There’s no question that it’s a long way to Echo Valley Ranch and Spa. Close to six hours’ drive from the Lower Mainland, you head north on the 99, a highway that takes you deep into the mountains well beyond Whistler and Pemberton. You leave the highway close to the Fraser River Canyon at the turnoff to Clinton, taking a dirt road peppered with small ranches for the last 45 minutes of the route. But once you get to the ranch in BC’s Cariboo country, the silence is otherworldly. A light breeze rustles the trees and a nearby creek bubbles softly, but apart from these soothing sounds there’s complete and utter stillness in the air. It’s a silence that invites you to calm your mind, absorb the peacefulness and rid yourself of the restless energy that’s so contagious in the city.
Spellbinding Vistas
Located on a crest, Echo Valley overlooks sweeping views of Cariboo grasslands skirted by thick swaths of boreal forest. Hillsides descend into a creek surrounded by lush greenery, and between the Marble Mountains in the distance and the Fraser Canyon nearby, it’s a breathtaking location.
Ranch owners Norm and Nan Dove visited the area in 1994 and fell in love with it immediately. They bought all 160 acres right away and transformed the property from a small homestead into a luxurious, boutique ranch with cozy, log cabin-style accommodations. They built an airplane runway, a gym, an indoor swimming pool and a stable. And as the years passed they added a wide selection of innovative activities and excursions for guests, bucket list that combined Cariboo wilderness pursuits with Thai-based spa treatments and gentle yoga.
Spiritual Imprints
First Nations’ artists who have created unique works of art on the building and landscape have recognized the distinct spirituality of the site. The Doves invited indigenous artists Michael Blackstock to carve living faces on the trees, and Theo Mahood to carve intricate wooden murals on the exterior of their Lookout Lodge. The art is a symbol of the Dove’s deep respect for the indigenous stewardship of the property, and a recognition of its spiritual aura.
The Cariboo is wildlife central, a region where bear sightings are common, bighorn sheep still roam the canyon and marmots feed nearby the lodge at dusk. The ranch is home to a range of domestic animals too: three border collies, six cats, 19 horses and Lucky, a massive pet swine who, unlike his late companion, avoided a near-death bear encounter, thus earning his name. The ranch chef handpicks vegetables and herbs from the verdant vegetable garden and hothouse, while eggs come straight from the chicken coop and pasture-raised ranch cattle are harvested for the beef.
Echo Valley Ranch — Photo by Michael Bednar
Personalized Activities
Echo Valley Ranch is all-inclusive, and the range of activities is delivered one-on-one and personalized according to each guests’ preferences. Want to spend the day at the spa, enjoying one treatment after another? No problem. Prefer to venture out on foot, horseback or bike all day long? Easily arranged.
On my first evening on the ranch I headed to the pond with Darrel Nippard to try my hand at fly fishing. The water was writhing with rainbow trout and I figured it couldn’t be that hard to cast a line and catch a couple. Dusk was settling in and swallows swirled overhead as I cast and pulled in with the clumsiness of a newbie, repeatedly catching my hook in the weeds. Patiently, Nippard untangled the line, repeated the instructions and watched quietly until eventually I nabbed a fish, wrestling briefly with it before it broke free, disappearing beneath the surface.
Nippard, 54, is a former hermit who spent two years living in a hideout on the Cariboo’s Poison Mountain in 2006. During that solitary time he kept himself alive by hunting, fishing and harvesting wild onions, mushrooms and berries, life skills that made him the perfect candidate to lead ranch activities including archery, shooting, canyon guide and survivalist courses. Time with him is peppered with fascinating anecdotes of the area’s history, geography and the personalities who’ve carved a life in this remote region.
Grand Canyon of the West
On a Canyon tour we drive together on a road full of switchbacks and sheer, vertical drops. Our destination is Cougar Point, a 3,800-foot precipice overlooking the Fraser River Canyon, BC’s version of the Grand Canyon. Scorched by fire in 2009, the mountain range is rejuvenating with fresh foliage growth. Nippard stops to sample wild raspberries, black currants and crabapples growing by the roadside as he recounts the history of gold panning on the river.
We walk to an overlook where he gestures at the handful of farms on the slopes alongside the river below. “Almost everyone out here lives off grid, farming cattle and using wind turbines for energy,” he notes. The landscape is magnificent in its rawness, one full of wildlife but equally full of harsh weather and unforgiving conditions. Most of the area farmers are seniors now, Nippard says sadly. How will a younger, city-raised generation of farmers ever manage to fill their shoes?
Nippard lived and breathed this land and knows it well. On our survivalist excursion he points out kiniki, a plant favoured for Indian tobacco, yarrow, a natural antihistamine, willow (“you boil it to treat headaches”) and mullein, whose soft leaves make a great substitute for toilet paper. I taste bitter, tiny soap berries filled with vitamin C (their boiled leaves are a natural laxative) and juniper berries, best chewed to stave off thirst if you’re lost in the bush.
“Echo Valley, a destination where you have the solace and peace to collect your thoughts, appreciate the beauty and regain perspective on what really matters.”
Thai Treasures
Later that afternoon I spend a couple hours in the spa, surrendering to a Thai masseuse who leaves my body in a blissful state of relaxation. The next day I hop on an e-bike to explore the boreal forest, careening along trails fragranced by pine trees. It’s a blistering hot morning, so I hike down to the creek for a dip in the icy, fresh mountain water before saddling up for a horseback ride with Mike Christensen, ranch wrangler and general manager.
Hoofing It
Before heading out on any guest ride, Mike leads a ‘horse acquaintance’ session, explaining how to establish leadership with a horse. “Horses are living, breathing animals and we believe that any ride needs to start with a relationship – it’s not like hopping on a bike,” he says. We start my session with Monty, a 19-year-old gelding, with exercises in trust and connection, and when we’ve nailed that, we head onto the Crown Land trail.
Crossing a small creek, our horses plod steadily uphill on a forest floor carpeted in moss. A grouse startles and flutters away with a heavy beat of wings and a woodpecker chatters in the distance. Apart from this and the breath of our horses, the forest is still and the air thick with the hot, dry heat of August in the Cariboo.
It’s that magnificent stillness that stays with you at Echo Valley, a destination where you have the solace and peace to collect your thoughts, appreciate the beauty and regain perspective on what really matters. Here, luxury accommodations merge effortlessly with a fabulous selection of activities, a deep respect for the environment and an astoundingly beautiful natural arena. Visit this unique destination and you get to savour the beauty, learn new skills and leave with awe and respect for BC’s untamed Cariboo.
If You Go:
• Echo Valley Ranch is 5.5 hours drive from Vancouver and 2.5 hours drive from Kamloops.
• Open year-round, Echo Valley Ranch visits include car transfer from Kamloops, meals prepared white tablecloth-style by an expert chef, alcohol, access to all activities and spa treatments. Upon arrival guests are presented with the activity options and a daily itinerary is carefully curated on their behalf. Info: Visit evranch.com or call (800) 253-8831 for details.