Bighorn National Forest · 1.1M acres
Explore the Bighorns
1.1 million acres of national forest, 8,500 feet up — canyons, frozen lakes and high meadows most of America has never seen.
Basecamp
One mountain, endless adventure, and 1.1 million acres of wilderness beyond.
Getting here
Nearest airports, drive times and the road over the pass. Tell us where you’re coming from.
Our history
Ninety years on the lake, seventy winters on the hill and six owners. The long version.
Basecamp · About us
A lodge, a camp and a small mountain
For more than a hundred years, people have come to Meadowlark Lake to disconnect, explore, and spend time outdoors. Today, Meadowlark has been reimagined as an adventure basecamp in the heart of the Bighorns.
At the center of it all is Meadowlark Mountain, the slopes we grew up on. Fourteen trails, two chairlifts, more than 800 feet of vertical, and acres of sidecountry create a mountain experience that feels personal, uncrowded, and distinctly Wyoming. The mountain, lodge, and accommodations operate as one place, run by one team on US-16 outside Ten Sleep.
- Ride Meadowlark Mountain
- Adventure with our outfitter
- On US-16 between Ten Sleep and Buffalo
Basecamp · The forest
What is the national forest?
The Bighorn National Forest is 1.1 million acres of public land across the Bighorn Mountains of north-central Wyoming — a range that rises from the high plains to 13,000 feet, with alpine lakes, limestone canyons, open meadows and some of the darkest night skies in the lower 48. It is managed by the US Forest Service and open to everyone.
Meadowlark sits inside it. The lake, the mountain and the trails that leave from the lodge door are all on forest land, which is why there is nothing lit for forty miles in any direction, why the moose wander through, and why the view will look the same to your grandchildren as it does to you.
- 1.1 million acres of public land
- Alpine lakes, canyons and 13,000 ft peaks
- Dark skies: no town glow for forty miles
Ways in
How to see it
Your guide picks the day around the conditions. Here’s what’s on the table.
- 01
Meadowlark Mountain
First tracks for lodge guests before the lifts open, then laps for the rest of the day.
- 02
Backcountry snowmobiling
Guided tours deep into the forest, on terrain most of America has never seen.
- 03
Guided excursions
New nature excursions and guided terrain tours, being built out for the seasons ahead.
- 04
UTV rentals
Take a UTV and discover Meadowlark’s trails, forests, and hidden corners in every season of the year.
Flights
Getting here from where you are
Tell us where you are flying from and your dates. We will show the routes that actually work for a Meadowlark stay.
Nearest airports
- Worland Municipal (WRL)35 MI
- Sheridan County (SHR)95 MI
- Yellowstone Regional, Cody (COD)120 MI
- Casper County International (CPR)160 MI
- Billings Logan (BIL)180 MI
Private and charter arrivals use Worland. Shuttles to the Reserve and the Camp are arranged with your stay. 426 US-16, Ten Sleep, WY 82442.
Our history · History · since the 1930s
Ninety years on the lake
The Meadowlark Lake Lodge opened in the early 1930s, before there was a lake. In 1936, Company 841 of the Civilian Conservation Corps built an earthen dam 350 feet wide and 28 feet tall across the Ten Sleep Meadows, and the water rose behind it. Five creeks feed the reservoir today: Lake Creek, East Tensleep Creek, Bull Creek and two that never got a name.
Meadowlark Lake was built with recreation in mind, years ahead of its time. Above it, the James T. Saban Lookout sits at 9,477 feet, renamed from the High Park Lookout for the firefighter who died in the line of duty in the Blackwater fire of 1937.
- Lodge opened early 1930s; dam completed 1936
- Earthen dam: 350 ft wide, 28 ft tall
- Five creeks feed the lake
- James T. Saban Lookout: 9,477 ft
The ski area
Seventy winters, six owners
- 01
1950s · A rope tow and two runs
Meadowlark opened with an unpermitted rope tow. Skiers were towed into the area along the narrow double-track road by bulldozer. Only two runs existed.
- 02
The Poma years
Eight men from Worland, Richard Stine, Fred Faure, John McClellan, John Maxwell, Dub Maxwell, Gordon Maxwell, Walt Stricler and Leonard Bonine, bought a Poma lift and got a permit to operate in the Bighorn National Forest. Runs were cut and the area grew. A one-room warming hut arrived the same season, shelter for the –20° days; hot Dr Pepper with lemon was the drink of choice.
- 03
Late 1960s · The tornado
An incredibly rare alpine tornado crossed the lake, destroying cabins at the lake lodge and the structures at Sitting Bull campground.
- 04
Mid 1970s · EJ and Joyce Outland
The original eight sold to the Outlands, who built a lodge and cut more runs. Every year brought a winter carnival, with an Anything But Skis race run on car hoods, bar stools and couches. EJ made an ice tower by letting a water line freeze beside the lake.
- 05
Early 1990s · Bighorn Resort
Dave Dunham took over but ran into financial trouble. Renaming the mountain the Bighorn Resort did not help with the locals.
- 06
Mid 1990s · Jim McCotter
Perhaps the ski area’s most colorful owner. Jim replaced the Poma with a fixed-grip Doppelmayr triple chair and cut Hole-in-the-Wall, Cliffhanger, Showoff and Red Cloud. Financial struggles followed in the early 2000s, the resort fell into disrepair, and by 2007 the DEQ and Health Department had shut it down.
- 07
2009 · Wayne and Holli Jones
The Joneses bought the condemned ski area and lake lodge at auction, renamed it Meadowlark and had it open again by January 2010. Skiing was back in the southern Bighorns.
- 08
May 2026 · MAS Tierra
Jose Mas Jr. and MAS Tierra acquired Meadowlark Ski Lodge, opening the next chapter.
From the archive
Meadowlark, then
Photographs courtesy of Dave Paxton, grandson of EJ and Joyce Outland. Click any photo to view it full size.
A new chapter
Keep what works. Add to it.
In May 2026, MAS Tierra, the hospitality venture of Miami-based MAS Alpha Securities founded by Jose Mas Jr., took over Meadowlark from Wayne and Holli Jones, who had run it since 2009.
The first summer is about the basics: clearing deadfall, getting to know the community and bringing Meadowlark into the 21st century, without changing what made it Meadowlark.
The main goal is to respect the natural environment and atmosphere.
A long memory
Decades of stories in these mountains
Meadowlark has been a ski and lake destination in the Bighorns for generations. The plans for the next chapter include a free library documenting the ski area and the history of the Bighorn Mountains, and it starts with the people who already know the place best.
Plan a trip
Your piece of the forest
Tell us your dates and we’ll build the days around them: your flights, your guide, your time in the forest.