Wooden Wonderlands to Delight the Family

These sure ain’t where Abe Lincoln was raised. While cozy and rustic, log cabin hotels and lodges are astoundingly chic and offer great ways to enjoy being surrounded by the best of nature.

The Lodge & Spa at Brush Creek Ranch is a 30,000-acre luxury dude ranch getaway in the heart of Wyoming. Whether historic or new, there are glass showers and sitting rooms with several different styles of accommodations. Communal family feasts are all-inclusive, along with the opportunity to cowboy it up with horseback riding, fly fishing and clay pigeon shooting. New Western Winter Wonderland activities, including snowmobiling, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and ice fishing.

The Ranch at Rock Creek, a 5-star all-inclusive, offers both restored log cabins and canvas-tent glamping. A spa and party barn means you can take a group or relax by your lonesome on 6,600 acres in southwestern Montana. Besides birding, hiking and archery — and horseback riding, of course — there’s geocaching, which honors the ranch’s origins as a mining property for sapphires. Using GPS devices and coordinates, hunters seek hidden treasure boxes on thousands of acres.

The new safari cabin suite at El Capitan Canyon has nothing to do with animals, but it is a wild experience. The private hilltop it sits on is known as Safari Village, with panoramic ocean, canyon and mountain views. The two-bedroom cabin suite has a kitchen, barbecue grill, a firepit, private fireplace inside and dual sinks. There are indoor and outdoor showers for the entire brood. The Meadow Suite also includes two separate cabins connected by one fire pit and a large patio. The king bedroom has a fireplace and soaking tub, and the second has a full kitchen with a fireplace, king bedroom and separate sleeping loft. There are complimentary bikes and for those who don’t want to cook, a rustic market and deli with meals and beverages.

Cedar Glen Lodge offers the best of Lake Tahoe in summer or winter — although the hot tub is open year-round. Recently renovated cabins have fireplaces, and there’s a wine bar, seasonal heated pool, putting green, fire-pit and sandy beach across the street. The eco-friendly lodge also has Tesla and Universal EV charging stations.

Dunton Hot Springs cabins feature all-antique mining cottages, but the interiors are anything besides forlorn. The property was formerly a ghost town in the 1800s and, while there may have been outdoor showers then, today they’re fit for a spa and offer stunning Colorado mountain views. Each cabin is different, and you can get to know your fellow campers at the dance hall and during meals in the old saloon.