Review: Rose River Farm Yurts

It's not everyday that you get to spend a night in a yurt.  And to be honest, I had to wikipedia the word 'yurt'  just to find out exactly what I was getting myself into (yes, I just used wikipedia as a verb).  The definition I found was a little unnerving... "a portable, felt-covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure", especially since I was headed to Rose River Farm with a group of guys (groomsmen) for a classy get away to celebrate my best friend getting married.  Initially I imagined us sleeping in bunk beds in a cabin full of spiders like we used to do at Camp Rockmont back in the day.  But when we got there, I was shocked at what I found.


THIS PLACE IS AWESOME.  The cabin is by far the most decked out place I've ever had the pleasure of staying.  This quintessential mancave has everything you need for the perfect weekend getaway.  Heck, even a monthlong getaway.  Walking in, the first thing I noticed was the state of the art fly tying table.  Then I realized that I wasn't in a felt-covered shabby tent.  Instead I was in a new, clean, air conditioned cabin with beautiful views of the Appalachians and all the amenities you'd ever need and then some.  Two bedrooms with two queen sized beds in each; enough to fit your group of 4 comfortably.  A kitchen stocked with everything you'd need to cook with.  And as everyone knows, I'm a coffee addict/snob so I was probably most impressed with the supply of whole coffee beans and grinder.  The place even had a flat screen tv and what looked like satellite, but we were having too much fun outside sitting around the fire, talking, listening to a mockingbird show off, and watching a thunderstorm come through to even consider turning on the television.  


I'm seriously going back again the next chance I get.  Reasons why:
1. It's a fantastic price 
2. It's convenient if you are fishing the Rose River or practically any other stream in the eastern slope of the SNP
3. The yurts are so nice that they alone would be reason enough for a visit to get away from the city or for a romantic getaway (which would be difficult considering the gravitational pull of the trout streams in the vicinity...)
4. The cabins are only about 45 minutes away from Charlottesville and a little over an hour from D.C.,  I don't know of another place that close to either city that is even remotely as awesome.  
5. The fly tying table.  I have to go back and try it out.
6. I mentioned the proximity to trout streams right?


I'll stop here and show you some of the pictures I took (unfortunately we got there after sunset and my battery quickly died soon thereafter so I wasn't able to take enough pictures to do this place justice, to see better shots of the place, check out the RRF site)



For those of you who don't know about Rose River Farm yet, basically it's been the brainchild of Douglas Dear who has, in the past couple of years, turned it into not only a fantastic fishery, but also a handicap accessible stream that hosts events for Project Healing Waters.  


Along those lines, Douglas Dear has been nominated for the L.L. Bean Outdoors Heroes Award for his work with PHW and is now a finalist!  The man has been doing some great work, and although I haven't met him face to face yet, I can tell that he truly deserves this.  So please go vote for him now at this website.


Note: You'll notice some of my photos up on the Rose River site but no worries, I am neither affiliated with the farm or received any benefits for writing this review.  I just like the place a lot.  Like a lot a lot.