By Greg Stiles
MERLIN — Lynn Beach says she would've preferred building her bed and breakfast on the other side of Galice Road, but the view she settled for is not too shabby.
Beach and her husband, Will, opened the 5,500-square-foot Buckhorn Mountain Lodge this summer on 14-plus acres just west of Hog Creek Boat Landing, near Hellgate Canyon along the Rogue River.
"We were looking at a piece of property across the road with river access, but (the Bureau of Land Management) said we couldn't put a B&B there," Beach says. "So when this property across the road came up for sale with wine cellars and other amenities six years ago, we bought it. We still have river access."
The couple razed an unassuming 40-year-old, 1,500-square-foot residence to clear the way for a million-dollar home-away-from-home for travelers in the spring of 2004.
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The result of what she calls rustic elegance, especially in the interior, is stunning. From the dining room to the library and great room, stone and tile accent knotty pine walls and ceilings soaring 30 feet. A tower comes off the great room into a reading area and becomes a sitting room for the master suite upstairs. Rooms are furnished with French antiques.
Will Beach, a contractor and a mining engineer by trade, oversaw the project.
"We lived in a tent for two years, through the snow, rain and hail while we built the lodge, Lynn Beach says. "My husband didn't mind at all, but he can have it."
She operated a small restaurant in Grants Pass called the August Fox 10 years ago. She planned to operate a restaurant in the lodge as well, but county regulations limit the fare to breakfast for overnight guests. For now, Josephine County restrictions limit the bed and breakfast to 10 guests. By applying for a special use permit and becoming a fishing lodge, the number of guests could increase to 15.
The Lodge's premier two bedroom master suite is known as Spotted Fawn. The main room has a king bed that can be converted into two twin beds and a second room accommodates two additional guests. Spotted Fawn is augmented by three surrounding cottages: Bear Paw, with two queen beds ($220); Salmon Run, sleeps up to six ($220); and Tree House one double bed ($150). The latter cabin isn't really a tree house but on a hillside surrounded by trees. The reason it is priced less is that guests have to walk to a bathhouse.
"I call it elegant camping in the Valley of the Rogue," Beach says. "If you leave all the doors open at the Tree House, it's quite a unique experience."
Thus far, Buckhorn Mountain Lodge has entertained guests from San Francisco and Las Vegas as well as river outfitters and Canadians and European travelers.
From her perspective as a member of a local tourism committee, Beach says bed and breakfast operations make the region more attractive to visitors and provide long-term cash flow.
"This is the kind of thing this corridor needs; tourism is going to be our salvation," she says. "Morrison's Lodge has been about it until now and we're more upscale."
Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or at business@mailtribune.com
