One Night in an Ultra-Luxe Dude Ranch in Wyoming’s Wilderness

Welcome to One Night In, a series about staying in the most unparalleled places available to rest your head.

As a child, I yearned for the "olden days," as I called them, of frontier life. Never mind that I actually would not have been able to hack it driving hundreds of thousands of miles in a covered wagon, or sleeping on a straw-stuffed mattress, my fixation with the days of yore knew no bounds. I even dressed up as Laura Ingalls Wilder for Halloween one year, before a full awareness of her complicated life entered my transom.

I’m certainly not the only one: an idealized vision of the West has been sold to Americans—and those overseas—by Wilder and others for so long that that concept can seem like fact. Much of the lore stems from the development of the so-called dude ranch, which formed as actual ranching was becoming less and less profitable in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A "dude" or "a swell or a fop" was someone for whom experiencing what home on the range was like could be a kind of escape, and many of these formerly successful working ranches were turned into vacation spots for said swells. As the National Parks Service website notes in a book excerpt about the history of Grand Teton, "As much as any other business, dude wrangling pioneered the modern tourist industry in the American West, particularly in the Rocky Mountain states of Montana and Wyoming." Later in the chapter, titled "The Dude Wranglers," a passage reads: "The dude ranch experience represented a compromise between western rustic ambience and comfort."

Obviously, in recent years, that comfort part has become key. Like summer camps, dude ranches have continued to offer that same "compromise," with less emphasis on the concession part, as long as money is no object. As Barron’s noted in 2021, during and post-pandemic, "ultra-luxe" dude ranches saw and continue to see a surge of bookings in states like Utah, Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming. "Luxury ranches offer privacy and ample outdoor space to feel safe when returning to travel after a pandemic—but the most magical part is the sentiment of nostalgia and escape they offer," Larry Mueller, CEO and founder of high-end travel company Cuvée told the financial news publication. "After a difficult time, travelers want to feel a sense of freedom and adventure."

One such ranch they cite is Brush Creek Ranch, a 30,000-acre property located in the North Platte Valley in southern Wyoming, on the edge of Medicine Bow National Forest. Brush Creek had recently announced that parts of the Ranch underwent a refresh and started offering one-night stays, so when I realized my fall road trip would be taking me through Wyoming, I knew I had to figure out a way to stop by. (The fact that it was the location of the—infamous to probably only me and my good friend who is from Wyoming—wedding of Allison Williams to her now ex-husband Ricky Van Veen made it all the more intriguing.) Accommodations at the Ranch start in the low thousands a night, and only go up from there. So I reached out to set up a visit and fulfill my long-held dream of roughing it—21st-century wealthy style.

Sunday

4 p.m.: The former working ranch, founded in the late 1800s, was acquired by Bruce White’s White Lodging in 2008. White originally made his money in Marriott franchises in Indiana, but before the late founder died in 2023, the company began offloading suburban hotels and focusing on "urban and experiential hotels." (His wife and children are still involved in its leadership.) Regularly on "Best of" lists, the hotel is the kind of place wealthy Americans can use to experience the highs of what frontier life used to be like, with activities from horseback riding to ice fishing, sans the lows—there’s Wi-Fi, and nicer accommodations than, for some, perhaps even home offers.

For those who haven’t had the experience, going to a place like Brush Creek is like attending an extremely luxe adult summer camp. Before you arrive, you discuss your activity interests with a concierge, though more can be added on the fly once you get there. The Ranch consists of three properties: The family-friendly Lodge & Spa, which features a main building with rooms as well as smaller cabins; the adults-only Magee Homestead, which is rentable for an entire party; and French Creek, a smaller, similar private area of the ranch with a fish-and-game lodge. They’re all decorated in a cohesive style that most directly brings to mind any of Ralph Lauren’s properties, particularly the Colorado one; the main difference being size. There’s also a working farm where ingredients for the ranch’s restaurants are grown, and guests can take cooking, distilling and cheesemaking classes.

After driving from Colorado through the beautiful aforementioned Medicine Bow National Forest and several towns with populations in the two digits, we show up at the same time as a large corporate group—not ideal in terms of check in, but the kind of thing that happens when you’re spending one night somewhere in the middle of Wyoming on a Sunday in late September. Much to my partner’s excitement, every party staying on the Ranch away from the central Lodge gets their own golf cart to drive around the property. He quickly avails himself of said golf cart and whips us off to Armstrong cabin, where we get unpacked and I jump into the natural stone shower. The rooms are designed by the Chicago-based Simeone Deary Design Group, who have also worked on a number of other White Lodging properties. I get cozy, with a fireplace befitting the log cabin vibes, and perhaps the most comfortable hotel couch I’ve ever laid on, and read for a bit while drying off, happily ensconced in a supremely comfortable robe (checked the tag; it’s a Monarch Cypress).

6 p.m.: Dinner is to be served at the Pioneer Club, located next to the Lodge. (Their higher end restaurant, Cheyenne Club, on the Farm and named after the original Wyoming landmark, isn’t open on Sundays.) But beforehand, we decide to get drinks at the Saloon next door—the ice is delightfully branded with a cowboy on a horse, I notice, as we sit outside in chairs carefully framed towards the view. I then learn how to play bocce (I lose) as the sun sets and we take in the absolutely incredible skyline. During the summer—and even in the winter; the Ranch offers plenty of cold-weather activities (skiing on their private mountain, snowmobiling, and ice fishing, just to name a few) and can get quite busy during the holidays—I can imagine parts of it can feel full, but here in the shoulder season, we soak up the quiet.

Dinner is heavy on local fare—trout, bison, vegetables grown at the farm—and afterward, we head back to the Saloon, where I attempt to get better at pool on a highly impressive wood table, and battle extremely sneaky elk in Big Buck Hunter, the arcade game. Then we whip it in the golf cart back to our cabin, turn on the fire for a bit, and fall asleep to the complete and total darkness and silence.

Monday

8 a.m.: My partner walks up and watches the sunrise—big brag—while I sleep in. Then, we head to the Lodge for some eggs and house-made sausage to fortify us before our big activity: a trail ride.

My partner historically has a "healthy respect" for horses, which means he doesn’t go near them, which I thought meant I’d have to skip this particular jaunt. But I figure the best way to see the property was on horseback, and since I haven’t been in years, I manage to convince him more easily than I imagined I’d have to that it’ll be fun to do. After being brought over to the barn in a hay wagon with a bunch of the corporate crew—who are impressed I’m here for work (same)—we set off on our ride with our guide, who tells us all about how she ended up at the Ranch, the other places she’s worked, and the horse she shouldn’t have bought but did. (She speaks highly of how well the animals are cared for here, which of course we love to hear about.) Slowly walking, periodically pulling our ponies heads away from the grass they’d constantly attempt to eat if we weren’t vigilant, we get a small taste of the stunning Wyoming vista, not much in sight but hills and trees and the occasional creek.

We say farewell to our trusty steeds, and with that, my brief brush with frontier life is over. We pack up some delicious homemade snacks in the car, and hit the road. While you could easily fill a week at the Ranch with endless activities, ranch-themed or not (think facials, massages, sound healing, and, of course, goat yoga), being there only briefly made me realize what people are really looking for, even with all the comforts that the modern dude ranch provides: the breathtaking calm of the relative wilderness.

This essay is part of a three-story mini-series from executive editor Kate Dries’s fall road trip through the West. Previously, a college-run hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado. Next up, the latest luxury resort in Big Sky, Montana.

Top photo courtesy of Brush Creek Ranch

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