There is a moment, about 52 miles west of Cody along the Buffalo Bill Cody Scenic Byway, when the canyon walls of the North Fork Valley open up just enough to reveal a cluster of log cabins nestled against a hillside thick with pine. That is Pahaska Tepee Resort, and the first time you lay eyes on it, you feel like you have stumbled onto a page of a Wyoming history book — because in a very real sense, you have.
Pahaska Tepee was originally built in 1904 by none other than Buffalo Bill Cody himself, serving as his personal hunting lodge in the high country east of Yellowstone. “Pahaska” was the Lakota nickname given to Bill, meaning “Long Hair,” and the name stuck to this beloved property for well over a century. Today, the original log lodge still stands and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Walking through that front door feels genuinely significant — this is not a re-creation or a themed attraction. It is the real thing, and the staff will be happy to tell you all about it.
The resort sits at an elevation of roughly 6,940 feet, just two miles from Yellowstone National Park’s East Entrance, making it an absolutely ideal base camp for anyone serious about exploring the park without the congestion of lodging inside Yellowstone itself. You check in here, you sleep soundly in a comfortable cabin, and in the morning you are rolling through the East Gate before the tour buses have even finished their coffee. That alone is worth the trip out here.
The cabins range from cozy one-room units perfect for a couple on a romantic getaway to multi-room family cabins that sleep a crowd comfortably. They are rustic in the best possible way — think knotty pine walls, warm quilts, and porches that look out onto meadows where moose and elk browse at dusk without caring in the slightest that you are watching them with your jaw dropped.
The dining room at Pahaska serves hearty, unpretentious Western fare — think bison burgers, hearty breakfasts, and cold regional beers after a long day of hiking. It is the kind of place where you sit down next to strangers and by the end of the meal you are swapping trail recommendations like old friends. The gift shop is genuinely charming, stocked with locally made goods and quality gear rather than the usual mass-produced tchotchkes.
Beyond the lodge itself, the surrounding landscape is extraordinary. The Shoshone National Forest presses right up against the property, offering backcountry trails, horseback riding opportunities, and world-class wildlife watching. Grizzly bears, wolves, bighorn sheep — this corridor is one of the most biologically rich stretches of land in the lower 48, and Pahaska sits right at its heart.
Whether you are making the drive out from Cody for a day visit, a dinner, or settling in for a week-long adventure, Pahaska Tepee delivers something increasingly rare in the American West: an authentic experience rooted in genuine history, surrounded by staggering natural beauty, with enough modern comfort to keep everyone happy. Buffalo Bill had impeccable taste, and lucky for us, his old hunting lodge is still open for business.
