The quiet and friendly community of Christopher Creek is named after the French settler, explorer, and cartographer Isadore Christopher, who lived here in the 1880’s with his mail-order bride, Mary Hope. Christopher was the original homesteader of the 160-acre CI Ranch, which has developed into the community of Christopher Creek.
In 1903, when Isadore Christopher, after the death of his wife, decided to move away from the ranch, he sold it to John Bowman. In 1938 the ranch was sold by the Bowman’s to Paul Revere and Polly Rodema Mendenhall Ashby, the parents of Glenn Ashby.
Pictured here is the original business in the area built in 1950 (now called the Founder’s Cabin).
After the CI Ranch was purchased, both Glenn and his brother Norman, would take care of the ranch while the family lived in Phoenix. Both Glenn and his brother received some of their formal school training through correspondence courses sent to the ranch.
In those days there was very little auto traffic, maybe a car a week would come up the dirt road from Payson.
In 2008, the lodge was entrusted to new ownership. The new owner also grew up in Rim Country and thanks to the bypass of Highway 260 much of the same old-fashioned appeal remains today. The new owner plans to carry on the tradition of Christopher Creek Lodge by providing an affordable place where people can get away from the heat and congestion of the city and enjoy the beauty of the Arizona high country.
For reservations please Book Online! or call 928-478-4300.