FLORA — There’s a new family running the first business motorists come to when entering Oregon on Highway 3 now that David and Samantha McKenzie have taken over the Joseph Canyon Lodge near the turnoff to Flora.

In addition to new owners, that business has a new name. The former RimRock Inn is now the Joseph Canyon Lodge, quite appropriate because of its setting overlooking Joseph Canyon.

David and Samantha McKenzie brought their three daughters from Grants Pass and purchased the business in October from Cabot and Kim Carlston. The Carlstons, who had been running the RimRock Inn since 2016, moved to Ashland where they operated Kim’s boutique.

Built in 1940, the inn was originally known as Canter’s Inn. Then it was sold to Loren and Wilma Raymond, who sold it to Rahn and Becky Hostetter, Carlston said.

New start

Now the McKenzies have the Joseph Canyon Lodge and a new start at the top of Wallowa County.

“We wanted to move away from Grants Pass because it was getting too big,” David said. “We wanted to move here to this county around Enterprise or somewhere. We were looking for a home and we found this place and we said we can open a business and get a home.”

The McKenzies’ three daughters — Payten, 14; Kylinn, 11; and Brynn, 9; also help out at the lodge, their dad said. Payten recently got certified as a food handler, while the younger two help out hostessing or as cashiers. They all pitch in doing kitchen work.

They seem to find the Flora area a satisfactory new home.

“It’s fun. There’s not a bunch of hippies around here selling drugs,” Kylinn said.

Samantha noted that was a particular problem in Grant Pass that they’re not experiencing here.

“You can’t really go to the parks there anymore,” she said.

The weather’s different here, too.

“It’s not as hot here,” Kylinn said.

The girls also got a real taste of winter this year, Mom said.

“They got to play in some snow this winter,” she said.

“We liked it until it got up to 4 feet tall,” Kylinn said.

The lodge

Not a lot has changed at the lodge since the McKenzies took over — there are still the three tepees and four RV spots. Samantha — who works at Wallowa Memorial Hospital as an emergency room nurse — said that unlike their predecessors, her family is big enough they need the entire lodge. So guests are limited to the tepees and RVs. The RV spots have water and power to them, but no sewer available.

However, David said, he’s considering expanding accommodations.

“We’re thinking about building two cabins in two of the RV spots,” he said. “We’re not exactly sure when.”

The three tepees have varying accommodations. A two-person tepee goes for $160 a night, a tepee holding three to four people goes for $180 a night and the tepee that holds up to five people goes for $200 a night. The RV spots are $40 a night. All come with breakfast, David said.

The lodge also has seating for about 30 diners inside and another 16 on the deck — on a nice day.

The menu is available on the lodge’s website.

Samantha bakes plenty of scones, cookies and breads, as well as making jams/preserves and oils and teas.

“We tried dandelion tea and it came out really good,” she said.

David said they also serve five beers on tap, including one from Terminal Gravity in Enterprise.

Samantha said they also have a bit of a convenience store in the lodge.

“We have milk, eggs, cheese and snacks for hikers and campers,” she said. “It is a little bit different than how the business was run previously.”

The lodge will operate — like many businesses in the county — on seasonal hours. They’ll be open from Memorial Day to Labor Day. They just tried a trial run being open Tuesday through Saturday and found that didn’t work as well as they’d have liked, so they’re cutting back to Thursday through Saturday. They’ll do dinner just on Friday and Saturday, David said.

He said that so far, the lodge is drawing plenty of customers.

“It stays pretty busy,” he said.