Building Blue Lake Lodge



Main floor of lodge

I can’t recall exactly when my father began building the lodge at Blue Lake but family photos show that it was either late 1972 or early 1973. Dad chose a site with a view of the lake and began clearing it. Most of the trees were felled by family friend Karl Pedersen, who then brought the logs out with a team of horses. Many of these trees were used to build the lodge. My father, brothers and several family friends worked on the lodge whenever possible over the next couple years. According to a letter written by my mother in 1976, we were living in the lodge by October 1975.

Putting on the roof

The lodge has four floors: the basement had the furnace and storage for workshop tools, the second floor was the main living area with a small store, kitchen, restaurant, laundry room, bathroom and a large stone wall and fireplace. Our livingroom surrounded the large fireplace. The third floor had six bedrooms, a family room and two bathrooms with tubs. On the fourth floor were three more bedrooms, a bathroom with shower, a sewing room and a storage area.

The stonemason for the rock wall on the main floor was Helge Johansen. He owned the zoo near Canyon Alpine Motel. The roof had cedar shingles, which were split on a homemade shingle splitter by my brother. The stairs to the third floor were made from logs split in two and so was the fireplace mantle. The windows were installed by Crystal Glass and most of the furnishings were purchased from Sears, except the burl end tables that were made by hand by my father.

(c) Annette Fulford, 2012