The resort at Paws Up’s first sentence on their site is “around here, social distancing is measured in acres. Not feet” and 100% accurate as our Founder Emily went to experience recently.
Another #luxelistapproved property we fell in love with!
At the crossroads of incomparable luxury and unspoiled wilderness lies The Resort at Paws Up. Paws Up is a luxury Montana mountain resort situated on a sprawling, 37,000-acre, authentic working cattle ranch in western Montana. Whether you choose an expansive private home or a sophisticated, safari-style luxury tent, Paws Up provides an unfiltered connection with the natural beauty of Montana amidst a landscape of impeccable rustic elegance and comfort. Here, you’ll live day to day, adventure to adventure. Spend an hour, a day or a week on horseback—all in a wilderness sanctuary you’ll never forget. Cast a fly in sparkling waters to eager trout, explore the land Lewis & Clark swooned over or lose yourself in a world-class spa. You’ll sleep on the finest sheets, eat world-class cuisine and receive impassioned personalized service. It’s home to first-class adventure on a grand scale. The Resort at Paws Up—truly The Last Best Place.
Why Montana?
You’ve heard about the Big Sky. You’ve seen its beauty on the big screen. Paws Up is a Montana resort that offers an up-close and personal Montana experience coupled with pure luxury. Surrounded by endless forests, intersected by 10 miles of the Blackfoot River and nestled under the most amazing starlit sky you’ve ever seen, Paws Up is a 37,000-acre canvas of picture-perfect Montana that you won’t experience at any other Montana resort.
No other resort or ranch in Montana offers more wilderness adventures and outdoor activities than Paws Up. Adventure enthusiasts rejoice! Their 37,000 acres of the resort property, 100 miles of trails, 10 miles of the Blackfoot River and 1.5 million acres of the nearby Bob Marshall Wilderness Area combine to make for the ultimate outdoor playground for adults and kids alike. Saddle up for a definitive Montana horseback riding adventure, take your best shot at a world-class sporting clays course or experience Montana fly-fishing with an expert guide. Or kick up some dust on an ATV tour. And, if that doesn’t satisfy your adventure appetite, there’s also boating, hiking, kayaking, mountain biking, paintball, rafting, rappelling, swimming and more. When it comes to outdoor dude ranch activities in the Montana wilderness, Paws Up is an all-you-can-eat buffet. Or simply indulge in spa treatments at Spa Town®. As for accommodations, you can choose from 28 luxurious vacation homes, or you can experience upscale camping in one of 36 luxury tents, with decadent furnishings, your own private bathroom, and even the services of a camping butler. It’s nature served on a silver platter.
The Resort at Paws Up features a pristine Rocky Mountain environment most kids will only see on TV. Supervised, age-appropriate activities include everything from hiking and horseback riding to fishing and mountain biking, as well as nature education, wildlife appreciation and wrangler activities.
From the outside, they might appear as any other luxury resort; however, they are much more. On a genuine ranch like theirs, working from home isn’t an option. Spring brings birthing season and hundreds of new baby cattle, bison and horses (and they are incredibly cute). And 37,000 acres of land and nearly 10 miles of the legendary Blackfoot River demand attention. On country roads and waterways and doing general land management, teams are at times working thousands of feet apart, but they are as connected as ever, including our nearly 50 year-round resident employees and their families that call Paws Up home.
Their immediate response is appropriately focused on protecting the health and the safety of our employees, their families, our community and our guests. For this reason, they have increased our focus on cleanliness across the organization. This includes a wide range of safety and cleaning measures in our homes, glamping tents, kitchens, dining areas, activities areas and of course our fleet of Lexus vehicles, and these actions won’t end when the virus abates. They remain closely connected with new safety protocols so that they can best serve you and provide the opportunity to experience Montana safely.
Following state and federal guidelines, they’ve cautiously remained open during this crisis and that has allowed us to provide a safe environment for people in need of a place to shelter.
They do not require guests to wear masks or distance themselves within their own party.
The staff however will always be wearing masks around guests, and while preparing food or while handling anything that will come in contact with our guests. This goes for housekeeping, all food preparation, activities and bellman and drivers.
All of the accommodations offer great spacing from other guests enjoying their experience of our resort. The Luxury homes and glamping tents are stand alone independent buildings which make it easy to maintain the guests comfort level for distance from other travelers.
The wilderness adventures all take place outdoors from their own adventure center. All activities take place on private property with their own staff, who have been trained to take extra measures to sanitize all equipment (such as bikes, fishing rods, ATV’s, helmets, rappel & aerial adventure harnesses, our sporting clays center, bow & arrows, etc. ) between use.
The adventures can be done in groups or privately. They are all outdoors in spacious areas, making it quite easy to be socially distant. Currently, boats are not allowed but can fly fish from the banks of the river and expect to have an update in the next couple of weeks.
The “Spa Town” consists of treatment rooms with tents. Check in will be done socially distant in or outdoors, therapists will use protective gear as needed and the changing room spaces & treatment rooms will receive increased sanitation between servicing guests. The fitness canter opened on May 15th, and the staff will be there to constantly sanitize the facilities.
All dining options has been set for 6 feet of distance between guest’s tables. they offer in-home dining available for all meals, grocery delivery, brick oven pizza delivery, and private in home chefs available. In addition to homes, private dining is available many places on 37,000 acres including private dining rooms and remote white table cloth picnics in the pastures. They have added a brand new open fire kitchen adjacent to the wilderness outpost, for a daily BBQ lunch option. The luxury camping sites have their own open air dining pavilions, allowing them to serve guests only staying at that campsite in a socially distant manor. Additionally, the weekly outdoor nightly dinners ‘Big Sky Bash’ and ‘BBQ in the yard’ and the chuckwagon dinner site, allow for a great variety of fun and expansive dining experiences all summer long. The food and beverage & kitchen staff have spent the last two months creating protocols going above and beyond the CDC guidelines for sanitation.
ACTIVITIES
There truly is something to do all year round for everyone! Pick a letter in the alphabet and they have something for you.
Emily Lockard-Furry began selling travel in 2014. She specializes in destination weddings and honeymoons, but also plans itineraries for multi-generational families and incentive reward travel.