Oregon: Ranch resort promises clubs, hoofs and luxury

Maybe by now your summer is booked. But up in the high desert of Oregon, a luxury ranch resort is eager to lasso you for fall.

It’s called Brasada Ranch, and it’s an 1,800-acre hotel, golf and vacation-home development at Powell Butte, Ore. That’s about 15 miles northeast of Bend in the high desert, with distant views of the snow-capped Cascades.

It includes 80 cabins (one to three bedrooms, families welcome) and eight suites (500 square feet and up; children under 14 forbidden) in its Ranch House Lodge.

The resort opened several years ago, positioned principally as a vacation-home retreat (and they’re still eager to sell you a house or land nearby). But after the real-estate market faltered in the recession, the resort changed hands last year. With the new leadership has come a push to sell the place as a destination hotel. The new owner, Northview Hotel Group, has upgraded the spa and lobby and landscaping.

To keep you busy, there’s the 18-hole Canyons Golf Course (designed by Peter Jacobsen and Jim Hardy), an equestrian center with 35 horses, mountain-biking and fishing. Ranch ponds are stocked in summer with bass, bluegill and crappie.

There’s a fine-dining restaurant and a more casual restaurant (called Range and the Ranch House, respectively; both opened earlier this summer). There’s a spa, an athletic center, indoor and outdoor pools and two tennis courts.

When I called to check on rates, the reservationist told me that cabin rates will drop substantially in fall. Checking for the weekend of Sept. 23, I found one-bedroom cabins starting at $259 – down from $379 in the peak of summer. For a suite, the price was $299, the same as in summer.

Info: Brasada Ranch, (541) 526-6865.