Huckleberry Wilderness Lodge

We rang in 2014 at the Huckleberry Wilderness Lodge. The cabin comfortably slept the entire three generational family ages 65 – 18 months. There is one bedroom downstairs and 4 bedrooms upstairs (Note: one room only has twin bunk beds). The proximity of the cabin to local businesses and a very short drive to the mountain made it perfect for everyone. The kitchen is well stocked with cooking tools and the fireplace comes with a starter supply of wood. The hot tub worked perfectly. The living room has two seating areas, which allowed everyone to have a seat near the fire. Everyone had an amazing time and we would love to come back.

There are places you keep coming back to. Not so often that they become routine and mundane, but just often enough they acquire a patina of your memories. Some sweet warm musings, some bitter cold ghosts. You go back, hoping for more of the former, hoping to finally silence the latter. You go back because the place has become part of who you are.
Huckleberry Wilderness Lodge, secluded in the woods around Welches, perched by the Salmon River, is such a place. This former Fred Meyer family vacation home is now a rental with almost too many fantastic features: spacious wrap-​around porch, stone fireplace, BBQ, hot tub, private meadow with a fire pit by the river, Etc. Though the kitchen is a little cramped, there are several bedrooms and room for tents in the meadow. Pets allowed for a small fee.
The rates are reasonable, especially in the off season, and the rental staff are friendly and professional. They even had a goodie bag waiting for the dog.
… I remember running down the trail the first time, following the fresh smell of the water and the sounds of the river running over rocks. I remember taking a foto of my friend napping in the sun, his t-​shirt pulled up over his belly. I remember making ice cream. I remember soaking in the tub, looking up at the sky and the autumn leaves falling silently one by one. I remember my love near distraught that he lost his ring, the one we got on vacation together, and I consoled him, pretending I had not seen him, standing at the edge of the forest, take the ring off and throw it into the trees.