Benjamin Cherrey has always been chasing the horizon.
At 18, he set an ambitious goal: visit 50 countries and all 50 U.S. states before turning 25. What he didn’t plan on discovering along the way was a gap, one that would eventually become his life’s work. As he road-tripped across continents and backroads, Cherrey noticed a pattern. Staying in nature usually meant two extremes: an expensive lodge or pitching a tent. Roadside motels didn’t offer much connection to the landscape, and camping didn’t always offer rest.
“I kept thinking there had to be something in between,” he says.
Tiny Beginnings
That idea took physical shape in the alley behind his apartment, where Cherrey built a tiny house—quietly, ambitiously, and with no idea what was coming next. The project became the most waitlisted Airbnb in the area. He managed it while finishing graduate school, proving thoughtful design and nature didn’t need to be reserved for luxury travelers.
After working in California for a couple years, Cherrey pushed for a transfer to Denver, drawn by Colorado’s access to wild places. In June 2021, he and his wife Sarah found what they’d been searching for: a private valley outside Salida, bordered on three sides by national forest. It had dark skies, no neighbors, and yet was still close enough to town to feel connected.
Nature Hotel
That land became Outside Inn—a “nature hotel” designed to help people truly rest.
Today, the operation remains intentionally small and local: a team of five builders and six cabin caretakers. Cherrey designs everything in-house under Outside Design, collaborating with architects and farming out plumbing and electrical, while keeping materials and construction deeply intentional.
“We don’t use drywall,” Cherrey explains. “It’s wood, glass, and some metal. The inside should feel like the outside.”
Three cabins a year brought the site to its current total of 12 and a Scandinavian-inspired spa on site with restrooms, showers, saunas and cold plunges.
Influences from his early travels are everywhere.
Japanese and Nordic architecture inform the clean lines, natural materials and reverence for light. One cabin is designed as a glass greenhouse wrapped in a wood exoskeleton inspired by Japanese interior structural design. Another, the Aspen Alcove, nods to Norwegian treehouses with a softly illuminated ceiling that mimics a forest canopy. The Transparent Treehouse blends the two philosophies, minimalist interiors that blur the line between inside and out.
A Return to the Land
That philosophy extends beyond aesthetics. Ten years ago, Cherrey says, there wasn’t much science backing up what he intuitively felt about time in nature.
For most of human history, being outdoors wasn’t a lifestyle choice, it was the default. Only in recent decades have people shifted most of their lives indoors, under artificial light and constant digital noise. Researchers now suggest this separation comes at a cost. The human nervous system is inherently calibrated for natural environments, and when we return to them, the body responds almost immediately.
This idea is often described through biophilia, the innate human need to connect with nature. Studies show even brief time outdoors can lower cortisol levels, reduce resting heart rate, and move the nervous system out of “fight or flight” and into a restorative state. Mentally, nature offers a rare pause from constant stimulation, allowing the brain to recover, improve clarity and reset. The result is a feeling many people recognize instinctively: calmer, more present, and deeply refreshed.
Recalibrating
Outside Inn is designed around those benefits, from cell phone lock boxes that encourage digital rest, to shared saunas, cold plunges and hot tubs included with every stay.
Sleep, Cherrey believes, is foundational. So is recovery. Guests spend their days hiking, soaking and exploring Salida, a vibrant mountain town with a lively downtown that's detailed in an in-depth guidebook provided to every visitor.
Outside Inn isn’t about escape as much as recalibration. It’s about building places where people can slow down, breathe deeper and remember what it feels like to be well.
Website: https://www.outsideinn.co/
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Instagram: @OutsideInnNatureHotel