Ponderosa Ranch

My husband and I had our wedding up at the Ponderosa Ranch, and we spent a couple nights of our honeymoon in their cozy hunting cabin. Jayme and Marci were so wonderful to work with, and were very accommodating to all our needs, which made the setup for the wedding ceremony such a breeze! When we were first planning our ceremony, I came out to visit the ranch and they showed me around, gave me a tour of the cabin, and helped me scout out the perfect spot for the ceremony. They really helped make the whole experience fabulous! The ranch is beautiful, with absolutely breathtaking views. We spent most of our time on the property, but it’s conveniently located just southeast of Crawford, Fort Robinson, and other local attractions, so there’s always plenty of things to do and places to go during your stay. The Ponderosa is a wonderful spot for hiking and all sorts of outdoor activities, and offers hunting packages, railfan packages, a dude ranch experience, and trail rides! The cabin we stayed in is super cute and cozy with bunks to sleep four. It has a nice living/dining area, a stocked kitchen area with a microwave, refrigerator, and stove/oven—all we needed to bring was our food! Off the kitchen, there’s a bathroom with a shower, and it has really good pressure and temperature. The front porch has a grill and a set of rocking chairs that we enjoyed relaxing in during our stay. One of the barn kitties liked to join us out there too, so there were plenty of extra snuggles and cuddles to go around with him! It’s very peaceful and serene up there, and we’d love to come back again for a longer stay someday. I completely recommend staying at the Ponderosa the next time you’re in Crawford—whether it’s for the hunting, ranching, trains, vacations, or maybe even your own wedding! You won’t find a better place, better rates, or better people to work with!

If you love photographing trains, this is the perfect place to stay and do that. Sand Fills is a wonderful setting for lots of videos and pictures.

The Hosts are awesome and the bunkhouse quant and clean. You can't ask for any more to railfan Crawford Hill!!!!

Ponderosa Ranch is everything a turkey hunter could ask for. Lots of turkeys, and lots of ground to work with. Not to mention Jayme and Marci treated me like family. You can defiantly tell they put a lot of effort into managing the ranch. 10/10 experience!

I was fortunate enough to spend four days on this beautiful ranch. I wanted a true Merriam turkey hunt and boy I sure got one. Traci and Jamie are outstanding hosts. The country is beautiful. Just remember even if you’re going in late spring the weather in this part of the state can turn on a dime. I was there the third week of May I saw snow, rain, 27° one morning and 75° in the afternoons. I was lucky enough to fill my tag on the first day and had opportunities every day I was there to fill my second. This is tough country and you really need to be in shape. Just remember this is a working ranch and there’s no Internet out there so yes sometimes it does take a while for them to respond to you that’s because they are busy people!