Boulder Ridge Ranch: Luxury lodging for up to six

Summary:
Boulder Ridge Ranch is a luxury vacation rental home for up to six guests in the heart of the Big Bend Region. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, spacious living room, open dining area and kitchen. large studio, covered parking, and lots of shaded outdoor space. Located on 80 acres on Terlingua Ranch. Solar powered with a robust battery bank, power inverter system, and an auto-start back-up generator.

The Space:
Enjoy a Big Bend vacation in a custom built, beautifully designed, and comfortably furnished family luxury home. Once you pull through the gate onto Boulder Ridge Ranch, you won't want to leave. This rental home has everything you could want for a relaxing and memorable Big Bend getaway. Situated on 80 acres of beautiful, rugged, and private land, this property provides privacy, seclusion, comfort, and unique style.

There is plenty of room for up to six discerning guests. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, full kitchen, indoor and outdoor dining tables, spacious living room, lots of covered patio space, a separate building with a studio space and kitchenette, covered parking. 80 acres, endless views, total privacy, and so much more.

The one downside of this property is a bit of a bumpy rock road to get here. We recommend high clearance, AWD, or 4WD. However, a typical sedan can easily make the drive if the driver is cautious, watches the road closely. Either way, don't rush the drive. Take it slow and easy. Driving too fast down the rock road will be uncomfortable you and your vehicle. The views are great all along the drive, which is another good reason to take it slow. Once at the house, you'll agree that the rough drive is worth it.

All linens are provided and the kitchen is stocked with everything but your groceries.

The Neighborhood:
TERLINGUA RANCH: Located between Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park and including much of the town of Terlingua, Terlingua Ranch is a private subdivision of over 190,000 acres, divided into 9,500 tracts owned by about 5,000 individuals and crisscrossed by 1,100 miles of dirt and rock roads. Tracts range from five acres to several hundred acres. It is some of the most rugged and scenic land in Texas.

Back in the 1960’s, the Ghost Town and much of what later became “Terlingua Ranch” was owned by racing legend and car designer extraordinaire, Carol Shelby and some of his friends. The decided to promote the area by holding a chili cook-off in the then abandoned Ghost Town. That little stunt of a cook-off grew into CASI (Chili Appreciation Society International) which now hosts nearly 500 chili cook-offs around the nation and internationally, all leading up the championship cook-off every year in Terlingua. Shelby and friends later subdivided the Ranch and started selling it off to hunters and rugged naturalists. Over the decades, the area was reborn and an eclectic community of nature lovers, artists, musicians, adventurers, and folks just wanting to escape from “civilization” has grown and started to resettle this rough country.

People have come and gone. New buildings have risen while others have fallen, Dreams have been realized and others crushed. Through it all, the land remains. The harsh desert and vast openness encourages positive development and slowly swallows up and recovers from past abuses. The old cinnabar mine sites and ranching outposts persist as relics and ghost towns, some redeveloped, some carefully preserved, and others dissolving back into the desert. Abandoned dreams eventually become points of interests for those of us that stumble upon them decades later. Terlingua Ranch is a bizarre mix of old and new, good and bad, growth and decline, all completely unregulated. Modern homes with high values and stunning designs stand beside dilapidated do-it-yourself mistakes and abandoned ruins of the 1800’s and early 1900’s.

The landscape is even more varied than the people and the structures. Rugged mountains, deep canyons, wild arroyos, dry and wet creeks, peaceful valleys, breathtaking badlands, moonscape like mud flats, the remains of ancient volcanoes, and fossilized ancient seabeds. All of it nurturing a vast array of plant life and wildlife. Around every corner and over every hill lies new and unexpected surprises.

The Ranch is now home to a few hundred hardy souls. It is also dotted with a diverse array of vacation rental lodging options and campsites. Like the diverse land, they range in quality, style, value, and price. A few are amazing dream destinations. Some are good places to sleep. Others are the stuff of nightmares. (We don’t manage any in the nightmare category.)

Big Bend Vacation Rentals started out in 2007 and initially managed three of the first four vacation rentals in the Terlingua and Terlingua Ranch area. We now manage dozens out of a couple of hundred options. We represent dozens of property owners and have hosted tens of thousands of guests. You can trust us as managers, and you can rely on the properties that we manage. We have become very selective about the properties and the property owners that we add to our portfolio.

Getting Around:
We recommend high clearance and 4WD for the bumpy rock road leading to the property. However, a typical sedan can make the drive if the driver is cautious, watches the road closely. Either way, don't rush the drive. Take it slow and easy. Driving too fast down the rock road will be uncomfortable you and your vehicle. The views are great all along the drive, which is another good reason to take it slow. Once at the house, you'll agree that the rough drive is worth it.

Interaction with Guests:
We manage several properties and live a few miles away. We are available by phone, text, email, or message. We are typically only on site for cleaning or maintenance issues.