Cashew Canyon Cross Ranch
Good work done in the long light of the day

Work starts when the sun does

Cashew Canyon Cross Ranch is a working cattle ranch in the Alberta foothills where guests ride, help with the herd, and sleep under a sky that earns its darkness.

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Dawn

Bunkhouse Room

Private room in the original 1940s bunkhouse. Wood-framed bed, wool blankets, east-facing window, shared bathroom and porch. Breakfast included each…

From $185/night
Sunup

Log Cabin (sleeps up to 4)

Stand-alone log cabin with a wood stove, small kitchen, and a south-facing covered porch. Breakfast delivered to the door. Two cabins available.

From $310/night
Morning

Half-Day Trail Ride

Three hours through the canyon and up to the ridge. Helmets and tack provided. Suitable for riders with some prior experience on horseback.

$95/person
Midday

Full-Day Ranch Hand Experience

A full working day: morning feed, cattle movement, fence work, and an afternoon ride back to the yard. Lunch included. Boots and work gloves recommended.

$145/person
Afternoon

Seasonal Cattle Drive

Available in late May and early October. A full day in the saddle moving the herd across roughly 18 kilometres of foothills terrain. Packed lunch…

$195/person
Golden hour

Private Campfire Dinner

Open-fire meal in the canyon bottom for two to eight guests. Ranch beef, garden vegetables, sourdough baked that morning. Requires 48 hours notice…

From $85/person
With respect

About the ranch

Thomas Kearsley bought this property in the spring of 2011, when it was running about forty head of Angus on land that had not been properly fenced in a decade. The name came from the canyon creek that cuts the south pasture, a…

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Work hours
First light
05:48
Barn open, morning feed
06:30
Breakfast on the table
07:30
Horses out, trail rides
09:00
Golden hour
18:20
Fire pit, lights off
21:00

Come for the light, stay for the land

Reservations are made directly by phone or email. We keep the calendar small on purpose.

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Our products

How the days run here

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Real ranch work, if you want it

Guests who want to get their hands dirty are welcome to join the morning feed, move cattle between pastures, or help mend fence. Nobody is obligated, but most people find they want to.

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Horses that know the land

Our small string of quarter horses has been working this terrain for years. Trail rides go out at first light and again in the late afternoon, when the canyon walls catch the gold.

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Slow mornings, long evenings

Breakfast is on the table by 7:30. Evenings are yours: a fire pit, a porch with a view down the valley, and no particular reason to be anywhere.

News & Announcements

News & Announcements

  1. 01

    How the Kitchen Garden Feeds the Ranch Through Summer

    The kitchen garden behind the main house started in 2016 as four raised beds on the south-facing…

    2026-08-05
  2. 02

    What to Expect on Your First Ranch Stay

    Most guests arrive at Cashew Canyon Cross Ranch with a rough idea of what a ranch stay involves…

    2026-07-08
  3. 03

    What the Seasonal Cattle Drive Actually Involves

    The cattle drive is the activity that guests ask about most and also the one that requires the…

    2026-06-21
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Who

Who does the work

Thomas Kearsley

Thomas Kearsley

Founder, Established since 2011

Thomas Kearsley grew up on a mixed grain and cattle operation outside Pincher Creek, Alberta, and spent his twenties working as a ranch hand and fence contractor across the foothills before taking a season managing a guest operation near Waterton. That stretch taught him what visitors actually want from a ranch stay: honest work, real animals, and enough quiet to hear the grass move. In 2011 he bought the property that became Cashew Canyon Cross Ranch, named for the canyon creek that cuts the south pasture. He starts most mornings before six with a slow walk to the barn, coffee in hand, and says the light at that hour is the reason he never moved back to town.

stay@cashewcanyoncross.info