Huts Hostels in the News
Huts Hostels: New forms of accommodations (not really new, but getting renewed attention) are popping up in the news more frequently.
Here are two that seem worth passing along to those interested in affordable, sustainable options for travelers to outdoor destinations:
- 9 Upscale Adventure Hostels to Stay in Now by Megan Michelson in Outside Online
Pictures and brief descriptions of “a new breed of affordable shelter for travelers” in Colorado (Breckenridge, Boulder, Denver); California (Trukee and San Clemente) and Whistler, BC; Ludlow, VT; Ellijay, GA, and Whitefish, MT.
Mint Hut, Alaska, courtesy Backpacker Magazine
2. View with a Room: America’s Best Huts by William M. Rochfort, Jr., in Backpacker Magazine, Oct. 2017, p. 49-69.
A nice photo spread with brief descriptions featuring 12 huts, cabins, yurts, fire towers, and climbing basecamps. Several of these descriptions are at least partially available online: e.g. Mint Hut in Alaska and at https://www.backpacker.com/author/william-m-rochfort-jr. There is very brief notice of another 6 huts. And also included is a compelling essay “Cabin Convert” by Jonathan Waterman [any relation to the mountaineering Waterman’s of Vermont?] about overcoming half a lifetime’s reactionary dislike of huts by rediscovering the pleasures of hut-to-hut in the San Juan Hut system.
[BTW, the catchy title, View with a Room, is understandably popular to describe mountain huts. There are a number of B&B’s by that name, and it is also the title of a great book about the lodging system in Glacier National Park by Ray Djuff and Chris Morrison (View with a Room: Glacier’s Historic Hotels and Chalets, Faircountry Press, 2001.]
Sam Demas, October 2017