If someone were to ask me to dream up the perfect piece of property and location to call home, I've found it.
I was there.
And it was all mine for 5 glorious days.
This place was literally...perfect.
It all started in the Spring of 2015 on an Airbnb photography gig for a couple of brothers who had a property on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu that they needed photographed for the vacation rental site. They then hired me independently to photograph the property after renovations. As we got to know each other through the process, they mentioned that they also recently came upon a ranch property on the border of Sequoia National Park that they were renovating, and that they'd like to send me out to photograph once the renovations were done.
If you're at all familiar with how Los Angeles works, you know that these things rarely actually pan out, so I tried to hold in whatever excitement was oozing out and took the offer with a grain of salt.
A few months later, I received a call and an email from the guys informing me that the renovations were almost complete and if I was still interested. YES!
So I called up a couple of friends, some family, and we headed up to Three Rivers, California, where the 190-acre ranch was located, right along the South Fork Kaweah River that snaked its way out of the rarely used South Fork entrance (which is actually apparently the original entrance) to Sequoia National Park.
We pulled up to the property and were immediately blown away. Three structures - a house for the owners, a house for the caretakers, and, where we'd be a staying, a renovated barnhouse that had 5 bedrooms, 2 full kitchens, a barbecue large enough to fit an entire pig (no joke...look at the pictures), a pool table, and all of it sat literally less than 25 yards from their very own river. A river that included 2 swimming holes, a waterfall, and a sauna tucked in between jurassic-sized Sequoia boulders. This wall all in addition to a chicken coop, a treehouse, and a pasture across a bridge that housed horses, cows, donkeys, peacocks, and a small army of cats and dogs.
So yeah, a dream.
I spent the entire first afternoon shooting the interiors before we filled it up and started to nest, and covered the exteriors at various times of day through the next few days. Here's a slideshow of some of my favorites from the barn house and around the property. If you want to see a full gallery, click here.
In between 'working,' we found time head into Sequoia National Park to walk amongst the giant sequoias, visiting General Sherman, the largest (by volume) tree in the world, along a snow-laden trek through the groves before catching a spectacular sunset on the western slope of the park. We also managed to make our way into the South Fork entrance, which we didn't discover until the last day, and only had about an hour to hike in before a snowstorm and thick fog that we weren't prepared for forced us to return as the sun began its decent.
Anyhow, below you'll find a gallery of images from those trips into the park. Click here if you'd like to view a full gallery.
And if you're interested in renting the place, TRUST ME, it's worth it, especially if you split it amongst a group of people. The place sleeps 12 comfortable and is an insanely idyllic gem and perfect place to claim as home-base on a visit to Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks. Hell, you might find it hard to leave the premises, which would make it an idyllic destination all on its own. Imagine that...Sequoia National Park can be a nice 'side-trip' to a stay at Three River's Redwood Ranch.
Here's the Airbnb link.
Here's the VRBO link.
Do it!!!!
For more mehs and thingblehs, stalk me at:
instagram: @wasimofnazareth
ello: @wasimofnazareth
google+: +WasimMuklashy
Most images were shot on a Samsung NX1 with a bit of help from a Samsung NX500, Nikon D7000, and a Samsung Galaxy Note 5.
If you enjoy these posts, please feel free to subscribe to my mailing list at top right of this page, and I'll deliver each post to you as I publish them, and if you support the kind of work I’m doing and the things I’m sharing, please consider ‘subscribing to me’ on Patreon.com. Yup, subscribing to me. You can even set the price. Literally, $1 per month if you want. No joke, your little helps me a LOT!
