“You're just sitting there with the bears and it's really, really nice to have that little extra bit of heat come on, after just sitting for hours and watching the wildlife.”
The Tsylos Park Lodge at Chilko Lake is a place where you leave your devices behind and immerse yourself in the beauty and experience of nature at British Columbia. The glacier-fed Chilko Lake is the largest natural, high-elevation freshwater lake in North America, at 50 miles long.
From June through October, guests can enjoy the lake at their leisure. With weather that can go as high as 85°F (29°C) and as low as 45°F (7°C) in the summer, guides and guests alike take advantage of ORORO’s heated apparel while enjoying their time away from their phones, immersed in the beauty of nature.
“I picked one heated vest up last year and just really enjoyed it, especially with doing the grizzly bear photography when you're out in the fall. You're just sitting there with the bears, and it's really, really nice to have that little extra bit of heat come on you after just sitting for hours and watching the wildlife,” Josh, a guide with the Lodge, shared with us. He also bought them as gifts for his sister and Karen McLean, who owns Tsylos Park Lodge.
“When you're in the cold, if you're active and you're moving, you can stay warm. But when you're doing photography and you're sitting in a boat on the water, it gets pretty nippy and it's hard for people to stay warm. So that extra, that little heat makes a huge difference,” Karen explained.
This is where ORORO’s heated vests come in handy. “The nice thing about the vest is, not the cold season, but even in the summer if it gets cool or whatever, the vest is still warm, even if you're not using the heat,” Karen shared.
Guests have seen guides wearing their heated vests, the power button always noticeable, and typically ask about the functionality.
“All the guests had tried it, especially last year. I think out of the last 16 guests that we had, I think probably 10 or 12 of them bought a new one right after they left or were trying to get them if we actively sold them and stuff like that. I let them try it on, make the sacrifice, give it up, and let a guest have it for the afternoon to try it out, that type of thing,” Josh said.
Sacrificing his own warmth and comfort, so a guest can enjoy the benefits of the heated vest is a pretty great way to be a guide.
Having downtime and getting away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life is one of the biggest appeals for folks visiting Chilko Lake. “The nice part about being out here is there is no cellular service. There's no WiFi. So people can really disconnect from all those, shall we say distractions in a way, and just relax and enjoy the beautiful nature that's around us,” Karen said.
A typical day for a guest can include anything from exploring all the lake has to offer to indulging in their passions. Guests are “either out horseback riding, or in the summer, it's fly fishing, or in the fall time it's grizzly bear photography. All of our trips are designed for people who are fairly avid in those fields, whether you're a horseback rider, a fly fisher, or a photographer. Any day of the week, we can have people that are 50 miles down the lake or on top of a mountain or floating the river or doing a cross-country horseback ride. Everything is organized around that,” Karen shared.
Families, couples, and individuals can enjoy and cultivate their experience how they see fit. Enjoying breakfast and dinner together and getting away from their smartphones and tablets.
Sustainability is a huge part of what makes the lodge unique. The lodge has made a point to commit to the preservation of the area they’re in, always keeping in mind that the land comes first.
Karen shared her view of the sustainability efforts. “My definition is that you can do what you're doing forever without killing off the environment that you're in, farming or logging or whatever. In our case, it's really trying to keep the lightest touch that we can. We're in a wilderness area, so there's a lot of wildlife,” she said. “We don't have stocked fish here. They're wild. It’s about really being careful with what you do. We've been in business for 65 years, so we're doing pretty good as far as that goes.”
The lodge is also off the grid, Josh added. “We're on solar power with a battery backup system for the evenings. We have gravity fed water that we use, so our energy is quite low for what we use.” The lodge also has in-floor heating, efficient showers, and alternatives to using plastic.
Chilko Lake is the perfect getaway to wind down, get away from the noise and enjoy nature. The guides at Tsylos Park Lodge are warmed up and ready to help you explore the beauty of nature.
