Horseshoe Canyon Ranch

Incredible experience, so glad I visited! Brought the family to the Ozarks without a plan and stumbled upon this hidden gem. Stayed 2 nights in a cozy cabin, complimentary breakfast, and took advantage of all the rock climbing, mountain biking, zip lining, and kid's activities (indoor play area) that we could. Will definitely be back!

TL:DR This place is an AWESOME spot for a high adventure AND relaxing vacation for a family with older kids or teenagers. Great staff, great adventure, and comfortable amenities. 10/10 This review will help those who want to stay at the ranch for a family adventure trip! My family of three stayed at HCR for four nights in late July. It was HOT so we had the place to ourselves for the first couple of days, which was actually lovely. First, the staff here are amazing! Annika answered all of my questions up front and helped me set up all the activities and cabin rental. We had Diego, Jason, and Mason as our guides, and they were all friendly, helpful, and kept us safe. We rented a 3-person cabin, and it was great. It had strong AC, lots of pillows and towels, a comfy couch, lots of hooks for drying things, and a great front porch! I knew it had a small fridge and that the lodge didn’t serve lunch so I brought everything we needed for lunches on the property. A great hot breakfast was included with the cabin rental. Eggs, sausage, cereal, toast and yogurt every day plus pancakes on Saturday and biscuits on Sunday! Dinner is available to buy, and we thought we’d have a different buffet option each night, but since it was the slow summer months, they had a more limited dinner menu. We went into town to Jasper Pizza Co one night! We did three half-day guided adventures. We started with the via ferrata course and Iron Horse zipline on Thursday, then half-day of climbing on Friday, and half-day of mountain biking on Saturday. This was a good order because we did get a little banged up with the biking. The equipment was all included and was all top notch. The e-bikes were incredible and made riding the routes much easier. Although they are heavy and even the easier routes are a bit challenging so we did experience a couple of falls. Mason was very patient and helpful! If you’re a more serious mountain biker or climber, this place has ALL the challenge you could want, but it was also definitely doable for those new to any of the activities. Jason did a great job of just letting us climb…he did all the belaying for us. He was great about helping us learn more about climbing equipment and technique. And the climbing in AR is just amazing…the sandstone has so many great foot and hand holds that it makes it very easy for newbies and advanced alike. And the ½ mile zipline and unique via ferrata high adventure course were great, and Diego was a chill guide for that adventure….all so fun! We spent our mornings doing activities (and chasing the shade) and our afternoons napping, reading, and using the pool. They have a ping pong table and a small cinema room in the basement that we used too and had to ourselves. (Bring DVDs if you want to watch your own picks, as their selection could use some updating.) A delightful herd of sheep roam and are so fun to watch. There are also cows, a couple of llamas and donkeys, and we heard a goat with a bell up in the canyon as we climbed! Also recommend a trip to Steel Creek campground to swim in the cool, clear water of the Buffalo River. If you come in spring, there is canoeing and kayaking to be had near the ranch but not while we were there in July. There are three Tesla destination chargers and one of them has a J1772 adaptor so we were able to fully charge our Mustang Mach-E EV for the ride home, which was awesome since this is a more isolated spot. The Trading Co where you check in for activities has a coffee bar and ice cream treats, drinks and a few small sandwich items for sale as well as some climbing gear and books. The wifi is not available in the cabins only near the lodge and trading company. Our AT&T phone got a few bars but our T-Mobile phone did not, so plan ahead there! Come with the code they email you so if you arrive after they are closed, you can get into your cabin. There's a cabin map on the front door!

We had a great time at HCR. The mountain biking is excellent. There are fast, flowy jumplines, Nice XC trails, and some super steep technical trails. Great riding for everyone. We did the longest Zipline in Arkansas, lounged by the pool and relaxed when not riding. There are also tons of things to do like rock climbing. We met several different groups of people from Texas who were there to climb. We will definitely go back when we get a chance. Highly recommend.

Went for camping and climbing. Fantastic place to take the family. Great approaches. Good, clean, quiet environment. It was fun having the goats and horses free range around the campsite. Play love going there as a family as there are great opportunities for teaching young ones how to climb and use gear correctly. 10 out of 10. I regularly recommend!

Fantastic experience for all the grandkids. They did Via Ferrata, rock climbing and zip lining. Thank you to Jason for being such a great guide!!