If you love the outdoors and want discover the best premium getaway, this huge Adventure Resort is the secret Texas Vacation you may never have thought about. From relaxing spa treatments to full on big game hunting, Cibolo Creek Ranch has it all and then some. This is everything you need to know about your stay at this amazing West Texas ranch.
Getting to the Best Texas Ranch Adventure Resort
There’s no denying that Texas is a huge state and it takes a long time to get anywhere if there isn’t already an airport right near where you want to go. The good news is that if you want to be someone amazing and remote, there’s a good chance you’ll have it nearly to yourself. Just be prepared for a bit of a drive with snacks and a good audio book or set of albums to listen to.
It’s also a good idea to know what to pack when traveling to an adventure resort as apposed to a “standard” resort. You will want to be prepared for the normal pool and hot tub activities as well as have nice dinner cloths and other items for a spa treatment and the like. This resort offers outdoor activities like horseback riding, skeet and trap shooting, long range shooting, and big game hunting year round.
The only thing it doesn’t have on site seems to be whitewater rafting trips and a Texas beach like South Padre Island. Surprisingly, you can still probable go rock climbing, mountain biking, and do stand up paddle boarding in the freshwater lake at the center of the resort located in this beautiful hill country. Just don’t be shocked if you’re visited by a thirsty horse.
Exploring the Cibolo Creek Texas Ranch
When you think of a Texas ranch adventure resort, you might not think it has first class accommodations, but you’d be very wrong. Cibolo Creek Ranch has just about every creature comfort you could desire, with the exception of a television in every room. The goal of this resort is to detach from the mundane distraction of the urban world and take stock of what and who you are either through relaxing on site or exciting outings on the ranch.
The 36,000 acre facility is staffed by a wide array of workers for a full service kitchen, horse care, tour and hunting guides, and long range shooting specialists. Of course, spa treatment specialists for things like massages and tea treatments as well as yoga come in daily to provide premier service to any guest looking for a way to relax. This is truly one of the coolest full service places to visit in Texas if you want to get away.
It also seems that just about everywhere you want to go on this Texas ranch is free game. So put on your hiking shoes or a nice dress and take a look around at all the historic sites you can find around this real fort. You might even find Rosie the Ranch Dog , an adorable and sweet Cocker Spaniel, wandering around waiting to great you.
Fine Dining on an Adventure Resort
After our long drive from the airport, we arrived at the ranch eager to relax but also ready for a good hot meal. What we didn’t expect was an amazing “field to table” dinner of freshly hunted quail from just a few hundred yard away. Served with roasted cauliflower and spiced sweet potatoes, this was one of the best game birds I’ve ever had. And I had two.
This was followed up, of course, by an equally delicious and fantastically simple dessert. Instead of a hot desert or ice cream, we were given a fresh and local sliced pear drizzled in a cinnamon reduction sauce. Sometimes it’s truly the simple things that leave a lasting impression because this was fantastic.
Over the course of the next three days, Chelsea and I were fed nothing but rich and flavorful food made right on site everyday.
Planning Adventure Resort Activities
When it comes to planning the ultimate vacation, especially when staying on a premium resort like Cibolo Creek Ranch, all the cool stuff comes with a waiver. If you aren’t from a state similar to Texas, you might feel a bit like you are going back in time to the wild west. And just so we’re clear, that exhilarating feeling that comes over you is just your body getting used to freedom. The freedom to explore the ancient, run free and ride with the wind in your hair, and to push your personal skills to the limit.
The very fist outdoor activity Chelsea and I signed up for was the ATV guided tour. This four wheeler adventure set us out in the hills surrounding the ranch where we got to explore the headwaters of the freshwater spring that fed the ranch itself and gave it it’s namesake. We also got to see mule deer, buffalo, wildebeest, black buck, llamas, a number of quail and pheasant, and of course horses, donkeys, and cattle.
Not only was it fun to tour and race around the ranch on the Honda ATVs, we got to see a number of filming locations for old and new Hollywood movies. Even cooler, we were shown petroglyphs dating back to a time long before the creation of the United States itself. If you’ve never driven an ATV or taken a tour on one, I strongly recommend it.
After getting our fill of going full throttle, it was time to take the reins and explore the ranch the old school way. We had actually decided to pay our visit to Cibolo Creek during the week of Chelsea’s birthday and I knew one of the thins she wanted to do was go horseback riding. So, I secretly put in a request for a ride and made sure she was dressed for the occasion.
The final on site activity we planned to do was long range shooting with the Gunwerks precision rifles. I was super excited to see this as an option as I love precision shooting and was curious to see how well Chelsea would do on a bolt gun. I quickly learned that Chelsea is a natural marksman and was plinking targets out to 700 yards without issue.
I really loved the fact that Chelsea enjoyed shooting and actually learned more about the sport. Not only that, it gave her a bit of a glimpse into the technical side of what I am trying to do when I take the boys hunting.
Exploring West Texas
For our last day, we decided to head out and explore the area around the ranch to see what we could discover. One of the first places we took off to see was Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park down by the Rio Grande and Mexican boarder. The mountains in this area are very pretty and the Hoodoos and Balanced Rocks Trail are very neat to see.
We headed back north to Marfa and got to check out the Marfa Spirit Co. which actually worked with Cibolo Creek Ranch to make a special Sotol Tequila. We didn’t get to sample that particular batch but Chelsea did get to taste the Ranchwater and said it was quite tasty. She was cut off after she later tried to make a phone call on an old school payphone.
Finally, we headed out to see the Prada Art Installation just outside town. Chelsea informed me that this was NOT in fact a functioning Prada store, but an artistic take on, well, I don’t really remember. Either way, we got our picture for the gram.
What outdoor or indoor activities do you look forward to the most when staying at an adventure resort?