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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Western Pleasure


Three log cabins are available at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch. All are isolated among the pine trees but still close to the main lodge.
 (Photos courtesy of Western Pleasure Guest Ranch / The Spokesman-Review)
Mike Brodwater Correspondent

“There’s a place called North Idaho where people who live there know,

What the meaning of life is really about.

And even if you are blind, when you ride above the timberline,

You can see it’s Gods country there ain’t any doubt.”

Leonard Wood

What defines a 100 percent Idaho business? Is it money from Idaho that finances the business or employees that own and run it? Is it a third- or fourth-generation family born and raised in Idaho and is still running the same business? Is it a ranch or farming operation? Western Pleasure Guest Ranch can answer yes to all the above questions and you can stay there and enjoy 100 percent Idaho hospitality.

Although the ranch has been in operation since the 1940s and as a guest ranch since 1990, there is a fair chance that you’ve never heard about it. In fact, most of their guests come from somewhere other than Idaho.

The clientele are from Oregon, Washington (mostly the Seattle area) and from such faraway states as New York, California, Arizona and Texas. Even overseas clients find this isolated ranch about 14 miles northeast of Sandpoint, but most North Idaho residents don’t know it exists.

In the early 1900s, much of North Idaho was logged by Humbird Lumber Co., and the ranch occupies land that was once part of the company’s holdings. Rails and grades were built so that narrow-gauge steam engine locomotives could haul the logs out. Then the cut land was burned.

Today, while exploring the ranch on horse or by foot, evidence of the logging activity is still present. Trails by the cabins are built on the long-abandoned rail grades. Large, blackened stumps of trees that were hand-cut are found around the lodge. Apple trees – the progeny of loggers’ discarded apple cores – can be found.

Roley and Janice Schoonover are third-generation ranch owners. Janice’s grandfather, Riley Wood, was farming in Colorado and read that there was cut-over land for sale in the Idaho panhandle. In 1940 he brought his family here and started a ranch operation. Janice’s father, Jim Wood, took over the 960-acre ranch and bought another ranch in 1978. Now Janice’s brother, Leonard Wood, operates the cattle ranch. Roley and Janice use their grandfather’s first ranch land for guests. Finally, Janice’s children and her niece – the fourth generation – are working at least part time at the ranch.

“It was there many years ago in the hills of North Idaho

That grandpa decided to give it a chance so he hollered out wagons Ho!

Toward the mountains of Idaho,

Come hell or high water we’ll have us a Ranch.”

If you are looking for a close-by overnight get-away, consider this ranch an option. Actually, you have three accommodation options for staying at the ranch. There is a huge, 10,000-square-foot log lodge which Jim Wood designed. On the second floor are four guest rooms, each with its own bathroom, and a large lounge area that separates the rooms.

Each room has a Western theme. For example, “The Duke” room dedicated to John Wayne includes a silhouette of an armed cowboy whose shadow can be seen on the window blinds.

The second accommodation option includes three log cabins that are set close to the lodge. They each have a kitchen, fireplace and log furniture. Two couples could easily share a cabin and have privacy. Each cabin can accommodate up to six with one bedroom, a loft, furnished kitchen and a wood stove for heat. Finally, across the main road and completely isolated from the rest of the ranch, is a home for rent. It is secluded on a hill overlooking tree-lined pastures where cattle, horses and sometimes deer graze.

A winter escape to the guest ranch is well-described in their brochure, “As North Idaho is transformed by a blanket of white let our ‘gentle giants’ treat you to a horse-drawn sleigh ride or indulge in cross country skiing, snowshoeing or downhill sledding. At the conclusion of your adventure, come on in the lodge for a hot drink and popcorn next to a cracking fire.”

A short drive away is Schweitzer Mountain Resort, one of the best ski areas in the Northwest.

There is no Internet service in the rooms for guests. There is no VCR for your favorite movie, no TV – not even a telephone in your room. But there are warm, comfortable rooms or log cabins with free standing wood stoves, horseback rides, hikes and, in the winter, cross country skiing, sleigh riding and snowshoeing, as well as bright stars at night.

For some, that defines a 100 percent Idaho overnight experience. Western Pleasure Ranch and its third- and fourth-generation Idaho staff can make it happen.

“Now when I look at that boy of mine or walk ‘neath a tall pine,

It reminds me of Grandpa and the chance that he took.

‘Cause as sure as I’m here today and forever I plan to stay,

I see Dad and Grandpa wherever I look.”