NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, July 24, 2019
A17
Minam River Lodge
Photos by Ellen M Bishop
Minam River Lodge, perched above a wet meadow, off ers an expansive deck with a view of the Minam River Canyon.
Wilderness
luxury succeeds
Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa County Chieftain
It is luxury in a most unas-
suming place, a respite seem-
ingly built of wilderness and
fresh air. The Minam River
Lodge, a new incarnation of
a 1950’s classic log hunting
lodge, opened last summer
after six years of rebuilding
and renovations.
Sequestered in the Eagle
Cap Wilderness, the lodge
is accessible only by hik-
ing, horseback or airplane.
It’s an 8.5-mile trek from the
Moss Springs Trailhead near
Cove, and a 25-minute fl ight
from Enterprise by short
takeoff and landing (STOL)
planes. There’s no Inter-
net. No cell phone service.
“It’s like dropping into the
18th century in some ways,”
remarked one guest.
The lodge’s transfor-
mation from a revered but
ugly duckling hunting lodge
to an elegant solar-pow-
ered swan has been breath-
taking. Portlander Barnes
Ellis purchased the place—
including the surrounding
126 acres—for $500,000 in
2011. He decided to com-
pletely rebuild the lodge on
the footprint of the original
structure and add multiple
well-appointed rustic cabins.
It would be a high-end des-
tination, he said. Ellis added
solar power, and a green-
house to grow organic veg-
etables. He resurrected the
crumbling barn. He tore
down the original weath-
er-beaten lodge and fl ew in
huge pine beams to give the
reborn building a warm and
welcoming elegance that
echoed its hunting lodge her-
itage. He hired local artisans
and landscapers to give the
new building local fl air. He
built the new cabins from
local logs harvested on the
property. By some estimates,
he invested around $6 mil-
Minam Lodge Manager Anna Kraft pours a glass of Elk Cove
wine for a diner.
Bread is baked fresh every morning at the Minam River Lodge.
lion into his dream. In Wal-
lowa and Union Counties
there were doubts about his
sanity.
But after just 1½ years of
operation, the answer to the
lingering local question of
“But will anybody go there”
is a resounding “Yes.” The
16 rooms—including cabins
and “glamping” wall tents—
accommodate a total of 34
guests, and are fully booked
for the season. The fi ve-
course wine-pairing dinners
are sold out. And if you want
a massage from the full time
massage therapist, make a
reservation well in advance.
There may be quiet moments
here, but there are no dull
ones.
“Our biggest draw is for
people to come here and
completely unplug,” said
Lodge manager Anna Kraft.
“It’s hard for some people
to do, but after three or four
days they kinda get the hang
of it.” The lodge provides
access to hammocks, books
(the old-fashioned paper
kind) and miles of wilder-
ness hiking trails to ease the
transition.
Staying here is neither for
the faint of heart nor faint of
wallet. If you are on a bud-
get, you can glamp in a wall
tent, replete with queen-
sized bed, fresh linens, and
battery-powered
lamps,
for $195 per night. Rooms
upstairs in the lodge are $245
unless you reserve the Eagle
Cap master suite, complete
with a hammered copper
bathtub, for $495. If you pre-
fer something a bit more pri-
vate, cabins go for $395 to
$595 per night.
Breakfast is priced at $25.
Lunch does too, and can be
made up in picnic or hiking
format. The regular dinners,
produced to perfection by
Chef Karl Krause, are $75.
Special dinners, such as the
fi ve course wine-paired din-
ner cost more. But consid-
ering that everything at the
lodge is either fl own in,
packed in, or grown there,
these prices for wilderness
luxury seem pretty equi-
table. What is not grown
on the property is locally
sourced and sustainably pro-
duced, including beef from
Carmen Ranch in Wallowa,
poultry from the Hawkins
Sisters, also in Wallowa, and
buffalo from Stangels Ranch
in Enterprise. Guests tend to
rave about the food. “This is
HOME-MADE ricotta, and
it’s absolutely the best thing
I think I’ve ever eaten” one
diner opined – and that was
just the appetizer course
for last week’s fi ve-course
meal, paired with Elk Cove
wines.
Despite its expense and
haute cuisine, an air of infor-
mality still pervades Minam
River Lodge. The big doors
of the main building open
completely to provide access
to the expansive deck. Dogs
of staff and guests are wel-
come to hang out – though
crossing into the dining area
proper is forbidden. Hik-
ing to the Minam River and
along the trails is encour-
aged. The lodge has even
produced its very own hik-
ing guide for guests.
Guests come from around
the country and around the
world, said manager Kraft.
“Many of our guests come
from the Northwest, espe-
cially the Bend area, and
Portland. Some are from
places like San Francisco
and Boston,” she said.
“We’ve had people from
New Zealand and France.
But it makes us really happy
when local people come to
stay, eat, or just drop in.”
And the people who
stay at the Minam River
Lodge are equally enthusi-
astic. “This place is a bucket
list experience,” said Bob
Vosburgh, who had fl own
in from McCall Idaho. “It’s
simply not to be missed.”
“We took
our daughter to
Dr. Allen on several
occasions, and we
were extremely
happy with the care
we received…”
-Enterprise Mom
Dr. Allen is a family
practice physician and
doctor of osteopathic
medicine.
Call Dr. Allen to
schedule your appointment today!
541-426-7900
Mountain View Medical Group
603 Medical Parkway
(next to Wallowa
Memorial Hospital)
Enterprise, Oregon 97828
We treat you like family
601 Medical Parkway, Enterprise, OR 97828 • 541-426-3111 • www.wchcd.org
Wallowa Memorial Hospital is aQ equal opportunity Hmployer and provider
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