Welcome to Crow Hollow Ranch!
We are Howard and Karen and our three adult children are, Faith, Rachel, and Justin. We are so excited that you have found your way to this very private and magical little slice of Montana.
We consider the ranch our greatest success as a couple and a family, for when we are there we are surrounded by nature, spectacular wildlife, and the people we love most. Time itself functions differently on the ranch, and we exist in a rare state of grace. This is the experience, the feeling, the energy of Crow Hollow and we want to share it with you.
20 years ago we started our search for a ranch that would provide a retreat from the busy lives we led in Southern California. After 10 years of looking, we set off on a family trip in 2012 through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana and arranged to see more than 2 dozen ranches. We saw several beautiful ranch properties, but none were quite what we had envisioned. On the final day of our trip we drove through Southern Montana and into Paradise Valley, and fell in love with the area.
The Valley was carved millions of years ago by the Yellowstone River and is enveloped by the Beartooth Absaroka mountains to the east, and the Gallatin National Forest to the west. Yellowstone National Park itself sits at the Southern edge of Paradise Valley and the Yellowstone River flows North through the valley to Livingston. The entire region is part of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem which was exactly what we were looking for. We wanted to be a part of the beauty and rawness of Yellowstone, but wanted to be close to a great town, close to shops, close to a major airport. We wanted a lot! Our “quest” took over 10 years, but we found it!
The first time we visited Crow Hollow was several months later. As we drove through the gate and made our way up the long winding roadway to the main house, we were mesmerized by the sheer number and beauty of the pines , aspens and cottonwood trees that seemed to cover every inch of the ranch. The property had literally been carved by nature out of the forest itself! As we pulled into the ranch and saw the farmhouse and the setting within the “hollow “ our excitement grew. Then we went out onto the porch. It had spectacular views of the surrounding 10,000 ft peaks and you could hear the sound of the creek winding completely around the house literally just a few feet away! We both knew we had found our ranch.
The property needed work, but we could see the potential and we had a clear vision of what was possible.
We spent our first summer exploring the ranch with our children and many of our friends and family joined us. We dreamed of creating a place that would be a gathering spot for everyone we loved, so as the summer came to a close we started our first project. Over the next 10 summers we gathered with many friends and family and each fall we started a new project.
We added more cabins, expanded the landscaping and outdoor gathering areas, created intimate locations to read a book or meditate and found large areas where we could all come together.
We hosted family reunions and small groups and even had a couple of weddings. Our friends and family returned each year and brought their loved ones with them. We made breakfasts together in the farmhouse kitchen, had beautiful dinners creek side on the wrap around porch, took picnics into the woods, watched movies in the meadow and stargazed late into the night.
This place has been a source of joy, peace and shared happiness by those who have stayed here…it is a place enveloped by nature’s beauty and tranquility. It is perhaps, more than anything, else a place to reconnect- to family-to friends-to yourself.
It is our hope that what we have created is profoundly felt by you, your family, friends, or group and that you are able to experience what it is like to have a Montana ranch of your own. Everything you see and all that is available to you has been lovingly curated by our family. We want you to feel completely at home, to explore, discover, to “feel” the ranch, and make memories of a lifetime.
