Great Vacations Close to Home: Tobacco River Ranch

Luxury camping at ranch in Eureka provides a tranquil retreat

By Jenna Justice and Kambel Wyse

The first thing you notice upon settling at the Tobacco River Ranch is the incredible noise. This isn’t the noise of man and industry. This is the noise that Mother Nature makes. The noise is pervasive and all-encompassing – the crickets, doves, the owl crying at night. You can almost see the ripples in the sound of the river rolling by.

When Nikki Eisinger and her partner Karl Kassler created Tobacco River Ranch five years ago, they had a vision to create an ecofriendly sanctuary that honored history and built community. Eisinger feels passionately that they have an obligation to “do right by the land”. Kassler’s father, a Junior Olympic skier, first set eyes on the property while participating in a skiing event nearby. He later purchased the land, where he created a hobby farm focused on specialized strains of wheat.

In 2020, Tobacco River Ranch Glamping was born. Kassler built a kitchen and bathhouse, and the couple began moving historic buildings to permanent spots on the 400-acre property. The original logging cabins, A-frames, campers, wall tents and an Airstream travel trailer are nestled beneath the large cliff that overlooks the tranquil Tobacco River. Eisinger and Kassler received a grant that allowed them to start a river restoration project that continues to this day on two miles of the river.

This is restoring wetlands and improving the recovery of the bull trout population for the next generation. When they took over, the river was little more than a ditch that ran a straight line through the property as a result of farmers and the railroad maximizing the use of the land. Eisinger and Kassler’s grant allowed them to restore the natural meanderings of the Tobacco River, and to build river banks that would diminish erosion. They removed car bodies that had been used for rip-rap to reinforce the banks, and replaced them with cottonwoods and natural debris, like stumps, that follow the original course of the river.

In keeping with their community mindset, Eisinger and Kassler allow the public to cross their property on the established Rails to Trails path from the town of Eureka to Lake Koocanusa. They lease part of the property out for regenerative farming and invite classes from local schools to the ranch every year to learn about the river restoration project and to teach the value of ecological stewardship.

Eisinger shared that during the renovation, they discovered spears in some of the outbuildings. Further research led them to believe that these spears were frog gigs, due to their barbed tines, and were used to hunt the obsequious frogs that had made the Tobacco River their home in the early days of Montana’s settlement. It is thought that, if the frogs return, it is a positive sign that river rehabilitation is taking place and restoring the original properties of the land.

Our experience began with a personal welcome from Nikki Eisinger. She gave us a brief tour of the property glamping sites.

We were particularly impressed with the A-Frame (photos below) by the river that sported a winch-operated wall. When opened, you feel that your feet could dangle off the bed into the river. The hammock nearby demands that you lazily take in the environment and settle into truly resting.      

We plan on returning to stay in the ranch's Wall Tent (photos below), our favorite lodging option. Its location atop a small rocky pinnacle isolates you and allows for a perfect view of the rolling Tobacco River. Like the other cabins on the property, it is home to Adirondack Chairs that face the river and the breathtaking Montana sky.

 THE LOGGER CABIN AT TOBACCO RIVER RANCH

The cabin we stayed in, The Logger Cabin, is over 100 years old. The cozy cabin is half of an original bunkhouse for loggers and railroad men, and was mobile by flatbed railcar. The cabin once housed loggers in two-tiered bunkbeds that slept two men to each bunk level. It is the only electrified lodging option on the property. The other half of this cabin sits slightly above The Logger, and provides a deck view of the stunning valley that surrounds the property and of extraordinary sunsets.

The fully appointed kitchen/bathhouse also has power and is a lovely spot to sit inside out of the sun or rain while still enjoying the beauty of the area through the large windows of the structure. It is surrounded by an ample, grassy, partially tree-shaded picnic area. Our visit was made completely peaceful by the warm gentle breeze as we played games and read books in the quiet of the evening.

Tobacco River Ranch Glamping offers a variety of activities. You have full access to the property for hiking and walking. This includes walking along the river or for a more strenuous climb, hiking the cliff that fronts the river. With direct access to the Rails to Trails path, open to hikers, bikers, and e-bikers, two miles travel south will bring you to the town of Eureka near the historical museum. Five miles north will bring you to the shores of Lake Koocanusa at Abeyance Bay, a popular venue for music concerts.

The trail in this section parallels the railroad tracks, with parts of it on the railroad grade. We chose to ride the trail on our e-bikes on a hot afternoon, but were cooled intermittently by the shading trees and the breeze off the gurgling river. Visitors may also paddle their kayaks down the Tobacco River, which has only mild Class I and Class II rapids, making it a fairly easy adventure for the whole family. Families may also enjoy tubing from Eureka to the Tobacco River Ranch property, which is only a 30-minute float. 

LOCAL ATTRACTIONS

One of the most stunning treasures of the Tobacco Valley is Lake Koocanusa (pronounced coo-kah-noose-ah.) Lake Koocanusa reservoir was created when Libby Dam was completed in 1975.

The reservoir received its name as the result of a contest won by Alice Beers, a resident of nearby Rexford, Montana. Alice combined the first three letters of Kootenai (referring to the Kootenai River, named after the Kootenai Tribe), the first three letters of Canada, and USA for the final three letters. Forty-eight miles of the lake are on the United States side of the border, while forty-two miles of the lake stretch into British Columbia. A visitor center for the lake can be found at the Libby Dam, just 51 miles south of Eureka. Lake Koocanusa is known for its wide range of recreational opportunities, from fishing to boating to waterskiing.  Many people explore Lake Koocanusa when they attend summer concerts at Abeyance Bay, and it is a busy hangout for locals and tourists.

There is excellent road biking on the sparsely traveled roads surrounding Eureka. For technical rock climbing, there is Stonehill nearby. Lake Koocanusa is a summer playground of fishermen, boaters, waterskiers, jetskiers, sailors, and kayakers. The long, sandy beaches are also popular with horseback riders.

Also nearby is the Stonehenge Air Museum, which surprisingly has a full-scale Stonehenge replica, and a hangar containing an assortment of antique aircraft, including a P-51 Mustang. The Stonehenge replica is created from limestone imported from Texas, then hand textured to naturalize the stone and placed precisely in the same configuration as Stonehenge in England. Look carefully at the stones, and you may find the maker’s marks.

In the fall, guests at Tobacco River Ranch have the opportunity to snag salmon on the Tobacco River. Snagging involves a weighted treble hook cast across the water and reeled in rapidly until you snag a fish. During this season, Eisinger describes the salmon as “so thick it looks like bricks on the cobblestone, and gives the illusion that you could walk across the river.”

The Tobacco River Ranch shares the Tobacco River Valley with the small Montana community of Eureka, only nine miles from the Canadian border and about 45 minutes from Whitefish. Eureka was established in the 1880s by settlers from Missoula and Canada. Originally known as Deweyville, Eureka’s current population is only 1,380 and the small Main Street is reminiscent of a Victorian era town with brick storefronts and turn of the century street lamps.

Eureka was once known as the “Christmas Tree Capital of the World” shipping over 80 million trees throughout the United States from the 1930s and 1970s. However, due to changing taste in the appearance of trees, tree farms close to city markets, and the high cost of shipping, the tree market faded away in the 1970s. The logging industry also came to an end in when the last lumber mill in Eureka closed in 2005, changing the landscape of the employment environment in the Tobacco Valley. Currently, residents of Eureka are shopkeepers, healthcare workers, construction workers, and farmers and ranchers.

ENJOY EUREKA'S LOCAL FLAVOR

We would be remiss in describing the charm of Eureka without discussing the fantastic meals we had at Jax, a local diner and favorite coffee stop for citizens to sit and catch up with local news, politics, and all things Montana. We enjoyed homemade corned beef hash and eggs, Reuben sandwiches, and milkshakes that could send you straight into a sugar coma--- and it would be worth it. 

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, it would have to be one of the dozens of flavors of handmade milkshakes. The menu is so broad that we could have eaten every meal there for weeks, and still not tasted the same thing twice.

As Eisinger and Kassler began to renovate the property, they kept their vision simple and clear: Create a retreat that is affordable, quiet, and secluded. They want their guests to experience Montana on private land with river access and plenty of space. They want to set an example of how private lands can become a shared space, as evidenced by their collaboration with Sunburst Community Service Foundation, the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Forest Service and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks for Rails to Trails access, and by their cooperation with local and state agencies to administer the river restoration grant. 

Eisinger encourages people to support Montana small businesses, like Tobacco River Ranch Glamping. She has seen a deep decline in reservations from Canadian tourists this year and is hopeful that local families and groups will take advantage of the many opportunities for adventure right in their own backyard. 

Eisinger and Kassler have created exactly what they wanted the ranch to be: an affordable, quiet retreat, devoid of highways or neighbors, but filled with the stunning cacophony of nature and wildlife. They want to both treat the land well, and share it with others. Eisinger says that this Ranch is the fulfillment of a dream, but the dream is not over. She envisions a yoga studio onsite, as well as increased trail access and activity opportunities for guests on their beautiful land. 

IF YOU GO

To book your stay at Tobacco River Ranch Glamping, go to www.tobaccoriverranch.com and arrive prepared to unplug and relax. While we were only able to bike ride the Rails to Trails path, we would wholeheartedly return to kayak and snag salmon, and to hike and to splash in Lake Koocanusa.

The opportunities are endless, just like the grand Montana sky.

— About the authors: Jenna Justice and Kambel Wyse are travel writers based in Bigfork, Montana, where Flathead Lake and the Swan River are just a stone's throw away from their home.