Cataloochee Guest Ranch

Went for a destination wedding and what a great place for that. I would give it a 3 for hospitality or maybe even a 2 if my wife were writing this but the location and facilities were a 5. What a gorgeous piece of real estate nestled high in the mountains. The trout pond is a no brainer. The trout are impossible to not catch almost. They eat bread. The lake is superstocked with nice trout. For around $ 14 they cook up your catch. I recommend you bring your own cane pole but they will sell you one for around $ 8 there but they break easy because they were meant for smaller fish. You could even use a hand line and skip the pole so easy to bring with you. They are super nice about giving you bread for bait and will cook your fish for any meal. We had a room in the main building. Very convenient. Price includes much of your meals as well. The folks there are not as hospitable as I would expect for a tourist destination but I heard that is normal for this place. Kitchen and wait staff were very nice. Reception, not near as much. But heck, I can’t give a 3 because the overall impression of the place is fantastic and wish I had been before and probably will be back. So go, catch a fish, walk the hills, and enjoy an absolutely beautiful setting.

Don’t call it a «dude ranch,» because it’s not out west and no one has ever shown up wearing glam cowboy attire (like fringed shirts with curved arrow head pockets), except for maybe a good pair of boots. And once you learn about the history of these 800-​some acres bordering (and sometimes into) the Great Smoky Mountains, you will realize that it’s the same family that settled here welcoming you to their mountain-​top retreat for a stay.
We’ve visited here more than twice now and each time it’s been for several days, enough to drop the city airs and take on the relaxed feelings this bucolic place fosters. There are rooms in the main ranch house, where the family-​style meals are served (these we treasure). But you can also take rooms in the dozen outlying cabins, some with fireplaces and TVs, no rooms have landline phones (and cell reception up on the Ranch property is mostly nonexistent. You can make this your home base for touring the national park forests nearby (The Blue Ridge Parkway) or the city of Asheville, several miles to the east.
This trip, we skipped most of Asheville and instead explored towns to the south (Waynesville) and further east (Black Mountain). All have local practitioners of homegrown crafts (quilts, pottery, etc.) on display.
Cataloochee also maintains a stable of 30 to 40 horses, mostly for infrequent riders to saddle up and follow each other in calm trail lines up to the highest peaks around the property (you might experience a trot sometimes). This is, after all, why guests return after the snow falls for exciting ski runs. The Ranch’s wranglers visit the daily morning breakfast to sign guests up for each day’s two scheduled rides. Their barn has saddles and safety helmets to accommodate everyone. Their wranglers will fit you to a proper horse. You can also ask about longer, custom trail rides. There is a lot of acreage to explore here. When not on the rides, your horse will join the others free-​ranging in the upper meadows that you can see from the ranch house.
On occasion, there may be special events like a cookout for dinner, evening musical entertainment, or a talk by the local «wolf man» naturalist, who will let you pet a real wolf. Instead of place cards at the dinner table, you might find a wooden clothes pin with your name hand-​written on it. It’s that kind of place.
The ranch can provide you with a self-​guided hiking map or organize a guided hike into the hills just west of the ranch house. After an informative slide show by Judy, a daughter of the founders, we were intrigued to hike up to «the bowl,» a natural sunken valley between the upper hills just behind the Silver Bell guest lodge. This is where the original encampment (Cataloochee Valley) had been set up back in the 1930s. There was a recreation of that encampment being set up to mark the Ranch’s 80^th anniversary with a mountains cook-​out there. It was also on this hike that we saw their small apple orchard and the backcross experimental grove of chestnut tree saplings.