Greenough
Montana


The Experience

Picture almost 40,000 acres for you to roam uninterrupted, and you can get a sense of just how vast Paws Up really is. Set along the Blackfoot River (where A River Runs Through It was filmed) in the Rocky Mountains, the resort is like a luxury dude ranch for adrenaline junkies who don't think winter is the best time to cozy up to a fire and read a book (although you can certainly do that here). In the snowy months, guests can ride horses, dogsled and snowshoe; in summer, fish, white-water raft and hike on 120 miles of trails cutting through the Lewis & Clark wilderness. Just be warned: During shoulder season, Paws Up is big with the incentive and corporate-retreat crowd.

The Rooms

Buildings are scattered across the property with enough distance between them to feel like you're living in your own private Idaho (if you rent the whole thing, which you sometimes have to). There are a handful of rooms in a 1908 farmhouse, a couple of smallish homes (which you have to rent as a block), a bunkhouse (which the owners recommend for bachelorette parties); all exude rustic luxury, with timber-and-iron headboards, stitched-cowhide lampshades and satellite flat-screen televisions. The most unusual "rooms" are found in the summertime at Tent City, a deluxe campsite complete with a "camping Butler," a spa tent, a separate bathhouse, dining pavilion and featherbeds tucked beneath oversize canvas tents with private decks. If camping isn't your bag, the Bunyan Bug (one of the Big Timber Homes) is the largest, with room for eight in a cabin that would make Dick Cheney proud.

The Service

Snacks and drinks are presented upon arrival, and from there, the staff takes care of every need -- from changing accommodation to ordering special meals. Because they're like ranch hands at a luxury retreat, they tend to be cheery, outdoorsy types who actually do love their jobs, and it shows.

The Highlights

Local chef Jacob Wetherington takes his setting seriously, serving up quail, elk, buffalo, trout and rattlesnake (it doesn't taste just like chicken, FYI) in the semiformal Pomp restaurant. The spa may be situated in a tent, but its services are straight from the city, with hot stone massages expertly delivered in silence. But it's the on-property activities that you'll want to take advantage of, and they're numerous (and well-run): everything from ATV-riding to sporting clays and bear tracking. The kids' program is also outstanding, using the wide-open spaces to teach wrangling and roping -- their introduction to life on the range.

-- Heidi Mitchell

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