January 29, 2024 • 45 mins
There are all kinds of ways to "winter" in the West over the coming months, including some fantastic adventures in Yosemite National Park. In this episode, Brad and Holly discuss some of the season's best activities in Yosemite, home to California's first ski resort, the old-school and budget-friendly Badger Pass. There's also snowshoeing to panoramic Dewey Point, outdoor ice skating under a huge view of Half Dome (with a firepit and s'mores!), and lots more. Later in the pod they're joined by Lisa Cesaro from Aramark Destinations, discussing lakeview adventures in South Lake Tahoe, snowmobile safaris in Jackson, Wyoming, and the beauty of Yellowstone and Crater Lake national parks. Yodel for Yosemite, yodel for the West's best winter adventures!
Show Notes:
Yosemite's Winter Wonders
Nation's Vacation Ideas
Show Notes:
Yosemite's Winter Wonders
Nation's Vacation Ideas
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:18):
Welcome to the weekend chirp of podcastTake it Outside. I'm Brad Day,
I'm Holly Kulak. It's our firstpodcast of twenty twenty four. Holy smokes
already. Yeah, well it's January. We're getting it in before the end
of the month. We are.No, it's been I mean, well,
how's your twenty twenty four band?So far? It's been pretty good.
(00:38):
I mean it's really rainy. It'sreally rainy, which I know we
need. And the only good newsabout the rain is it usually means that
there's snow right in some great placesand good waterfalls. Yeah, probably gonna
be good wildflowers, right, aren'tall those things kind of yeah, all
tied together. I just think Icould use a little bit of a break
in between. Like it seems likeit's like this rain storm, now another
(01:00):
one next up. I'm like,come on, just give us like a
five day window or seven day windows? Do you still get after it though?
Like when it's raining, are youstill I do? Because and you
know what that reminds me. Youasked me a few weeks ago about that
Scandinavian concept. You said, whatis that concept where you just have to
no matter the weather, get theyjust get outside, Yeah, because it's
so dark in the winter time andcold. But they're like, it's really
(01:23):
good for your health, your mentalhealth to get out to be outside.
Yeah. Do you know what?And you asked me what it was called.
I couldn't remember, but I lookedat We've talked about it before in
this podcast. It's called free lootsleeve, Free loots leeve. I'm sure
we're nailing freeve. No, I'mpronouncing it correctly, Okay. It's a
term that means free air life andit's about spending time outdoors in all seasons.
(01:48):
I like that. Yeah, Iknow. But I have another trivia
for you. There's a Dutch wordthat and this kind of applies to this
kind of weather, to the rainyand that, you know, if it's
cold out and you want to justkind of get. There's a Dutch word
that's all about feeling cozy, usuallywith friends or loved ones, called his.
I want to pronounce it zlegg,but it's actually hassele eg. But
(02:13):
it's spelled g z e l Ig you say z, I said,
because I had to get my Canadianin there. Oh, there, it
is hessele eg. I believe it'sthe pronunciation and it's a positive, warm
emotion or feeling rather than something justphysical. Right. So it's so I
think like that applies in winter timetoo, and you want to just like
(02:35):
cozy up in a nice cabin bya warm fire, and you do as
the Dutch do, And they sayso part of that concept is you invite
only people you like. Well,I would think so. I thought that
was interesting. Keep things small andinformal. Yeah, and cozy places don't
have to be big and splashy.Actually they don't tend to be big and
(02:58):
splashy. But yeah, when I'mthinking of this, I'm thinking of two
different things. I'm thinking like onejust like one of those really kind of
like wild, remote California coast cabinslike Sea Ranch style or Mensino Coast or
Humboldt Coast or something like that whereyou just there isn't a heck of a
lot to do. You get likemaybe you have a TV, but you
(03:19):
have like board games, you havelike you know, you can walk out
to the to the bluffs to thecoast and just kind of watch the storms
roll through. I just I lovethat for for like a winter kind of
cozy escape and then you're all Ialso think about just going to the mountains,
going to the Sierra Nevada, goingto you know, a place like
Yosemite, or you know, awhole bunch of amazing places that you can
(03:45):
get to in the snow in Californiaand just kind of have that cozy experience,
cozy airstream. We're going to talkabout that a little bit more today.
Yeah, we have a great guestcoming in the second half of the
podcast. We're going to be speakingwith Lisa Csaro, the director of marketing
for air Mark Destinations. We havea great conversation with her about all kinds
(04:11):
of cool places like Yosemite. Iknow it. It's such a great conversation.
She really knows stuff and she livedin Yosemite for many years. Yeah,
right in the valley. I know, you could like walk out your
door and look at at halftime,which is ridiculous. It's so cool,
and it's great for me as aneditor because you know, I see all
this information and I do all thecontent and I'm like, oh, I
(04:32):
just like I so want to gothere and do that and some of the
things I've done. But it justis like I need to go back and
do that and just and try stayinghere. I don't know, but it's
a great conversation. You have hadsome You've had many experiences in Yosemite,
from growing up to some adventures you'vedone with friends. Do you want to
(04:54):
talk about it? Well, Imean, I grew up in the Central
Valley in a town called by Celia, and it's only like two hours away
from the park gate, the Southernpark gate to Yosembitie National Park. So
when I was learning to ski withmy parents that we would go to Badger
Pass and it's a great like placeto go for family if you're just learning
(05:15):
how to ski. It hasn't jumpedthe shark as far as pricing goes for
for lift tickets, and it's stillretained that to this day, which is
which is super cool. So yeah, I grew up learning to ski at
at Badger Pass, and you know, as a kid, you're like whatever,
six seven years old, you don'tnecessarily realize you're going into a beautiful,
(05:38):
world renowned national park to go snowskiing, which is pretty cool.
Yeah, pretty cool. So thatwas kind of more on the tame side
of things. But I've also exploredsome of the backcountry huts that Yosebody has,
and not a lot of people knowthat there are some really cool backcountry
huts that you can get to bycross country ski your backcountry ski. So
(06:00):
you do have to have some experiencewith that. I mean, you have
to get a reservation. But there'sa couple of places that I went to.
One was definitely more on the intermediateto advance skill level to get to.
It's called Ostrander Hut, which wasbuilt by the California Conservation Corps way
back in the day, in theearly twentieth century, and it's just this
(06:20):
really cool old stone built a framehut back in the remote wilds of Yosemite
National Park that you cross country skiout to, or you can snowshoe out
to, you can backcountry ski thewhole variety of ways, but it takes
a while to get there. There'sa few different options like routes you can
(06:40):
go. And I remember I waswith two other guys and this was God,
this was a long time ago,maybe fifteen years ago, and we
decided to go I think kind ofthe intermediate way. We didn't go the
easy way, we didn't go thehard way. We went kind of like
the in between way, and ithad snowed and snowed and snowed the days
leading up to it, so therewas no there was no cut trail,
(07:02):
and like, having not done thisa ton, we didn't realize just how
much effort it is to go justeven a half to a mile to cut
trail, especially if it's kind oflike a wetter snow that you sometimes get
in the Sierra Nevada. So weended We started out at like nine am
trying to get out to Ostrander,and we were making like pretty decent time,
(07:25):
and then we kind of got offtrail. We started following this trail
of this guy who was out therejust kind of solo, like Rambo style,
just like going out there to havehis solo snow camping, was not
going to Ostrander. Hut was doinghis own thing, and we were just
following his track. And then youknow, it was right around sunset.
(07:48):
We get to his camp. We'relike, oh, hey, this isn't
the way to Ostrander and and he'slike, oh no, I think you're
supposed to turn off back there,and we, like my friends and I
looked at each other and we're like, oh my god, we've had the
headlamps on, like went back retracedour steps and you have to look for
(08:09):
like the little yellow reflective blazes thatthey have like up in the trees to
kind of like that's that's the route, you know, like follow the yellow
blazes up in the tree. Andif you're like not focusing on that and
you're focusing on some other guys skitrails, you can get lost. So
that's what happened to us. Butwe did backtrack, we did finally find
those yellow blazes, and we didfinally get to Austin in the darks.
(08:31):
You guys were like, oh yeah, this was on December twenty first,
fifteen years ago. So it waslike literally the shortest day, Yeah,
the shortest day of the entire year, putting on the headlamps and we're like,
oh my god, like, howmuch longer do we have? We
ended up getting into the hut afterten o'clock at night. Really, so
when you were at this camp withthis person who was just going out on
(08:52):
his own, Yeah, how manyhours was it from there? We yeah,
we probably had another four Oh ohthat's just something Well, okay,
I'm glad you guys all made it. You're still here, which is great.
Yeah, but it was it wasone of those character building experience that's
where it's like. And it wasalso interesting because of the group that I
was with. Like one of theguys who's been on the podcast if you've
(09:16):
been listening to our podcast, itwas Carlo Ficino who it did the solo
row from San Francisco to Hawaii.He was trying to beat the record.
He just missed the record, buthe still did it. It took him
seventy something days to do that.So he's he's a mentally tough guy and
he just he's when you're kind ofin a situation like that where you're you're
(09:39):
the day is getting long, everybody'stired and exhausted, you just kind of
want to be done. He isa great guy to have in your group
because he keeps things positive. Hedoesn't start going like to negative town,
you know. And he's also areally you know, strong athletic guy,
but he's just the mental fortitude thathe has is super super impressive. So
(10:01):
he was luckily a part of thatcrew and another friend of ours chat and
yeah, I mean we were justwe were sweating, We were just like
ready ready to be done. Itwas. It was quite the adventure and
we finally do get there and wewere the only people at the hut except
for the hut master. Hut Masterwas this old timer guy with a big
old beard, and it just kindof like what you would a picture like
(10:22):
there and it was just like thethree of us and the hut master for
that first night. And he hadice skates down below in the basement and
there was a lake I think itwas Ostrander Lake that had frozen over,
and it's only good for ice skating, like very specific times. It has
to be quite cold, and youknow, the conditions have to be perfect.
But he's like, the conditions areperfect right now for ice skating,
(10:45):
like natural ice skating out on thislake. Yeah, I know, but
this heat. We trusted him,so he like got the ice skates out
of the basement and we all wentice skating out on this like magnificent.
Yeah, exactly. Wow, it'sso cool. Did you have a full
moon or anything. I don't rememberfull full moon whatever, it's still December
(11:05):
twenty first. Yeah, that's supercool. I mean, that's a good
that's a great story. What else, what did you do the next day.
I think we were just exhausted.Yeah, you know, we brought
back some like some beers and someliquor, way way more than we do.
We need it. Yeah, youcan bring back. I mean you're
back there and just like but it'sfunny because you're so exhausted, you're not
(11:26):
even all that interested in like butlike when you're packing, you're like,
oh, well, I gotta havethis. I definitely don't want to leave
that behind. And it's like,ah, yeah, you get there,
you're like half how about just somewater? Yeah, maybe some water,
Hot tea, Yeah, hot tea, hot chocolate, hot chocolate. Maybe
hot chocolate with like a splash ofBailey's or whiskey or something. I know
you like that kind of it's gettinga little too sweet for me now,
(11:48):
like the Bailey's and hot cho todo my like thing in winter, like
just a nice treat after skiing orwhatever. Now I find it a little
bit sweet. So I'm in toosweet hot Toddies. Your palate is changing,
I guess, so I like hotToddy. But you had done another
like Yosemite backcountry experience. You wentout to the Glacier Point Hut I did.
That was a great terri It wasa whole bunch of us and we
(12:11):
we strapped on some I was gonnasay snowshoes, but it was cross country
skis. Yeah, and made ourway back there. And I'm not a
great cross country scare. I mean, it's a it's a road. But
actually this year that's closed for somereason. Not the road, the hut.
You can't do that this year.That's what your what at least that's
what I recently saw for twenty twentyfour. They're not Glacier Point huts closed.
(12:35):
But when it reopens or you know, go that was a great adventure,
super fun. You go there,you spend the night and you have
Glacier Point all to yourself. Nobody'sthere. Yeah, that view of half
Dome. Because you can't drive toit, you can only like I guess
you can snowshoe to it as well. Right, Badger Pass is off of
Glacier Point Road, so the roadis open to cars to Badger Past and
then beyond that they closed the roadto cars, but not to cross country
(12:58):
skis. And that's how you getto that hut. Yeah, and just
he was incredible. It was agreat experience. But I don't think I'm
the ostrander hut type. I thinkI'm the I'm definitely the badger past ski
type. First of all, Ilove it. It's California's first resort ski
resorts. Yeah, so it's totallyhistoric and it's my speed. Like I
(13:18):
think there's ten runs. There's agood mix of like beginner, I think
a lot of it's intermediate, andthen there's a couple of experts and I'm
a blue I'm a blue square.Yeah, you're going down the corner right,
yeah, And then I like thata lot. And then I like
hanging out on decks and eating mymeal and what I'm a opre loungey type
(13:39):
of skier like you're definitely yeah.I remember being a whistler with you one
year with some friends and you guyswere like, we're up, you know,
and I was like, oh no, can't I just sleep in and
then like do the noon, youknow, do a couple of runs,
have lunch, do a couple moreruns, come down to the village.
That's that's my yeah, but it'stoo expensive. I mean in a lot
(14:03):
of places, this is what Ilike too, like you to do the
season pass now. Otherwise, ifyou're trying to do day ticket stuff,
forget it. You feel like youhave to be starting like and just going,
going, going all day. That'sjust my opinion. But yeah,
I'm much more badger past than Austrander. But good, good for you guys.
That sounds amazing adventure. So whatwhat are some of your other like
(14:26):
winter activities, Like we're in thethick of winter right now, Like,
what what is it that you youknow, obviously we're putting out some great
content with Weekend Chirpa getting people inspired. It's waterfall season right now, and
we put out some great stories aboutthat. But what are some other things
that you have upcoming? Some teasesI have, Well, I have more
(14:46):
waterfall hikes. You have to getit a little bit of time between the
rains though, because they will bephenomenal. So lucky for us, you
know, we get some absolute gushersthat are extraordinary to see. So that's
coming up. Snowshoeing is a Ilike snowshoeing a lot. I have snowshoes.
I got them as a gift andI haven't used them yet, so
(15:07):
I need to get out. Ilove snowshoeing. I would like to do
this Dewey Point snowshoe truck in Yosemite. Yeah, that looks phenomenal, so
you can do excited. I thinkit's about eight miles. Yeah, that's
from our recent story that we didon Yosemite about going to badge your pass
about their cross country ski area andthen taking a guided snowshoe tour or independent
(15:28):
out to Dewey Point. And Imean I grew up in Canada, so
I also really like ice skating.I used to go ice skating all the
time when I grew up in Edmonton. I mean that's just what you did.
You Yeah, very Canadien. Andit's very it could be very cold,
but it's kind of you know,you bundle up, put on ice
skates. I had fire pits warming, you know, just go warm yourself
up. Well, it seems likea lot of ice skate rinks kind of
(15:50):
like have a holiday theme and thenonce Christmas comes and goes, they kind
of close up shop. But theone in Yosemite at Curry Village that's open
and you can can go ice skatingwith a view of half them, which
I mean, how that's such aunique experience. Yes, please and s'mores
kits around the fire sports kits.There you go. What about you,
(16:10):
Well, I've been doing a lotof cycling, trying to to stay fit
for some of these uh cycle raceslike gravel biking and mountain biking. You're
actually going outside in the rain,you know. Bike it stinks. I
don't enjoy it necessarily, but it'slike if you're prepared for it. You
got like the gortex jacket and thegloves and all the right stuff, and
(16:33):
you're safe. You have the light, the tail light and the headlight.
It's not that bad in the rain. Yeah, it can, it can
it. What freaks me out isjust like if you're really remote and you
have like a technical or something likethat, and it's just you know,
you can't fix it right then andthere, and then you're kind of like
screwed. You're out there, youknow. I did a ride out in
(16:53):
some pretty remote area of Snowma County. It was part of this ride that's
called Levi's Grand Fondo, which isthis like big ride that leaves out a
windsor and it's been around for likeover ten years. It's really I've never
done it, but the route thatthey use for that I've used several times
independently because it's such a great routeand it's going up King Ridge and I
(17:15):
did that a couple of weeks ago, and it's a beautiful, beautiful road
going basically from Cazadero if you knowwhere that is in Sonoma County, very
small little town all the way outto the coast, kind of by Stuart's
Point, which is by Sea RanchHighway one, and that kind of you
(17:36):
get up on high up on aridge and you can like see the ocean.
You can see all this crazy ruggedterrain that you would never really get
a perspective on otherwise, and thenyou're just kind of descending through these like
forests, some redwood forest going allthe way to the coast, and then
you get a ride along Highway one. It's it's remarkable. But I was
like when I was back there andit was raining on me and I was
(17:56):
by myself, I was like,man, I can't stop. I'm gonna
get cold if I stop. Yeah, you know, it's like you're you're
super wet because the rain, andit's just like it's kind of windy,
so it's just like you just don'twant to technical well, that's the thing
about the cool because you're not likecarrying a huge backpack where you have like
your puff in it and you knowyou have to puff dry. Yeah,
(18:18):
you'd carry your puff I have.I have a puff for every season.
I'm telling you you have a pufffor more than every day of a week.
I do. It's terrible because youknow what some of them are.
There's such good quality a lot ofthem that you don't really need to get
another puff. But I I havea thing for puff coats. Yeah you
do. You're not like, you'renot like brand exclusive either. You have
a whole variety. I have awhole variety of them. Yeah. Yeah,
(18:41):
one for every day of the weekin the season. There you go.
And one other little piece of goodnews is the state parks. California
State Parks just added about six hundredand fifty acres to their portfolio, which
is pretty cool. And that's right. Speaking of Sonoma County, this is
the Sonoma Development Mental Center, whichhasn't been in operation for several years.
(19:03):
It's got this really beautiful location inSnowma Valley over by Glenn Allen. Yeah,
and it's just been kind of defunct. There hasn't been anything going on
there for several years, and it'sjust this really gorgeous corridor, wildlife corridor,
oak woodland, grasslands, wetlands,redwood forests on Suttonfield Lake, yeah,
(19:25):
part of it. Yeah. Andit's it's right next to Jack London
State Park, so there's already likekind of adjacent to it. And there's
been a lot of talk about whatare we going to do with the Snowma
Development Developmental Center, and like thisbeautiful land and the buildings and all this
stuff. I don't know what's goingto happen to the buildings necessarily, but
all of the open space land,the six hundred and fifty acres is going
(19:45):
to California State parks, all ofit. That's great news. Yeah,
So that's it's really cool, andthe California Natural Resource Secretary Wade Crowfoot says
it protects it's an important wildlife corridor, safeguards diverse local ecosystems, and will
expand opportunities for local residents and visitorsto hike and enjoy the outdoors. Expanding
(20:08):
the state park in this way isone more creative step towards meeting the thirty
for thirty commitment to conserve thirty percentof our lands across California by twenty thirty,
which I didn't even know was athing. I didn't know there was
a thirty for thirty. I thoughtthat was like an ESPN show. But
they have a there's a there's acommitment to conserve thirty percent of our lands
(20:33):
in California by twenty thirty, whichI might think California can do it and
we'll do it. Yeah, that'sgreat. So there's just one more little
bit of information about that. SoI go there all the time because it's
it's pretty close to where I live, and it's I just find it absolutely
beautiful. It's great hiking, there'sa lake up there, there's actually good
(20:55):
mountain biking, if you know,and you can ride horses up there.
There's just a lot of creation opportunities, and I'm happy to see that that's
going to be retained and look forwardto, you know, having that in
our backyard and enjoying it for yearsto come. Yeah, that's great news.
Can't rain on that, rain can'tn that? Yeah, So why
(21:15):
don't we get to our conversation withLisa Csaro, the director of marketing for
air Mark Destinations, good to seeyou, Lisa. Likewise, thanks for
having me. Yeah, yeah,no, it's you know, Aramark Destination
represents just so many different amazing nationalparks and even places at aren't national parks,
(21:37):
just kind of like natural beauty destinationsacross the United States, and really
some spectacular ones right here in California. I met you several years ago when
you were living and working in YosemiteValley and that's one of your the Aramark
destinations correct, correct? Do youoperate there? A New Sementy National Park
(22:00):
And I don't know exactly when wemet, but it's been a while and
there so I was in New seventyover ten years living and working there and
it was gosh, the experiences Ihad there are just unbelievable and things that
I'll remember for the rest of mylife. It's I mean, for those
of you that have been to Usemityknow it's a beautiful place. But to
be able to wake up every dayand see the you know, the different
changing of the light that it playsoff with those granite mountains and seeing snow
(22:22):
come, seeing the first you know, the fall leaves start to fall,
seen, you know, just wildliferoaming like it was really a spectacle.
It was a great experience. Yeah, I can't imagine. I mean,
it's just so wild because we've I'vebeen going to yoursebody since I was a
kid, but you're always there,you know, for like a day,
maybe a few days, but actuallyliving there year round that has to be
(22:42):
quite the unique experience. Yeah,it is, you know. I mean
some of the things I got toexperience. I mean, obviously I was
there for a long time, soyou get to I got to learn to
ski there at Badger Pass Gear,I did some cross country skiing, I
went backpacking up in the in thehigh country, up at the high sier
camps and just all the different heights, and it's just you know, it's
just there's things that I did therethat I probably wouldn't have done, you
(23:03):
know, living in the city,and so I think that was what That's
what's special about a place that you'resomebody is it's so vast and you know,
being open around and seeing it atthe different seasons and really so many
You can be a person that justwants to go on a little stroll in
the metal, or you can wantto go on a really challenging multi day
backpacking trip. I think that's what'sso great about that park is it is
really accessible and there's a lot ofrange of activities and you know a little
(23:26):
bit for everyone. What are someof your favorite memories there? I would
say I really enjoyed the high Seiercamp experience. So for those of you
that don't know, you know,when you're up in that whole high country
as we say, two me metals, there's about five different like hut to
hut style camps, and so they'rekind of like these canvas tent cabins similar
to Curry Village, but they're youknow, multi units, so you might
(23:47):
be sharing, like let's see youand your friend go, you might you
know share that cabin with you know, two other people because they can hold
four people and so they cook foryou. I mean you've got to just
pretty much bring your day pack withyou with some essentials and some clothing,
but you're not way down like totypically be doing you know, your own
backpacking if you had to pitch yourtent and bring all your food and all
your gear. So it was reallycool and I really opened up you know,
the outdoors for me and just seeingsome of the hikes along the way
(24:10):
and the you know, the waterfallsor cascades or you know, granite cliffs,
and I don't know, I justreally liked it. And then even
just chatting with people, you know, when you're at the dinner table there
at the high Siera camps, you'remeeting you know, the people from around
the country usually sometimes even around theworld, and just having that conversation about,
oh, what did you see inyour hike or what was your favorite
thing. Like it's just like Ikind of call it like summer camp for
(24:30):
adults, if you will, Andso that that's an experience that really stands
out to me. And I rememberbeing in Yosemite in the summer, my
first summer there, being there ona full moon night on a bike,
riding in Yusemite Valley on the trap, remember just looking up like is this
real? Because the dark sky therein the Milky Way. You know,
I came from living in Los Angeles, and then I grew up in Michigan,
(24:52):
so you know, in LA youdon't really get a night sky like
you do in Usemite, nothing likethat, And so I was just blown
ap way, I'll be honest withthat, was a little nervous at first
because I wasn't used to being insuch a dark setting, right, because
trying to preserve the dark knights.It's not like there's lights and you know,
billboards in a place like USEMITI.So that was a little bit of
a shock for someone like me thatcame from Los Angeles. But I need
(25:15):
some white noise to feel comfortable here, I know, exactly right. That's
funny. Now that I live ina city environment, I miss my you
know, really quiet nights of dusemitefalling asleep. So yeah, you know
those I've never done the High Sierracamps. I've seen them when I've gone
on some backpacking trips in the HighSira, But that looks just really pretty,
(25:36):
Like that's a nice way to gobackpacking and experience that that backcountry.
That's really really cool it is.And you know, there's a lot of
historic hotels in Yosemite. I havesome great memories of you know, like
a Christmas dinner at the Awani withthe snowfalling looking out the windows, and
so yeah, I feel like there'sso many special memories. And I tell
(25:56):
friends and family that they're like,well, what do you miss about someone
Like, Oh, that's so hardto say because I've had so many unique
memories. It's like it's a specialplace to me. And and I know
people consider it their parks actually theCalifornias, you know, especially people from
the Bay Area or LA. They'reyou know, within that close driving distance.
Like I think people connected the placelike yousemit and it becomes part of
their life. We have a lotof people that get married in Semity.
(26:17):
You know, maybe they've met thereon a trailer, maybe they met back
home in their city, but theyall they fell in love with their trips
to Semi and it's that special tothem that they get married there. So
stories and connections at that park forsure. Yeah. And you know you
mentioned about the Badger Pass ski areaand and that's where I grew up,
or I grew up in the CentralValley and learned how to ski at at
(26:40):
Badger Pass. And it's just Ididn't know that. Good for you,
Yeah, yeah, no, it'sit's a fantastic little ski resorts, really
cute, very cute. And youknow, there's so many other ski resorts
nowadays that feel like they've kind ofjumped the shark as far as like affordability
and this is not that it's veryaffordable to go skiing at bad your past.
It's very family friendly, beginner slashintermediate friendly. It's the oldest skiers
(27:06):
aren't too. Is that correct?In California? You got it. It
was opened in nineteen thirty five,so it's the original skier in California.
And what's great about it, it'slike the little day lodge that you go
to get your you know, yourlift tickets. There's a little cafe in
there that's still original. So it'sgot that little historic five to it.
And I think, Brad, whatyou said is like, that's exactly the
audience that Badger passes it for beginnerskiers, families that just want to get
(27:27):
out. So and it is superaffordable still compared to maybe what you would
pay at you know, some otherbig ski resorts throughout California or even throughout
the nation. And so we're reallyproud of that because it's important for us
to still offer you know, affordableskiing and an opportunity for people that are
little maybe intimidated by it. Imean, Vedger passes ten runs. It's
really approachable. I mean you couldbe sitting out there as a mom on
(27:48):
the deck or even as a fatherlooking at your kids come down some of
the beginner you know, hills there. So I think that's what's great about
it too. Yeah. Yeah,And plus then you're in Yosemite, so
it's like, right, you know, it's like the ski days over,
you're not battling traffic, you know, like it's like you're in You're in
Yosemite. And even if you're notdoing the downhill skiing, the cross country
(28:10):
or the snowshoe opportunities out there arepretty cool. I remember one of one
of my favorite winter trips in Yosemitewas it was cross country skiing out Glacier
is it is it Glacier Point GlacierPoint Road. Yeah, after so the
road closes just beyond Badger Pass inthe wintertime, but you can still like
(28:30):
cross country skiing and go to GlacierPoint and stay out at the hut out
there, and that was so coolbecause you have this amazing Yeah, that's
so. I mean, there's somany just really remarkable experiences you can have
in Yosemite year round. But evenif you don't want to do something like
an overnight er that goes all theway out there, you can still do
some really wonderful snow showing or crosscountry skiing up in Yosemite. That's right,
(28:55):
I know, yeah, some peoplejust downhill skilling skiing isn't their things
exactly right. There's there's great guidedsnowshoe walks that we operate our company,
and then there's also a National Parkservice to some guided ranger snowshoe walks up
there, and then cross country skiing. People don't realize it, but it's
world class cross country skiing up there. They do ninety miles of mark trails
and there, and there's you know, groom track for the cross country skiers.
(29:18):
So it's pretty pretty spectacular and obviouslythe view of Glacier Point on your
cross country skis is pretty pretty prettymemorable. Right, Yeah, no,
I do remember that. That wasincredible. Is there skating right now in
Yosebody is? Well? In thewinter, there is. That's another kind
of historic winter tradition. So theCurry Village down in Newseemiti Valley, they
(29:38):
have an ice drink there and itis open for the season and you get
great views of Half Dome and there'slike a little you know fire pit out
there. People couldn't do smores andjust warm up a little bit, and
it's a nice activity in addition tothe scheme that we have at Badger Pass.
And I really the ice skating debtdates back to the late nineteen twenties
in Usebity, the former operator butwhich was called Somebody Parking and Curry Company
(30:00):
many decades ago. They did theylike flooded one of the big parking lots
and turned it into an ice rinkand then they have these like winter ice
pageants and it was quite spectacular whatthey did with winter sports back in the
day. I mean, Usebity stillhas an amazing winter sports program, but
they did they did a lot backthen to really encourage people to fall in
love with do so many and tryout winter sports. So a lot of
(30:22):
fun history there. Yeah, AndI mean that that ice skating rink.
I mean you can see Half Domefrom there, right Like you're like basically
looking up at Half Dome as yourice skating. That's just so magical it
is. And I didn't even mentionthis. Badger Pass actually just opened for
this season recently about a week ago. And Badger Pass, so everyone knows,
is all natural snow, so there'sno snowmaking up there, so we're
(30:45):
definitely dependent on what mother nature.We try to typically open mid December,
but sometimes that shifts and that.But everything's open right now for the winter.
We've got the ice drink open,We've got you know, skiing,
and you know, obviously there's lodgesin your Semite Valley if you want to
make a weekend trip out of it. So yeah, it's a lot of
fun. Yeah, No, there'sa lot of opportunities to stay, not
just at the Wanting but you alsohave Somebody Valley. Is it your Somebody
(31:07):
value lodge? Correct? And thenwe even operate Curry Village in the winter.
They typically stay open just on weekends. But for example, coming up
with the I'm sure I don't knowif you've heard of this is a phenomenon
called corsetail fall off of the yeaand in February when the sun sets,
it's that golden red hues and itlooks amazing because it's really popular photographers and
people to witness that. So wedecided, hey, there's a lot of
(31:29):
interest for people to stay in somebodyto be able to have easy access to
that, so they're going to beopened. That whole week at Curry Village,
so there is still the availability too, so someone was kind of looking
to stay in the parking experience thatthat's there you go list, I really
want to do that. That isabsolutely on my bucket list. It's pretty
(31:52):
amazing because I mean it's just thatthat little window of time and the conditions
have to be right, like ifit's too overcast or there's not enough water
obviously you know from snow melt goingoff, that section on al Capetina really
won't light up and do what itdoes. And then there's moments I've been
there before where it was kind ofovercast and I think people were giving up,
thinking it wasn't going to happen,and sure enough, the clouds just
(32:12):
parted at the right time and verylike and everyone's clapping and it's so it's
a pretty it's coolat to see that. Yeah, that's sosmography is amazing.
I'm sure that you could. Ohyeah, I bet. And it's like
it's very dependent on where the sunis hitting. So that's there's only a
window of time like what is itlike a week or is it less or
more of when you can see thathorsetail fall about two weeks in mid February.
(32:37):
Typically sometimes it can happen in October, but it's not as common to
see it then in October. Butand a lot of that could be too
to the waterfall not having enough waterbecause right now with the winter snow melts,
it's like, you know, giventhe water to that to that fall
itself. But yeah, about atwo week opportunity, and that's coming out
basically a month from now. Soyeah, well get get for your Horsetail
(33:00):
Falls experience. Now. You alsoare lucky that you have Zephyr Cove and
the South Lake Tahoe area is apart of the Aramark Destination portfolio, and
there's just so many different opportunities foradventures and fun experiences down there, even
staying at the Zephyr Cove Resorts.That's a really charming little spot, it
(33:24):
really is. I mean Zephyr CoveResort. It's on the you know,
it's in South Lake Tahoe on theeast shore there, and it dates back
to like the late eighteen hundreds.So there's a collection of cabins, there's
a campground there. We operate what'sknown as the m S sixty two.
It's a paddlewheel cruiser boat that goesout in the lake and goes out to
Emerald Bay. So that's kind offun for people to get out on the
water and experience and learn a littlebit about Lake Tahoe. But we also
(33:47):
do really cool snowmobile tours. We'lldo snowmoll bill tours to the summit near
Zephyr Cove where you overlook the lake. We do snowmobil tours through another outfitter
that we run called Lake Tahoe Adventures, and they take you through the back
country of like Tahoe up in HopeValley, and that is, my god,
amazing. I did it for thefirst time last February and I was
I was just blown away. Itwas so beautiful out there, and you
(34:09):
definitely feel like you're in wilderness whenyou're back there. It's pretty impressive.
This is my another one of myideas, like I really want to do
this because that for co resort justfeels like the perfect base camp. And
I'm I ski but I'm not aI don't ski a lot. I wouldn't
say, you know, and that'sno offense against skiing. I think skiing
is great, but I would preferjust to go to South Lake Tahoe and
(34:31):
stay in a you know, nicelakeside wood cabin and dine at the restaurant
that all the locals like there,have a lot of chocolate, and then
be able to do like a snowshoetour leaving right from Zephyr Cove. That's
just I love the whole one stoplike enjoyment adventure in winter. I just
(34:53):
think that's like the perfect trip.And then I really I've never done the
NX Dixie. I really want tocheck that out, like getting on the
lake in winter and Emerald Bay,which is a it's a National Natural Landmark,
correct, I mean for a goodreason. And just I know you
do the day the day cruises andthen you also do a dinner is it
(35:15):
a sunset dinner cruise? Correct?And you know that's a lot of fun.
You know. I've been on thata few times and I always learned
something about it. But it's notit I mean, because all have like
a recorded information as you're on theboat. And then but it's great.
I mean you go up there atthe top deck and there's like you can
get a hot chocolate or a specialtycocktail and you're just taking in the lake
views from the lake because a lotof people see Lake Tahoe and go there
(35:37):
to, like you said, toski and experience, but not everyone really
gets out on the water in thewinter, and that is a that is
a unique experience. And we seeyou know, you know, multi generational
families do it, and I've seencouples that are there celebrating, you know,
an anniversary or a honeymoon. Andthen there's you know, one time
I was there, there was abachelor at party. These ladies were enjoying
Lake Tahoe and wanted to get alllakes together and then they had fun and
(35:58):
then we were just chatting. SoI think to your point, I think,
you know, Lake Tahoe has alot to offer too, like like
we were talking about with you somebody, and Lake Tahoe is so known as
skiing in the winter, and Ithink, what's great what we offer is,
like you said, those historic charmycabins by the lake, and then
you can, you know, dosnowmobiling tours. And the great thing about
our snowmobiling tours is you can bea beginner and they're guided, so it's
like it's not as intimidating as somepeople would think, and they're actually really
(36:22):
fun. Like at first, Iwas kind of conservative with my speed,
and then I started getting really comfortableand I was zooming away and I felt
really proud of myself. But Iwas like, I got this. I'm
at now. So you're you're actuallydriving, You're not just like riding behind
somebody driving your own machine exactly.And so they give you a you know,
a tutorial of course, and theyhave all the gear for you,
which is great, I mean becauseit can get chilly. Our gloves helme
(36:45):
and of course the full suit andin the boots and everything, and yeah,
it's fun. It was a reallycool experience. And yeah, I
mean Zephyr Cloves open you around.So in the summertime it's all about obviously
beach activities and the marina and justbeing outside and and then of course Ms
Stixie will be there in the summertimetoo, But when is pretty great,
and I think it's it's a lesserknown activity in Lake Taha in the winter
(37:07):
is like that snowboll biling and youknow, just relaxing by the by the
lake and a cabin. What moreelse do you need? Right? Are
some of the cavins pet friendly,Yes, yes, some of them are
pet friendly. We also read someairstreams too in our campground too, so
that's kind of a unique experience forsomeone. Oh cool, if you ever
want to stay in an airstream withLake Tahoe right there, that's a good
(37:29):
place to do it and the pinesright behind you. Oh wow, Yeah,
that's beautiful. Yeah, that's that'sremarkable. Now, what are some
of the other properties that I mean, we've we've touched on Yosemite, uh
and South Lake Tahoe. What aresome of your other top places to recommend
to the Wee Can Schirp podcast listener. I think, you know, if
(37:51):
you want to go somewhere else inthe wintertime, for those of you that
haven't gone to Montana, uh andWyoming, that whole region is amazing.
So we operate a token Mountain Lodgethere and Breach excuse me, bridge or
Teetan National Forest just outside of GrandTeeton National Park, and so there's cabins
there. It's actually kind of ametha, if you will, for snowmobiling,
So we get people a lot ofpeople from the Midwest love that area
(38:13):
for snowmobiling and so it's still notreally far for California, and so you
could fly over there and Jackson's agreat little town, and then the Tokeny
Mount Lodge is not very far fromthe town of Jackson itself, so you
can kind of experience both. Andwe offer also guided snowmobiling trips into Yellowstone
National Park, which is really uniqueto see Hollowstone in the winter. So
(38:35):
that's kind of an interesting, youknow, opportunity for someone to think about
that, you know, especially ifyou've been to places like You're somebody already
and Lake Tahoe in the winter,new We're and I try something different,
highly recommend that, but we dooperate a lot of great places throughout the
country. I think you know somethingelse that I think is a really great
trip, especially in the summer,in the in the fall, is Lake
Pole. You know. Lake Poleis out in Arizona and Utah, and
(38:57):
it's a massive lake and you canrun a houseboat there, go for the
family and cruise around different slot canyons, just enjoy a really beautiful lake.
And we still have some availability thisyear too at a lot of our National
Park lodges too, so it's definitelynot too late to book and if you're
flexible with your dates to even findmore opportunities. But yeah, a lot
to see and do and there's somany beautiful public lands out there for everyone
(39:22):
to enjoy. Yeah, did whendoes it typically like start getting busy for
like Powell, like that, doesthat start around like Memorial Day weekend?
Yeah? I would see that.They're pretty typical to some a place like
usementy. They'll stay busy, youknow, from I would say basically May
to October. That's they're busier monthsif you will. But they stay open
(39:42):
year round too, so like Powell'sopen even you know today, you could
go up there. There's a resortthere that we operate, and then there's
obviously the marina we operate, whichyou can just get you know, powerboat
for the day at jet ski,or you can get a pretty large houseboat
and go out. And house boatingis kind of unique. I like to
say, it's like, you know, everyone's into I think airbnbs because you
can, you know, host alot of people in a house. You
(40:04):
can cook, you can barbecue.That's like a houseboat, right, you
can you know, my house postan host up to fourteen people in one
boat there's barbecues, we have jacuzzi'son the upper decks. Some of them
have water slides, so like yourown floating house if you will, on
the lake. So it's fun.I mean there's a lot of families that
go Yere after year because they justlove it. Yeah, that's that does
sound really good at like a goodalternative to Airbnb too. Don't have to
(40:28):
pay all those extra fees and getto have to you know, sucking Airbnb
and it's like double the price ofwhat you thought it was going to be.
I know, right, all thosespies can add up and don't do
that to you. So oh good. Well, and I was I was
noticing Union Creek Resort in Oregon closeto Crater Lake that I think is one
(40:50):
of your You manage that as well. Is that correct? I'm so glad
and robbed that one up because Iwas almost forgetting about mentioning you. Well,
you know why I brought up becauseI love road trips and like Southern
Organ to me or Organ itself isa great road trip, and I love
Crater Lake, so I'm always lookingfor places to stay and I am a
big bread nos this. I lovelike log cabins, and rustic lodges and
(41:15):
anything historic. And so I sawthis and I was like, well,
this is like literally really close toCrater Lake Resort. Can you tell me
a bit more about it before Igo ahead and book it. No,
it's actually everything you said. It'sgoing to really line up for what you
want. And if you like agood homemade pie, that's your play.
So I'll tell you about that alittle bit too. So do you need
a creek resort? Just how itcelebrate? It's under anniversary. It started
(41:37):
in nineteen twenty two, and it'snot very far from the actual Crater Lake
National Park. So it's actually reallygreat for people that maybe want to book
a last minute trip over the summerat Crater Lake and they're like, oh,
you know, maybe the lodge isalready booked up in the park.
Like it's a really good alternative,And it's right there. It literally is
right there on the creek, andso there's beautiful hiking trails even within the
property there. But yeah, theyhave these great little wood cabs and like
(42:00):
I said, beautiful access to hiking. But what's great about it too,
they have this place called Becky's Cafe. It's a little cafe that is there
on property and they've made they've beenmaking like Huckleberry pie and other amazing pies
for decades and it's super popular withlocals. People just make sure they hit
Becky's Pie on their way to CraterLake often too, so so that's kind
(42:20):
of fun. You know. Ilike to say that we make like the
best pie around, so that's alwaysgood. But that's a great tip.
Yeah, And it's it's not afar drive from it's under an hour to
get to, you know, theheart of you know, Crater Lake there
on Rim Village and it's open yearround there at Union Creek Resource. So
if you want to even go inthe wintertime. And one thing just to
be advised, specially if you're goingto Crater Lake in the winters, to
check the park website and just checkroad conditions. Sometimes it'll be temperate closed
(42:45):
if there's a heavy snowstorm up there. But they do stay open in the
winter and then a lot of peoplego up there to snowshoe at Crater Lake
along the Rim and we operate alittle village gift shop and store and they
stay open in the winter so youcan get some provisions. Need to rent
snowshoes from us there at the facility. So perfect. It's a great time
to be up there too, becausethere's not a lot of people there in
(43:06):
the winter and seeing that stunning sapphireblue lake with the oh yeah, the
area with snow is just like it'sbeautiful. I've been up there in the
summer a couple of times, butnever in the winter. I've seen photos
and it just looks super It's justbeautiful. This doesn't like with and not
as many people would be up thereobviously. And yeah, but like you
(43:28):
said, you got to check thewebsite to see if those roads are going
to be open, because I guesssometimes they do close it down. Yeah,
you just got to always be awareof that. Any anytime you travel
to a national park, I always, you know, recommend checking row conditions,
even even in the summer. Youjust never know. It's always good
to keep an eye on that becausesometimes you'll lose you know, sell connectivity
on some of those park or roadsthere for a short period of time.
(43:49):
So it's always just could have kindof be prepared before you travel. And
then what's great too, I didn'tmention this with you know, with Crater
Lake it's not that far of adrive from northern California. I actually did
it from seventy and it took meabout ten hours. And for some people
that they might consider that really far. But if you think about it,
you know, you could start earlierin the morning and take some breaks along
the way. There's some other spotsyou could stop at, and it's definitely
(44:12):
manageable to do. Is like along weekend road trip. Oh yeah,
it's very manageable. You could absolutelydo that. You got that I five
going too right, You just cruisecontrols on up up, just thinking of
that pie waiting for you. Ithink PI and a coffee would be great.
So if people want to find outmore about some of these destinations that
(44:35):
we've been talking about, from Oregonto Montana, Wyoming and California, obviously,
is it the Nation's Vacation dot Comis a good place to go,
right it is. I mean,we have specific websites for each location,
and we talked about today. Butwhat's great about that Nation's Vacation website.
It's a website we created as kindof like a trip inspirational planning tool for
a lot of our outdoor destinations thatwe manage at. So it's a nice
(45:00):
one stop shop to start your researchand then it'll start driving specific websites too.
Perfect cool. So that's the nation'svacation dot com. You can check
that out to learn more about someof the places that we discussed. But
Lisa, it's been great having youon the podcast today. Thanks a lot
for spending a few minutes with us. We really appreciate it. Thank you
(45:22):
so much and look forward to hopefullyseeing a lot of the listeners out at
the parks this season. It soundsgood. Thanks Lisa.
Welcome to the weekend chirp of podcastTake it Outside. I'm Brad Day,
I'm Holly Kulak. It's our firstpodcast of twenty twenty four. Holy smokes
already. Yeah, well it's January. We're getting it in before the end
of the month. We are.No, it's been I mean, well,
how's your twenty twenty four band?So far? It's been pretty good.
(00:38):
I mean it's really rainy. It'sreally rainy, which I know we
need. And the only good newsabout the rain is it usually means that
there's snow right in some great placesand good waterfalls. Yeah, probably gonna
be good wildflowers, right, aren'tall those things kind of yeah, all
tied together. I just think Icould use a little bit of a break
in between. Like it seems likeit's like this rain storm, now another
(01:00):
one next up. I'm like,come on, just give us like a
five day window or seven day windows? Do you still get after it though?
Like when it's raining, are youstill I do? Because and you
know what that reminds me. Youasked me a few weeks ago about that
Scandinavian concept. You said, whatis that concept where you just have to
no matter the weather, get theyjust get outside, Yeah, because it's
so dark in the winter time andcold. But they're like, it's really
(01:23):
good for your health, your mentalhealth to get out to be outside.
Yeah. Do you know what?And you asked me what it was called.
I couldn't remember, but I lookedat We've talked about it before in
this podcast. It's called free lootsleeve, Free loots leeve. I'm sure
we're nailing freeve. No, I'mpronouncing it correctly, Okay. It's a
term that means free air life andit's about spending time outdoors in all seasons.
(01:48):
I like that. Yeah, Iknow. But I have another trivia
for you. There's a Dutch wordthat and this kind of applies to this
kind of weather, to the rainyand that, you know, if it's
cold out and you want to justkind of get. There's a Dutch word
that's all about feeling cozy, usuallywith friends or loved ones, called his.
I want to pronounce it zlegg,but it's actually hassele eg. But
(02:13):
it's spelled g z e l Ig you say z, I said,
because I had to get my Canadianin there. Oh, there, it
is hessele eg. I believe it'sthe pronunciation and it's a positive, warm
emotion or feeling rather than something justphysical. Right. So it's so I
think like that applies in winter timetoo, and you want to just like
(02:35):
cozy up in a nice cabin bya warm fire, and you do as
the Dutch do, And they sayso part of that concept is you invite
only people you like. Well,I would think so. I thought that
was interesting. Keep things small andinformal. Yeah, and cozy places don't
have to be big and splashy.Actually they don't tend to be big and
(02:58):
splashy. But yeah, when I'mthinking of this, I'm thinking of two
different things. I'm thinking like onejust like one of those really kind of
like wild, remote California coast cabinslike Sea Ranch style or Mensino Coast or
Humboldt Coast or something like that whereyou just there isn't a heck of a
lot to do. You get likemaybe you have a TV, but you
(03:19):
have like board games, you havelike you know, you can walk out
to the to the bluffs to thecoast and just kind of watch the storms
roll through. I just I lovethat for for like a winter kind of
cozy escape and then you're all Ialso think about just going to the mountains,
going to the Sierra Nevada, goingto you know, a place like
Yosemite, or you know, awhole bunch of amazing places that you can
(03:45):
get to in the snow in Californiaand just kind of have that cozy experience,
cozy airstream. We're going to talkabout that a little bit more today.
Yeah, we have a great guestcoming in the second half of the
podcast. We're going to be speakingwith Lisa Csaro, the director of marketing
for air Mark Destinations. We havea great conversation with her about all kinds
(04:11):
of cool places like Yosemite. Iknow it. It's such a great conversation.
She really knows stuff and she livedin Yosemite for many years. Yeah,
right in the valley. I know, you could like walk out your
door and look at at halftime,which is ridiculous. It's so cool,
and it's great for me as aneditor because you know, I see all
this information and I do all thecontent and I'm like, oh, I
(04:32):
just like I so want to gothere and do that and some of the
things I've done. But it justis like I need to go back and
do that and just and try stayinghere. I don't know, but it's
a great conversation. You have hadsome You've had many experiences in Yosemite,
from growing up to some adventures you'vedone with friends. Do you want to
(04:54):
talk about it? Well, Imean, I grew up in the Central
Valley in a town called by Celia, and it's only like two hours away
from the park gate, the Southernpark gate to Yosembitie National Park. So
when I was learning to ski withmy parents that we would go to Badger
Pass and it's a great like placeto go for family if you're just learning
(05:15):
how to ski. It hasn't jumpedthe shark as far as pricing goes for
for lift tickets, and it's stillretained that to this day, which is
which is super cool. So yeah, I grew up learning to ski at
at Badger Pass, and you know, as a kid, you're like whatever,
six seven years old, you don'tnecessarily realize you're going into a beautiful,
(05:38):
world renowned national park to go snowskiing, which is pretty cool.
Yeah, pretty cool. So thatwas kind of more on the tame side
of things. But I've also exploredsome of the backcountry huts that Yosebody has,
and not a lot of people knowthat there are some really cool backcountry
huts that you can get to bycross country ski your backcountry ski. So
(06:00):
you do have to have some experiencewith that. I mean, you have
to get a reservation. But there'sa couple of places that I went to.
One was definitely more on the intermediateto advance skill level to get to.
It's called Ostrander Hut, which wasbuilt by the California Conservation Corps way
back in the day, in theearly twentieth century, and it's just this
(06:20):
really cool old stone built a framehut back in the remote wilds of Yosemite
National Park that you cross country skiout to, or you can snowshoe out
to, you can backcountry ski thewhole variety of ways, but it takes
a while to get there. There'sa few different options like routes you can
(06:40):
go. And I remember I waswith two other guys and this was God,
this was a long time ago,maybe fifteen years ago, and we
decided to go I think kind ofthe intermediate way. We didn't go the
easy way, we didn't go thehard way. We went kind of like
the in between way, and ithad snowed and snowed and snowed the days
leading up to it, so therewas no there was no cut trail,
(07:02):
and like, having not done thisa ton, we didn't realize just how
much effort it is to go justeven a half to a mile to cut
trail, especially if it's kind oflike a wetter snow that you sometimes get
in the Sierra Nevada. So weended We started out at like nine am
trying to get out to Ostrander,and we were making like pretty decent time,
(07:25):
and then we kind of got offtrail. We started following this trail
of this guy who was out therejust kind of solo, like Rambo style,
just like going out there to havehis solo snow camping, was not
going to Ostrander. Hut was doinghis own thing, and we were just
following his track. And then youknow, it was right around sunset.
(07:48):
We get to his camp. We'relike, oh, hey, this isn't
the way to Ostrander and and he'slike, oh no, I think you're
supposed to turn off back there,and we, like my friends and I
looked at each other and we're like, oh my god, we've had the
headlamps on, like went back retracedour steps and you have to look for
(08:09):
like the little yellow reflective blazes thatthey have like up in the trees to
kind of like that's that's the route, you know, like follow the yellow
blazes up in the tree. Andif you're like not focusing on that and
you're focusing on some other guys skitrails, you can get lost. So
that's what happened to us. Butwe did backtrack, we did finally find
those yellow blazes, and we didfinally get to Austin in the darks.
(08:31):
You guys were like, oh yeah, this was on December twenty first,
fifteen years ago. So it waslike literally the shortest day, Yeah,
the shortest day of the entire year, putting on the headlamps and we're like,
oh my god, like, howmuch longer do we have? We
ended up getting into the hut afterten o'clock at night. Really, so
when you were at this camp withthis person who was just going out on
(08:52):
his own, Yeah, how manyhours was it from there? We yeah,
we probably had another four Oh ohthat's just something Well, okay,
I'm glad you guys all made it. You're still here, which is great.
Yeah, but it was it wasone of those character building experience that's
where it's like. And it wasalso interesting because of the group that I
was with. Like one of theguys who's been on the podcast if you've
(09:16):
been listening to our podcast, itwas Carlo Ficino who it did the solo
row from San Francisco to Hawaii.He was trying to beat the record.
He just missed the record, buthe still did it. It took him
seventy something days to do that.So he's he's a mentally tough guy and
he just he's when you're kind ofin a situation like that where you're you're
(09:39):
the day is getting long, everybody'stired and exhausted, you just kind of
want to be done. He isa great guy to have in your group
because he keeps things positive. Hedoesn't start going like to negative town,
you know. And he's also areally you know, strong athletic guy,
but he's just the mental fortitude thathe has is super super impressive. So
(10:01):
he was luckily a part of thatcrew and another friend of ours chat and
yeah, I mean we were justwe were sweating, We were just like
ready ready to be done. Itwas. It was quite the adventure and
we finally do get there and wewere the only people at the hut except
for the hut master. Hut Masterwas this old timer guy with a big
old beard, and it just kindof like what you would a picture like
(10:22):
there and it was just like thethree of us and the hut master for
that first night. And he hadice skates down below in the basement and
there was a lake I think itwas Ostrander Lake that had frozen over,
and it's only good for ice skating, like very specific times. It has
to be quite cold, and youknow, the conditions have to be perfect.
But he's like, the conditions areperfect right now for ice skating,
(10:45):
like natural ice skating out on thislake. Yeah, I know, but
this heat. We trusted him,so he like got the ice skates out
of the basement and we all wentice skating out on this like magnificent.
Yeah, exactly. Wow, it'sso cool. Did you have a full
moon or anything. I don't rememberfull full moon whatever, it's still December
(11:05):
twenty first. Yeah, that's supercool. I mean, that's a good
that's a great story. What else, what did you do the next day.
I think we were just exhausted.Yeah, you know, we brought
back some like some beers and someliquor, way way more than we do.
We need it. Yeah, youcan bring back. I mean you're
back there and just like but it'sfunny because you're so exhausted, you're not
(11:26):
even all that interested in like butlike when you're packing, you're like,
oh, well, I gotta havethis. I definitely don't want to leave
that behind. And it's like,ah, yeah, you get there,
you're like half how about just somewater? Yeah, maybe some water,
Hot tea, Yeah, hot tea, hot chocolate, hot chocolate. Maybe
hot chocolate with like a splash ofBailey's or whiskey or something. I know
you like that kind of it's gettinga little too sweet for me now,
(11:48):
like the Bailey's and hot cho todo my like thing in winter, like
just a nice treat after skiing orwhatever. Now I find it a little
bit sweet. So I'm in toosweet hot Toddies. Your palate is changing,
I guess, so I like hotToddy. But you had done another
like Yosemite backcountry experience. You wentout to the Glacier Point Hut I did.
That was a great terri It wasa whole bunch of us and we
(12:11):
we strapped on some I was gonnasay snowshoes, but it was cross country
skis. Yeah, and made ourway back there. And I'm not a
great cross country scare. I mean, it's a it's a road. But
actually this year that's closed for somereason. Not the road, the hut.
You can't do that this year.That's what your what at least that's
what I recently saw for twenty twentyfour. They're not Glacier Point huts closed.
(12:35):
But when it reopens or you know, go that was a great adventure,
super fun. You go there,you spend the night and you have
Glacier Point all to yourself. Nobody'sthere. Yeah, that view of half
Dome. Because you can't drive toit, you can only like I guess
you can snowshoe to it as well. Right, Badger Pass is off of
Glacier Point Road, so the roadis open to cars to Badger Past and
then beyond that they closed the roadto cars, but not to cross country
(12:58):
skis. And that's how you getto that hut. Yeah, and just
he was incredible. It was agreat experience. But I don't think I'm
the ostrander hut type. I thinkI'm the I'm definitely the badger past ski
type. First of all, Ilove it. It's California's first resort ski
resorts. Yeah, so it's totallyhistoric and it's my speed. Like I
(13:18):
think there's ten runs. There's agood mix of like beginner, I think
a lot of it's intermediate, andthen there's a couple of experts and I'm
a blue I'm a blue square.Yeah, you're going down the corner right,
yeah, And then I like thata lot. And then I like
hanging out on decks and eating mymeal and what I'm a opre loungey type
(13:39):
of skier like you're definitely yeah.I remember being a whistler with you one
year with some friends and you guyswere like, we're up, you know,
and I was like, oh no, can't I just sleep in and
then like do the noon, youknow, do a couple of runs,
have lunch, do a couple moreruns, come down to the village.
That's that's my yeah, but it'stoo expensive. I mean in a lot
(14:03):
of places, this is what Ilike too, like you to do the
season pass now. Otherwise, ifyou're trying to do day ticket stuff,
forget it. You feel like youhave to be starting like and just going,
going, going all day. That'sjust my opinion. But yeah,
I'm much more badger past than Austrander. But good, good for you guys.
That sounds amazing adventure. So whatwhat are some of your other like
(14:26):
winter activities, Like we're in thethick of winter right now, Like,
what what is it that you youknow, obviously we're putting out some great
content with Weekend Chirpa getting people inspired. It's waterfall season right now, and
we put out some great stories aboutthat. But what are some other things
that you have upcoming? Some teasesI have, Well, I have more
(14:46):
waterfall hikes. You have to getit a little bit of time between the
rains though, because they will bephenomenal. So lucky for us, you
know, we get some absolute gushersthat are extraordinary to see. So that's
coming up. Snowshoeing is a Ilike snowshoeing a lot. I have snowshoes.
I got them as a gift andI haven't used them yet, so
(15:07):
I need to get out. Ilove snowshoeing. I would like to do
this Dewey Point snowshoe truck in Yosemite. Yeah, that looks phenomenal, so
you can do excited. I thinkit's about eight miles. Yeah, that's
from our recent story that we didon Yosemite about going to badge your pass
about their cross country ski area andthen taking a guided snowshoe tour or independent
(15:28):
out to Dewey Point. And Imean I grew up in Canada, so
I also really like ice skating.I used to go ice skating all the
time when I grew up in Edmonton. I mean that's just what you did.
You Yeah, very Canadien. Andit's very it could be very cold,
but it's kind of you know,you bundle up, put on ice
skates. I had fire pits warming, you know, just go warm yourself
up. Well, it seems likea lot of ice skate rinks kind of
(15:50):
like have a holiday theme and thenonce Christmas comes and goes, they kind
of close up shop. But theone in Yosemite at Curry Village that's open
and you can can go ice skatingwith a view of half them, which
I mean, how that's such aunique experience. Yes, please and s'mores
kits around the fire sports kits.There you go. What about you,
(16:10):
Well, I've been doing a lotof cycling, trying to to stay fit
for some of these uh cycle raceslike gravel biking and mountain biking. You're
actually going outside in the rain,you know. Bike it stinks. I
don't enjoy it necessarily, but it'slike if you're prepared for it. You
got like the gortex jacket and thegloves and all the right stuff, and
(16:33):
you're safe. You have the light, the tail light and the headlight.
It's not that bad in the rain. Yeah, it can, it can
it. What freaks me out isjust like if you're really remote and you
have like a technical or something likethat, and it's just you know,
you can't fix it right then andthere, and then you're kind of like
screwed. You're out there, youknow. I did a ride out in
(16:53):
some pretty remote area of Snowma County. It was part of this ride that's
called Levi's Grand Fondo, which isthis like big ride that leaves out a
windsor and it's been around for likeover ten years. It's really I've never
done it, but the route thatthey use for that I've used several times
independently because it's such a great routeand it's going up King Ridge and I
(17:15):
did that a couple of weeks ago, and it's a beautiful, beautiful road
going basically from Cazadero if you knowwhere that is in Sonoma County, very
small little town all the way outto the coast, kind of by Stuart's
Point, which is by Sea RanchHighway one, and that kind of you
(17:36):
get up on high up on aridge and you can like see the ocean.
You can see all this crazy ruggedterrain that you would never really get
a perspective on otherwise, and thenyou're just kind of descending through these like
forests, some redwood forest going allthe way to the coast, and then
you get a ride along Highway one. It's it's remarkable. But I was
like when I was back there andit was raining on me and I was
(17:56):
by myself, I was like,man, I can't stop. I'm gonna
get cold if I stop. Yeah, you know, it's like you're you're
super wet because the rain, andit's just like it's kind of windy,
so it's just like you just don'twant to technical well, that's the thing
about the cool because you're not likecarrying a huge backpack where you have like
your puff in it and you knowyou have to puff dry. Yeah,
(18:18):
you'd carry your puff I have.I have a puff for every season.
I'm telling you you have a pufffor more than every day of a week.
I do. It's terrible because youknow what some of them are.
There's such good quality a lot ofthem that you don't really need to get
another puff. But I I havea thing for puff coats. Yeah you
do. You're not like, you'renot like brand exclusive either. You have
a whole variety. I have awhole variety of them. Yeah. Yeah,
(18:41):
one for every day of the weekin the season. There you go.
And one other little piece of goodnews is the state parks. California
State Parks just added about six hundredand fifty acres to their portfolio, which
is pretty cool. And that's right. Speaking of Sonoma County, this is
the Sonoma Development Mental Center, whichhasn't been in operation for several years.
(19:03):
It's got this really beautiful location inSnowma Valley over by Glenn Allen. Yeah,
and it's just been kind of defunct. There hasn't been anything going on
there for several years, and it'sjust this really gorgeous corridor, wildlife corridor,
oak woodland, grasslands, wetlands,redwood forests on Suttonfield Lake, yeah,
(19:25):
part of it. Yeah. Andit's it's right next to Jack London
State Park, so there's already likekind of adjacent to it. And there's
been a lot of talk about whatare we going to do with the Snowma
Development Developmental Center, and like thisbeautiful land and the buildings and all this
stuff. I don't know what's goingto happen to the buildings necessarily, but
all of the open space land,the six hundred and fifty acres is going
(19:45):
to California State parks, all ofit. That's great news. Yeah,
So that's it's really cool, andthe California Natural Resource Secretary Wade Crowfoot says
it protects it's an important wildlife corridor, safeguards diverse local ecosystems, and will
expand opportunities for local residents and visitorsto hike and enjoy the outdoors. Expanding
(20:08):
the state park in this way isone more creative step towards meeting the thirty
for thirty commitment to conserve thirty percentof our lands across California by twenty thirty,
which I didn't even know was athing. I didn't know there was
a thirty for thirty. I thoughtthat was like an ESPN show. But
they have a there's a there's acommitment to conserve thirty percent of our lands
(20:33):
in California by twenty thirty, whichI might think California can do it and
we'll do it. Yeah, that'sgreat. So there's just one more little
bit of information about that. SoI go there all the time because it's
it's pretty close to where I live, and it's I just find it absolutely
beautiful. It's great hiking, there'sa lake up there, there's actually good
(20:55):
mountain biking, if you know,and you can ride horses up there.
There's just a lot of creation opportunities, and I'm happy to see that that's
going to be retained and look forwardto, you know, having that in
our backyard and enjoying it for yearsto come. Yeah, that's great news.
Can't rain on that, rain can'tn that? Yeah, So why
(21:15):
don't we get to our conversation withLisa Csaro, the director of marketing for
air Mark Destinations, good to seeyou, Lisa. Likewise, thanks for
having me. Yeah, yeah,no, it's you know, Aramark Destination
represents just so many different amazing nationalparks and even places at aren't national parks,
(21:37):
just kind of like natural beauty destinationsacross the United States, and really
some spectacular ones right here in California. I met you several years ago when
you were living and working in YosemiteValley and that's one of your the Aramark
destinations correct, correct? Do youoperate there? A New Sementy National Park
(22:00):
And I don't know exactly when wemet, but it's been a while and
there so I was in New seventyover ten years living and working there and
it was gosh, the experiences Ihad there are just unbelievable and things that
I'll remember for the rest of mylife. It's I mean, for those
of you that have been to Usemityknow it's a beautiful place. But to
be able to wake up every dayand see the you know, the different
changing of the light that it playsoff with those granite mountains and seeing snow
(22:22):
come, seeing the first you know, the fall leaves start to fall,
seen, you know, just wildliferoaming like it was really a spectacle.
It was a great experience. Yeah, I can't imagine. I mean,
it's just so wild because we've I'vebeen going to yoursebody since I was a
kid, but you're always there,you know, for like a day,
maybe a few days, but actuallyliving there year round that has to be
(22:42):
quite the unique experience. Yeah,it is, you know. I mean
some of the things I got toexperience. I mean, obviously I was
there for a long time, soyou get to I got to learn to
ski there at Badger Pass Gear,I did some cross country skiing, I
went backpacking up in the in thehigh country, up at the high sier
camps and just all the different heights, and it's just you know, it's
just there's things that I did therethat I probably wouldn't have done, you
(23:03):
know, living in the city,and so I think that was what That's
what's special about a place that you'resomebody is it's so vast and you know,
being open around and seeing it atthe different seasons and really so many
You can be a person that justwants to go on a little stroll in
the metal, or you can wantto go on a really challenging multi day
backpacking trip. I think that's what'sso great about that park is it is
really accessible and there's a lot ofrange of activities and you know a little
(23:26):
bit for everyone. What are someof your favorite memories there? I would
say I really enjoyed the high Seiercamp experience. So for those of you
that don't know, you know,when you're up in that whole high country
as we say, two me metals, there's about five different like hut to
hut style camps, and so they'rekind of like these canvas tent cabins similar
to Curry Village, but they're youknow, multi units, so you might
(23:47):
be sharing, like let's see youand your friend go, you might you
know share that cabin with you know, two other people because they can hold
four people and so they cook foryou. I mean you've got to just
pretty much bring your day pack withyou with some essentials and some clothing,
but you're not way down like totypically be doing you know, your own
backpacking if you had to pitch yourtent and bring all your food and all
your gear. So it was reallycool and I really opened up you know,
the outdoors for me and just seeingsome of the hikes along the way
(24:10):
and the you know, the waterfallsor cascades or you know, granite cliffs,
and I don't know, I justreally liked it. And then even
just chatting with people, you know, when you're at the dinner table there
at the high Siera camps, you'remeeting you know, the people from around
the country usually sometimes even around theworld, and just having that conversation about,
oh, what did you see inyour hike or what was your favorite
thing. Like it's just like Ikind of call it like summer camp for
(24:30):
adults, if you will, Andso that that's an experience that really stands
out to me. And I rememberbeing in Yosemite in the summer, my
first summer there, being there ona full moon night on a bike,
riding in Yusemite Valley on the trap, remember just looking up like is this
real? Because the dark sky therein the Milky Way. You know,
I came from living in Los Angeles, and then I grew up in Michigan,
(24:52):
so you know, in LA youdon't really get a night sky like
you do in Usemite, nothing likethat, And so I was just blown
ap way, I'll be honest withthat, was a little nervous at first
because I wasn't used to being insuch a dark setting, right, because
trying to preserve the dark knights.It's not like there's lights and you know,
billboards in a place like USEMITI.So that was a little bit of
a shock for someone like me thatcame from Los Angeles. But I need
(25:15):
some white noise to feel comfortable here, I know, exactly right. That's
funny. Now that I live ina city environment, I miss my you
know, really quiet nights of dusemitefalling asleep. So yeah, you know
those I've never done the High Sierracamps. I've seen them when I've gone
on some backpacking trips in the HighSira, But that looks just really pretty,
(25:36):
Like that's a nice way to gobackpacking and experience that that backcountry.
That's really really cool it is.And you know, there's a lot of
historic hotels in Yosemite. I havesome great memories of you know, like
a Christmas dinner at the Awani withthe snowfalling looking out the windows, and
so yeah, I feel like there'sso many special memories. And I tell
(25:56):
friends and family that they're like,well, what do you miss about someone
Like, Oh, that's so hardto say because I've had so many unique
memories. It's like it's a specialplace to me. And and I know
people consider it their parks actually theCalifornias, you know, especially people from
the Bay Area or LA. They'reyou know, within that close driving distance.
Like I think people connected the placelike yousemit and it becomes part of
their life. We have a lotof people that get married in Semity.
(26:17):
You know, maybe they've met thereon a trailer, maybe they met back
home in their city, but theyall they fell in love with their trips
to Semi and it's that special tothem that they get married there. So
stories and connections at that park forsure. Yeah. And you know you
mentioned about the Badger Pass ski areaand and that's where I grew up,
or I grew up in the CentralValley and learned how to ski at at
(26:40):
Badger Pass. And it's just Ididn't know that. Good for you,
Yeah, yeah, no, it'sit's a fantastic little ski resorts, really
cute, very cute. And youknow, there's so many other ski resorts
nowadays that feel like they've kind ofjumped the shark as far as like affordability
and this is not that it's veryaffordable to go skiing at bad your past.
It's very family friendly, beginner slashintermediate friendly. It's the oldest skiers
(27:06):
aren't too. Is that correct?In California? You got it. It
was opened in nineteen thirty five,so it's the original skier in California.
And what's great about it, it'slike the little day lodge that you go
to get your you know, yourlift tickets. There's a little cafe in
there that's still original. So it'sgot that little historic five to it.
And I think, Brad, whatyou said is like, that's exactly the
audience that Badger passes it for beginnerskiers, families that just want to get
(27:27):
out. So and it is superaffordable still compared to maybe what you would
pay at you know, some otherbig ski resorts throughout California or even throughout
the nation. And so we're reallyproud of that because it's important for us
to still offer you know, affordableskiing and an opportunity for people that are
little maybe intimidated by it. Imean, Vedger passes ten runs. It's
really approachable. I mean you couldbe sitting out there as a mom on
(27:48):
the deck or even as a fatherlooking at your kids come down some of
the beginner you know, hills there. So I think that's what's great about
it too. Yeah. Yeah,And plus then you're in Yosemite, so
it's like, right, you know, it's like the ski days over,
you're not battling traffic, you know, like it's like you're in You're in
Yosemite. And even if you're notdoing the downhill skiing, the cross country
(28:10):
or the snowshoe opportunities out there arepretty cool. I remember one of one
of my favorite winter trips in Yosemitewas it was cross country skiing out Glacier
is it is it Glacier Point GlacierPoint Road. Yeah, after so the
road closes just beyond Badger Pass inthe wintertime, but you can still like
(28:30):
cross country skiing and go to GlacierPoint and stay out at the hut out
there, and that was so coolbecause you have this amazing Yeah, that's
so. I mean, there's somany just really remarkable experiences you can have
in Yosemite year round. But evenif you don't want to do something like
an overnight er that goes all theway out there, you can still do
some really wonderful snow showing or crosscountry skiing up in Yosemite. That's right,
(28:55):
I know, yeah, some peoplejust downhill skilling skiing isn't their things
exactly right. There's there's great guidedsnowshoe walks that we operate our company,
and then there's also a National Parkservice to some guided ranger snowshoe walks up
there, and then cross country skiing. People don't realize it, but it's
world class cross country skiing up there. They do ninety miles of mark trails
and there, and there's you know, groom track for the cross country skiers.
(29:18):
So it's pretty pretty spectacular and obviouslythe view of Glacier Point on your
cross country skis is pretty pretty prettymemorable. Right, Yeah, no,
I do remember that. That wasincredible. Is there skating right now in
Yosebody is? Well? In thewinter, there is. That's another kind
of historic winter tradition. So theCurry Village down in Newseemiti Valley, they
(29:38):
have an ice drink there and itis open for the season and you get
great views of Half Dome and there'slike a little you know fire pit out
there. People couldn't do smores andjust warm up a little bit, and
it's a nice activity in addition tothe scheme that we have at Badger Pass.
And I really the ice skating debtdates back to the late nineteen twenties
in Usebity, the former operator butwhich was called Somebody Parking and Curry Company
(30:00):
many decades ago. They did theylike flooded one of the big parking lots
and turned it into an ice rinkand then they have these like winter ice
pageants and it was quite spectacular whatthey did with winter sports back in the
day. I mean, Usebity stillhas an amazing winter sports program, but
they did they did a lot backthen to really encourage people to fall in
love with do so many and tryout winter sports. So a lot of
(30:22):
fun history there. Yeah, AndI mean that that ice skating rink.
I mean you can see Half Domefrom there, right Like you're like basically
looking up at Half Dome as yourice skating. That's just so magical it
is. And I didn't even mentionthis. Badger Pass actually just opened for
this season recently about a week ago. And Badger Pass, so everyone knows,
is all natural snow, so there'sno snowmaking up there, so we're
(30:45):
definitely dependent on what mother nature.We try to typically open mid December,
but sometimes that shifts and that.But everything's open right now for the winter.
We've got the ice drink open,We've got you know, skiing,
and you know, obviously there's lodgesin your Semite Valley if you want to
make a weekend trip out of it. So yeah, it's a lot of
fun. Yeah, No, there'sa lot of opportunities to stay, not
just at the Wanting but you alsohave Somebody Valley. Is it your Somebody
(31:07):
value lodge? Correct? And thenwe even operate Curry Village in the winter.
They typically stay open just on weekends. But for example, coming up
with the I'm sure I don't knowif you've heard of this is a phenomenon
called corsetail fall off of the yeaand in February when the sun sets,
it's that golden red hues and itlooks amazing because it's really popular photographers and
people to witness that. So wedecided, hey, there's a lot of
(31:29):
interest for people to stay in somebodyto be able to have easy access to
that, so they're going to beopened. That whole week at Curry Village,
so there is still the availability too, so someone was kind of looking
to stay in the parking experience thatthat's there you go list, I really
want to do that. That isabsolutely on my bucket list. It's pretty
(31:52):
amazing because I mean it's just thatthat little window of time and the conditions
have to be right, like ifit's too overcast or there's not enough water
obviously you know from snow melt goingoff, that section on al Capetina really
won't light up and do what itdoes. And then there's moments I've been
there before where it was kind ofovercast and I think people were giving up,
thinking it wasn't going to happen,and sure enough, the clouds just
(32:12):
parted at the right time and verylike and everyone's clapping and it's so it's
a pretty it's coolat to see that. Yeah, that's sosmography is amazing.
I'm sure that you could. Ohyeah, I bet. And it's like
it's very dependent on where the sunis hitting. So that's there's only a
window of time like what is itlike a week or is it less or
more of when you can see thathorsetail fall about two weeks in mid February.
(32:37):
Typically sometimes it can happen in October, but it's not as common to
see it then in October. Butand a lot of that could be too
to the waterfall not having enough waterbecause right now with the winter snow melts,
it's like, you know, giventhe water to that to that fall
itself. But yeah, about atwo week opportunity, and that's coming out
basically a month from now. Soyeah, well get get for your Horsetail
(33:00):
Falls experience. Now. You alsoare lucky that you have Zephyr Cove and
the South Lake Tahoe area is apart of the Aramark Destination portfolio, and
there's just so many different opportunities foradventures and fun experiences down there, even
staying at the Zephyr Cove Resorts.That's a really charming little spot, it
(33:24):
really is. I mean Zephyr CoveResort. It's on the you know,
it's in South Lake Tahoe on theeast shore there, and it dates back
to like the late eighteen hundreds.So there's a collection of cabins, there's
a campground there. We operate what'sknown as the m S sixty two.
It's a paddlewheel cruiser boat that goesout in the lake and goes out to
Emerald Bay. So that's kind offun for people to get out on the
water and experience and learn a littlebit about Lake Tahoe. But we also
(33:47):
do really cool snowmobile tours. We'lldo snowmoll bill tours to the summit near
Zephyr Cove where you overlook the lake. We do snowmobil tours through another outfitter
that we run called Lake Tahoe Adventures, and they take you through the back
country of like Tahoe up in HopeValley, and that is, my god,
amazing. I did it for thefirst time last February and I was
I was just blown away. Itwas so beautiful out there, and you
(34:09):
definitely feel like you're in wilderness whenyou're back there. It's pretty impressive.
This is my another one of myideas, like I really want to do
this because that for co resort justfeels like the perfect base camp. And
I'm I ski but I'm not aI don't ski a lot. I wouldn't
say, you know, and that'sno offense against skiing. I think skiing
is great, but I would preferjust to go to South Lake Tahoe and
(34:31):
stay in a you know, nicelakeside wood cabin and dine at the restaurant
that all the locals like there,have a lot of chocolate, and then
be able to do like a snowshoetour leaving right from Zephyr Cove. That's
just I love the whole one stoplike enjoyment adventure in winter. I just
(34:53):
think that's like the perfect trip.And then I really I've never done the
NX Dixie. I really want tocheck that out, like getting on the
lake in winter and Emerald Bay,which is a it's a National Natural Landmark,
correct, I mean for a goodreason. And just I know you
do the day the day cruises andthen you also do a dinner is it
(35:15):
a sunset dinner cruise? Correct?And you know that's a lot of fun.
You know. I've been on thata few times and I always learned
something about it. But it's notit I mean, because all have like
a recorded information as you're on theboat. And then but it's great.
I mean you go up there atthe top deck and there's like you can
get a hot chocolate or a specialtycocktail and you're just taking in the lake
views from the lake because a lotof people see Lake Tahoe and go there
(35:37):
to, like you said, toski and experience, but not everyone really
gets out on the water in thewinter, and that is a that is
a unique experience. And we seeyou know, you know, multi generational
families do it, and I've seencouples that are there celebrating, you know,
an anniversary or a honeymoon. Andthen there's you know, one time
I was there, there was abachelor at party. These ladies were enjoying
Lake Tahoe and wanted to get alllakes together and then they had fun and
(35:58):
then we were just chatting. SoI think to your point, I think,
you know, Lake Tahoe has alot to offer too, like like
we were talking about with you somebody, and Lake Tahoe is so known as
skiing in the winter, and Ithink, what's great what we offer is,
like you said, those historic charmycabins by the lake, and then
you can, you know, dosnowmobiling tours. And the great thing about
our snowmobiling tours is you can bea beginner and they're guided, so it's
like it's not as intimidating as somepeople would think, and they're actually really
(36:22):
fun. Like at first, Iwas kind of conservative with my speed,
and then I started getting really comfortableand I was zooming away and I felt
really proud of myself. But Iwas like, I got this. I'm
at now. So you're you're actuallydriving, You're not just like riding behind
somebody driving your own machine exactly.And so they give you a you know,
a tutorial of course, and theyhave all the gear for you,
which is great, I mean becauseit can get chilly. Our gloves helme
(36:45):
and of course the full suit andin the boots and everything, and yeah,
it's fun. It was a reallycool experience. And yeah, I
mean Zephyr Cloves open you around.So in the summertime it's all about obviously
beach activities and the marina and justbeing outside and and then of course Ms
Stixie will be there in the summertimetoo, But when is pretty great,
and I think it's it's a lesserknown activity in Lake Taha in the winter
(37:07):
is like that snowboll biling and youknow, just relaxing by the by the
lake and a cabin. What moreelse do you need? Right? Are
some of the cavins pet friendly,Yes, yes, some of them are
pet friendly. We also read someairstreams too in our campground too, so
that's kind of a unique experience forsomeone. Oh cool, if you ever
want to stay in an airstream withLake Tahoe right there, that's a good
(37:29):
place to do it and the pinesright behind you. Oh wow, Yeah,
that's beautiful. Yeah, that's that'sremarkable. Now, what are some
of the other properties that I mean, we've we've touched on Yosemite, uh
and South Lake Tahoe. What aresome of your other top places to recommend
to the Wee Can Schirp podcast listener. I think, you know, if
(37:51):
you want to go somewhere else inthe wintertime, for those of you that
haven't gone to Montana, uh andWyoming, that whole region is amazing.
So we operate a token Mountain Lodgethere and Breach excuse me, bridge or
Teetan National Forest just outside of GrandTeeton National Park, and so there's cabins
there. It's actually kind of ametha, if you will, for snowmobiling,
So we get people a lot ofpeople from the Midwest love that area
(38:13):
for snowmobiling and so it's still notreally far for California, and so you
could fly over there and Jackson's agreat little town, and then the Tokeny
Mount Lodge is not very far fromthe town of Jackson itself, so you
can kind of experience both. Andwe offer also guided snowmobiling trips into Yellowstone
National Park, which is really uniqueto see Hollowstone in the winter. So
(38:35):
that's kind of an interesting, youknow, opportunity for someone to think about
that, you know, especially ifyou've been to places like You're somebody already
and Lake Tahoe in the winter,new We're and I try something different,
highly recommend that, but we dooperate a lot of great places throughout the
country. I think you know somethingelse that I think is a really great
trip, especially in the summer,in the in the fall, is Lake
Pole. You know. Lake Poleis out in Arizona and Utah, and
(38:57):
it's a massive lake and you canrun a houseboat there, go for the
family and cruise around different slot canyons, just enjoy a really beautiful lake.
And we still have some availability thisyear too at a lot of our National
Park lodges too, so it's definitelynot too late to book and if you're
flexible with your dates to even findmore opportunities. But yeah, a lot
to see and do and there's somany beautiful public lands out there for everyone
(39:22):
to enjoy. Yeah, did whendoes it typically like start getting busy for
like Powell, like that, doesthat start around like Memorial Day weekend?
Yeah? I would see that.They're pretty typical to some a place like
usementy. They'll stay busy, youknow, from I would say basically May
to October. That's they're busier monthsif you will. But they stay open
(39:42):
year round too, so like Powell'sopen even you know today, you could
go up there. There's a resortthere that we operate, and then there's
obviously the marina we operate, whichyou can just get you know, powerboat
for the day at jet ski,or you can get a pretty large houseboat
and go out. And house boatingis kind of unique. I like to
say, it's like, you know, everyone's into I think airbnbs because you
can, you know, host alot of people in a house. You
(40:04):
can cook, you can barbecue.That's like a houseboat, right, you
can you know, my house postan host up to fourteen people in one
boat there's barbecues, we have jacuzzi'son the upper decks. Some of them
have water slides, so like yourown floating house if you will, on
the lake. So it's fun.I mean there's a lot of families that
go Yere after year because they justlove it. Yeah, that's that does
sound really good at like a goodalternative to Airbnb too. Don't have to
(40:28):
pay all those extra fees and getto have to you know, sucking Airbnb
and it's like double the price ofwhat you thought it was going to be.
I know, right, all thosespies can add up and don't do
that to you. So oh good. Well, and I was I was
noticing Union Creek Resort in Oregon closeto Crater Lake that I think is one
(40:50):
of your You manage that as well. Is that correct? I'm so glad
and robbed that one up because Iwas almost forgetting about mentioning you. Well,
you know why I brought up becauseI love road trips and like Southern
Organ to me or Organ itself isa great road trip, and I love
Crater Lake, so I'm always lookingfor places to stay and I am a
big bread nos this. I lovelike log cabins, and rustic lodges and
(41:15):
anything historic. And so I sawthis and I was like, well,
this is like literally really close toCrater Lake Resort. Can you tell me
a bit more about it before Igo ahead and book it. No,
it's actually everything you said. It'sgoing to really line up for what you
want. And if you like agood homemade pie, that's your play.
So I'll tell you about that alittle bit too. So do you need
a creek resort? Just how itcelebrate? It's under anniversary. It started
(41:37):
in nineteen twenty two, and it'snot very far from the actual Crater Lake
National Park. So it's actually reallygreat for people that maybe want to book
a last minute trip over the summerat Crater Lake and they're like, oh,
you know, maybe the lodge isalready booked up in the park.
Like it's a really good alternative,And it's right there. It literally is
right there on the creek, andso there's beautiful hiking trails even within the
property there. But yeah, theyhave these great little wood cabs and like
(42:00):
I said, beautiful access to hiking. But what's great about it too,
they have this place called Becky's Cafe. It's a little cafe that is there
on property and they've made they've beenmaking like Huckleberry pie and other amazing pies
for decades and it's super popular withlocals. People just make sure they hit
Becky's Pie on their way to CraterLake often too, so so that's kind
(42:20):
of fun. You know. Ilike to say that we make like the
best pie around, so that's alwaysgood. But that's a great tip.
Yeah, And it's it's not afar drive from it's under an hour to
get to, you know, theheart of you know, Crater Lake there
on Rim Village and it's open yearround there at Union Creek Resource. So
if you want to even go inthe wintertime. And one thing just to
be advised, specially if you're goingto Crater Lake in the winters, to
check the park website and just checkroad conditions. Sometimes it'll be temperate closed
(42:45):
if there's a heavy snowstorm up there. But they do stay open in the
winter and then a lot of peoplego up there to snowshoe at Crater Lake
along the Rim and we operate alittle village gift shop and store and they
stay open in the winter so youcan get some provisions. Need to rent
snowshoes from us there at the facility. So perfect. It's a great time
to be up there too, becausethere's not a lot of people there in
(43:06):
the winter and seeing that stunning sapphireblue lake with the oh yeah, the
area with snow is just like it'sbeautiful. I've been up there in the
summer a couple of times, butnever in the winter. I've seen photos
and it just looks super It's justbeautiful. This doesn't like with and not
as many people would be up thereobviously. And yeah, but like you
(43:28):
said, you got to check thewebsite to see if those roads are going
to be open, because I guesssometimes they do close it down. Yeah,
you just got to always be awareof that. Any anytime you travel
to a national park, I always, you know, recommend checking row conditions,
even even in the summer. Youjust never know. It's always good
to keep an eye on that becausesometimes you'll lose you know, sell connectivity
on some of those park or roadsthere for a short period of time.
(43:49):
So it's always just could have kindof be prepared before you travel. And
then what's great too, I didn'tmention this with you know, with Crater
Lake it's not that far of adrive from northern California. I actually did
it from seventy and it took meabout ten hours. And for some people
that they might consider that really far. But if you think about it,
you know, you could start earlierin the morning and take some breaks along
the way. There's some other spotsyou could stop at, and it's definitely
(44:12):
manageable to do. Is like along weekend road trip. Oh yeah,
it's very manageable. You could absolutelydo that. You got that I five
going too right, You just cruisecontrols on up up, just thinking of
that pie waiting for you. Ithink PI and a coffee would be great.
So if people want to find outmore about some of these destinations that
(44:35):
we've been talking about, from Oregonto Montana, Wyoming and California, obviously,
is it the Nation's Vacation dot Comis a good place to go,
right it is. I mean,we have specific websites for each location,
and we talked about today. Butwhat's great about that Nation's Vacation website.
It's a website we created as kindof like a trip inspirational planning tool for
a lot of our outdoor destinations thatwe manage at. So it's a nice
(45:00):
one stop shop to start your researchand then it'll start driving specific websites too.
Perfect cool. So that's the nation'svacation dot com. You can check
that out to learn more about someof the places that we discussed. But
Lisa, it's been great having youon the podcast today. Thanks a lot
for spending a few minutes with us. We really appreciate it. Thank you
(45:22):
so much and look forward to hopefullyseeing a lot of the listeners out at
the parks this season. It soundsgood. Thanks Lisa.
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