While you might not come across ghosts and ghouls at these isolated cabins, you will likely hear creatures that go bump in the night. Learn how to identify nocturnal creatures in our Sept/Oct. 2022 issue of Cottage Life magazine, or make your skin crawl reading an original ghost story written by Lisa Moore, a Giller Prize-nominated novelist. Our lake after dark issue will help you set the mood for Halloween at your isolated cabin in the woods. So gather ’round a tube television to watch classic scary movies like The Exorcist or The Cabin in the Woods, or, if you dare, dust off your Ouija board and try communicating with the spirits.
It’s not too early to book your summer cottage rental. While you’re stuck in the snowy depths of winter, it may be a good time to consider fantasizing—and planning— your summer cottage getaway. Leave the booking too late, and there’s a high likelihood you’ll be left high and dry when it comes to finding a cottage in a highly competitive marketplace.
According to the rental agency sites, December to February is the ideal time to plan and select your cottage for the summer. While this may seem early, booking agencies are seeing cottages book up incredibly quickly—especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. For one, pandemic fears have driven people to the relative isolation of a cottage, while others who would have normally travelled abroad have had to adjust their plans to vacation more local. People that book later in the spring risk losing out on cottages that meet their must-have checklist and will be left to chance it with last-minute cancellations or a few newly-listed rentals in the spring.
July and August are typically the busiest times to find a rental, as well as long weekends. Booking well in advance is also a good idea if you are looking for a cottage for two or more weeks, as other renters’ reservations for a shorter time period can cut your intended stay short. Also, if you’re looking for a cottage for 10–12 people, reserve early as these places are in high demand and tend to fill up first. The same goes if you’re looking to bring your pet along.
Most booking sites allow you to book well in advance, and most booking sites will give you a full refund for a cancellation if you cancel by a certain date. Of course, if your plans are not quite set in stone, (understandable, if you’re booking 6–8 months in advance) be sure to be clear on the booking site’s cancellation and refund policies before you lock in your rental.
For many, spending time at the cottage is something they’ve always known—their cottage has been passed down for generations. For others, they’ll visit a friend’s cottage or they know someone who knows someone. Then there’s the rest of us. The wonderful privilege of growing up with summers at the cottage wasn’t an experience I grew up with. But after a very long lockdown last year, I wanted to take a vacation where I could safely include my parents in without risking their health. Renting a cottage felt like the perfect escape, but if you didn’t grow up going to a cottage like me, it can be tricky navigating it for the first time. I learned quite a bit during this first experience. Here’s what I wish I had known before I booked the trip.
What do you get for the price of the rental?
When we were looking for the perfect cottage, the one thing we knew we really wanted was to be right on a lake—and while many listings marketed a lake—the more we would dig into it, we would often find that the lake was actually a 10-minute walk or a 5-minute drive away. Other things to note: does it have a TV or any entertainment? Does it include access to a barbecue, laundry, firewood, life jackets, canoes, and other supplies, or does those require an additional fee? Make sure you read the fine print before you commit, or you might find yourself disappointed on arrival.
How accessible is the rental?
The cottage we ended up renting was in a heavily wooded and isolated area near the tiny town of Severn Bridge, Ont. While the listing did mention that the area around the cabin was quite rocky, we didn’t realize just how inaccessible it truly was for anyone with mobility issues until we were there. My mom has bad knees and wasn’t able to come sit by the fire, as the firepit was located on steep, slanted, rocky ground. If accessibility is an issue for anyone in your party, make sure the place that you’re booking will work for them.
What is the food and supplies situation?
The cottage owners noted they would supply little things like salt and pepper, but we ended up bringing many items that we didn’t need. This can be tricky, but if possible, request exact information on what supplies will and will not be provided from your host so you don’t unnecessarily overpack.
What is the safety situation around the lake?
The instructional guidebook provided on arrival said that we had to wear life jackets on the lake at all times. Our cottage was on a small lake with no beach area—a dock was the only way to access the water. Powerboats were plentiful on the lake, which could create safety issues if you were without a life jacket.
What is the rental’s access to the outside world?
Our cottage had Wi-Fi, which was a non-negotiable for us when we were looking for a place to rent, but the location was hard to find. We had to follow special directions from the owner on the drive up to find it hidden deep into a sprawling wooded area, which made us want to heading back into town should we have needed anything or wanted to explore. This also made me slightly nervous that if anything went wrong, emergency services might have a hard time finding the place quickly.
Being lulled to sleep by the light gurgle of the Chilliwack River in a custom A-frame cabin, fishing for sturgeon the size of cows in some of the west coast’s most famous rivers, and soaking your worries away in a natural hot spring—what else could you want in a vacation? British Columbia residents Emily McNally and Bryce Welti have the art of relaxation figured out. Hence the names of their two businesses: River Therapy Retreat and River Therapy Fishing.
What is River Therapy Retreat?
Emily: It actually started with River Therapy Fishing. Bryce has loved fishing all his life. He started leading fishing trips, bridging off of that, we wanted to provide accommodations. We live on the river and in a rainforest, so we built a beautiful cabin on our property. It has been booked pretty solid since we put it online in August.
The cabin is steps away from the river, so you can hear it rushing down as you’re sleeping. It’s such a beautiful environment; the mountains, river, and rain forest. We’re grateful to live where we live and we want to share that with other people.
Accommodation
Emily: It is a 100-square-foot A-frame cabin. On one side of the cabin, we have an eight-by-eight transparent door that opens up to the riverside and allows all the sounds to come inside the cabin.
There are two twin beds and everything that you’d need for a couple of nights. We have a mini-fridge, a deck with a barbecue. The cabin doesn’t have a shower, but we do have a sink, which is RV-style plumbing. There’s a pump that pulls water and it puts it into a greywater bin that needs to be emptied. We have pots and pans, cooking utensils, plates, everything you need for cooking. I do provide some snacks in case guests get hungry because we are a bit of a way out of town.
We have a composting-style outhouse that we’ve built down there. There’s also have a private fire pit area with Edison lights. Inside the cabin, I’ve provided a space heater, which heats the whole cabin in like three minutes, and heated blankets so we’re good to go right through winter. It’s pretty small, but it has a lot for being so small.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
River Therapy Retreat rental on the Chilliwack River in B.C.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
River Therapy Retreat cabin rental’s outdoor deck.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
River Therapy Retreat rental cabin’s retractable window.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
River Therapy Retreat rental cabin’s kitchenette.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
River Therapy Retreat rental cabin’s twin beds.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
River Therapy Retreat rental cabin’s entrance
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
River Therapy Retreat rental cabin’s fire pit.
Cost to stay
Emily: We’re listed on Airbnb right now for $159 a night. There is a discount on the cabin stay if someone books a fishing trip. You can book on Airbnb or through our website.
What inspired the “River Therapy” name?
Emily: Bryce has been fishing since he was a child, and a lot of fishermen find solitude when they’re on the river. Here you’re surrounded by mountains and the rushing river, so all your senses—whether it’s the sound, the sights, the smells—are activated, and you just kind of zone in. We see it as very therapeutic, so that’s why we decided on the name.
Bryce: River Therapy Fishing started about four years ago. I used to work out of town and only worked half the year, so for my days off, I bought a jet boat because I loved fishing and exploring the river.
Guiding has always been something that I’ve wanted to do, and a driving factor was sturgeon fishing. I’ve traveled the world fishing and fishing sturgeon here is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Anybody I’d ever taken out on the river had nothing but great things to say about it.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Retreat Fishing
Fishing on the Fraser River.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Fishing
Sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Fishing
Sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Fishing
Sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Fishing
Sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Fishing
Salmon fishing on the Chilliwack River.
What to expect on a guided fishing tour
Bryce: First, we talk about what kind of fish you want to target; where you want to go, and what you want to see because the areas that we fish are so diverse.
We offer a local fishing trip, which is in the heart of Chilliwack and Abbotsford here. Really good fishing, but the scenery is not as spectacular as our canyon trip or wilderness trip. We do charge a little bit more for those trips.
We set a time—usually 8 a.m. because it’s an eight-hour day. We meet at the boat ramp.
Fishing sturgeon is like zero to 100. You’re hanging out and then all of a sudden it’s game on. Lines are flying and people are bouncing around the boat. Anything over seven feet, we’re chasing downriver.
Why can’t you bring sturgeon into the boat?
Bryce: Legally, we’re not allowed to bring a fish in the boat that’s over four feet, so we go ashore and have waders provided for everybody. Average sturgeon are four to six feet, but lately, we’ve been hooking fish all over seven feet.
How long does it take to reel them in?
Bryce: Catching the fish can take anywhere from five minutes to three and a half hours. With sturgeons, it could be a thousand-pound fish.
Once we catch it, we get the boat to shore. I hop off and go in the water and coach you on how to get that fish safely upside down. When the fish is upside down, they are usually pretty docile. This gives us an opportunity to measure the fish and get a photo. Then we roll the fish back over and let it go.
How many sturgeon do you normally catch?
Some days we catch one fish, some days we catch 20 to 30.
Do you offer any other activities?
Emily: We do a local sturgeon fishing trip and then a wilderness trip out in the Fraser Canyon, which is part of the Fraser River. The river narrows quite a bit and you’re surrounded by mountains. It’s stunning.
The Pitt River hot spring is an adventure tour. The hot spring is only accessible by boat or helicopter. So, we take you on a jet boat across the lake and partway up the river. Then we park the boat at a beachy area on the side of the river, and you’ll bike 17 kilometers. Then you take a five-minute hike through the forest rappel down a section of the mountain using ropes. The hot spring is right on the side of the river. It’s this naturally occurring, bright blue water. Getting there takes about an hour and a half to two hours.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
River Therapy Retreat’s adventure trip to the Pitt River Hot Springs.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
A rock outcropping on the Chilliwack River.
Photo Courtesy of Emily McNally and Bryce Welti
River Therapy Retreat
The Chilliwack River.
What does the future look like for River Therapy Retreat?
Bryce: We just finished excavating the other half of our property and we’re leaning towards building another A-frame cabin with a shower and a few more luxurious amenities. Hopefully, by next summer we’ll have another cabin that’s even bigger and can sleep up to four people.
