Dunrovin Ranch
A Unique Bitterroot River Montana Guest Ranch
and Turn-Key Business Opportunity
12.05 Acres of Scenic Deeded River Property with
Commercial Use License for Adjacent 480 Acres of State Land and
Permanent Special Use Permit on US National Forest Lands
Lodging, Horse Trails, Wildlife Watching, Boating, and Blue-Ribbon Fishing
Minutes from Missoula - Montana's Art and Cultural Center
$4,250,000
5001 Expedition Drive, Lolo, Montana
A Unique Piece of Montana
A Location Like No Other
The only commercial property in Missoula County with immediate access to the Bitterroot River and 480 acres of Montana State land.
Respected Guest Ranch
Dunrovin is synonymous with a quality experience, ease of access, and a treasured member of the Missoula business community.
Profitable Lodging & Events Venue
The Ranch includes 4 guest apartments, dance hall, multiple firepits, and a full complement of event hosting infrastructure, with room to expand.
Boutique Guest Ranch
Dunrovin's small size means personalized experiences that keep guests such as the Giddy-Up Girls returning each year.
Affiliated Nonprofit Organization
Friends of Dunrovin leverages Dunrovin's many resources to promote individual, animal, community, and environmental wellness.
A Virtual Bridge to a Real Ranch
Dunrovin created a multi-webcam broadcasting network in response to viewers of an ospreys' nest webcam who wanted to enjoy more of the ranch.
More Than Meets the Eye
Combination of Private and Public Lands
Dunrovin's 12+ acres of private land sit immediately adjacent to 480 acres of land owned by the State of Montana for which Dunrovin holds an exclusive Commercial Use License to conduct trail rides and other activities. Together with the state land, Dunrovin offers guests access to over one half mile of the Bitterroot River on both sides, miles of riding and hiking trails to the top of the ridges in the Sapphire Mountains, and incredible wildlife viewing. Elk, wild horses, mule and white tailed deer, moose, black bears, coyotes, cougars, foxes, raccoons, and numerous small mammals are frequently seen in the area. Dunrovin is a paradise for birds of all kinds, both large and small. Dunrovin Ranch also holds a permanent Special Use Permit from the US Forest Service that allows Dunrovin to commercially use hundreds of miles of trails in the Lolo National Forest, including on the National Historical Trail of Lewis and Clark.
Legal Designation as a Guest Ranch
It is highly unusual for a city the size of Missoula to have a guest ranch in its back yard. Dunrovin's designation as a guest ranch was both difficult and costly. It was court ordered at the close of a prolonged and successful legal battle with Missoula County. The court order also legally reclassified Dunrovin's deeded property from residential to residential/commercial, making Dunrovin one of few such classified properties along the Bitterroot River in Missoula County. In recognition of Montana's important ranching heritage and the limited infrastructure possibilities for remote guest ranches, guest ranches enjoy separate state regulations designed to encourage and support their operations.
Dunrovin Straddles Different Worlds
Rural/Urban. Dunrovin's prime location along the Bitterroot River within minutes of downtown Missoula blends unlimited recreational opportunities and natural landscapes with the numerous amenities of a thriving urban center known for it's charm and eclectic cultural scene. The close proximity to Missoula enables Dunrovin to take advantage of the many talented and colorful people and organizations within the Bitterroot and Missoula Valleys and expand beyond traditional guest ranch offerings with programs and events for both visitors from afar as well as local residents, corporations, and the University of Montana.
Onsite/Online. Within a year of Dunrovin's collaboration with the University of Montana to install a webcam above an ospreys' nest, nearly 800K viewers enjoyed not only the osprey family, but the ranch activities in the background. Viewer demand prompted Dunrovin to install an in-ground and microwave network system with multiple stationary webcams, ambient microphones, infrared lights, and mobile webcams with directional microphones to create an "outdoor TV studio" that offers viewers the opportunity to share life at a real ranch in real time on a 24/7 basis. All the ranch, wildlife, and bird photos below were captured by Dunrovin's web cameras.
A Complete Package
Everything a Guest Ranch Needs
Dunrovin Ranch comes with a full complement of equine and guest ranch inventory.
The list below is just a sample of what is included with the ranch, or as negotiated.
The Virtual Front Porch
Where A Montana Ranch Reaches the World
Dunrovin Ranch Online
Dunrovin broadcasts four webcam channels with sound and infrared night lights for 24/7 viewing.
Additional portable and backup cameras are available to provide unique views around the ranch.
Nest Cam
The Nest Cam catches all the action at the ospreys' nest which is located on a 50 foot pole above Dunrovin's riding arena.
Ranch Cam
The Ranch Cam is located atop a 37-foot high flag pole with excellent view of Dunrovin's barn, corrals, riding arena, orchard, garden, and activity lawn.
Bench Cam
The Bench Cam overlooks a bird feeding station located on the "bench" where the fields drop down to the riparian forest.
River Cam
The River Cam is cantilevered over the Bitterroot River and covers over a mile stretch of the river and can scan to the top of the Sapphire Mountains.
How Did It Happen
Why did a small boutique guest ranch create a virtual front porch? It's an improbable story with a completely inadvertent beginning. Let Montana PBS tell the story.
Dunrovin's Unique Online Community
DaysAtDunrovin.com (D@D) is Dunrovin Ranch's Virtual Front Porch that organically evolved through collaborating with the many people who had gathered around Dunrovin's first web camera above the osprey nest. This authentic beginning caused Dunrovin to focus on addressing the psychological needs of lonely people. This resulted in D@D offering a unique combination of spontaneous real life events experienced in real time with carefully designed programs to encourage personal engagement and foster meaningful online social relationships. For a more detailed description, please watch the Montana PBS Backroads of Montana's segment about D@D and read the recent article by Public Broadcasting System's Next Avenue.
The University of Montana's College of Business deemed D@D to be a product perfect for a blue ocean strategy within the senior industry. In his award winning paper on a preliminary evaluation of D@D, a UM gerontologist praised D@D as a cost effective way to address loneliness at the individual, family, and institutional levels. This led Dunrovin to give a presentation at the National Council of Aging's 2020 conference. The University of Texas recently organized a research team to quantitatively evaluate D@D's effectiveness, which is the first step towards DaysAtDunrovin gaining certification as a medical intervention covered by insurance and Medicare. Visit DaysAtDunrovin.info for details on D@D's potential within the senior industry and beyond.
Explore the Dunrovin Online Ecosystem
Dunrovin hosts a separate website for each of its three entities: the Dunrovin Guest Ranch, the Days At Dunrovin Virtual Front Porch, and the Friends of Dunrovin nonprofit organization.
What's In a Name?
Greetings from Lady Dunrovin
Dunrovin is much more than a business name to me. It has been a defining word in my life. Dun Rovin is the name my great grandmother gave to her Montana mountain cabin where she returned after many years of being away. She said “I am here to stay. I am done roving.”
Much of my childhood was spent at the Dun Rovin cabin with my family. We worked hard, played hard, and we did it all together. It is where I soaked up a deep love of nature, animals, and joining forces for common purpose. It was a mystical place.
Dun Rovin became a touchstone that I held close to my heart. I carried it with me across time, geography, and circumstance until I too returned home to Montana and planted myself in a new magical place along the Bitterroot River where I decided to create a new Dunrovin, with a different spelling and an expanded reach beyond my own family.
I strive to ensure my new Dunrovin reflects the same enchanting atmosphere of the original, a place where memories are made. My vision is to build a guest ranch where visitors can deepen their relationships with nature, animals, and one another. I want my guests to find at Dunrovin the same sense of peace, wonder, and childish delight that I found at my family’s mountain cabin. This desire exceeds the physical boundaries of Dunrovin Ranch to include those who experience Dunrovin via our virtual front porch where people gather online to join those of us onsite to share activities, socialize, and form friendships.
May all who come to know my Dunrovin feel the same sense of place, peace, and purpose that my great grandmother felt upon discovering and building her Dun Rovin.
More Than a Marketing Brand
The Dunrovin Brand
Dunrovin's brand is registered with the Montana Department of Livestock as a right shoulder equine brand that consists of a Lazy D with a Hanging R. It is applied to Dunrovin's horses with a gentle freeze branding technique.
Opportunity Calls
Boundless Potential
Why this opportunity, why now?
The time comes in everyone's life when they must pass the torch. SuzAnne and Sterling Miller have had a wonderful family life at Dunrovin and built it into a treasured business for both their onsite and online communities. They seek an active investor or buyer who appreciates all that Dunrovin has to offer and who will find as much joy in this little slice of paradise as they have. SuzAnne and Sterling are in no hurry. Their interest lies not only in maximizing the return on their investment, but in passing Dunrovin along to someone who can build on what they have worked so hard to create.
Partner for Success
SuzAnne would like nothing more than to find the right business partner with the desire, energy, resources, and shared vision to assume a leadership role in taking Dunrovin Ranch and DaysAtDunrovin to their full potential while carrying on Dunrovin's ethos of bringing people and animals together in nature to support one another, learn from each other, and celebrate life's richness and diversity.
Your New Montana Home & Ranch
The best future for Dunrovin may be to exchange hands completely and embrace a new owner with a new vision. Both Dunrovin Ranch and DaysAtDunrovin are ready for a new owner to immediately take the wheel and chart an entirely new course.
