July 3, 2008

US & CANADA | US | MONTANA

Dude Deluxe

By Judy D'Mello

America’s latest eco lodge invites you to walk on the wild side.

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Hold the chaps. A sortie to true cowboy country, Montana, no longer means checking into a dude ranch to work up the calluses on those well manicured hands. You can now ease into Big Sky Country, which claims the highest gun ownership in the union, with a little Wild West Lite: a sort of cowboy-by-day, chardonnay-by-night experience.

America’s latest address for eco-luxe, The Lodge at Sun Ranch, just opened on the fringes of Yellowstone, in southwest Montana. Following a relocation and expansion from its previous incarnation, Papoose Creek, the new lodge ups both the comfort factor and the eco credentials. As explained to globorati by the Sun Ranch Institute (the research group that oversees all ranch activity), the original site interrupted the path of migrating wildlife.

This love-the-earth ethos extends throughout the new, 11,000-square-foot digs, built mostly from recycled lumber. Catering to just 16 guests at maximum capacity, the six stylish rooms and two 100-year-old cabins are set amid 26,000 acres of grasslands that are home to wolves, bison, elk and mustang. We’re told the fly fishing on nearby Madison River is world class, and if you pay attention to on-site fly-fishing guru Craig Matthews (or just get lucky), you might even catch a trout to accompany your chef-prepared meals featuring locally and organically grown fare.

A 40-minute drive away is Yellowstone — the “Serengeti of North America” — which, through various “rewilding” programs, has regained most of its animal population. But if you prefer to prove to the guys back home your true grit, Sun Ranch offers a “green” riding program where you can help ranch hands to train wild mustangs as guest mounts. And yes, deep tissue massages are available afterwards.