Warner Springs Ranch will always hold special memories for our family.
We’ve held membership there for close to ten years and my parents even owned a home backing up to the Ranch for a period of time. And as far as San Diego real estate goes (or even all of Southern California), there’s not much that can compare to the magic of Warner Springs Ranch.
Natural hot springs feed an Olympic-sized pool, which sits adjacent to an equally-sized, but much chillier twin. A long soak in these hot mineral waters can go far in easing muscle, psyche and joint pain. And the surrounding adobe cabins are an absolute throwback to another century, with no televisions or telephones.
The Butterfield Cantina, a relic of the 1800’s, noisily rocks on weekend evenings when Wild Willy or other rockers come to stomp and play. There’s also a championship golf course, two restaurants, equestrian boarding facilities, a spa, airport/airstrip, tennis and basketball courts– and hayrides in the summer.
It’s a place that hold many personal memories.
Warner Springs Ranch is privately owned by about 1000 members, and encompasses 2500 acres in eastern San Diego County, north of Julian and west of Borrego Springs. Just a week ago, owners voted and agreed to put the ranch up for sale. Already, the Pala Indian Tribe has expressed a keen interested in buying their original homeland at Warner Springs Ranch–and have offered $20 million to get it back.
Another bidder has offered a similar amount.
I can understand the Pala tribe’s obsession with getting their near-spiritual homeland back–especially since they were rudely evicted from their homes here in 1903–thanks to a 1901 US Supreme Court ruling that the Indians had no title to the land they had occupied for eons (yeah right!).
We own a share of Warner Springs Ranch, pay our dues in a timely fashion, but also welcome the Pala Indians back to their homeland.
All I ask: May we come for an occasional visit?