Clear Creek Ranch

What an incredibly magical spot. We arrived after a day in Zion, and were surprised at how close the ranch was to the park entrance. The grounds are expansive, green, and lush, which made for two happy boys who were aching to play soccer after a long several days of travelling. The pond is precious, like something out of a storybook, and we had fun paddling in the canoes amongst the ducks. Only one complaint is that the screens in the windows need to be replaced. They do not fit and leave a huge gap through which lots of biting bugs fly in at night, if the lights are on. I had to stuff paper towels into all the cracks. Other than that, a wonderful and sweet place to stay.

We used Clear Creek Ranch as a home base for hiking in Zion and Bryce in October. The views from the windows at the «Stables» at the ranch are panoramic and the grounds seemed to be well cared for. The immediate area is teeming with birds; bluebirds, wild turkeys, hawks, pheasants etc. The name «Stables» is absolutely appropriate; most of the 1^st floor bedrooms were horse stalls prior to the barn’s conversion to human housing. The stalls are outfitted with their original sliding doors with metal bars. Visual privacy is achieved with a «privacy curtain» which pulls across the stall door. The curtain allows for a modicum of privacy but certainly offers no auditory privacy from the other stall dwellers in the stable. The second floor bedrooms although small had more privacy than the first floor stalls. There are beds and bunks practically everywhere, making this a pretty good spot for a family reunion or a gathering of close friends where you need to house a crowd. The hot water for showering was plentiful and as far as I know never got tapped out. The heating system was another story. Initially the «stables» was positively roasting with the heater cranking out way too much heat. Adjusting the temperature in the house down resulted in the heating system shutting down completely. Considering the nights can be chilly and there was snow on the ground one day, it made for some chilly times for many in our group. When it rained the there were leaks that sprang up throughout the building on both the first and second floors especially bothersome when dripping on beds. If you are planning on cooking be advised that the kitchen although large and with plenty of appliances is lacking a decent set of pots; most of the pots and pans are old peely Teflon and neither of the ovens was calibrated properly (off by 100 or so degrees). The open floor plan on the first floor does provide a nice open space to gather. The «Stables» is situated on the property near the road and even though there are 1000 acres the road noise was pronounced especially at night since the acreage (I think) sits at the back of the property. There is one central bathroom near the kitchen that looked recently remodeled and was very nice. Two additional bathrooms on the first floor and one very small bathroom on the second floor provided additional options. There is a picnic area off the kitchen side of the house with a spectacular view but the smell of sewage was very strong and made sitting in the area unpleasant. With a little fine tuning the «Stables» at Clear Creek Ranch could be a much nicer place to stay.

Privately owned resort. Has two great fishing ponds and a nice camp area with the several lodges in the 1000 acre resort. At the east entrance to Zion. Nice lodges too. Family oriented — nice place to stay.