History 2009 Forward

The Emigrant Gap Lodge

At the end of October 2009 I had been early retired from AT&T for over a year and had been busy working on renovation projects at the Bay Area house. It was a busy time and I was getting physically tired of being retired. 

For years, Jim and I had dreamed of owning a get away cabin.  Something rustic, on a lake to relax in an Adirondack chair or walk out the back door to the dock and jump into the water.  We wanted a place that was above the poison oak line yet accessible in winter so that we could ski, sled, and snowplay.  Whenever I started to dream a bit too seriously, Jim reminded me that our house basically was our cabin.  He also reminded me that we could camp at any lake, rent condos at the ocean and cabins to go skiing in winter - without the hassles of ownership.

And that is what we did for about 25 years.  Every other year we rented a large cabin at Lake Tahoe during Christmas with my sisters and their families.  And every year we all camped together at various lakes around northern California.  And we also had a Guida family reunion each year – usually at a lake and around Memorial Day.

So, my pipe dream waited.  And I spent my down time looking at cabins for sale via real estate flyers and on the Internet.

Then one day in October 2009, I came across a Craigslist ad for a cabin at a place called Emigrant Gap.  The ad stated that the cabin had about 4000 square feet, was on 3 ½ acres, had 5 bedrooms (or ten – the ad was not too clear) and 3 (or 5) bathrooms.  The property was a foreclosure and had been boarded up for over a year.  I was intrigued. We had seen the property posted in a real estate magazine a few years earlier, but it was way out of our budget. Due to the real estate crash and recession, the price had been dropped quite a bit.  

Pictures on the ad showed a front view of the cabin, a picture of the living room and a picture of the kitchen.  I took a calculated risk and talked with Jim about contacting the agent and he said okay.

I arranged an appointment to look at the place and took Katie and our new puppy Quincy with me since Jim had to work that day.  We brought along a camera to take photos of the good, the bad and the ugly to share with Jim.

TOURING THE LODGE

The real estate agent had told me that the lodge was not on forest service land, it had a well and had a septic tank.  Yes the price was correct, and yes it had 10 bedrooms.  But she also shared that since it had been vacant for so long there was a lot to be fixed at the property.

Katie, Quincy and I took I-80 to Emigrant Gap and since the agent was late, decided to drive around the area a bit.  That drive was very easy since we had no idea where we were going and we did not want to drive too far away from the freeway (Emigrant Gap can get very remote, very fast).

When our agent finally did arrive and took us on the tour of the cabin, we were somewhat happily surprised with the state of some rooms and quite frightened by the state of other parts of the cabin. 

The living room had a large hole in the ceiling where the free-standing fireplace vent had come loose and had opened a natural skylight through the ceiling and roof.  The non-opening picture windows were loose and had hornet nests attached to them.

The kitchen was 12 by 12 with only 2 upper cabinets, an old propane garland stove, the reach-in ice box, and a commercial sink.  The linoleum on the floor was peeling up. The wiring was run through pipes and attached to the walls (instead of being run inside the walls).  The stove had no gas connection and the sink was not plumbed.

The top floor 5 bedrooms had indoor/outdoor carpeting that was in poor shape, each bedroom had shaky, cracked or broken out single paned original windows, some kind of fiber wallboard above the wainscoting and bare bulb light fixtures on the ceilings, and one plug per room.  And there were plywood free-standing armoires.

The top floor bathrooms were a wreck.  The ½ bath had a toilet and no sink. The window was broken and the linoleum was peeling up.  The back two baths were in worse shape.  There were no toilets, the claw tub was not plumbed, the sinks had no working pipes and the back bath tub was so badly damaged – we knew we would not be able to save it.  

The hallways were a ramshackle of wall board and were not even (they zigged and zaffed).

The side door had been broken into so many times, there was only a partial door left (which was nailed shut).

THE LOWER FLOOR

The bottom floor was a complete contrast to the top floor.  Each of the 5 bedrooms had been remodeled (unfortunately removing any character that was part of the original structure).  The walls had new orange peel drywall, there was new carpeting, there were new double paned windows. Each room had a light fixture on the ceiling and one plug outlet.  There were new doors. 

The three bathrooms had new tile and new sinks and some had new tubs/showers/toilets. 

However, there was NO HEAT. Just an old rusted-out oil furnace in the basement.

Katie and I took pictures of everything, including each of the basement areas, the circuits and panels, the well storage tanks, the fire escape, the deck, the property, the closeness of the train and the freeway.

BUYING THE LODGE

When we returned home, we showed all the pictures to Jim and discussed the property quite a bit.  The price was right, the size was right but it was a huge renovation commitment.  I was certain that with the inspection we would find that the well was bad or the septic tank was not working or the roof was about to collapse or the foundation was about to fall down or something would be such an obstacle that we would not be able to proceed.

Jim and Lynn went up to the cabin next.  They gave it a more critical inspection that we could depict in our photos. Both Lynn and Jim said overall the building looked OK but it needed a lot of work.

Then Dave, Pat, Jim and I drove up. Dave (a plumber) said all the copper pipe needed fixing.  Again – it looked OK, but needed a lot of work.

We were not deterred.  Next we moved on to our offer.  It was accepted. We made the offer contingent on three inspections; the home inspection, the well inspection and the septic tank inspection. 

The well was fine.  The septic needed only a small amount of work.  The list from the home inspection was endless – but we decided not to read it fully and felt we could take it on.  So – on December 17, 2009, we purchased the Historic Emigrant Gap Hotel Annex AKA the Allen Hotel AKA the Woodmen Lodge AKA the Bright Lodge NKA the Guida Lodge.

We had the electricity turned on. Due to bad weather and a late start up the pass, I spent my first unplanned night at the lodge on 12/23/2009.   I had a sofabed, a chair, a table, a lamp and Quincy to keep me company.  Oh and I had a portable heater and a down sleeping bag to keep me warm.

Unfortunately, when I plugged in the portable heater, the light and an electric blanket, I blew a circuit and was too cold to try and find the breaker that had tripped.  So, I spent my first night at the lodge in total darkness.  Since many of the pipes were burst, I decided it was best not to turn the well on, so flushing the one working toilet on the main floor consisted of dumping snow down it, letting it melt, and then flushing.  Very pioneer.  

Katie, Mary Beth, Quincy, Jim and I spent a few days after Christmas at the lodge, cleaning up debris on the main floor.  We taped plastic sheeting over broken windows, washed and vacuumed everything. Clorox became a close friend. We slept on the sofa-bed and on air mattresses.  Still we had no running water so we had to melt snow on a small propane stove to be able to clean and to flush our one working toilet on the main floor. The circuit breakers kept popping as we tried to run the vacuum, lights and tools. We were cold most of the time since we only had portable heaters to heat the areas we were in. But we were excited to have our new adventure begin. We replaced the nailed shut side door and our first "guests" arrived in January 2010. Our adventure in Emigrant Gap had begun. 

2012 First Decent on the North Fork of the North Fork

Last year, while out searching on the Internet, I came across Darin McQuoid's website who is a pretty daring kayaker.  He and his friends had come to Emigrant Gap in the springtime of 2012 and hiked in the snow with their kayaks to just before the big turn that leads to the North Fork campground. They kayaked from just beyond base of the falls at the North Fork of the North Fork of the American River. They paddled past the confluence of Fulda Creek.  The person who planned the trip had kayaked Fulda Creek in the past.  From the confluence, they road their kayaks (with many drops and many portages) down to the confluence of the North Fork of the American, through Giant Gap and beyond to Iowa Hill Bridge.  To my knowledge, this group of intrepid kayakers were the "first decent" down the NFNF.  

Here is a link to the website I found.  It is totally worth the time it takes to read through the entries to get an understanding of what they were doing and the photos are stunning (scary - but stunning). 

http://darinmcquoid.com/nfnfamerican.html

2016 - Death of an Old Timer

In late summer of 2016, Eleanor Cortopassi passed away.  She grew up at the Emigrant Gap Hotel (her dad and uncle owned the hotel from the 1920-1950). I met her through her cousin who still lived in Colfax at the time.  She came to the lodge to visit us and we visited her at her home in Seal Beach.  She shared photos, stories and history of her time here at Emigrant Gap.  She also shared her friendship.  She is missed.  

2018 - North Fire

On September 4 (Labor Day) 2018, a forest fire started down at North Fork of the North Fork in Emigrant Gap.  An illegal campfire has been identified as the cause.  The fire spread quite quickly causing the  helicopter rescue of campers swimming at the pool near the campground and the closure of Emigrant Gap and Yuba Gap exits on the freeway.  The fire was contained to 5000 acres.  Luckily, it was put out before it reached the Royal Gorge and of course, our cabin.  

2018 - School for Sale

With the closure of the Emigrant Gap K-8 school, the school district decided it was time to sell the old school house.  The school house is now a private cabin (like the hotel, the merchantile and the railroad signalmen's cabins).  The closure of the school was bittersweet for us since we were quite happy hearing the laughing voices of kids right next door.  

2021 - Memorial 

In October of 2021 (during the pandemic), my mom passed away at our lodge at Emigrant Gap.  We had spent the previous day in Reno, shopping at the thrift stores and having pandemic drive through lunch.  While sitting around the dining room table eating lunch, my mom had a massive stroke.  Though she lingered for a few days at a hospital, we knew she was gone.  We held a memorial for her  at the lodge in 2022.  She is terribly missed by all who knew her. 

2022- 2023 - Record Winter Snowfall 

The winter for 2022-23 brought record snow to the sierra.  It was a once in every 70 year event.  Though it did not beat the snowfall in 1952, it came close.  The other big snow year on record is 1880.