The ranch is part animal sanctuary home to an eclectic family of alpacas, goats, lambs, chickens, horses, cows, parrots, pigs, dogs, cats, and a camel. The animals all have a life long home on the ranch. many were rescued, accepted by the ranch from people that were no longer able to care for their own animals including some goats, alpacas, a variety of ducks and chickens, guinea pigs, pigs and a camel. All live in peace with the forest they share, the surrounding communities, and the abundant natural wildlife that also call Rancho Grande their home. All the animals are cared and provided for in comfortable settings by the ranch owners who self fund the cost and do not accept donations.

The story of Rancho Grande began as a lifelong vision to build a summer camp in the forest and bring the forest to people, allowing them to create wonderful lifetime memories of the time they spent away from home. In 2015, the family purchased the ranch. They were hoping to build a competitive youth baseball camp for all the kids that work with them at Beach City Baseball Academy, their baseball school in El Segundo. Rancho Grande a large 200 acre secluded spot with an abundance of flat cleared land was perfect. The “experts” told them they would be up and running by the summer of 2016 giving them ample time to get approvals and necessary fields and camp bunks built.

And the baseball camp story ends right there and begins again in a different form in that crazy moment the professionals hired, the ones that took a year and did every study imaginable under the sun, discovered that the ranch was a few feet away from smooth sailing because the ranch is 1.1 miles from route 33, the road that brings you here, and all developments over 1 mile from the road require 2 exists out or “alternate plans” to evacuate. In other words, fuhgeddaboudit.

Well that would have been nice to hear before the yellow freckled frog study and the archeology study and the seismic dig and the road study and so on and so on. But when life throws a challenge you can run away or deal with it. Beside the family came to love the ranch and decided to move there full time. Hoping one day to have more uses for the ranch so that this incredible and unique property can be enjoyed by many.

The Land

Rancho Grande is one of the oldest cattle ranches in California established around 1870, Rancho Grande predates the creation of the National forest by many years. That is why it can be privately owned in the middle of a National forest. It has been operated as a mountain cattle ranch with other ancillary uses continuously since its creation. The creek crossing through the property is named Howard Creek. It runs all year round and fills all our ponds. In the rainy season, it becomes a raging whitewater cascade to the Sespe River.

Aside from cattle, the ranch was used for the forest timber and sheep grazing. Here you can meander through the hills on horseback, take a moonlight stroll around Upper Lake and mosey up to the barbecue grill for some home-cooking before turning in for the night.There are no city lights, sounds of traffic or nearby neighbors on this private piece of back country heaven. Instead, you will find a perfectly balance rustic charm with modern comforts.

From the ranch, you can explore the surrounding mountains on the Howard Creek Trail. The creek is named for Jeff Howard who came to the area in 1875 and established a mountain cattle ranch in 1877. Jeff shot and killed a Basque sheep herder who had run his sheep on Jeff's pasture on Rock Creek. Sentenced to prison, he escaped and fled to Arizona. He was returned to Ojai and then once again escaped and never was captured again. He died near Prescott Arizona in 1910 at the age of 92 years.

This steep trail starts on the south side of the road from Highway 33 to Rose Valley just west of Rancho Grande. A part of the trail was built by a U. S. Navy Construction Battalion commonly known as Seabees who had a training base located at Rose Valley. As part of their training they built numerous roads, trails and even the ponds at Rancho Grande.

The National Wildlife Federation has provided a certification to Rancho Grande of the Los Padres National Forest, for successfully creating an official Certified Wildlife Habitat site. The self-certifying program is a way to show our commitment to our surrounding forest and the wildlife that live here. Anyone that certifies that their property covers all the elements is eligible to become a Certified Wildlife Habitat. We encourage anyone that can to join the millions of places that have joined this organization.