college students that work at cooking, serving meals, wranglers and housekeeping supervised by the owners and some other long term staff.
It is at the base of chalk clifts and the creek is nearby.
This is rare for guest ranches to allow ala carte meal plans. They require one meal per day with other vacationers and that is good, since you can get to meet some wonderful people. Horses are option, only a couple of us ride. The falls ride for ½ day is our favorite.
You will see deer that come up to feed from your hands. A first this time was a visit by two bears in the middle of the night raiding our trash cans.
By all means, go. Take the kids, they have programs for school age through teens. There is availability of baby sitters at $ 8 per hour.