Posted on

Customize Your Glamping Experience in Colorado

Glamping can take many shapes and forms, there are opportunities for the more rugged glamping that is closer to typical camping and then it can swing the other way to luxurious camping with all the extras of gourmet meals, 500 thread count sheets, and butlers. I personally have stayed in a range of glamping accommodations; from simple canvas tents with shared facilities, to airstream trailers, to inventive containers with canvas roofs, to full on canvas glamping apartments complete with kitchen and fireplace. However, what if you were to find a glamping spot that you could customize a range of basic to luxury experience? I found it nestled high in the mountains of Colorado.

Glamping doesn’t just have to be canvas based, it can be anything that really brings you uniquely closer to nature that isn’t a hotel. Glamping accommodations vary but, the most common types of glamping includes, airstreams, trailers, barns, farmhouses, cabins, pods, domes, cubes, eco lodges, huts, yurts, tents, tipis, villas and tree houses. So when I heard about the hut-to-hut system in Colorado, I was eager to try them out as a glamping opportunity.

A hut is basically a large log cabin found in remote places in the Colorado Rockies. There are 20 to 30 huts that are located an average 6 miles apart, perfect spacing for hiking or backcountry skiing between huts. They run from Aspen to Eagle or Aspen to Vail, depending on how far you’d like to go. Or you can simply stay in one of them and use it as a base to explore the area. They are administered by the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association. The huts are quite basic facilities, there’s typically no plumbing, they are heated by stoves, and almost all of them are off the grid – so leave the cell phones at home! Each hut has 15 to 20 beds that can each be reserved for a night or multiple nights.
Now it’s up to you how much you want to ‘glamp up’ the experience.

Basic Hut Glamping

Just hike into the hut, bring all of your own food, a sleeping bag, and a sense of adventure! You share the kitchen facilities with others staying in the hut. You cook your own meals, clean up after yourself, and share in the responsibilities of hut living with the other people who have rented beds. Take hikes during the day and sit out by the campfire by night.

Shared common area of Harry Gates HutShared common area of Harry Gates Hut

Hike on numerous trails or between hutsHike on numerous trails or between huts

Catch spectacular sunsets!Catch spectacular sunsets!

Intermediate Hut Glamping

If you want someone else to do all of the planning and hard work, bring along your own local Aspen Alpine Guide who can help you arrange all of the provisions and will hike/ski in with you! The guides know the area better than anyone else. They can prepare meals, lead you on hikes around the area, provide sleeping bags & gear, and generally take care of all arrangements.

Breakfast cooked up by Aspen Alpine Guides at the HutBreakfast cooked up by Aspen Alpine Guides at the Hut

Guides lead hikes to waterfalls and other hidden gems in the areaGuides lead hikes to waterfalls and other hidden gems in the area

Guides made up a bonfire to enjoy after dinnerGuides made up a bonfire to enjoy after dinner

Luxury Hut Glamping

And if you don’t want to lift a finger, and also have all the comforts of home high up in the mountains, it is possible to actually rent out the entire hut by purchasing all the beds (this must be done well in advance), and bring a whole group of friends with you! The Aspen Alpine Guides will help you lux it up to your desire. You want a private chef to come along to cook gourmet meals made from local ingredients? Done. Hold a happy hour out on the deck? Done. Bring a yoga instructor to hold yoga sessions in the morning? Done. Want a masseuse to work on your aching body after a good long hike? Done. Whatever your heart desires they can arrange it and make it part of the experience.

Mountain yoga!Mountain yoga!

Organize a personal chef to be at the hut to cook meals and educate you on local ingredientsOrganize a personal chef to be at the hut to cook meals and educate you on local ingredients

Yoga and Pilates on the deck led by instructors/mountain guidesYoga and Pilates on the deck led by instructors/mountain guides

Which one would you choose? In Aspen Colorado, you can have your Glamping experience the way you want it!

Posted on

Michigan Opens Doors it’s First Glamping Site

Michigan will be home to it’s first glamping eco resort.

Bella Solviva, Michigan’s comfy camping eco-resort, is being developed by two entrepreneurs Brad and Sandy Carlson on a 100 acre property in Northern Michigan.

On the Western edge of Jordan River, in Michigan, the glamping destination will feature 100 luxury sites.

The luxury sites will include, fully furnishes safari tents, tree houses, teepees, cabins, restored vintage RV’s and airliners to have access to hot showers and restroom facilities.

Bella Solviva, expects to be in development for two years and expects to have at least 36 sites available to the public this summer.

In addition, the Carlson’s hope to add another 25 sites mid summer with the remaining sites, including six hotel style suites, in 2016.

The properties amenities will include a clubhouse, laundry facilities, swimming pool, tennis as well as multi-purpose courts, ice skating for the winter, playgrounds, a recreation hall.

Also, the property will have trails for hiking, biking, horseback riding and cross country skiing.

This glamping property will be short of nothing as it also will be offering concierge service and on site massages.

Bella Solviva is set to the first glamping resort in Michigan and will set the bar high for other glamping destinations.

For more information on statstics and glamping in the United States check out, “Is Glamping Market Underserved? We Think So.”

Source: www.traverseticker.com

Posted on

Roadside Americana: Tipi Encampment on Route 66

Have you slept in a wigwam lately? – reads the sign at the entrance of Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona.

It was the first time I had heard of a wigwam – a domed room dwelling formerly used by the Native Americans – the namesake for the property, and more so, for the Wigwam Motels, also known as the Wigwam Villages.

wigwam motel cars

Upon arrival, the tipis were shining brightly in the soft, sunset light. Contrary to any other motel I’ve stayed at, the layout of the village was a remarkable sight in itself. A total of 15 wigwams were displayed on three sides, the reception area closing it into a square. Restored vintage cars, one swankier than the prior, were cleverly placed in front of some of the units, while antique, green metal benches stamped with the words “Wigwam Village #6” were scattered throughout the compound.

The unique concept belongs to Frank Redford, a man whose infatuation with the Native American culture made headlines. Following the rage of the auto camping in the early 1920s, the notion of leisure further developed; cottage camps or the so-called proto motels started to pop up all over the country. Then, in 1933, Redford developed a tipi-shaped building, which would house his impressive collection of artifacts. The following year, he added a group of tipi-shaped cabins to entice visitors to stay the night, which is when the name of Wigwam Village came to existence. As unique as the retro motel concept was at the time, Redford applied for a Design Patent, which he was granted in 1937.

wigwams

As a result, a total of seven Wigwam Villages were built between 1933 and 1949, of which three have survived. The lodgings for each additional village were thus built in the same format – in the shape of tipis – in what was to become a modern interpretation into the lifestyle of the Native Americans. Deemed as historic landmarks under the National Register of Historic Places, two of the three remaining motels are located on the iconic Route 66. Wigwam Village #6, in Holbrook, Arizona, where we had just stopped for the night is one of them. Arizona motel owner Chester Lewis built the village, fascinated by Redford’s original design. He purchased the rights from its rightful owner, by conceding to a novel agreement: the profits of the coin-operated radios installed in the Holbrook village would be sent to Redford as payment. Few decades later, the property is still operating.

inside wigwam

The units itself are fairly small – the size of any average hotel room. But this was no hotel room; it was a modern tipi of sorts, made out of solid materials on the outside, containing the original restored hickory furniture on the inside. Two double beds are included, cable TV and a window-mounted air conditioner. On the side, there is a desk with a mirror. Each unit includes a bathroom with a sink, toilet and shower. In keeping with the retro vibe, there are no telephones or Internet access.

And retro it is. Truly evoking the nostalgia of the 1930s American vacation, located on the historic Route 66, a stay inside the wigwam will take you back in time like few places of its kind will.

As for its surrounding attractions, once you hop back into your automobile to continue on your American West journey, the Petrified Forest National Park is nearby, as well as the monumental Grand Canyon, Arizona’s most celebrated site.

Photos provided by Monica Suma and Wigwam Motel/Credit Beth Lennon