3 Wyoming guest ranches elevating luxury travel in the American West
For $15,000 a night, you and 21 of your closest friends can enjoy Wyoming’s wonders — Photo courtesy of Reid Creek Lodge
Not Dubai. Not Paris. Increasingly, those who love luxury travel are heading to Wyoming for its growing crop of secluded, all-inclusive guest ranches immersed in majestic natural beauty.
From shelling out $15,000 a night to call Reid Creek Lodge your home away from home to reserving an entire ski mountain at Brush Creek Ranch for a cool $8,500, prepare to dust off any former ideas you had about luxury travel.
Here are three Wyoming guest ranches that’ll make you click your spurs with delight.
Reid Creek Lodge, a window into the American West
Hang your hat at Reid Creek Lodge — Photo courtesy of Reid Creek Lodge
Located on a working ranch outside the small town of Douglas, Reid Creek Lodge is about a three-hour drive north of Cheyenne. Here, for $15,000 a night, you have the run of an 8,000-square-foot lodge, complete with a private staff, to include a chef and concierge. The spacious lodge boasts seven bedrooms and accommodates up to 22 people.
As a guest on this stunning 300,000-acre ranch, you can tour the barns (so remote, it’s nearly an hour’s drive from one barn to the next) and ride award-winning quarter horses. Animals are everywhere. In addition to thousands of cattle, you’ll see wild elk, deer, antelope, waterfowl, and the occasional black bear.
Your concierge will plan your day, based on your interests. Like to fish? You’ll be escorted to a private lake, all equipment provided. Feel like exploring? Enjoy stargazing with a local astronomer or go foraging for edible plants with an expert. Attend private painting classes or enjoy a peaceful picnic surrounded by nature. If you’re here for adventure, your team can take you rock scrambling, off-roading, e-biking, hiking, or canoeing, among many other recreational activities.
This Wyoming guest ranch is excellent for families, too, with wildlife safaris, educational survival classes, and wagon rides. After a day of exploration and relaxation, you can tip back an expertly made cocktail or a hot chocolate by the fire pit beneath Wyoming’s open sky.
Brooks Lake Lodge, once a Yellowstone National Park stopover
Brooks Lake Lodge has deep roots as a Wyoming guest ranch — Photo courtesy of Brooks Lake Lodge
About 90 minutes from Jackson is another top-notch Wyoming guest ranch: Brooks Lake Lodge. This all-inclusive resort and spa, which just celebrated its 100th anniversary, is where pioneer-era Western intersects with luxury.
Brooks Lake Lodge is so remote that, in the wintertime, guests must pre-arrange to be picked up via snowmobile or snow coach or be escorted on skis to cover the final five miles to the lodge. While there is WI-FI available here, you’ll want to put your devices away and immerse yourself in the natural beauty.
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Like Reid Creek, Brooks Lake Lodge offers personalized itineraries, so you can be as adventurous or as relaxed as you desire. This Wyoming guest ranch is packed with history, originally built as a stopover for people traveling to Yellowstone National Park. Open year-round, the lodge’s maximum number of guests is 26 in the winter and 36 in the summer, with a one-to-one staff-to-guest ratio.
A taste of adventure at Brush Creek Ranch
Enjoy a seed-to-table retreat at this Wyoming guest ranch — Photo courtesy of Brush Creek Ranch
Almost a two-hour drive from Laramie, in Saratoga, you’ll find Brush Creek Ranch, which operates three all-inclusive guest ranches set on 30,000 acres of private wilderness: Lodge & Spa, Magee Homestead, and French Creek. Brush Creek is also a working cattle ranch, with Wagyu cattle for the resort’s culinary program.
Food is a major highlight at this Wyoming guest ranch, with elite chefs who utilize hydroponic gardening, farmstead cheesemaking, distilling, butchering, and more. You can learn all about these culinary practices with hands-on experiences at one of Brush Creek’s epicurean retreats.
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“In addition to mastering technique, guests will leave with an understanding of our holistic approach and ongoing relationship with the land that will inspire their own culinary practices long after their experience,” says Mike Williams of Brush Creek.
There’s plenty to do at Brush Creek Ranch to work up an appetite. This Wyoming guest ranch offers 600 acres of private skiing and a full menu of recreational activities, from fly fishing to ice fishing, depending on the season.
