River Road Loj in Lake Placid

Authentic Adirondack log lodge-style home sited on a hilltop near Lake Placid's ski jumps, overlooking Whiteface Mt and panoramic forest views with no other houses in sight. This fine log home built in 2019 has 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, spread over 3 levels of living, with ample outdoor living areas of bedroom walkout balcony, large decks, and covered porches, helping to keep a close connection to nature both inside and outside the house.
Hilltop privacy, epic mountain views, luxury log home living all located on a quite road used by Olympic athletes for training runs, and located 3 minutes to Olympic Ski Jumps, 5 minutes to Lake Placid, 10 minutes to High Peaks trailheads, 9 minutes to Whiteface Mt ski area, 1 minute to Ausable River fly fishing.
This Lake Placid log home has 4 bedrooms for guests and will sleep up to 11 guests. All upstairs beds are rustic log post bedframes, and bedrooms all have rustic trimmings of birchbark or cedar bark. The master bedroom suite upstairs has a king bed with a walkout balcony with panoramic views over the Adirondack wilderness and Whiteface Mt that you can wake up to, along with a linear gas fireplace and Adirondack-style furnishings, and a luxury walk-in tile shower, separate soaking tub, and heated towel rack. Bedroom #2 is upstairs off the loft, has a rustic cedar queen bed and cedar bark accents throughout the room, and opens up onto the loft overlooking the great room and views beyond. Additional twin bed also in room. Bedroom #3 is on the main level, also off the great room, featuring a queen size rustic cedar bedframe. Bedroom #4 in the finished lower level is used as a bunkroom, with 3 twin beds and one queen bed, and also includes a bathroom adjacent to this bedroom.
The house is fully equipped and furnished in a modern rustic Adirondack style with many thoughtful features and details including locally-sourced log and cedar timbers, posts, rails and custom trim. The Great Room features a real wood burning high-efficiency fireplace and stone hearth, massive ceilings and log beams, and a huge whole tree sourced right from the property that serves as the entire structural main beam holding up the entire roof. The great room reading table holds a collection of Adirondack books, maps and essays which should inspire and inform your time in the Adirondacks.
Kitchen and dining room are spacious with seating for 10 persons, and with a french door opening up to the open covered porch and deck area, where a grill will be situated. The kitchen is fully equipped including two sinks, ample granite counter space, large french door refrigerator, black stainless appliances, both a Kureg and regular coffee maker, all dishware, and some pantry items curated and carried forward for anyone to use. All linens and towels and soaps are of course provided but you will want to bring your own personal bathroom items including shampoo. There is a washing machine and dryer that will be available for guests use including washing powder included. There are 2 natural stone fireplaces inside the home - a linear gas fireplace in the master bedroom and a wood burning Great Room fireplace with free starter wood provided. Operation instructions will be listed by the fireplace. Additional amenities include a beverage cooler (in TV room), 55" Roku TV in basement entertainment/game room, free fast wifi internet, outdoor gear and ski racks in basement, and a 2nd smaller game-room with either foosball and pingpong.
Additional home features including entire home in-floor radiant heating, hardwood floors and natural slate tile throughout, massive log beams sourced right from the homesite during clearing process that support many parts of the house, local Adirondack-sourced materials like white birch bark and cedar bark for accent walls, and Adirondack decor and furnishings throughout the home. Most lighting in the home is of rustic or locally sourced custom design.
Outside, the house has a huge deck with Adirondack and rocking chairs looking toward a view of Whiteface Mt and with no other homes in site across the valley. There's an outside dining table under a large covered porch, a swinging hammock for summer evenings, a propane barbecue grill, a 7 person hot tub, a canoe and kayaks on the property which can be used on any local lakes and ponds or the Ausable River section near to the house, and a large fire ring with free firewood to burn out in the log woodshed. Firewood for your first indoor and outdoor fires is complimentary. There are posted signs outlining the limits of complimentary wood and charges for extra wood.
**This is a Shared Duplex-style functionality custom home** Please note this custom log home has a duplex functionality to it, with the main portion of the home open and private to guests, with their own separate private entrance. One side of the home is used as the owner's walled-off and insulated quarters, which are accessed via a separate exterior entry door on the opposite side of the home. The owner may be residing there during your stay, but will fully respect your privacy and peace with little to no interaction besides a quick welcome hello or passing in the driveway, as there would be in any duplex housing scenario. There are no shared living spaces, ensuring the privacy of renters. The owner will not enter the main portion of the home used by guests, except for emergencies/safety, and avoids outdoor deck, porch, fireplace,and yard areas as well.Please refer to the house blueprints shaded green/red (in the photos section), which depicts the house layout. Guests should book under the assumption that the owner may bestaying in the owner's/inlaw apartment section, but if he's gone then the complete property privacy should be considered an added free bonus. In 2013 the owner built a smaller log 2 bedroom chalet in Wilmington intended as a residence but turned into a full time vacation rental home, this home is a hybrid solution to financing a new home and have a residence also. The owner Johnathan Esper is very well known and regarded throughout the Adirondack region through his landscape photography of the Adirondacks, as well as community ties, and has no criminal background.
Under some circumstances and with special request and consideration, the owner's apartment section totaling about 700 sq ft with additional queen bed, full 2nd kitchen, bath, living room, log spiral staircase, and balcony with mountain views) may be requested to be rented out as well, giving the group not only extra living space but also assured complete grounds and property privacy. If this option is sought and granted, we charge an extra nightly surcharge of $400/night which includes the space and extra cleaning fee and also includes any extra guest fees which are normally charged at a rate of $25/nt/pp beyond the first 6 guests. This pricing is admittedly high by design in order to keep low the number of times per year the owner is rented out of his place but to serve as an option for occasional groups with a particular need. Because the cleaning and picking up the house that's required, there's a minimum 2 night requirement for this option. The price breakdown of this $440 extra nightly rate can be thought of as follows: $200 rental value at market price, $50 premium to overall house rental rate for entire property exclusivity and privacy, $50 extra guest fee for 2 guests that would otherwise be charged if staying in main portion of rental home, $100 hotel cost for owner, and $80 cleaning costs before+after stay prorated over 2 days. If owner will organically be away on travels, the nightly fee can be reduced to $360.
The owner loves the Adirondacks and log home living, having grown up in a family log home in the Adirondacks, and then building a log chalet overlooking Whiteface and the Ausable River in Wilmington, which is now a popular vacation rental fully booked year round. This Adirondack log lodge style home is now the 3rd, and has been custom designed entirely by the owner to maximize the forested hilltop views and location and incorporates all the best features learned from a lifetime of log home living and also photographing many premier Adirondack properties.
Please thoroughly read through the attached rental agreement, to familiarize yourself with the house policies and rules, which include no shoes worn in the home, no smoking in the home, not leaving any egregious messes, safety with fire and watercraft, respecting the grounds, and other common sense policies. Dogs are welcome (no cats) for a pet fee of $25/nt, with additional related pet rules.
Location: The house is located on River Road in Lake Placid New York 12946. The home is set a forested hilltop, up a 600ft long switchback driveway above River Rd, with enough pine trees to block the view between the road and the home. Take care when negotiating the steeper switchbacks if you have a large vehicle with a poor turning radius. Overall the house location is very quiet and private, with the views of the mountains and pine trees surrounding the home and the wind amongst the trees.
Note: In winter months November - April it is mandatory that are vehicles use AWD or 4-wheel drive. 2WD vehicles not suitable.
Door codes and access info will be sent upon booking, for independent self check-in/out. Arrival 3:30pm or later, departure 10:00am or earlier to allow for cleaning between; arrival and departure times are very strict and must be followed.
Pricing notes: Base rental rates include up to 6 guests, and is structured as a tiered progressive rate to be fair and commiserate with both large and small groups, with the nightly fee increasing by $30/guest/night beyond 6. Dog fees are charged of $25/night/dog, with some discounts possible for small dogs, non-shedding dogs, or longer stays. Cleaning fee is a fixed flat $360/stay, even though our actual cleaning costs are often in the $400's for larger groups. Discounts may be possible for very small groups, filling up an open bloc of dates, week-long stays, and other scenarios, but we do not offer senior, military, or other specialty class discounts.
Area Activities: Lake Placid region offers boundless options. Hiking trails are just 5 minutes away at the Adirondack Loj trailheads to the major High Peaks, and there are plenty of smaller easier hikes with great views too. Mountain biking trail networks are a 2 minute bicycle ride down the road. We are located on River Rd which is on the Ironman triathlon course, and so this quiet country road is very popular for road bikers and skate skiers and runners. Fly fish the Ausable River also just 1 minute down River Road to an assortment of eddies and river beds on public land. In the wintertime, Whiteface Mountain Ski Area is just 10 minutes away for world-class skiing, and cross country ski trail networks are also just 5 minutes away. The Olympic village of Lake Placid is only 4 minutes' drive to all the shops and restaurants, and the ski jumps are just 2 minutes away.