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COURTESY OF THE LODGE AT BLUE SKY, AUBERGE RESORTS COLLECTIONT HE WATER RIPPLED as the wind picked
up on the pond. I fl icked my rod, watching
the lure dance above the surface and back—
straight into a tree. Henry Hudson, who
oversees adventures for Blue Sky and bears
no relation to the explorer of the same
name, laughed it off and pointed across the
shore. “See how the waves are going towards
that bank? That’s your spot.” I trudged
through the last dregs of snowpack and cast.
Nothing. Stick. Nothing. Cattail. Nothing.
Then resistance, a tug-of-war, and fi nally:
a trout, iridescent and speckled. I was elated.A guided fl y-fi shing
excursion at The
Lodge at Blue Sky,
in Utah.
I texted my husband a photo—me grinning
like a golden retriever, my fi sh slack-jawed
and muscling against my grip, Henry
Hudson smiling encouragingly over my
shoulder—along with a message: “We have
to move to Utah.”
Before this trip, I’d never given Utah
much thought. I knew the big things: The
Great Salt Lake. Arches and Canyonlands
and Zion, which seemed like their own
places somehow. Notable Utahn Tan
France. Mormons, naturally. The state
existed in my peripheral vision as a maybe-
someday destination. But after a stay at
The Lodge at Blue Sky, a new resort set on
3,500 acres near Park City, I was sold.
The property is the brainchild of Mike
and Barb Phillips, who wanted to share
their weekend retreat with the world.
They launched Blue Sky as an adventure
destination almost a decade ago, hosting
heli-skiing and trail rides, weddings andTheLodgeatBlueSkyinUtahcombinesimmersive
back-to-natureexperienceswithaconservation-minded
ethos—to extraordinary results. By Lila Harron Battis
CONSCIOUS TRAVEL
Best in the West