Goff Creek Lodge
~Established 1906~

Goff Creek Lodge was founded in 1906 by John Goff. John Goff started out as a “bullwhacker” in the late 1870’s and lived his life as a part of the early American Frontier. He was known as a Lion Hunter, Hunting Guide, Trapper and a close personal friend of Theodore Roosevelt. Mr. Goff met Theodore Roosevelt in 1901, when he let TDR on a big game hunt in the Meeker/Craig area of western Colorado. Mr. Roosevelt wrote several articles that were published in Field & Stream and Outdoor Life about his exploits with John while hunting Lion, Bear and Elk in western Colorado. John moved his hunting operation to Cody, Wyoming in 1905 and leased the present site of Goff Creek Lodge from a Mrs. Palm. John built the original log building where the kitchen and dining room still exist today in 1906. John Goff continued his Big Game hunting business out of Goff Creek until 1912. Theodore Roosevelt and John Goff had a lifelong friendship and letters from the then President Roosevelt to John Goff are still in the possession of the Lodge. John Goff was reputedly the only person ever to have been granted a personal trapping license to trap predators in Yellowstone National Park. Mt. Goff was given this commission by his friend and hunting companion, Theodore Roosevelt. John Goff died in Cody, Wyoming on March 28, 1937 having lived 70 adventurous years in the wilds of western Wyoming.

Goff Creek Lodge was returned to Mrs. Palm in 1912, she had planned to make this site a summer home. However, she decided to sell the Lodge and Forest Service lease in 1929 and a permit to operate Goff Creek Lodge as a commercial business was issued on June 3rd of 1929 to the then North Fork Game Warden I.E. “Tex” Kennedy. This was the first Resort Permit issued on the North Fork, according to the records of the Shoshone National Forest, Wapiti Ranger District in Cody, and is dated 1929 and was issued to Tex Kennedy for the Goff Creek Lodge. Tex ran the establishment until 1936 as a Hunting Lodge and Resort and at that time was called “Kennedy‘s Game Lodge”,  Tex Kennedy sold out to Ray and Irene Prante in  May of 1936. It is thought that the Lodge was exchanged for a bar in Cody and some cash. The Prante’s owned the Lodge until 1947; it was then sold to Lucille & Don Marquis and Helene & Clarence Byerly. Goff Creek was owned and operated by the Byerly’s and Marquis’ until 1956. The Moose head that dominates the dining room was taken by a friend of the Marquis and left at the Lodge.  Indoor plumbing was installed in most of the cabins during this period.  Cabins # 5, # 8, # 12, and # 14 were built during this time period (1948 and 1949).  Cabin #8 was brought in from another location and erected on its present site, the numbers on the logs can still be seen today, from when it was dismantled, numbered then reconstructed in its new location next to the creek. The water system was above ground during this period and was piped directly out of Goff Creek.

In 1956 Frannie O. Weaver and Walter Trams bought Goff Creek Lodge from the Marquis and operated it until 1960. Frannie was found dead in the snow nest to Goff Creek sometime during the winter of 1960, and even today nobody is quite sure how Frannie died. But it is said, that some nights you can see Frannie Weaver walking along Goff Creek between the cabins and the old corrals. To this day, her death still remains a mystery. 

Bill and Edith Vehnekamp bought the Lodge from Walter Trams in 1960 and operated the Resort from 1960 until 1964.  Bill had been a Wrangler at Elephant Head Lodge and Edith was a cabin girl at Goff Creek Lodge during the summers of 1947 and 1948. They were married in 1950 and worked in the area until buying the Lodge in 1960. In 1964 they sold out to Paul and Gloria Schmitt, who owned and operated the Lodge until 1992. Paul Schmitt was an Outfitter and Guide, and specialized in hunting Elk, Deer, Bighorn Sheep and Moose from the Lodge. Sometimes he also set up wilderness camps fro his hunting clients. Paul died in 1990 while he and Gloria still owned the Lodge, Gloria remained at the Lodge for another two years, finally selling Goff Creek Lodge to Gary and Joann Walrath a couple from New York. The Walrath family operated the Lodge with the help of their sister and brother-in-law until the fall of 1999. The current owners bought Goff Creek Lodge in 1999 and currently run the operation.

The current owners are Seven, Sarah and Taylor Mazzone. We welcome you to Goff Creek Lodge and the fabulous North Fork area, and hope you have a pleasant and enjoyable stay with us here at the Lodge. Come join us this year at Goff Creek Lodge for our “100 Year Anniversary” celebration.

                                                HAPPY TRAILS

                                               THE MAZZONE’S