About The Ranch
The Ranch - Where Our Story Comes Home to the Land, and the Ancestors Walk Beside Us
It began as a quiet knowing, a calling that the Ranch was meant for something more. Meant to be shared. And so the journey unfolded.
Once known as the Rehn’s Ranch, this land was home to Jim and Betty Rehn, who raised their four children here while running multiple businesses from its gates. At one time, 300 head of cattle roamed the hills and barnyard. A sawmill to the west brought steady work and a constant flow of people. A Cook House sat atop the hill, feeding cowboys and mill workers, while the nearby Wash House offered a place to clean up after long days of honest labor.
The Ranch has always been a place where big ideas take root, a place people naturally gravitate toward.
In 1997, Charlene, the youngest of the Rehn children, returned home with her husband Robin and their three children. Together, they began restoring what remained of the once‑industrious homestead. Old wooden fences were replaced with pipe. The family home was revived. A new barn rose from the ground. Bit by bit, the Ranch breathed new life again.
Bison grazed the hills. Foals took their first steps in the barnyard. And once more, the land whispered its calling, to bring the Ranch to life in a new way.
To share it.
As a family, we joined forces to shape a vision rooted in heritage, creativity, and heart. Each of us contributes our own talents and perspectives, and together we’ve created a venue filled with beauty, warmth, and inspiration, a place where guests feel welcomed, uplifted, and at home.
What we’ve created for guests today echoes the original spirit of the ranch, preserving the way it was first built, laid out, and lived in, just as it was once enjoyed by the workers and the many people who filled these grounds with the sounds of daily ranch life: the steady hum of the old sawmill in the distance, the scent of fresh‑cut timber drifting across the yard, the creak of saddle leather, the thud of boots on packed earth, the smell of fresh-cut hay, and the quiet rhythm of long days shaped by the land.
We’ve taken our love for days gone by and woven it into every corner of our guest ranch, letting the warmth and character of the past live on in the spaces guests enjoy today.
Our cabins are handcrafted by our own skilled hands, each one built with care, precision, and a deep love for creating inviting spaces where memories can unfold. Every detail, from the sturdy framework to the thoughtfully finished interiors, reflects our dedication to craftsmanship.
The nearby Wash House offers a distinctive retreat at the heart of the Ranch, inviting guests to experience a touch of history. Here, you can wash away the day just as the cowboys and mill hands once did, blending rustic nostalgia with modern comfort.
Our beautifully hand‑painted tipis honor our Métis heritage, a legacy carried through Robin’s side of the family, the Callioux line. Each symbol is chosen with intention and meaning, every design telling a story that reflects not only Métis culture and tradition, but also our own family’s deep connection to this land. These remarkable tipis offer a luxurious yet authentic glamping experience that bridges past and present.
A short walk from the accommodations, the Ranch Campground provides a peaceful place to unwind, featuring 12 powered RV stalls and a stunning log gazebo at its center, a warm gathering place for those who appreciate the timeless charm of classic camping.
Nestled beside one of Alberta’s largest and most underrated lakes, the Ranch blends the enchanting beauty of the land with the legacy of our family. Passed down through three generations, it stands as a testament to tradition, hard work, and the enduring bond between our heritage and this remarkable landscape.
Today, the Ranch welcomes peaceful retreats, family getaways, group adventures, and vibrant hosted events. It has also become one of the region’s most sought‑after wedding venues, a picturesque backdrop where life’s most meaningful moments are celebrated.
With its blend of rustic elegance and inviting warmth, the Ranch offers an unforgettable setting for every occasion. Its charming country ambiance and thoughtfully crafted details create a space that feels both relaxed and refined. Whether you’re marking a milestone, gathering with loved ones, or simply seeking a tranquil escape, the Ranch is a place where every moment feels special, a place where memories are made, stories are shared, and the spirit of the land lingers long after you leave.
Meet the Owners
Charlene Callioux
Owner, Visionary, Mother, Dreamer
- Raised on the Ranch itself Charlene had a vision from an very early age to develop the land she has loved all of her life.
Robin Callioux
Owner, Visionary, Father, Builder of Dreams
- A leader in the oilfield industry for many years and one of the hardest working men you will ever meet. With his wife's vision and his unparalled work ethic and abilities Robin has built and updated each and every amenity the Ranch has to offer.
The Ranch is also home to the soulful photography of SJ Originals, where Samantha’s images are woven gently through the cabins and this website - each piece adding its own quiet warmth, presence, and story to the land.
Chief
Chief is the photograph that catapulted Samantha Callioux’s journey as an artist, the image that first carried SJ Originals out into the world. Samantha helped raise this bald‑faced colt right here at Go Hard Ranch, the place she grew up as the daughter of Robin and Charlene Callioux. The vision to paint sacred symbols on horses came to her in a vivid dream, deeply rooted in her Métis heritage and the spiritual path she was beginning to walk. Chief became the first expression of that calling, a living bridge between her culture, her art, and the land that shaped her.
In July 2016, Chief appeared on Samantha’s first magazine cover with Western Horse Review. His striking face remains her top‑selling piece and continues to be one of the most recognized painted‑horse images online. Today, Chief still calls Wildwood home. He now lives at the Hay Ranch with Canadian champion bronc rider Rod Hay.
Samantha’s photography honours the raw beauty of emotion, the quiet threads of connection, the fluid language of movement, and the sacred way natural light reveals truth. Growing up on the Ranch, surrounded by horses, open sky, and the rhythms of the land, shaped the way she sees the world. Her Métis heritage and lived experiences infuse each image with spirit, story, and a sense of belonging.
Samantha’s artwork lives both online and in the very heart of the Ranch, woven into the cabins, the gathering spaces, and the places that hold her family’s story. Visitors are invited to experience her pieces in person as they settle into their stay, and to wander through her website to explore even more of the spirit‑filled images she creates. Each piece offers a glimpse into the moments she’s been trusted to witness, held with intention, reverence, and a quiet kind of magic.
The Callioux Line - Freedom, Resistance and the Ghost Nation
Today they are known as the “Invisible Nation” or the “Ghost Nation”, the Michel people were written out of the record, yet never erased from the land or from the memory of those who descend from them.
From the East to Erasure, and Back to the Land:
Our family’s story stretches from the Mohawk homelands of the East to the foothills of the Rockies, carried by voyageurs who crossed a continent, built new roots, endured displacement, and survived the government’s corruption. And still, their lineage lives, returning, remembering, and rising again on the very ground that once held their freedom.
The story begins in the East, with Mohawk (Iroquois) voyageurs from Kahnawake and Oka, elite paddlers and trappers who crossed the continent in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Men like Louis Callihoo (Kwarakwante) did not return east when their contracts ended. They stayed, married Cree and Métis women, and built a new, distinct people: the Iroquois‑Cree “freemen,” known for their independence and their unmatched skill on the land.
These ancestors travelled thousands of miles westward, establishing themselves in the Pembina and McLeod River basins. Chip Lake, once called Buffalo Lake, Kihci‑sakahikan, sat at the heart of their territory. They lived and worked in the Jasper House and Athabasca River region, not as visitors, but as the backbone of the fur trade and the primary inhabitants of the mountain valleys.
As the fur trade collapsed and the government tightened its grip on land, our ancestors were pushed from the mountains. Under Chief Michel Callihoo, they signed an adhesion to Treaty 6 in 1878, hoping to secure a future for their children as buffalo disappeared and settlers advanced. By 1880, they were forced from their Jasper homelands to a reserve northwest of St. Albert, where they transformed themselves once again, becoming some of the most successful farmers in the region.
But prosperity made them a target. The government wanted their land.
In 1906, half the reserve was taken. Families moved west toward Wildwood, Niton, and Chip Lake to stay close to the bush and maintain their way of life. Then came the darkest chapter: in 1958, the federal government used the Indian Act to involuntarily enfranchise the entire Michel Band. In a single day, they were legally erased. Their reserve was broken apart and sold. Their treaty rights vanished. Their identity, on paper, was wiped clean.
We rise from a lineage that crossed a continent, endured exile, and survived erasure. What the government tried to silence has only grown stronger, carried in our names, our remembering, and the land that still knows us.
We are the living continuation of a people who walked thousands of miles, weathered storms, and carried their strength across mountains and generations. Their journey shaped our path long before we knew we were following it.
The land remembers us, and we remember it. Our ancestors hunted these hills when they were free, moving with the rhythm of the seasons and the pulse of the Rockies. And now, after everything they endured, we find ourselves here again, standing on the same ground, breathing the same air, held by the same sky.
That is not coincidence.
That is ancestry guiding us home.
Strength runs through our bloodline, steady and unbroken. Their courage is the reason we are here; their footsteps are the reason we know where to stand.
We remember, and in that remembering we honor them. We walk this land with care, protecting it, tending it, and standing as its stewards, guided by the spirit of those who walked here before us.
Those we know, guided us here.