Remote Writer/Artists' Cabin Retreat Month Long

Entire cabin in Cedarville, California

  1. 4 guests
  2. 2 bedrooms
  3. 2 beds
  4. 1 bath
Hosted by John
  1. Superhost
  2. 11 years hosting

Listing highlights

Self check-in

You can check in with the building staff.

Unbeatable location

100% of guests in the past year gave this location a 5-star rating.

Mountain and desert views

Soak up the views during your stay.
Spectacular 320 acre isolated working ranch in Surprise Valley, w 2 cabins, no neighbors, total solitude, awesome panoramas of lush meadows, snow-capped peaks to W, rim-rock buttes to E, exuberant sunsets. Official Dark Sky Area = great star-gazing. Warm spring-fed swimming pool, park-like lawn/trees, chickens, tame milk cows, owned by artist (painter)... Great hikes in every direction. Perfect place to relax, de-stress, de-program, be creative, be with nature, & recover your own true nature.

The space
Enjoy vast vistas, immense skies, and plenty of solitude at our historic ranch, in Surprise Valley. This small working ranch encompasses 320 acres of high desert ranch land in the far Surprise Valley. (The nearest town, Cedarville, CA, a quaint friendly town of 600 people, w all the usual amenities besides a Walmart, etc, is 17 miles distant on good roads.) The foreground view from the cabin doorstep to the W is a lush 90 acre pasture (often dotted w cattle munching away), a mile farther off are desert sand dunes bordering a dry lake playa, & 10 miles past that are the towering (10,000') peaks, often snow-capped, of the Warner Mountain Wilderness Area. The high (8,000' ) rimrock tablelands of the Hays Range rise to the E just out the back door. The cabin has off-grid electricity for lighting and fridge, and good pure potable water flowing from a natural warm (80 degree) spring up the mountain. Shade trees and lawn surround a beautiful warm spring pool for your enjoyment a few hundred feet away. Full bath with shower, sink and toilet. Wander the ranch grounds, sit on an old corral fence, hike the nearby canyons and mesas of the Hayes Range or across the valley up into The WarnerMountains Wilderness, seek out the local wild hot springs, or just relax, absorb the magic, and have an epiphany or two...

Guest access
Bathhouse, swimming pool and surrounding lawn, adjacent corrals and most of property are open for guest access. (The pasture is usually hosting 80 head of cattle, so visiting w them is possible, though not recommended...). The old ranch house, the new studio, the workshop, storage sheds, and ranch equipment and any posted areas are not open for guest incursions w/o invite...

Other things to note
There is another similar ranch cabin here that may also be available if this one is booked; you can find the description by searching for "Sanctuary Cabin at Artist's Remote Ranch Oasis."

Each cabin has its own WiFi. Hotspotting from your phone is always an option, depending on your carrier (Verizon works well).

IMPORTANT: Please don't bring/use any electric devices that use/produce heat -- toaster, coffee/espresso maker, tea kettle, electric pad or blanket, hair dryer, heater -- my electric system will not handle the extra load!

Don't get stuck out here w/o gas/water. Don't drive too fast on the dirt roads ( too fast is over 45-50). Watch what you're doing, where you're walking. Try not to do anything too stupid -- it's a long way to town. Be very cautious w fire. (That includes not smoking cigarets, inside or outside....)

We do allow dogs, but before you decide to bring your pet, we ask that you consider your dog's impact on the ranch and its residents as well. We have three canine residents and two frequent visitors, so with guests, that can add up to a lot of dogs! While we don't currently charge a pet fee, we do spend more time cleaning--indoors and out--after dogs visit. If you decide to bring your pet, please plan to keep him/her very close to your side while inside the fenced ranch area (there's TONS of space to run outside the fence) and to keep him/her off all furniture in the cabin.

Two of our dogs have the job of warding off predators, so you can expect to hear barking part of the night--never constant, not every single night. It's the price we pay to prevent being overrun by coyotes and possibly visited by mountain lions.

PROSPECTIVE WINTER GUESTS: It is beautiful here in winter, but best not to entertain romantic notions. You'll enjoy your stay more if you're the type that comes prepared for "just in case." Isolation and mud can be real. You want a solid car, preferably 4-wheel drive. The dirt road in is good, but over the course of the winter, the quality diminishes, and it can be bumpy going.

The heat in the cabin is by woodstove, assisted in the bedroom by warm water running through the concrete floor; if you come during a cooler season, you'll be managing your heat. We lay the first fire and prepare a certain amount of kindling and split wood, but you can expect to split most of your wood and kindling.

***We stock firewood, but there is an additional charge, payable directly to John, of $150/month. If you want the wood split into fireplace-sized chunks, that's an additional $50/month.***

To repeat....this ranch is really remote , off-grid, NOT your typical corporate Ritz-Carlton "Western" dude ranch "experience".... solitude, plenty of dust, various types of free-range organic wild critters in wild country, not always too close to safety (similar to hiking/camping in wilderness, except you hopefully still have access to your vehicle, not to mention a swimming pool, electricity, a fully operable kitchen, internet usually, etc, etc....)

Where you’ll sleep

What this place offers

Desert view
Mountain view
Kitchen
Wifi
Free parking on premises
Unavailable: Carbon monoxide alarm

Select check-in date

Add your travel dates for exact pricing

Rated 4.89 out of 5 from 90 reviews.

Guest favorite
This home is a guest favorite based on ratings, reviews, and reliability

Overall rating

  1. 5 stars, 90% of reviews
  2. 4 stars, 9% of reviews
  3. 3 stars, 1% of reviews
  4. 2 stars, 0% of reviews
  5. 1 stars, 0% of reviews

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars for cleanliness

Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars for accuracy

Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars for check-in

Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars for communication

Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars for location

Rated 4.9 out of 5 stars for value

Guest reviews mention

Where you’ll be

Cedarville, California, United States
Exact location will be provided after booking.

Neighborhood highlights

The neighborhood is totally devoid of humans (present company excepted..) Lots of mountains, trees, grass, sage, rabbits, coyotes, birds, clouds.....space...

Meet your host

Superhost
163 reviews
4.9 out of 5 average rating
11 years of hosting
My work: ranch/art/mind work
Speaks English, French, and Spanish
I grew up on a gorgeous ranch in an idyllic valley S of Reno many eons ago, even went to a one room schoolhouse for a few years. After high school I took off for parts less known: Stanford, Antioch College, the Haight-Ashbury scene, then an isolated homestead in far northern British Colombia for 5 yrs, hanging w the moose and grizzlies and wolves, getting a tutorial in aboriginal existence & elemental mindfulness. BC was too cloudy & wet, though, for me, so I skedaddled back to SF, started oil painting at The SF Art Institute (even came up w an MFA), in the meantime bought a nice old house for next to nothing, made a studio downstairs, lived upstairs, survived the punk scene there in the late 70's, early 80's... At the same time I bought an abandoned cheese factory for even less than next to nothing in a spectacular remote valley (Surprise V) in NE CA/NW NV to give me an escape/respite fr the onset of terminal urban dysphoria. Then off to the frenetic East Village scene in NYC for 5 years, where I flourished & nearly succumbed to the hyper-narcissistic "art world." Back again to SF (and Surprise Valley,) marriage, beautiful daughter, great gig installing trade shows at the SF convention center (super flexible hours, good money/benefits), which afforded me a glimpse of the shiny bowels of high-end capitalism & an appreciation of the (now-extinct) union movement... Eventually we added a speakeasy in the basement of my SF house ("The Undisclosed Location," it was called, had bands, performances, etc...). Always I maintained a frequent part-time presencel in Surprise Valley, & in 2000 I sold the cheese factory for an isolated abandoned oasis/ranch just over the border in NV, a fixer-upper if there ever was one, which has been the major focus of my refurbishing talents ever since... Given the encroaching gloom from the outside world, it has become more & more a splash of beauty & tranquillity in the pervasive murk, a tiny utopian negation to the prevalent cultural & political miasma we now are forced to call home. Mostly now I hole up on the ranch, except for brief forays back to what currently passes for civilization, to see my daughter/friends, & to remind myself why I am better off out here in the middle of nowhere.... I seem to have become a gregarious hermit, & unquestionably somewhat eccentric at this point, I suppose -- given the increasing empowerment of our corporate state & its zealous thought police, my ranch & myself are fast becoming anachronistic holdouts fr the former age of freedom known now nostalgically as The Old Normal....Ahhhh, those were the days... Anyway, I'm appreciative of creative self-aware individuals and free-thinkers of all types, and have an affinity for artists/writers/musicians, people who push the envelope right out of the box, so to speak.... Also, I have had a life-long interest in Eastern religions and practices (been to India and Nepal, also Europe, Mexico and Guatemala), and I value a mindful, contemplative and compassionate (and humorous!) approach to our shared endeavors here on our whirligig orb. And I still am doing paintings, so you might get a studio visit, if you wander this way, & show some interest..

John is a Superhost

Superhosts are experienced, highly rated hosts who are committed to providing great stays for guests.

Host details

Response rate: 100%
Responds within an hour
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Things to know

Cancellation policy
House rules
Check-in: 3:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Checkout before 11:00 AM
4 guests maximum
Safety & property
No carbon monoxide alarm
Pool/hot tub without a gate or lock
Smoke alarm