The Hideout Lodge & Guest Ranch, Wyoming

Hide and seek: Be the cowboy or cowgirl you always wanted to be on a 100-year-old, 250,000-acre working cattle ranch at the foot of Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains.

Dude ranches may seem like a dime a dozen these days, but the Hideout has a twist: Belgian managers, a blue-eyed Mexican vaquero running the show, and a Cordon Bleu chef. They share the land with a four-generation ranching family, 80 horses, and nearly 2,000 cattle. That's a good thing, because the town of Shell has a population of 50. Head wrangler Ramon Castro and his team will size you up, pair you with a suitable horse, and set you on your merry way for two to six hours of riding per day. Guests can also participate in cattle drives, fly-fish for trout, or mountain bike through the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area. Lodging ranges from duplex log cabins and apartment-style casitas to stand-alone homes or the Trapper Creek Lodge, which comes with a personal chef and wrangler. Take that, city slicker.

Find your way: The town of Shell is an hour's drive from Cody or two and a half hours from Billings, Montana.

The Hideout Lodge & Guest Ranch
3170 Road 40 1/2
Shell, Wyoming
Tel: 800 354 8637
Four nights from $1,385 per person, including horseback riding and other activities, plus all meals and alcohol

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