Wednesday, May 8, 2013 B1

Inside: B2, Mid valley news � B3, Happenings � B5 Yesteryears � B6, Classifieds � B10, Tongue Twister

Rooms, cabins renovated, senseof place and history remain

By ADAM LAPIERRENews staff writer

For life-long valley locals and out-of-townersalike, Lost Lake is a magical place that gets bet-ter with each and every visit.Fresh mountain air and marshmallows roast-

ing on sticks, boats and blissful dogs splashing inthe pristine water, crackling campfires, pan-cakes and eggs on griddles, crawdads hidingunder rocks, trout tugging on the ends of rods,frogs in chorus at sunset, stars like diamonds,skyscraper trees layered in lazy green moss,naps in the shade, pine needles and flip-flops,wading aimlessly, drying-by- campfire, bugsprayat breakfeast, lemonade at lunch and drinks atdinner, afternoons spent unwinding beneath theunforgettable backdrop of Mount Hood: just afew lasting memories that await visitors of therustic lakeside resort and campground.With patches of snow still on the ground and

lining roads and hillsides around the lake, the re-sort opened for limited camping this week andwill continue to expand availability through thespring until all 127 sites are open. In addition tocamping facilities, the resort’s lodge has sixrooms and seven nearby cabins for guests to rent— all of which have undergone a major faceliftsince last season.Improvements to rooms — and especially cab-

ins — were long overdue, but to new resort man-agement (see accompanying article for details)the goal was to add comfort while restoring orig-inal rustic charm of the facilities, not moderniz-ing them.“My philosophy is ‘real is right,’” co-owner

Jason Taylor said. “For almost 80 years peoplehave come to Lost Lake for a certain atmosphereand experience. We have an amazing lake infront of us, and we want to stay true to its histo-ry and the experience people come here for.”The seven cabins were in “rough shape,” Tay-

lor said, and needed quite a bit of work; one willbe rebuilt entirely. When renovations on all ofthem are complete, they’ll look and feel like theywere in their prime more than 50 years ago andwill include a community fire pit overlooking acorner of the lake.In the lodge, which has burned down and been

rebuilt twice in its history, six rooms above thegeneral store have been completely gutted and

Lost Lake Resort’s new management spruces upamenities while staying true to rustic experience

Owners take new approach torunning historic business

By KIRBY NEUMANN-REANews editor

The futons are gone, but the view remains for-ever.A six-figure renovation effort continues at

Lost Lake Resort and campground, which re-opened May 1 for campers, lodge and cabinguests, hikers and boaters.This is the first full season for concession own-

ers Jason Taylor and Derek DeBorde, who tookover in August 2012 from former owners Roy andBarbara Hillmick.Under an agreement with the United States

Forest Service, which owns the land, the ownershave the concession permit for Lost Lake andseveral other area campgroundsAs DeBorde said in an Aug. 22, 2012 Hood River

News article, “it’s a partnership with the ForestService and we’re working with them on ideas tomaintain the lake and all the other campgroundsand make improvements along the way.”Many of the improvements are done or are in

progress, as described by Adam Lapierre’s re-port on this page.“It’s going super well,” Taylor said of the inte-

rior and exterior improvements, which also in-clude an upgrade to the water system’s electricalequipment, and a planned replacement of theboat dock later this summer.In the cabins and lodge, “Almost all of the old

furnishings have been replaced.” Velvet paint-ings and a futon have been replaced by historicphotos and king and queen beds with memoryfoam mattresses.Outside, Taylor said hikers will see improve-

ments “on every bridge and every railing” on thetrail around the lake, extensive cutting of brushthat impeded the trails, as well as better access tothe six adjoining trails. These include the hiddengem known as Old Growth Trail, built by the For-est Service in the 1980s.Via Facebook and other publicity methods,

Taylor and DeBorde are doing more to publicizethe trails that connect at Lost Lake, including thefact that the Pacific Crest Trail passes rightthrough.“We also spent a huge portion of the winter re-

building picnic tables, with wood milled in HoodRiver,” Taylor said. “It’s not really glamorous but

LOST LAKE RESORT is open for the season and has undergone some major improvementsto its facilities. Pictured are (top to bottom) a classic view of the lake and Mount Hood as seenon Sunday afternoon, resort co-owner Jason Taylor in front of the lodge, one of the lodge’ssix rooms that was completely remodeled, a group fire pit and rental cabins next to the lakeand lodge, bright red and white row boats after being refurbished, (left) the lodge’s long-timeSasquatch carving and (right) cabin No. 7, which sleeps up to nine.

Phots by Adam Lapierre

Please see LAKE, Page B10Please see LOST, Page B10

remodeled. Each room willhave a theme based on localhistory and, other than up-grades like linen service andten-inch memory foam mat-tresses, were designed to giveguests the quaint lakesidefeel of decades past.“The demand here is in-

credible because of this in-credible lake we have here;that’s really what this wholeplace is about,” Taylor said.“In terms of lodging, there isa big demand for people whodon’t want to set up a tentand camp. Rooms and cabinshave been available for along time, but the productwasn’t always great.”Contrary to the camp-

ground, which is run on afirst-come-first-served basis,lodge rooms and cabins are

booked by reservation eitheronline or over the phone.The new owners have

made various other improve-ments to the resort’s facili-ties, including salvaging andrestoring the fleet of oldwooden rowboats that hadfaded over time. The boats,dating back to the 1950s, Tay-lor guesses, have been re-painted the same shiny redand white and are ready foranother summer of fun onthe lake.

B10 Hood River News, Wednesday, May 8, 2013

people will notice the im-provement. Most of the oldtables we had to discard.”Right now Lost Lake

Lodge and Campground em-ploys seven people; that willincrease to about 15 in mid-summer.Among the friendly faces

you can expect to see arecampground hosts – a first atLost Lake – and managerTrent Weseman.“Trent is an incredible

manager,” Taylor said. “Heknows everybody in all ofHood River and Parkdale. Wecouldn’t do it without him.”Taylor and DeBorde are

seeing the impacts of theirefforts to expand awarenessof the facility via socialmedia.“We went from 1,200 to

9,700 (Facebook) views, andit happened in the past 60-70days,” Taylor said.Other changes this sum-

mer include selling barbecuemeals at the lodge, and theinstallation of tent-likestructures known as“yomes” for overnight use,both in July and August,when the facility is at itsmost popular.At this point a year ago the

lodge and cabins had arounda dozen reservations – thisweek they have 120.“We’re telling people ‘it’s

beautiful here and we’remaking all these changes, socheck out what we’re do-ing’,” Taylor said.“There are so many people

here (in the county) andPortland who didn’t knowLost Lake exists,” said Tay-lor, who adds photos andvideos to Facebook everyday, including his “Lost Lakein one minute” video, whichreceived 400 likes in its first24 hours.“It’s such an amazingly

gorgeous place and it justsells itself if you let peopleknow the jewel that is here,”said Taylor, who with De-Borde own or operate severalfarms in the Dee area, justdown the road from the lake.“Lost Lake is an invest-

ment for me, but the ideathat permeates all of mybusinesses, is that the great-est businesses you can be inhave these incredible assets,and this is one the publicowns, but there is nothing Ihave to build: this is the mostbreathtaking place in theworld.”

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To reach Lost Lake, takeDee Highway south out ofHood River and turn on LostLake Road and travel 10miles. The trip usually takesapproximately 45 minutes.

LAKEContinued from Page B1

LOSTContinued from Page B1

Campground openings:Nottingham – May 1Sherwood – May 18 Mile – May 1Lower 8 Mile – May 1Knebal Spring – May 1Pebble Ford – May 1Laurance Lake – May 17Blake Lake – June 1Cloud Cap – June 14Rainy Lake – June 1Tilly Jane – June 14Wahtum Lake – June 1

Photos by Kirby Neumann-Rea

Bruce Ludwig, center at right, won the third annual Tongue TwisterTournament for Hood River SMART on April 26. With him are run-ners- up Rachel Harry and Michael Schock. At top right, Marti Kan-tola tries a tongue twister, while others wait their turns, in the“open mic” portion of the event, at Hood River Middle School. Thebenefit raised about $1,900 for the literacy program that serveschildren grades K-3. Above, Portland comic Mark Saltveit talkedabout palindromes – phrases that read the same way backwardsand forwards — and read several he wrote for the occasion, in-cluding “Al left ram, SMART fella”. For 2012 champion Kim Vogel,Saltveit wrote this palindrome: “Hot sin ode! Hero glare, Vogel? Aleg over Al Gore, hedonist? Oh!”

‘TWISTERS’ AND PALINDROMES