Brush Creek Ranch 17 miles from Saratoga in southcentral Wyoming has an established, international reputation for high-end luxury and adventure in a place where time seems to stand still.
Now it’s leaning into a new style of Western luxury. It’s a secluded glamping experience right on the North Platte River at $4,500 per night for up to eight people staying a minimum of three nights.
A photo of the package shows an inviting circle of eight wooden Adirondack-style chairs surrounding a campfire parked in front of a huge 30-foot diameter yurt.
The backdrop surrounding the yurt is a curtain of green lodgepole pine with a sky full of cerulean blue overhead.
Two canvas tents suitable for two people each accompany this all-inclusive stay, which not only comes with a choice of 40 activities, but a private chef as well.
Plenty of firewood is already pre-split and stacked and waiting for guests, along with a cheery light glowing from within the yurt.
All is in readiness for guests beginning June 15 and continuing through October for this seasonal stay of rugged luxury.
Yurts hail from Mongolia. They tend to call to mind sheepherders, or maybe even Genghis Khan himself. History records that Khan rather famously rejected a more permanent, palatial structure, believing that abundance should not be hoarded for personal luxury.
But these yurts weren’t made anywhere near Mongolia, and they are all about personal luxury, from start to finish.
The yurts were made by Secret Creek, which offers customizable, hand-crafted yurts starting at $6,925 for a basic 12-foot diameter model, on up to $20,790 for a basic 30-foot diameter yurt.
Wind and snow packages are available to trick these yurts out for Wyoming, along with add-ons like glass windows, electric ceiling fans, clear domes to let the sunshine in, and many other amenities, including electricity, plumbing, and heat.
A new glamping experience at Brush Creek Ranch near Saratoga is among the most expensive tent stays in Wyoming at $4,500 a night. It’s being marketed as a more affordable price point for the high-end resort. (Courtesy Brush Creek Ranch) 
A new glamping experience at Brush Creek Ranch near Saratoga is among the most expensive tent stays in Wyoming at $4,500 a night. It’s being marketed as a more affordable price point for the high-end resort. (Courtesy Brush Creek Ranch) 
A new glamping experience at Brush Creek Ranch near Saratoga is among the most expensive tent stays in Wyoming at $4,500 a night. It’s being marketed as a more affordable price point for the high-end resort. (Courtesy Brush Creek Ranch) 
A new glamping experience at Brush Creek Ranch near Saratoga is among the most expensive tent stays in Wyoming at $4,500 a night. It’s being marketed as a more affordable price point for the high-end resort. (Courtesy Brush Creek Ranch)
Guests Want More Nature
Karli Miller, marketing director for Brush Creek Ranch, said Brush Creek’s new glamping experience is in response to travel trends, which are leaning into immersive, back-to-nature experiences.
“Our guests are already seeking nature experiences in the outdoors,” she said. “So, we have this beautiful area on our property that’s right on the water,” she said. “It’s really to take advantage of that. And it also allows us to diversify a bit into a different price point.”
The location was first created by Brush Creek Ranch owners, Bruce and Beth White, as a place for them to host family and friends joining them on their own private overlook, where they could watch the waters, birds of prey, wildlife, and fish merging at the confluence of the French Creek, which flows into the North Platte River.
What The Price Includes
While its price point at $4,500 per night makes it one of the more expensive Wyoming glamping experiences, per person it’s actually one of the luxury resort’s more affordable experiences, Miller said.
With a full complement of eight people, it comes out to $562.50 per person, per night.
A three-bed cabin at The Lodge & Spa at Brush Creek Ranch, by comparison, starts at $9,700 per night for up to eight guests, or $1,212.50 per night per guest. The company’s French Creek hunting and fishing ranch, which is a buy-out of four, one-bed cabins and a yurt, starts at $8,800 for 14 people per night. That works out to about $628.50 per person per night.
Prices go up from there.
“Guests staying in the full-service resort are obviously paying a little bit higher-end price than they would for glamping,” Miller said. “So, not only is the experience different, but it also allows us to expand our portfolio into a diversified target market.”
A “buyout” at Brush Creek refers to renting an entire property. Those buyout prices typically aren’t dependent on the number of people. A person could rent the glamping site for just two guests or up to eight people.
“They get one yurt and two luxury glamping tents, as well as meals and activities,” Miller said. “All of our properties are all-inclusive. So, they include three meals daily and wine and spirits, as well as two activities per day.”
Your Own Personal Chef
One big perk the glamping site includes that other Brush Creek sites don’t necessarily have is access to a private, personal chef, to make meals tailored to individual guests.
“All of our properties do have gourmet fine dining, so they are still very high-end,” Miller said. “But (glamping guests) can have meals curated for their interests.”
The chef will draw on fresh ingredients produced at Brush Creek for a pasture to plate experience. These ingredients include wagyu beef raised at Brush Creek Ranch, cheeses made from the ranch’s goat herd, and greens from the 20,000-square-foot greenhouse.
There’s an onsite distillery where whiskey and vodka are produced, as well as a wine cellar that Miller said houses one of the top 10 largest wine collections in the world.
A new glamping experience at Brush Creek Ranch near Saratoga is among the most expensive tent stays in Wyoming at $4,500 a night. It’s being marketed as a more affordable price point for the high-end resort. (Courtesy Brush Creek Ranch) 
A new glamping experience at Brush Creek Ranch near Saratoga is among the most expensive tent stays in Wyoming at $4,500 a night. It’s being marketed as a more affordable price point for the high-end resort. (Courtesy Brush Creek Ranch) 
A new glamping experience at Brush Creek Ranch near Saratoga is among the most expensive tent stays in Wyoming at $4,500 a night. It’s being marketed as a more affordable price point for the high-end resort. (Courtesy Brush Creek Ranch) 
A new glamping experience at Brush Creek Ranch near Saratoga is among the most expensive tent stays in Wyoming at $4,500 a night. It’s being marketed as a more affordable price point for the high-end resort. (Courtesy Brush Creek Ranch)
Yurts Are Perfect For Glamping
Traditionally, yurts were wooden lattices covered with felt. This hardier construction made them perfect for the more modern approach to camping known as glamping — a portmanteau of glamorous camping.
They offer lots of room for luxury items like the leather couches and seats found at Brush Creek’s Platte Canyon Glamping, and the wooden lattice makes them much sturdier than a traditional tent.
In America, yurts first found a following during the 1960s and 1970s, with the hippy culture, which was rejecting mainstream values, as well as looking for ways to get away from modern society and back to nature, among other things.
Along the way, people found ways to make yurts more portable, and more luxurious than their Mongolian cousins.
Glamping, as a trend, meanwhile, has been riding a wave of increasing popularity of late. It was a $561 million trend in 2023, according to research firm Arizton Advisory & Intelligence, which predicts the market will grow to $1.3 billion by 2029.
Behind that, according to Arizton, is a rising demand for experiential travel as well as outdoor recreation and wellness. And if a stay can also be in social media-worthy accommodation, well so much the better.
Scientific studies, meanwhile, have been helping to bolster the immersion in nature trend, with data showing connecting nature to mental health benefits.
That’s led to concepts like “forest bathing,” which originates from a Japanese practice known as shinrin-yoku, which refers to immersing one’s self in the “forest atmosphere.”
What About Other Glamping?
Glamping spots have been more numerous in coastal regions, as well as mountainous areas, particularly in Colorado and Montana.
But Wyoming has seen several new high-end glamping locations start of late. There’s Paintrock Canyon Ranch, which opened with a set of safari tents in 2023, available for an all-inclusive, five-night minimum stay for a total $3,950. That includes meals and activities.
Basecamp Hospitality started a glamping site in Teton County in 2022, offering geodesic domes about 3 miles from Grand Teton National Park, for up to $899 per night for a family dome. Amenities include an onsite sauna, a killer view of the Tetons, free Wi-Fi, heating and cooling, and a barbecue grill.
Their domes were the subject of a recent lawsuit involving Teton County, which argued the units do not comply with county ordinances. The Wyoming Supreme Court, however, ultimately sided with the state, which permitted the operation.
Airbnb also lists a number of glamping options across Wyoming, ranging from a cute white tent near Shell decorated with pops of red and black checkered color for $171 per night and a restored sheep wagon in Shirley Basin, Wyoming, that rents for $171 per night.
Not many glamping experiences in Wyoming appear to cost quite as much per night as Brush Creek, though there is one in Utah that is more expensive.
That’s an Aman site that offers tented pavilions at Camp Sarika. That starts at $5,669 per night, ranging on up to $6,087 per night for an 1,800 square foot living space nestled in its own little canyon.
Brush Creek’s glamping experience promises unparalleled immersion in nature and access to outdoor adventure, Miller told Cowboy State Daily.
“You’re right on the water,” she said. “And so, people who enjoy the sounds of the river, enjoy fly-fishing, enjoy hiking, biking, or faster-paced experiences like ATVs, river rafting or horseback riding. It’s definitely immersed in outdoor adventure.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
