What Exactly Does a Camping Butler Do?

Hotel Chatter: We recently moseyed up to Montana’s A River Runs Through It country to go glamping at one of our all-time fantasy hotels: Paws Up. While we were there, we checked out their newest luxury campsite, Pinnacle Camp, nestled along a bend of the Blackfoot River. 

The six tents (including a honeymoon one with an antique-style two-person copper bathtub in the bedroom) all have Paws Up’s usual luxury bedding and heated bathroom floors, but these also have en suite bathrooms (as does only one of the resort’s other campsites, Creekside) with new spa jacuzzi tubs. 

The campsite also has a main pavilion where guests can take their meals, including a fresh-cooked cowboy breakfast every day, and cozy up around the fireplace to relax. That’s where you’ll find Paws Up’s signature Camping Butlers tending to the hearth and taking care of guests’ needs. 

We talked to one of these intrepid outdoorsmen named Matt, and learned about what they do, what sets Paws Up apart from other glamping experiences, why you should go on a cattle drive a la City Slickers, and how to make the perfect s’mores. Giddy up! 

HotelChatter: So Matt, what exactly does a Camping Butler do?

Matt: A Camping Butler tends to all our guests’ needs. We’re not like normal butlers, we like to be a little more personal with our guests, and make sure they get everything they need. We’re sort of a combination of everything from personal chef to housekeeping to activities director.

HC: So in addition to serving up things like flapjacks and bacon for breakfast, and elk tenderloin and salmon for dinner in the dining pavilion, what are the behind-the-scenes parts of the job.

Matt: We do everything—I’m in the back cleaning the dishes and wiping the glasses for the meals, I’m arranging rides and transfers to activities or the main lodge, and during the evenings I’ll stop by each of the tents for turndown and make sure everyone comes back to a warm tent.

HC: What kinds of activities do you like to set up for guests?

Matt: Some of my favorite activities are the cattle drive, it’s awesome. Guests ride on our ranch horses and learn how to heard cattle. ATV rides around the property are also really popular. Rafting trips later in the summer once the runoff in the Blackfoot River is over, that’s a lot of fun.

HC: Speaking of the river, that’s one of the special things about Pinnacle Camp in particular, isn’t it?

Matt: Definitely. It’s a great view from here since we face west—it’s the only campsite at Paws Up that does—so guests can enjoy the sunset every day. We also have a bald eagle nest just across the river, so we often watch them hunting. And the river itself, it’s such a soothing sound, it puts the guests right to sleep in their tents at night.

HC: Besides being the newest camp at Paws Up, what else is special about Pinnacle Camp?

Matt: The tents are top of the line, they’re really up-to-date compared to some of the other tents we have. The heated towel racks and floors, the walk-in showers, those huge spa jacuzzis, the beautiful woodwork of the furniture. It’s the best by far.

HC: We heard you have the recipe for the perfect s’more. Care to share it with us?

Matt: I sure do. I call it the brick-cracker-s’more recipe because I take a graham cracker and put a piece of chocolate on it, then set on the stones around our bonfire pit here, letting it melt the chocolate really slowly. Once it starts getting soft, I take the marshmallow and put it on top and move the cracker closer to the fire, so it browns nicely, then I let the fire singe everything around the edges, and voila! The perfect s’more.

After thorough testing during which Matt strummed the guitar for an impromptu camfire singalong, we can also report that Matt’s recipe did indeed produce what might just be the perfect s’more.