Plane, boat, snowmobile or ATV. Take your pick because it’s the only way to get to this 21-acre ranch in central Idaho that just hit the market for $6.75 million.
Situated deep in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness just north of the Sawtooth Mountains, the 11-bedroom, 10-bathroom Mackay Bar Ranch sits on the Salmon River and offers a genuine off-the-grid experience.
But after just under 10 years of ownership, Buck and Joni Dewey are ready to move on from the ranch and find a sixth owner. The Deweys homeschooled their son during their time as owners and are prepared to give him a more typical high school experience, according to Jenkins. Plane, boat, snowmobile or ATV. Take your pick because it’s the only way to get to this 21-acre ranch in central Idaho that just hit the market for $6.75 million.
Situated deep in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness just north of the Sawtooth Mountains, the 11-bedroom, 10-bathroom Mackay Bar Ranch sits on the Salmon River and offers a genuine off-the-grid experience.
“When you think about who’s the next owner of Mackay Bar, it’s someone who really is looking for an adventurous opportunity in their lives,” Latham Jenkins, an associate broker with Live Water Properties, told the Idaho Statesman on Thursday.
Since its founding in 1956, just five people have owned the ranch, which features a main lodge, river suite, four private guest rooms, three cabins, a barn, pantry, staff quarters and hydro house.
The ranch is 8,617 square feet and has 3,000 feet of Salmon River frontage, including a white sand beach at the front of the property. But before you even take your first glimpse of the property, you’ll have to pick one of four adventurous ways to get there.
The two most common methods are by plane and boat. A 2,000-foot airstrip sits on the property, or you can board a boat at Vinegar Creek Boat Ramp near Riggins and drive 23 miles upstream to reach the property. You can also travel to the ranch via trail road 222 by snowmobile during the winter or ATV in the warmer months, Jenkins said...MORE
The region Mackay Bar sits in is now protected as the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, ensuring anyone buying the ranch is guaranteed a home that will forever be in the wild.
We know that can't be right.
The Wilderness Act states:
...there shall be no commercial enterprise and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of this Act (including measures required in emergencies involving the health and safety of persons within the area), there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within any such area.
All 21 acres of the property have recently been landscaped and fully fenced
If they had actually landscaped any of the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness they wouldn't be selling the ranch, because they would be in jail (Forest Service wilderness rules provide for 6 months imprisonment for each infraction).
And no way should they be calling that a ranch. A resort would be more accurate.
See for yourself. Here is the advertising video
https://www.idahostatesman.com/outdoors/article264920124.html
3 comments:
I think there is an exception for the air strip when the wilderness was proposed. I think there is more than one air strip in the wilderness.
It is one of only a few private tracts of land left. Every time someone abandoned a mining claim or homesite, the Forest Service would burn down any buildings to keep people from setting up long term camps.
I was there in 1974 when you could still get there by Jeep on logging roads out of Dixie, the closest gas station and store. There was still a narrow steel bridge that connected to the ranch, so narrow I had to take the spare tire off the side. That was how supplies and guests were brought in, or by jet boat up the river. It was a base for elk and bighorn sheep hunters in the fall, with a caretaker over the winter.
Just upriver were two more smaller homes, one owned by Sylvan Ambrose Hart, known as the "Last of the Mountain Men" in the book by the same name. His artifacts are now in the Idaho state museum.
Unknown - Here is what it says on the BLM website (https://www.blm.gov/visit/frank-church-river-no-return-wilderness) with respect to the FCRNR wilderness:
"Motorized equipment and equipment used for mechanical transport are generally prohibited on all federal lands designated as wilderness. This includes the use of motor vehicles (including OHVs), motorboats, motorized equipment, bicycles, hang gliders, wagons, carts, portage wheels, and the landing of aircraft including helicopters, unless provided for in specific legislation. In a few areas some exceptions allowing the use of motorized equipment or mechanical transport are described in the special regulations in effect for a specific area. Click here for additional regulations or contact the agency."
I read somewhere there have been 26 exceptions to the Wilderness Act that have been enacted concerning specific wilderness areas, and that may include the FCRNR wilderness.
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