fossil creek llama ranch

Nancy408

Fun place to watch the goats frolic, especially in the spring. The grand kids love the babies. Goat milk fudge is excellent!

spicy-octopus

after reading the reviews about John and Joyce the owners, I thought it would be fun to visit the ranch. Instead, a worker was there and I was disappointed to say the least. After paying the small fee, we just wandered about which we could have done on our own. Afterwards we left without buying any cheese because we had to wait around while the person in charge was on the phone. The cheese we did sample was awesome!

Hannahbears_mom

John and Joyce are some of the most wonderful people I have met. They love their animals and they love what they do. It shows EVERYWHERE in this delightful place. Adults can sit on the porch while the kids enjoy the animals. The only place in the world I know of that has lavender black pepper goat cheese (my personal favorite things...lavender and goat cheese!). It is so lovely and quiet up here. This is a definite MUST if you are looking for something off the beaten path.

b0bmarley

nothing to dislike. John and Joyce are great. You just have to come to appreciate the ranch. I am super impressed by the ranch everytime I visit. They really care about giving people a great time and the ranch shows it!!!

Chelseyjeank

My husband and I did an hour hike with the llamas (I am pregnant so I couldn't do the half day hike). It was so fun! It ended up being just us with Joyce (she's the owner) and our llamas. The hikes start in the morning and they take you through parts of Tonto National Forest. It is not a vigorous hike, at least we didn't think so. You walk pretty slow with the llamas, but you'll want to wear appropriate shoes, clothes, sunscreen, bring water, etc. It was really relaxing and fun. I can see this being great with kids. The ranch was neat, too. Joyce and John are the owners and they run the show. There are baby goats where you can go in and hangout with, they were pretty funny. At certain times of the day you can help milk the goats, too. They make goat cheese and fudge with the fresh goat milk, we brought our cooler and took some home with us. It was SO good. For a two hour drive north of the valley, it was totally worth it. Everyone was so nice, it was fun, and such a different way to spend a few hours to escape from the city. I would definitely go back, especially with kids.

BLBTraveler

While taking the back roads to Sedona we discovered this little place. Near the adorable little village of Strawberry, the goat farm is step back to a simpler life. We spent just a half hour looking at the goats and sampling the cheese. Pepper-Lavender goat cheese, who knew it could be so delicious. We bought some goat cheese (highly recommended) and some lotion. Later, after reading the ingredients, I was surprised to find a carcinogen in the ingredients of the lotion. Yikes. So much for all - natural. Skip the lotion and go for the cheese! Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area and especially if you have kids.

RichV985

We stopped in on the way from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix and spent an hour or so playing with the baby goats. They are so adorable. We got to go into their pen and feed them. The Farm shop allows you to sample their tasty cheese. Bought some pumpkin goat yogurt and after an initial new taste, it was very good.

589daniels

Scenic drive up to Rim Country and then into beautiful Strawberry-Pine. The Farm's quaint and clean, with a small shop full of dairy (cheeses, ice creams, etc) all made w/ farm fresh supplies. The boys (4 & 6) had fun petting/seeing the animals, and the staff was friendly.

JenniferW175

We stopped in at Fossil Creek Creamery and spent a few hours petting the goats and llamas. The goats are adorable, and each of us seemed to have a "buddy" goat that followed us around the enclosure. After petting the goats, we sampled some soft goat cheese (the dill one is excellent) and also bought some strawberry goat frozen yogurt. The kids really enjoyed this stop.

Trina12312

What a great quiet place to visit. There is not much of a parking lot, but other than that it was a nice place to visit. Try to fudge and cheese that is made at the Ranch. We went for the Llama's and we could see them in the distance. One of the owners came out to greet us. What a laid back nice place to visit in Strawberry. Take you GPS or you might get turned around. We did and had to do a little back tracking but we found it. If you end up at the Pine / Strawberry Festivities this little place is a great place to kick back afterwards.

Carrons

We were visiting the Pine/Strawberry area for the first time and were looking for a way to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon. We stumbled upon the Fossil Creek Llama Ranch and really enjoyed our time there. It is really more of a working goat creamery. We hung out with the little goats for a while. They were extremely friendly. Then sampled the variety of goat's milk products, including cheeses, fudge and yogurt. They were excellent. The owners were very friendly and informative. After that was milking time. Each family member took a turn milking a goat, and they even let us taste the milk. It was a fun little adventure.

RajiL_11

Don't trust google maps to get you there. It shows the place half mile ahead of where it actually is. We had a nice time at this ranch. They have good yogurt and cheese and other goat milk products (soap, lotion etc.). The yogurt was a little icy (ice crystals) but flavors were very good. We bought them mainly to support a local farm - and anything cold tastes good on a hot day - so we would buy them again! Cheeses were really good though! Looked like you could hike on Llamas but we didn't do that. Children can pet the baby goats (for a fee (max $10)). Although, it was too hot when we visited to be out petting and the kids (baby goats) were 70% the size of the full size parent - so daughter didn't think they were 'extra' cute.

GilbertS66

Unbelievable hike it was very easy going down and so awessome when we made it to the toilet bowl and waterfall. it was about five miles down and five miles up from wher we parked at. Never thought something so beautiful was in our back yard it was so well worth it. Make sure you take plenty of water if you can about two gallons per person,sunscreen,good walking shoesand maybe some fruit. We had a group of about 12 and i reccomend being in a group of people our children went so they can do it if they are up to it i also reccomend you let them know its a tough hike there were some parents with smaller children who had to carry them out way tough.

stejacks

8 mile round trip hike. Driving to the parking lot, the last 2.5 miles of the road is rugged. My sedan made it with no problem. First part of hike is downward and flattens out when hiking near the creek for the last 30 minutes or so. The waterfalls are awesome! Water is chilly (read that it is a consistent 72 degrees year round), but it was a great cool off in our 95 degree weather. The hike up was a moderate incline. Bring plenty of water! Lots of people ran out of water on the way back up. There were dogs on the path. They seemed to do fine, just avoid high temps with them. Bring sunscreen and water shoes when crossing into the water. Pretty scenery the whole way.