Mt. Charleston log home offers peace and a spectacular view

It's one wicked driveway that leads up to Ennis Jordan's Mount Charleston retreat.

Actually, it's, technically speaking, not a driveway as much as a road -- a skinny, one-lane, unpaved forest trail that continues for a few miles beyond the last cabin you see, with serious dropoffs that'll give whomever's riding shotgun in Jordan's four-wheel-drive pickup alternating bouts of vertigo and impending flashes of imminent death, especially when the truck hits a patch of ice and its wheels spin while the vehicle's rear-end carves fishtails in the snow.

On the upside, it's a gorgeously scenic drive. And when Jordan unlocks the gate to Bristlecone Heights, the name he has given to his cozy mountaintop estate, it's been well worth the trip.

Jordan, 63, a semiretired business owner who worked mostly in the construction materials trade, owns 15 acres on Mount Charleston. Here, at Bristlecone Heights, Jordan has built what he confidently believes to be, at 9,125 feet, the highest dwelling in Nevada.

The 4,500-square-foot log cabin he has built serves as Jordan's close-to-home getaway, and the view from his patio deck and great room picture windows is, as expected, spectacular.

"This place has a city view, a lake view, a mountain view and a desert view," says Jordan, not to mention a pristine night sky and a daily sunrise literally worth losing sleep over.

Jordan also keeps a place in town, but says he makes it up the mountain at least a few days every week, even during the winter, when the postcard-pretty scene is accented with snowfalls that can range from 8 to 15 feet in mid-February. He shares the home with occasional human guests and the property with such four-footed neighbors as elk, deer, bobcat, wild horses and even a mountain lion once, adding that that once "was enough."

Jordan's rendezvous with Mount Charleston was set into motion several years ago when he was looking for a weekend and vacation getaway. He looked in several places, including out of state, before a friend tipped him off that the Mount Charleston property was for sale.

Jordan drove up to check it out and fell in love immediately. "I really wanted a true getaway, and this is secluded," he says.

After buying the property for about $380,000, Jordan tore down the existing cabin and cleared the property for a log cabin he had designed himself.

Even with his experience in the construction trades, the logistics were complicated. A tree on the winding road leading up bears stripped-bark scars caused by 20- to 25-foot-long logs from Montana being hauled up on trailers. Once, two cranes even had to be called in to right a concrete truck that had rolled over along the way.

But, about two years later, the effort resulted in a hunting lodge-style home that is surprisingly intimate and cozy. Jordan figures the place is worth $4.5 million to $5 million right now, down from "$6 million-plus" during the crest of the housing boom.

The design scheme makes a visitor wish that Field & Stream magazine had a decorating column. The overarching theme is comfortably rustic, featuring rich woods throughout the home and even an occasional piece fashioned out of downed bristlecone pines found on the property. Leather couches and chairs offer a masculine complement to the animal heads on the wall -- shot not by Jordan, but by friends -- while the great room, which looks out onto the cabin-length outdoor deck and valley below, offers a fireplace, pool table, home entertainment center and hardwood flooring everywhere.

"I was going for a lodge look," Jordan explains. "I set out to make a place that looks like a lodge that was comfortable for me and my family."

Outside, at one end of the wooden deck, is a hot tub, which itself is adjacent to the bristlecone pine whose silhouette serves as the logo of Jordan's subdivision of one. Indoors, the rustic/wood theme continues in the cabin's three bedrooms, 2½ baths and an upstairs loft office that overlooks the living area.

In the kitchen are an upscale refrigerator, modern fixtures and a granite countertop.

Given its remote location, it's merely practical that Bristlecone Heights is off the grid. Electricity is provided by solar panels and generators, water is taken from a well and propane is used for heat.

And, thanks to its remote location and that twisty road, Jordan entertains no uninvited visitors. When he does throw a party, Jordan has guests park down on the mountain and shuttles them up in SUVs or four-wheel drive trucks. If push comes to shove, Jordan also has cleared out an area for helicopter access.

Really, Bristlecone Heights' only neighborly annoyances are occasional jets passing overhead. "The sounds of civilization," Jordan calls them.

"Just every now and then, when a plane goes over, I'll hear it," he says, smiling. "It's like, 'How dare they get in my airspace!' "

The only key feature the cabin doesn't have is air conditioning. On this particular day, it's 25 or 30 degrees outside, and Jordan says that when it hits 110 in the valley during the summer, he'll be basking in sub-80-degree coolness.

"If I come up and I've been away a few days in the heat of summer ... I'll open the door and the windows and turn the fans on and, in 10 minutes, I'm very comfortable," he says.

If Jordan weren't such a nice, friendly guy, it would be impossible to tour Bristlecone Heights and not experience a pang of envy. And, if it helps, there's this: Jordan is fully aware of how lucky he is to own such an incredible getaway.

Years ago, long before he bought the property, Jordan would ride his Harley at Mount Charleston and look up at the cabins high above.

"I can remember saying, 'I wonder who that lucky SOB is who owns that place?' " he recalls.

Jordan laughs. "Well, actually, I'm the lucky SOB."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.