Weekend Getaways
|
/weekend-getaways/resources.html
|
|
 |
Weekend Getaways: A Winter ActionlandTrips, lodges, and skills—each one with a guarantee that you'll have a cooler weekend than any of your co-workers.
Text by Robert Earle Howells
|
EASTFlorida, Dive Clear Cenotes
Ginnie Springs Outdoors is a Valhalla for the world's least neurotic group: cave divers. Those with open-water certification can explore the Ballroom, a massive limestone cavern that plunges 55 feet (17 meters) before entering the Ginnie Springs cave system ($30). For beginners there's an introductory scuba course ($99); on-site instructors also teach open-water and cave diving. Ginnie Springs Outdoors permits camping along 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of the Santa Fe River beneath live oaks, sweet gums, maples, and dogwoods ($18; www.ginniespringsoutdoors.com).
North Carolina, Hole Up, Up High
Historic High Hampton Inn (circa 1922) had never stayed open in December until this year ($149; www.highhamptoninn.com). But why not? With days in the 50s and 60s and 1,400 acres (567 hectares) of private, hikable terrain in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the conditions are great and the setting superb. Eight short trails fan out from the resort; two of them get you up high—Rock Mountain (4,380 feet [1,335 meters]) and Chimney Top (4,618 feet [1,408 meters])—for amazing views of the Cashiers Valley and Whiteside Mountain (4,900 feet [1,494 meters]).
Vermont, Skate the Wilds
Two-mile-long (three-kilometer-long) Lake Morey in Vermont's Green Mountains is the nexus of the wild-skating movement—a trend that forsakes Zamboni-manicured ice for the real thing on real lakes in real air. "It feels like you're flying," says Jamie Hess of the Nordic Skater shop in Norwich ($20 rentals; www.nordicskater.com). Book a room at Lake Morey Resort at the south end of the lake and you can skate right out the door—day or night ($100; www.lakemoreyresort.com).
CENTRAL
Minnesota, Kite a Frozen Lake
Ten thousand frozen lakes and bracing winter winds are a formula for snowkiting bliss—if you know how to snowkite. Take care of that small detail
with Twin Cities–based LAKAWA School of Kiteboarding ($300 a day; www.windancing.com). Head honcho Tighe Belden promises a learning curve that's easier "than kiteboarding on water because there's no planing and no getting dunked." Belden's crew talks you through with radio-equipped helmets; snowmobiles assist those inadvertently bound for North Dakota.
Missouri, Rent Green Acres
A perfect antidote to work or holiday (or any) stress: Pack up a loved one and a pooch and head for a log cabin on a pet-friendly farm in the Ozarks. Rock Eddy is a true retreat, 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the nearest small town (Dixon) on 150 acres (61 hectares)—"300 if you ironed it out," says owner Tom Corey—in the Ozark Hills of south-central Missouri ($100 for one of four cabins and cottages; www.rockeddy.com). Pump your water. Spark up a kerosene lamp. Settle in with a book by a fire. Do it again tomorrow.
Texas, Get Biodiverse
What kind of self-respecting East Texas thicket lacks annoying insects? That's Big Thicket National Preserve in winter, when the days are dry and pleasant (60s and 70s). The place is a crossroads of habitats ranging from swamp to forest to desert. Canoe an 8.5-mile (14-kilometer) stretch of Village Creek between county roads 418 and 327 under cypress and tupelo canopies. It's dark, green, and as free of people as bugs ($25 for a canoe and shuttle; Piney Woods Outfitters; www.canoetexas.com).
ROCKIES
Arizona, Race the Cactus Cup
McDowell Mountain Regional Park near Scottsdale is the storybook site of the erstwhile Specialized Cactus Cup races. It's a huge singletrack buffet that includes loops of eight and 15.5 miles (25 kilometers), often tracing the competition routes. The riders and guides of Arizona Outback Adventures will steer you to the fat-tire orgy of options and rent you great bikes, from a front-suspension Giant ($25 half day) to a full-suspension Giant Trance with five inches (13 centimeters) of travel ($63; www.aoa-adventures.com).
Nevada, Ski Hidden Tahoe
The ski-in cabins in Spooner Lake Cross Country Ski Area put their occupants in the middle of Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park, where 50 miles (80 kilometers) of groomed cross-country trails spread over 9,000 acres (3,642 hectares) ($319 weekends for two nights, including ski passes and rentals for two; www.spoonerlake.com). After departing the central lodge (sandwiches, drinks, rentals), wind through aspen groves and circle mountain lakes. The Marlette Lake loop climbs five miles (eight kilometers) till it leaves the pine trees for a postcard view of Tahoe.
Wyoming, Stow Away in the Snowies
You know your accommodations are remote when they sit above the top of the local ski area. Snowy Mountain Lodge's 18 cabins and main inn are scattered in the pines at 10,000 feet (3,048 meters), about 1.5 miles (2 kilometers) up the road from the Snowy Range Ski Area ($65; www.snowymountainlodge.com). Out your cabin door lie 140 miles (225 kilometers) of Forest Service cross-country trails. Inside, the restaurant serves fresh-baked pies and smoked brisket "made by guys who were high-powered chefs in the real world," says owner Dave McIlrath.
WEST
California, Drive on All Fours
Do you get queasy driving 30-degree slopes on your way to the trailhead? Think traction control refers to bouldering shoes? Matriculate in the Land Rover Driving School ($200 for an hour; $800 for a full day, three drivers; www.landroverusa.com/drivingschools) out of oak-shaded Quail Lodge near Carmel ($365; www.quaillodge.com) and you'll drill ways to milk muscle from your 4x4. And yes, you get to drive a Land Rover, but the lessons transfer neatly to whatever wheels you own.
Oregon, Ride Out a Storm
Winter storms can bash the Oregon coast to the tune of 30-foot (9-meter) waves, wild winds, and driving rains—a natural spectacle best viewed from the quiet confines of the Heceta Head Keeper's House, an 1894 landmark that stands beside a working lighthouse between Florence and Yachats ($133; www.hecetalighthouse.com). The six-room B&B serves an outrageous seven-course breakfast (the owners are both executive chefs). Fuel up for great coastal hikes like the nearby Yachats 804 Trail—two miles (three kilometers) of big waves pounding big basalt.
Washington, Cozy Up to a Powder Magnet
Not the type to gamble on snow? Mount Rainier National Park is sure to be white by December 1, en route to 30 to 90 feet (9 to 27 meters) of powder for the season. Hole up in the National Park Inn—a vintage 1920s lodge with cozy rooms and access to XC routes and snowshoe paths like the Rampart Ridge Trail, a 4.6-mile (7-kilometer) loop that ascends 1,800 feet (549 meters) to a view of hulking Rainier ($104; rainier.guestservices.com).
Subscribe now and save!
|
