Rainbow Ranch Lodge

Montana
United States

The Experience

Trekking to big-sky country need not mean camping in a flimsy tent. This former fishing lodge (dating back to 1919) is positioned in southwestern Montana’s sweet spot, near the holy trinity of Moonlight Basin Ski Resorts, Big Sky Resort and Yellowstone National Park. Pass through the lodge’s weighty pine doors--look closely, the handles are made from fishing-rod reels—to a snug communal room stocked with leather couches, antler chandeliers and a blazing fireplace. It’s relaxed yet refined, with the charming staff adding folksy rural charm.

The Rooms

Located a stone’s toss from the river, the rooms exude rustic charm with rock fireplaces and lodgepole-pine beds. The Pondside Luxury quartet each contain a six-foot soaking tub with rosemary-lavender bath salts, while the Riverside Luxury’s queen beds are topped with 1,000-thread count Egyptian sheets. Though nature can meddle with your comfort (the damp climate is conducive to mold, and bugs are pesky), a simple word to the front desk solves everything.

The Service

Genteel owner Patrick Hurd sets the tone, whether suggesting wine or a great hiking trail. The staff never slouches, leaving fresh-baked cookies before bedtime and keeping fireplaces stocked with wood. Workers will even brave a snowdrift to deliver steaming coffee and scones to your room.

The Highlights

Seasons dictate your activities: Come summer, you can fly-fish, kayak or raft in the rushing Gallatin River, or hike and mountain bike in the grand Gallatin National Forest, where elk and deer roam. Wintertime means skiing, backcountry snowshoeing and a speedy snowmobile ride to Yellowstone. Recommended all year is dinner prepared by French Laundry vet Tommy Donohoe. The Slow Food fan devises local-centric dishes ranging from wild-game sausage to mesquite-grilled Buffalo rib-eye with whipped gorgonzola. Matching the cuisine is the Bacchus Room, a subterranean wine cellar containing 8,500-plus bottles.

 

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