Eagle Ridge Ranch provides a few select families the opportunity to own and live a very special lifestyle ranch experience. At this real mountain working cattle and hay ranch, the owners can revel in the scenery, wonder at the many species of wildlife sharing the environment, and participate in the many recreational activities on your own 6000* acre ranch. Then, when an extended vacation calls, the owner can simply leave without worry as the ranch is professionally managed. This “come and go” lifestyle is one of life’s most treasured and rare opportunities. Only fifteen like-minded families will EVER have this experience as the ranch is preserved forever.
Get your cowboy hat ready and your cowboy boots on because you will become part of a hundred year old ranching tradition on the third largest ranch in Gunnison County, a Ranch Preserve which earned a Governor’s Smart Growth and Development Award for its sensitive land use approach.
ERR is the largest conservation easement in the County and preserves forever the viewshed, the water rights, mineral and timber rights and prevents further subdivision of the land. Today’s views will remain the same for generations to come.
Eagle Ridge Ranch is surrounded by National Forest, BLM and state land and is set up as a protected wildlife preserve with exceptional recreational opportunities including fishing, hunting, hiking, riding, and cross-country skiing on ten miles of the ranch’s maintained trails and adjacent public lands.
The West’s First and Still the Best Ranch Preserve
As apart of ERR, you’ll frequently observe real working cowboys herd cattle over vast open ranges of the ranch. Sometimes you’ll see them up close and personal as the cattle drive progresses down the county road as the cattle are moved from pasture to pasture. In order to practice good stewardship rotational grazing allows the cattle to go gentle on the land. In the meadows, where the ranch manger and crew harvests 1,000 tons of native grass hay every year, you’ll watch our own resident elk herd. Bulls, cows and calves live in the Wildlife Corridor along the creek running through the ranch. No hunting is allowed in this area of the ranch so the elk have found a safe haven to raise their young. In the early fall, you’ll experience thee rare treat of hearing the bulls bugle and the cows respond with their gentle mewing. Few ever experience this amazing mating ritual, let alone observe it in their own private preserve.
An fishing easement on both sides of the 2 ¼ mile creek allows you to fish the waters for the three species available; brookies, browns, and rainbow. A fish biologist strategically placed many dump truck loads of large boulders in the stream to create optimum fish habitat. Fishermen will appreciate the benefits of these many Reichmuth structures. Native fish grew from an average 8” length to 19-21inches on average after the improvements of this fishery. Our expert fly fishermen practice catch and release, though it is not mandated. In addition to the creek a three acre trout rearing pond is perfect for grandkids to experience that first catch and to land a lunker for Mom or Grandma to grill.
Some of the owners at ERR have ATV’s and enjoy trail rides all over the ranch but especially in the 2500 acres of the ranch designated as the Primitive Area. Behind locked gates you can explore much of the ranch on wonderful groomed dirt roads, safe and comfortable enough for the city girls in your family. For the more adventurous, there are more challenging trails taking you to the tops of the ridges and mountain for unparalleled views of the West Elks, the Castles and in one place at the top of the ridge, you can see The Maroon Bells. These same trails are fantastic hiking and horseback trails. Even though you are exploring the wild, wild, west, you’ll be comfortable in knowing you are minutes from home.
A favorite ranch adventure is a day trip to the log cabins in this same Primitive Area. Two cabins, one named Longview for its expansive mountain views, the other named Cozy Cabin because of its location alongside a canyon and Cunningham Creek. Both cabins are fed by native spring water and powered by propane fed generators for electricity. Propane refrigerator, stove and hot water are always on. You can prepare your picnic in the fully equipped kitchen, and even spend the night in the two bedroom (plus sleeping loft) cabins, complete with the ability to enjoy a hot shower and a warm meal after a day hiking or hunting. The wood stove provides a quick warm up on a cold day and the perfect ambience for a glass of wine or cocktails at end of day. Deer, elk, bear, fox, coyote, and many species of birds call this area home.
During the fall, hunters on surrounding public land drive the elk and deer in to this area, making it both a haven for the animals and a productive big game hunting experience. This is big country and it takes a skilled hunter to down an animal. You will enjoy many years of challenging and rewarding big game hunting in this private hunting reserve. The ranch has created guidelines on the size of hunting parties and their frequency assures a fair hunt and also helps to manage herd quality and growth.
The ranch is managed with three equally important principles guiding all ranch decision making:
A. Continued profitable agriculture
B. Enhanced wildlife carrying capacity
C. Recreational use by the owners.
For example: by reducing the number of cattle grazing on the ranch, and developing and maintaining numerous mountain springs in the area, the ranch provides adequate forage and clean water sources for wildlife as well as cattle.
The History of Ohio Creek Valley
The history of the Ohio Creek Valley is very interesting. Many tie hack cabins dot the landscape. These small structures housed the workers who were making rail road ties for the rail line that was built up the Ohio Creek Valley in the 1800’s. It’s fun to explore them and to seek out places where the old timers may have carved their names into the logs or onto the bark of nearby aspen. Remnants of an old sawmill are there to explore, too, including an old log cabin at the site, named Whistle Pig, for the creatures that now live within. The ancient fireplace, made from native granite and crystalline rocks found near the site is a site to behold.
Located only seven miles from town by paved road the ranch is easy to access. Gunnison contains Western State University, an great golf course, a commercial airport with an extensive private jet center, shopping and an exciting PRCA rodeo every summer.
The historic mining town of Crested Butte is only 28 miles from the ranch. Here there are numerous excellent restaurants, a prime mountain Country Club, good shopping and one of the most exciting ski hills in the US: (Crested Butte Mountain Resort) CBMR.
Eagle Ridge Ranch provides that rare combination of extensive recreational amenities, solitude, and wildlife on your own 6000 acres – much like owning your own national park- along with easy access to a college town and airport, as well as close proximity to a nationally important ski town with all of its exciting activities. Not another ranch in the US west can make those claims. Not another ranch can offer the value of Eagle Ridge Ranch.
*4900 acres deeded land plus 1100 acres permit equals 6000 acres under ranch management. In addition, adjoining USFS land to the east and west of the ranch, available for owner’s recreational use, totals tens of thousands of acres. The West Elk Wilderness area is one the most treasured landscapes in all of North America.
More Details About the Offering
Homestead #11 features an exquisite 4,000 sq. ft. three-level modern mountain home with outstanding unobstructed views including Carbon Peak and the Anthracite Range. The home features state-of-the-art technology, construction and architecture including video-monitored entry and security system, heated drive and front walkways, water and fire-proof decks, master suite steam shower, exercise room with sauna, moon and star observation deck, purified water with reverse osmosis system, gourmet entertainment kitchen, heated garage with work-bench and more. The original developer’s “choice” location to build an exquisite residence, Homestead #11 was and remains the most desirable homestead location within the Eagle Ridge Ranch.
At the highest elevation at 8,800 ft., it provides spectacular, unobstructed, panoramic mountain and Ohio Creek valley views not found anywhere else in the Ranch. The main entrance into Homestead #11 gracefully climbs along a rustic fence line two and one quarter miles through open country and Aspen groves up to the main residence. The professionally engineered road up to the home site has a seven percent maximum grade or less, allowing year-round accessibility. Combining comfortable residential mountain living luxury with the convenience of an efficiently designed floor plan to accommodate home business and office activities, the 4,000 sq. ft. custom main residence was designed in a mountain-modern style with three levels providing spectacular unobstructed views of Carbon Peak and the Anthracite Range in the Ohio Creek Valley.
On the ground level, the front door opens into a large ceramic tiled 20′ x 10′ foyer with pitched ceilings and coffered distinctive lighting that open west towards the garage and east towards two guest bedrooms. The west side of the home at ground level has an extra large walk-in laundry/mud room with utility sink, storage cabinets and room for a sewing and folding tables and garage access. A three-car attached garage has its own heaters as well as in-floor radiant heat, work bench, electricity and windows to allow for natural light. A hot tub is located on the ground-level deck facing southeast. From the ground level, a staircase leads up to the main living level with a gourmet entertainment kitchen, great room, large master bedroom and bathroom suite, two large offices with double phone line outlets and an additional full bathroom. The well thought out gourmet kitchen has modern details including granite counter-tops, large breakfast island with prep sink, walk-in pantry, large windows and a door which opens onto the south-facing deck. The west-facing master suite has cathedral ceilings and large windows providing views of Carbon Peak and the Anthracite Range and the master bathroom has large walk-in closets.
A staircase at ground level leads down to a large basement with a 12′ ceiling and large east-facing windows and a bathroom, storage area, 6-person steam sauna room, mechanical room and double doors that lead to an outdoor patio with concrete pad. The home has twenty zones of in-floor radiant heat, a maintenance-free steel roof and multiple fire and waterproof decks providing outdoor access to breathtaking vistas and fresh mountain air from various vantage points throughout the floor-plan.
State-of-the-art technology was implemented in the household/drinking water and landscaping water systems at Homestead #11 to ensure that the residents receive the purist, safest and most abundant supply of water available in western-slope high country living.
Located in the basement, a 5,000-gallon underground storage tank, with an extensive filtration, purification, water softener, and reverse osmosis system, pumps water continuously up to the main residence from a constant flowing spring located on Eagle Ridge Ranch. In addition, extensive landscaping around the home is watered via a high-tech pump and pipeline system that can move 15,000 gallons per day of river water one mile up to the home site where it is captured in an additional underground tank and stored for use when landscape irrigation is needed.
