Paws Up Montana
Paws Up Montana
A 37,000-acre working cattle ranch in western Montana with six luxury camps along the Blackfoot River. This is the property often credited with helping popularize luxury glamping in America, and it's still the benchmark.
Paws Up sits on land the Lewis and Clark expedition crossed, along the river Norman Maclean wrote about in A River Runs Through It. The Lipson family bought the ranch in the 1990s and slowly built it into what it is today: a genuine working cattle operation that also happens to host one of the best glamping experiences in the country.
What the stay is actually like
The six camps each have six luxury safari tents. River Camp sits along the Blackfoot. Creekside follows Elk Creek. Cliffside offers honeymoon suites above the river. North Bank is the most secluded. Each camp has its own dining pavilion with dedicated chefs who prepare breakfast and dinner in the camp itself.
Inside the tents: feather beds, ensuite bathrooms with hot showers, Western-inspired furnishings, wood-burning stoves, private decks, and electricity. It reads as camping in the best sense but delivers something much closer to a private wilderness lodge experience.
The ranch runs on activity. More than seventy experiences: cattle drives, horseback rides, fly fishing on the Blackfoot, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, sporting clays, ATV tours, wildlife viewing. Winter opens up dogsledding, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, and sleigh rides. Spa Town, a canvas wellness village hidden in a meadow, handles massage, yoga, sound baths, and treatments.
Getting there and when to go
Paws Up is roughly 35 minutes east of Missoula (MSO), which has direct flights from most major western hubs. The ranch arranges transfers. From Bozeman it's about three hours by car.
The luxury camps operate May through early October. That's the window for river activities, horseback, fly fishing, and warm-weather activities. September and early October bring cool nights, golden light, and thinner crowds. The ranch's homes stay open year-round, so winter visitors get snow and wilderness without the tents.
Book direct at pawsup.com. All-inclusive packages cover meals, most activities, and the full ranch experience. Multi-generational trips work particularly well here.