Horse ranch vacations or cowboy vacations evolved naturally for Long Hollow Ranch. A cattle drive on a guest ranch in Oregon has appealed to folks from decades ago. As history unfolded, dude ranch family vacations grew in popularity. But I’m getting ahead of my story...

Back about 100 years ago, a small group of men got together in what was then Crook County in central Oregon. They went around buying up "starved out" farms and ranches until they had a spread that ran about 15 miles or 24 km "as the crow flies." They called their spread Black Butte Land and Livestock Company and set up the headquarters on present-day "Long Hollow Ranch". They built a large barn for hay, horses and cows, a commissary for the cowhands, and a large "headquarters" building. The original ranch house became a bunkhouse.

Some years later, when the Black Butte Land and Livestock Company broke up, the company superintendent, Mr. A. S. Holmes, was given the old Long Hollow Ranch, along with the headquarters buildings. He moved his family into the "office", and operated the ranch until his accidental death in 1932. His son, Priday, continued the work until 1963.

But, I shouldn't tell you the whole story of Long Hollow Ranch. Why not come for a visit and find out for yourself what became of that historic venture?

The headquarters house has been redesigned to accommodate up to ten guests in five bedrooms, each with a private bath. The old barn has been upgraded now to include tack rooms and staging areas for horseback riding, and the front section has been remodeled for events and weddings. The commissary is now "The Cottage".

Present day Long Hollow Ranch remains a working ranch, producing hay, running beef cattle and supporting a string of riding horses. Draft horses have been replaced by motorized machines and today, irrigating is done by wheel lines and guns, rather than by flooding as it was back then. However, you can still see remnants and reminders of the old ways.

The ranch is located about 15-20 minutes (13 miles or 21 km on a surfaced road) from the town of Sisters, but remains relatively remote and quiet. It's a great place to get away from it all and take a walk in the footsteps of the pioneers who developed this beautiful part of central Oregon's high desert country so long ago.