Ekone’s Facilities
Ekone has beautiful, functional, unique, rustic facilities!
Campus
Ranch facilities are located in the Ekone Valley, a 16-mile drive east of Goldendale. The valley is off-grid; there are no power lines coming in, we make all our own electricity from the sun with diesel backup. The Valley is home to several staff members, a rotating cast of seasonal staff and volunteers, and a bunch of horses, chickens, ducks, cats, dogs, and wildlife. Our guest facilities include the following (and here is a photo tour!):
Bunkhouse
This A-frame structure is our primary guest lodging and was built with summer camp at the front of our minds. It feels like a tree fort! The Bunkhouse can sleep about 50, in five separate spaces:
Two Sleeping Wings fit about 19 each in a combination of 11 ground-floor bunks and 8 spaces in lofts accessed by sturdy custom ladders. It’s an open floorplan, with a small changing room.
A Staff Den adjoins each wing, with a door between. This is where our camp counselors sleep in the summer. These rooms are constructed from clay-straw with earthen plaster, creating a cozy vibe. They are typically set up with three single bunks, which can be combined to make larger sleeping platforms.
The Common Space sits in between the sleeping wings, and gives us a place to gather, brush teeth, read stories, and foster community. It has a wood stove, several couches and comfy chairs, a library and games, and a sleeping loft with room for 4 adults.
The Bunkhouse stays remarkably cool in the summer due to the concrete floor and great insulation. In cold seasons, we fire up the wood stove in the common space. Heat travels to the wings to some extent, and dens to a lesser extent; those spaces can be chilly, but we have lots of extra blankets!
Yummy Tummy Cafe
Our kitchen is a beating heart of the ranch, not only cranking out the homecooking that Ekone is famous for but also fostering community around the table, behind the counter, and at the dish sink. It has a spacious dining room that seats 50+ but also doesn’t feel empty with smaller groups. A covered patio provides more seating and a beautiful meadow view. Guests are also often welcomed behind the counter into the cooking side of things, a commercial kitchen that manages to both feel like Grandma’s house and also function ever so well as a, well, commercial kitchen.
Lodge
This historic octagonal building was constructed in the late ‘70s and still serves as a hub of ranch operations. It’s a truly unique structure, with an indoor/outdoor concept; the central gathering space opens to the sky! This building is many things; gathering space, craft area, camp cubbies, horse tack room, storage, cozy couch hangouts, staff offices, volunteer bedrooms, and a kitchen, living room, and bathroom for staff and volunteers. And during the Barbed Wire Ball, it also becomes a full band stage and an epic dance floor.
Bathhouses
The newer ADA-accessible bathhouse has three toilet stalls, two sinks, an indoor shower, and an outdoor shower. The older bathhouse has two toilet stalls, an indoor shower, and one sink. Both bathhouses are served by solar hot water. Both bathhouses are a short walk across the lawn from the bunkhouse and the kitchen. We occasionally bring in porto-potties for larger groups.
Aspen Grove Camping
Tuck your tent in amongst the sweet aspens! Pros: it’s beautiful, the ground is flat and soft, the horse track is nearby, and it’s close to parking. Cons: it’s close to the seasonal creek and can be buggy through midsummer, is too wet for camping in the spring, and sometimes we don’t allow camping here because we also use this area for horse training and riding lessons. It’s also far from the kitchen and bathhouses. (We do usually have a porto-potty nearby.)
Oak Grove Camping
Nestle into the majestic oaks and pines! Pros: it’s beautiful, closer to the kitchen and bathhouses than the Aspen Grove, less wet in the spring, and can be less buggy in some seasons. Cons: it’s further from parking and you do have to hunt a bit for a really great level spot
History: Saddle Up! Capital Campaign
Over a 5-year period of 2018-2022, the far-flung community of people who love this place and believe in its work invested $2 million into Ekone’s facilities and infrastructure. This was necessary and urgent to replace failing, unpermitted structures and to provide the spaces that our programs had grown to need. This investment accomplished the following:
Rebuilt about a mile of driveway from a dirt one-track into a 2-lane permitted Fire Access Road
Put a new foundation under the historic Lodge, after discovering that the old footings were cracked and rotting
Built the new Bunkhouse, completed in 2020
Built the new Yummy Tummy Cafe, completed in 2022
Built the new Bathhouse
Installed a 15,000 gallon septic system and 800 feet of drainfield
Installed a new 13kw solar power system to serve the new kitchen
Learned 10,000 things and matured as an organization
Our enduring gratitude to all who made this possible. (And if you’re interested in the Saddle Up! adventure story, it’s a good read!)
