Published July 3, 2026 04:35AM
As a child I loved the freedom of romping in the woods enveloped by the lusty scent of earth and vines. But when the light faded, so did my outdoor adventures. Camping was not for my Southern white-gloved mother, and in this regard, I’m definitely her daughter. Raising a tent, sleeping on the ground, dodging chiggers, and using the midnight bush are not my idea of fun. My forays into wilderness were destined to be fleeting.
That is until a visit to Explora’s adventure lodge in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park years ago changed my view. I woke to a vista of jagged granite towers rising behind an aqua lake. During each day, I cantered on horseback across iridescent fields and hiked through a landscape that still rates on top of my list of spectacular places. Each evening I returned to the solace of a hot tub under the stars, a great steak and a glass of earthy Chilean cabernet.
That trip planted the seeds for my book Comfort in the Wild: 100+ Idyllic Nature Destinations, No Roughing It Required, a global guide published earlier this year by Frommer’s. Conveniences such as indoor plumbing and plush beds help reassure creatures of comfort to step away from the digital noise and breathe.
Here are a few of my favorite wild retreats in the U.S., chirping birds, rustling trees, and fluffy pillows included.
Open Sky Zion, Utah
Rusty sandstone faces soaring above the narrow Virgin River make Zion National Park one of America’s most dramatic national parks. The topography also makes it feel like one of the most visited as 5 million people annually pour into the gorge.
After a day amid crowds, Open Sky Zion provides welcome respite and privacy. A dusty narrow road winds past orchards, a family farm and a ravine before ending in a small canyon. Perched amid the boulders are 11 tawny canvas safari tents, set and angled so that neighbors won’t collide. This is glamping with a capital G: heat and air conditioning, heated bathroom floors, private decks and even more private outdoor showers, Starlink WiFi and room service. Dinner is served nightly in the intimate, award-winning Black Sage restaurant featuring cornmeal-crusted walleye, bacon-wrapped meatloaf with Boursin-whipped mashed potatoes and beet-and-burrata salad.
Guests can kayak or paddleboard in the manmade pond or simply relax on their private deck in front of the firepit. Exclusivity doesn’t come cheap—rates start at about $650 per night—but the scent of juniper and stars in the light-free sky are worth it.
Flamingo Lodge, Florida
At first glance, the 1.5 million acres of Everglades National Park south of Miami can seem underwhelming. A tawny veneer veils its subtle beauty; sharp-edged grasses, snakes and muck can discourage exploration. But the Glades, as locals call it, is more about function than form. A slow-moving sheet of water slips from Florida’s center to its southern edge, filtering drinking water and creating a nourishing habitat for wild orchids, alligators and myriad birds including spoonbills and flamingoes.
To really appreciate this strange and unique ecosystem, you need to drive 38 miles into the heart of the Everglades and stay a night or two in the Everglades’ heart of Flamingo.
And now, you can. After hurricanes destroyed the former Flamingo Lodge in 2005, overnighting meant camping or piloting a rented houseboat. In 2019, the park added breezy glamping tents with a bathhouse nearby. In summer, when the mosquitos swarm, the tents are packed away.
As of 2024, visitors find air-conditioning year-round in a new Flamingo Lodge featuring 24 suites overlooking Florida Bay. Each has a sitting room with pull-out couch, small kitchen, separate bedroom and bathroom with tub. The lodge and an adjacent restaurant are built on concrete stilts to mitigate encroaching sea rise.
From here guests can get in a kayak, stroll through a wooded hammock and stare at the stars scattered across the velvet sky over Florida Bay. Even when temperatures are roiling hot, you can keep your cool.
Clark Farm Silos, Montana
Even in late summer, an icy crust lingers on the peaks of the Rocky Mountains just outside Glacier National Park. The late afternoon sun streaks the grain fields with gold, and as the mountains darken, the poetic phrases of America the Beautiful come to life. The surrounding fields are silent except for a bellowing cow and a guest warming himself at the firepit of the silo next door.
Yes, silo. Make that one of five cylindrical metal towers once used to store grain that are now cozy guest lodgings just 30 minutes from Glacier, named Clark Farm Silos. Eli Clark brought the silos from Idaho to the 160 acres of his fifth– generation family farm outside Kalispell as a way to diversify revenue. The ground floor of each tower has been transformed into a wide sofa bed, kitchenette, and private bathroom. A spiral stair leads to a loft set with a comfortable king bed overlooking the living area, with long views to the mountains beyond.
The silos are close enough for an early visit to Glacier’s Going-to-the-Sun Road yet far enough from the hubbub of the popular lodges within the park. Unlike historic MacDonald Lake Lodge and Many Glacier Lodge on park property, the silos are open year-round. In winter, most of Glacier’s 3 million annual visitors stay far away, leaving its 1,500 square miles to bears, elk and bighorn sheep, and a few hearty humans.
Moose Meadow Lodge and Treehouse, Vermont
In childhood, trees are the addresses for fairies and forts and enchanted hideaways invisible to annoying younger siblings. Who says that has to change just because the years are moving on? Clearly it doesn’t, which is why the Moose Meadow Lodge and Treehouse near Waterbury is nearly always booked.
Unlike some treehouses, this two-story log cottage doesn’t just sit amid trunks; it hangs from a pair of mature pines. Generous balconies are buttressed by wooden stilts devised and installed by students from the nearby Yestermorrow Design/Build School and completed by their instructor Eyrich Stauffer and his professional crew. Interiors reflect New England sensibilities: a light is made from deer antlers, a beaver, duck, and trout adorn the walls. The outdoor sink is carved from stone found on the property.
The décor may be rustic, but electric, plumbing, stairs and windows are fully up to code. When the weather is gusty, guests may stay inside, warmed by the heating stove. But most, as I did, prefer the balconies overlooking the private trout pond, where they can daydream with the elves.
Mendocino Grove, California
If the rug on the floor, heated bed and cushion for the dog isn’t seduction enough, the campfire concierge may turn you to mush.
Experienced glampers know resorts can vary widely. Some include t craft cocktail bars and chef-run restaurants. Others are ringed by tarmac, resembling roadside motels complete with the noise of passing cars. Mendocino Grove is tent camping with the comfort of a proper heated bed tucked into a redwood forest overlooking the Pacific. What it lacks in luxury —there’s no ensuite bathroom or hot shower—is compensated by the charm of wildflowers in the bathhouse, saunas, a cappuccino bar, kayaks and the yoga platform near the sea. Need a massage or sound-healing sessions? Mendocino Grove has that covered.
The welcoming vibe encompasses couples, families and those with mobility issues, thanks to “easy access” tents on low platforms near parking. Another bonus is its location; a short walk leads to canoes, river, and a beach by sea, while a two-minute drive ends at the unassuming village of Mendocino, population 574. Take time in town for brunch; the eggs and vegetables taste like they just came out of the earth, because they did.
Lone Mountain Ranch, Montana
The historic homesteads of Gallatin Valley are proof that Dutton Ranch-style living exists beyond the TV screen.
A few miles north of the galleries and sushi bars of Big Sky, Lone Mountain Ranch sits as it has for 100 years, since a Chicago industrialist bought these 148 acres as a vacation getaway. Twenty-six wooden cabins tucked among pines play host to couples and families game for a trail ride, hike, yoga, archery lessons, or the weekly summer rodeo. Most evenings wind up at Lone Mountain’s Horn and Cantle Restaurant, where the stuffed head of a bison presides over a sophisticated menu featuring tuna tartare, elk and porcini ravioli and smoked cheddar-and-bacon mac and cheese. Of course there’s a bar; where else would you have your martini?
Just south of Big Sky lies 320 Guest Ranch, once owned by a pioneering female physician. Her early 20th-century patients came here for fresh air and simple pursuits. Today’s visitors come for the same reasons: to cast a line into a stream that appeared in The River Runs Through It, take a gentle horse ride, nosh on bison short ribs, and gaze into the Milky Way.
Jane Wooldridge loves the outdoors but hates barebones camping. Her quest for alternatives involved two coast-to-coast cross-country driving trips and visits to every continent. The result is Comfort in the Wild: 100+ Idyllic Nature Destinations, No Roughing It Required, published by Frommer’s this year. Her work has been honored with the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year award.
