Travel & Leisure June 1994, Tepee Tranquility by John Heminway Photographed by Kent Barker A summer encampment of Don Ellis's Lakota Sioux style tepees crowns a bluff on the McGee Ranch overlooking the Cheyenne River - a site where the Sioux probably gathered some 100 years ago. An Indian blanket covers sleeping-bag bedding inside a tepee at Sage & Cactus Village. Canvas lining tied to the poles encourages ventilation and ensures privacy at night. Willow lacing pins hold together the canvas covers of guest tepees at the Sage & Cactus Village Bed & Breakfast in Eastern Wyoming. Smoke flaps, just above the pins, can be opened or closed. According to Kiowa Legend, a bear's claws scratched the vertical cracks into Devil's Tower (90 miles North of the McGee Ranch), a sacred site for the many Plains Indians who prefer to call it Mated Tepee.
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