Want the Northern Lights to shine their ethereal glow on your group's rendezvous? It might happen at Sheep Mountain Lodge, open since 1946. Located just over two hours' driving time northwest of Anchorage on the Glenn Highway Scenic Byway, the charming lodge houses guests in 11 freestanding cabins, each with its own bathroom, and hillside house with six bedrooms and two bathrooms.

 

Open to group events year-round, summer is the busy season, winter is the time for snow sports, and December through February are the months most likely to bring spectacular sky paintings of the aurora borealis

 

Meeting space includes a banquet room that accommodates 35 guests, as well as generous decks with views of the surrounding Chugach and Talkeetna mountain ranges. The lodge provides meals to groups of 20 or larger from Sept 16 – May 17, by reservation basis only. Groups may schedule exclusive meals during their stay.

 

Dall sheep, some with massive curled horns, are viewable through telescopes at the lodge. Sheep Mountain lies near the 27-mile-long Matanuska Glacier, making glacier tours an unusual recreation option for lodge guests. Other activities in the area, depending on the time of year, include hiking, river rafting, mountain biking, flight-seeing, ice climbing and cross country skiing along 12 miles of groomed trail, mostly on lodge property. The annual two-day Sheep Mountain Lodge 150 Sled Dog Race attracts a field of some 40 teams in mid-December.